must earn their stripes
By MICHAEL TITTINGER Daily Press Staff Writer
DOWNTOWN — Each Thursday morning they gather in their Colorado Avenue office and discuss the business at hand, but it’s anything but usual.
Nat Trives, the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce’s chairman-elect, likens the weekly confabs between president and CEO Kathy Dodson and the triumvirate of board leaders — chairman-elect, chairman and past chairman — to a cross-country trek across a wide-sweeping and unknown landscape.
“With three drivers at the ready, you can cross the country with ease,” said Trives, due to be installed as chairman June 10. “But with just one driver, then you’re asking for trouble. If any hot spots come up, as they tend to do here in Santa Monica, we’re ready for them.”
According to Trives, who served on the Santa Monica City Council from 1971 to 1979 and as mayor from 1975 to 1976, the annual rotation of board chairs and constant input from members both past and present is the best of both worlds — allowing for a sense of security and continuity within a framework that encourages fresh perspectives and regular turnover.
Needless to say, no one gets too comfortable in the chairman’s chair.
At present, the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce has 1,060 member businesses, and technically, each employee of those businesses is an individual member, representing a vast array of interests and ideas. While Dodson and her staff of five and a half, which includes a part-time bookkeeper, handle the day-to-day duties, a 37-member board of supervisors culled from a wide swath of Santa Monica businesses are charged with deciding the direction of the nearly 80-year-old chamber.
“Board members tend to come from the ranks of the committees,” said Dodson, alluding to the 14 present committees that serve as watchdogs on everything from government affairs to education and public safety, weighing current events and their potential effects on area businesses. “You have to earn your stripes.”
The committees are the meat and potatoes of the chamber’s stance-taking. If the committee on government affairs finds any proposed legislation that might adversely affect local business, for example, they will likely recommend the board’s executive committee take a position, and then take it to the full board. Nothing is passed without the full board’s inclusion.
The chamber’s nine-member executive committee, appointed by the board, is comprised of the three chairs — elect, present and past — the board’s chief financial officer and five vice-chairmen.
“It all sounds very complicated,” laughed Dodson, “but it makes logical sense.”
Board members serve two-year terms at a time, but some are required to stay on longer, ensuring continuity. When a member is in line to be chairman, for example, they’ll typically stay on a year as chairman-elect, a year as chairman and a third year as past chairman. There are six past chairs still currently on the board to provide veteran leadership.
Trives has been with the chamber, off and on, for more than 20 years, chairing the committee on government affairs, among numerous other roles. In fact, counterparts refer to him as “the man of many hats” for his participation in the chamber and his other volunteer efforts.
When Trives is installed as chairman in June, along with 17 new board members at the chamber’s annual installation dinner, it will represent a new era in the body’s history. Trives, who became Santa Monica’s first African-American mayor in 1975 — when there were but 13 African- American mayors in the entire country — breaks new ground again as the chamber’s first African-American chairman.
“Well, we’ve come a long way, in a way,” remarked Trives this week. “I’m proud of Santa Monica. It’s one of the finest little communities around.”
A separate nominating committee within the chamber is charged with determining a potential board member’s merit based on a variety of factors, as the chamber makes every effort to maintain a board that is diverse and represents all businesses in the city, not just the large and powerful, or those that enjoy prime locations and notoriety, Dodson said. There is representation from hospitals, small retailers and nonprofits. The committee then submits candidate names to the executive committee for approval, before mailings are provided to each current board member for final approval.
Trives is pleased with the chamber’s current “procession plan” of board leadership, with chairmen graduating from the board and committee work and making their way up through the ranks.
“I’m pleased to see all the new people, as well as the senior members and past presidents,” he said. “When we have a healthy debate, we have people that have been there and done that, but we also have new faces that allow us to see things through new lenses.”
The full board of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 19, 2004. Read the original PDF.