KALAMAZOO ? GLIMASouthwest board member Bonnie Tefft has joined the organization as a result of its alliance with the Kalamazoo Regional Chamber of Commerce. Tefft is in charge of both Membership and Events for the Chamber and her participation on the Board will help strengthen GLIMA?s mission of becoming the Chamber’s IT Arm in Greater Kalamazoo.
Bonnie will be joining GLIMA monthly Board meetings at the Western Michigan University Business Technology Park’s Innovation center to help create a seamless alliance.
GLIMASouthwest President Mike Stafford said the alliance helped save the chapter in Kalamazoo.
?The local chamber was competing with us,?? he said. ?We had a problem with lack of interest from the people in the IT people in the area. We were forcing the IT community to decide if it wanted to attend a Chamber event, or a GLIMA event. Most were opting for the Chamber.?
GLIMA gains the Chamber?s five-person events staff. The new alliance has the GLIMASouthwest board developing the technology programs and rounding up the speakers, while the Chamber books the space and handles the mailings.
?With volunteer organizations people can?t take the time to do these things,?? Stafford said. ?We had a booth with them at the local Business and technology expo in May, which was really successful. We announced the affiliation there to the community.?
Stafford also said GLIMASouthwest?s membership pricing was too high. The IT Community balked at paying $75 a year. It cost $350 a year to join the Kalamazoo Chamber. Under the alliance, a joint GLIMA, Chamber membership costs $175 a year.
Since the alliance began, GLIMASouthwest has added eleven new members. Stafford said a handful more are ready to sign up.
