On December 5, 1Berkshire held its Annual Meeting at Shakespeare & Company’s Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre. With 170 members of the Berkshire business community in attendance, 1Berkshire President and CEO Jonathan Butler provided a year in review which included the following successes:
- Our community is nearly 1,000 members strong, with businesses from every sector, size, and regional geography participating in the narrative of the Berkshires.
- We offered 40 events last year, giving over 1,500 attendees the chance to develop new connections and grow their business.
- We offered over 250 business consultations to help start, grow, pivot and better refer businesses in the Berkshires.
- We launched the Berkshire Blueprint 2.0 in the spring of 2019. Since the release of this region-wide economic development plan for the Berkshires, the Blueprint Advisory Committee has been formed to implement the actions in the plan and the first summit has been held. Over 1.25 million dollars in Blueprint-aligned grant applications have already been submitted.
- the jobs thing had over 2 million impressions, 73,000+ visits, 36,000+ users, and 200 jobs filled in 2019.
- We generated 50+ million PR impressions, 29+ million advertising impressions, 6.7+ million organic social media impressions, 16+ million page views, and 2+ million email sends, keeping the Berkshires on the top of minds of people around the world all year long.
Butler also announced some new initiatives planned for 2020:
- 1Berkshire’s Site Selector
- Visitor Economy Data Project
- That Berkshire Podcast coming soon
- Redesign of Berkshires.org
- Member-to-Member e-blasts
- HR Relocation Resource Guide
During the Annual Meeting, 1Berkshire also took the opportunity to thank outgoing Board Members Jill Curtis, Warren Dews, Gordon Dinsmore, and Eva Sheridan for their service to the 1Berkshire Alliance Board of Directors. The membership voted in new Board Members Kevin Bechard of Berkshire Community College, Jordan Brenchenser of The Berkshire Eagle, Frank Reynolds of Berkshire Gas, Anastasia Stanmeyer of Berkshire Magazine, Richard Pollard of Guardian Life Insurance, and Dan Zimmer of Hotel on North.
As we wrap up 2019, we thank you for your support and partnership this past year. Together, we continue to make the Berkshires a premier place to live, work, visit, and grow a business. We look forward to all that 2020 will bring our organization and the Berkshires.
