Page 8 - BusinessWest October 31, 2022

has evolved, and what might come next.
As to that last question ... a 15th- anniversary party is part of the answer. Those at the table agreed that one is certainly needed, and a format and date will come later.
As to those other questions ... those at the table agreed that YPS has suc- ceeded with its original mission, but it has also expanded it to include educa- tion — through initiatives like its early CEO Roundtables, where members could ask questions of leading area executives — and also involvement (YPS helped spawn the Onboard event aimed at recruiting young people,
women, and diverse populations to serve on the boards of area nonprofits), charity, and even politics by encourag- ing members to register to vote (as part of the national Rock the Vote move- ment) and staging ‘meet-the-candi- dates’ gatherings.
The process of evolution continues, and it was accelerated in many ways
by the pandemic, said Heather Clark, event manager for Baystate Children’s Hospital and the Baystate Health Foun- dation, the current president of YPS, noting that the group managed its way through that difficult time by bring- ing people together through Zoom meetings and finding new and differ-
ent ways to connect young people and channel their collective energy.
“The pandemic made us look at how we do events and how we meet people differently,” she explained, add- ing that, now that COVID is essentially over, the challenge, and opportunity, moving forward is to determine what the future will look like in terms of where and how members will connect — with each other and the community. “We’re still trying to figure out what that looks like.”
Tyler Hadley, director of Marketing for DDS Acoustical Specialties LLC in Westfield, and current co-vice presi- dent of the board, agreed.
“We’re trying to meet people where they’re at,” he explained. “Fifteen years ago, young people wanted to get out and do something; now, young profes- sionals may just want to go on a web- site and look through a business direc- tory. There’s always a place for the in- person gatherings, but we have to look at what else people are looking for.”
For this issue, BusinessWest talked with several current and past leaders of YPS about this organization’s place in the region and within its business com- munity, and about how the process of evolution will continue.
Young Ideas
As they talked about that first, very memorable gathering of YPS back in 2007, those founders (we won’t call them old-timers) we spoke with could remember many things, but especially the lines formed outside the Keg Room on Main Street, the huge crowds that gathered inside, the surprise with those numbers (especially on the part of some chamber and economic-devel- opment leaders who had expressed doubts about such an initiative), and the satisfaction that came with those numbers and how they validated the
“The pandemic made us look at how we do events and how we meet people differently.”
concept.
“We put the word out, there were
lines down the street ... the place was packed,” said Kathleen Plante, who was handling membership and events for what was then the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield and is now an advertising consultant for BusinessWest. “The leaders of the chamber and EDC [Western Mas- sachusetts Economic Development Council] were shocked by the size of the turnout.”
Those founders just couldn’t remember the date of that memorable gathering.
Most recalled that it was warm. Most thought it had to be early fall, while others were convinced it was late summer. But a quick check of some early news stories on their phones revealed that the first meeting was in July.
Still, while the actual date is not etched into those founders’ minds, the motivation behind creation of the group certainly was.
Indeed, many can come from other markets — Plante from Seattle, and Ryan McCollum from Boston, where he worked at the State House, for example — where such groups were common- place. With one voice, they were asking two questions: ‘why don’t we have a
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