July 8, 2013
Shop Talk
Q&A With Tim Murray Of The Worcester Regional Chamber Of Commerce
PHOTO/Matt Volpini
Tim Murray, President and CEO,Worcester Chamber of Commerce
By Rick Saia
Tim Murray shocked many across the state in May when he announced his career change from being one step removed from the governor's office to becoming the head of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. We caught up with him in late June, as he was completing his third week in the new job.
What’s been your toughest transition challenge?
Well, the best thing has been the commute. But the toughest transition, I guess, is … it's new, it's different, and waking up every morning and thinking 'OK, for the most part, I'm going to be in one place for the day.' So it's just more of a logistics kind of a reorientation.
When we did our recent Flash Poll about how effective you would be in this position, some respondents said you’re a pro-union Democrat and shouldn’t be running a chamber of commerce. What do you say in response to that?
Well I think these are people who are uninformed and really don't know my record. And quite frankly, there's nobody in Central Massachusetts in 15 years who's been more involved in all the various economic development projects that are taking place and happening than me. That is good for business. Labor plays an important role in society. I respect labor, but during the course of my political career, we disagreed from time to time.
What about your recent calling out of the EPA on costly upgrades to the sewage treatment plant in Millbury?
I have experience dealing with the EPA in different capacities. I think in the article (“Murray Blasts 'Budget Buster' Water Quality Regs,” WBJournal.com, June 19) I made it clear that the EPA does brownfields (work) very well, treating cities and towns and businesses as equals, as partners. That's a completely different philosophy and way of doing business than the way they deal with cities, towns, businesses and homeowners around water and sewer. What I'm saying is their approach to brownfields should be the approach they take to water and sewer permits.
You obviously came into the job knowing what the major issues were. Are there any others that you discovered after you came aboard that surprised you?
No, a lot of my time in the first few weeks is drilling down and learning all the different aspects of the operations here. But ... in high school I worked in the mailroom here. And through that experience, learned about how the chamber was the convening entity for the business community. In many ways, it's just a continuation of the work that I've been involved with as a city councilor, as mayor and as lieutenant governor.
What do you see as your top three priorities in working with chamber members?
Recruit, retain and incubate. The chamber, in working with Worcester's economic development coordinating cabinet, working with the city, the WBDC, MBI and others, (is) going to be the prime entity to lead the efforts around recruitment. That again was one of the issues that the (chamber's) board talked to me about in asking me to take the job. They wanted a more robust, active and progressive effort in promoting Central Massachusetts to businesses, business associations, developers (and) trade associations.
Around retention, we are going to be in touch with our members and understand the challenges that they have and that we can help them try to address.
And on (incubation), I see this chamber getting really involved in different ways with our colleges and universities to understand where they have experts that might help support some of our existing sectors of the economy (and to identify) new and emerging sectors.
When you were in City Hall, you became skilled at how to push certain issues. From this new role, will your approach be similar to that or different?
It's the same. It's not about headlines or photo ops, it's about getting stuff done. And I think that has been the hallmark of my career for 15 years: bringing people together, building trust and relationships and trying to set common goals. n
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Shop Talk - Tim Murray, Worcester Chamber of Commerce
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