The result? Chamber Development Services Inc. Telephone sales were replaced by a genuine effort to build community awareness of a Chamber's critical role in the local economy.

With the assistance and counsel of Chamber executives throughout the country, Joan developed a strategic membership-development initiative that can be used by Chambers of any size. The only requirement is that the Chambers want to grow...and want to grow the right way:  quality is as important (if not more important, than quantity!).

Joan believes the key is not to sell memberships. It is to sell the value of Chambers through community awareness and education. That means so much more than an boiler-room phone call.

Joan is delighted to help all Chambers develop their membership. After over 25 years, she is credited with helping attract more than 72,100 members who have invested nearly $12.3 million in their Chambers.

Those new members invested not because they were pressured, but because they were sold on the value of each Chamber's continual advocacy on behalf of businesses and consumers.

Joan's leadership has been recognized with invitations to address workshops and conventions for chamber leaders throughout the country. Her most recent appearances were at the American Chamber of Commerce Executives' national conventions and several state Chamber executives' associations.