Samantha Bishop is tailor-made for the challenges of running the day-to-day operations of the Southeast Volusia Chamber of Commerce and the same likewise for her to shine in her home community in what is a very public job. In three short months, she has taken the chamber from the depths of despair under the previous reign of arrogance and self-entitlement.
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Photos by Henry Frederick
Samantha Bishop writes a weekly blog in NSBNEWS.net appropriately called "Chamber Change."
Bishop is nothing like her predecessor, Steve Dennis, who was rightly shown the door in late August after 19 years. It's an absolute disgrace that the chamber was 20 grand in the hole. In this economy, where every dollar counts, the chamber stood pat under Dennis.
One of the first things Bishop had to do was say goodbye to three loyal staffers because there just wasn't any money to pay their salaries. Talk about a tough opening act. Bishop is so loved and respected that one of those staffers came back as a volunteer.
Consider her achievements and you can see why many of us in local business are big fans. Bishop has reorganized the stream of electronic communication with business owners and invited all local media to participate. What that means is that all of us now are on equal footing in terms of helping business owners get the word out to the public of their goods and services. In return, this has opened up the marketplace for us in terms of advertising, which is our lifeline.
Dennis, of course, was classic good-ol' boy with his chummy pal, Robert Lott, immediate past president, whose arrogance was that his wife's Observer was the "real" newspaper of New Smyrna Beach. The undermining of Lott's successor, Sue Williams, extended into the community and almost led to a split in membership, even though that faction was small. And even as the chamber executive board was weighing in on Dennis' future, Lott was texting him.
The vote to dump Dennis was overwhelming. And no severance. Not out of spite, but the simple reality that the financial cupboard was barren under Dennis' watch. Bishop's achievements are impressive to say the least. Besides re-establishing partnerships with the media outlets and generating enthusiasm among volunteers, she has found a new home on Julia Street for the chamber while the historic building on Canal Street is rehabbed.
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Samantha Bishop worked behind the scenes of the 2010 Hob Nob, helping with soft drinks and directing volunteers.
She's not just a talker, but a do-er with paint brush in hand leading the way. This is a professional who balances career and family -- married with a baby -- and even more career involvement in attending numerous community and government functions. She's educated, intelligent, resourceful, friendly and strong in leadership and mentoring.
Bishop's leadership in organizing the 2010 Hob Nob at the Brannon Center on the eve of the Nov. 2 general election was nothing short of amazing -- the best one in years.
For his part, Dennis hasn't gotten the message that it's time to move on.. He found a loophole in the CRA rules that allowed him to retain his seat on that panel by re-emerging as a "duly sworn officer" of you guessed it, the Lott-owned Observer.
Had the Lotts not come to his rescue, Dennis would have had to step down from the CRA, which requires its board members to either live in the district, work in the district or have an ownership-stake in the district. Dennis' continuance on the CRA ensures Lott has an ally for tax monies coming back into the district.
Even after longtime CRA Chairwoman Linda DeBorde stepped down this fall because of illness, Dennis didn't ascend to the top. He later claimed he didn't want it, but you'd think his colleagues would have at least offered him her post. They went with Charles Belotte instead, a great choice. And in the interest of full disclosure, NSBNEWS.net is a client of Belotte's accounting firm.
With the chamber resurrected from an almost certain closing, and despite loud whispers of Dennis and Lott forming a splinter chamber, Bishop has risen above the fray.
Membership is on the mend and there is renewed enthusiasm within the core and the business community as a whole.
Bishop has more than earned her leadership stripes with the chamber under the tag of interim vice president.
The interim label needs to be removed. And there is no better time like the present.