Women’s Business Council of the ARCC to Host Succession Summit

The Women’s Business Council of the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce (ARCC) is excited to host their annual Succession Summit event for businesses in the greater Glens Falls region.

The Succession Summit was the result of a series of conversations between ARCC Member, and Women’s Business Council pioneer, Sherry Finkel Murphy and Michael Bittel, former President of the ARCC. It dovetailed with the stated work of the Women’s Business Council: to develop a strong business network of the community’s women business owners and professionals, and to prepare them to take on increasing leadership in the community.

Michael’s concern was that the generation that had invested so heavily in the early 2000’s to rebuild the Glens Falls area was preparing to retire without having identified the successors to carry on their work. As a financial planner and former corporate executive,

Sherry was well-suited to identify the critical aspects of continuity and succession planning that all businesses, large and small, must engage in to address multigenerational and organizational transitions.

Our first Succession Summit, in late 2019, featured Gary Dake of Stewarts, Rebecca Wood of Six Flags Great Escape, Juan Gonzales of The Hunt Companies, and Sherry Finkel Murphy of The Atrium Financial Group, with Michael as MC. With a virtual audience of over 70 members, we were able to cover important ideas for identifying, developing, and financially retaining leaders.

Our first in-person event, in 2022, facilitated by EOS implementor Wendy Waldron, expanded the panel to include accounting, human resources, and legal insights on continuity and succession.

“By embracing and developing both the home-grown and the come-from-away talent in the Warren and Washington County area, I know that we have a strong pipeline of leadership into the future. It’s our job to impart just enough best-practice and creativity into the conversation to have business owners want to reach out and do this kind of planning to ensure they and the area will continue to have an exciting future,” stated Finkel Murphy.

Our 2023 SUCCESSion Summit will focus on the role of key employees and continue the discussion around retention and development of talent. After all, once you have the right people in the right seats, you want to keep them there, rather than have them open a competing business across the street. Our panelists include Tyler Herrick (Spruce Hospitality), Bert Weber (Common Roots Brewery), Crystal Grimaldi (Ideal Dairy) and Tracey Wardwell (Capital Bank), as well as domain expertise from Jen Massey, (Integra HR), Wendy Waldron (WaldronWorks EOS Worldwide), and Sherry Finkel Murphy, CFP® (The Atrium Financial Group.)

“I am excited to be a part of the SUCCESSion Summit for 2023, presented by the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce, developed by the Women’s Business Council. This is our opportunity, as Leaders within our communities, to give back to the areas we serve by offering our expertise, sharing ideas that businesses may not have previously thought of, and to collaborate as a group to help make our communities stronger and more successful,” said Tracey Wardwell, AVP, Regional Branch Manager, Business Development for Capital Bank.

“Attendants can expect an interactive opportunity, moderated by Tricia Rogers of the ARCC, to learn about investing in employees, helping attract employees, keeping employees engaged, developing those employees in the workplace, and sustaining employment for longer periods of time. It’s going to be a great program that I know will benefit many businesses.”

Save the date for May 10th, at the Fort William Henry Hotel & Conference Center for the Succession Summit. Stay tuned to the ARCC website for more information, www.adirondackchamber.org.