INTERVIEW—Ready to Rebuild

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Russell “Rusty” Hammer


Title:

President, chief executive


Organization:

Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce


Born:

1953, Orleans, France


Education:

B.S. political science, University of Santa Clara; Master of arts in public administration, San Jose State University.


Career Turning Point:

Becoming page in California Legislature while in 6th grade


Most Admired Person:

Robert F. Kennedy


Hobbies:

Woodworking; baseball, hammer collector.


Personal:

Married, two children in college.


New president ‘Rusty’ Hammer facing many challenges at troubled L.A. Chamber

As new president and chief executive of the L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce, Russell “Rusty” Hammer wants to replicate the success he had in leading the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce to six years of membership growth. Hammer brings extensive experience in politics, the corporate world and in chamber management. He broke into politics at age 18, winning election to the Campbell, Calif., City Council at the time the youngest city councilman elected in U.S. history. In 1975, just 21 years old, Hammer was elected mayor of Campbell. Professionally, Hammer spent 15 years in numerous management posts including company president at Quadrex Corp., an engineering and environmental services firm. He takes the helm of the L.A. Chamber when its membership of 1,200 firms is down nearly 60 percent from the 2,800 members it had in 1990 as larger corporate members have moved away or merged out of existence.


Question:

The L.A. chamber has been losing members over the last decade. You were hired in part to reverse that trend. So how would you turn this around?


Answer:

First off, boosting membership is not the goal. If that’s all we wanted to do, we could cut prices and instantly increase membership. The goal is to make the organization relevant and to make the organization valuable for businesses. As we demonstrate our relevancy on public policy issues and as we demonstrate value to our member companies, these will result in a growth in membership.

Q: What does demonstrating relevance and bringing value to member companies entail?

A: The chamber becomes relevant in setting the public policy agenda around issues, not reacting to it. We need to push in a proactive way those policies that will help ensure economic prosperity. On some issues, we will join coalitions; on others, we will be taking a significant lead on our own. You will see us be much more aggressive at all levels of government, but especially in Sacramento and Washington.

Q: Does that mean you will staff up your Washington and Sacramento teams?

A: We are going to ramp up our lobbying efforts in both Washington and Sacramento on issues that are of importance to the Los Angeles economy. I can’t say at this point whether that means we’ll add staff.

Q: What about providing value to individual member companies?

A: Well that’s a little more tricky. It used to be that companies joined chambers because it was the thing to do. Nowadays, even the largest companies want to know, “What is it you’ve done for me lately?” And different members are looking for different things. Some want to see the aggressive stance on political issues that impact their own businesses; others want to see more in the way of events and programs for members; and still others want training programs and seminars or discounts on various products and services. So we’re going to have to customize our programs.

Q: Is this what you did in Sacramento?

A: It’s part of what we did, especially in the last two or three years. We also increased the chamber’s overall visibility by taking proactive stands on issues.

Q: These are all long-term goals. Meanwhile, the local economy is in recession and certain segments like travel and tourism are in deep economic crisis. What do you see as the chamber’s role?

A: We are going to actively lobby for enactment of the economic stimulus package put forth in the Mayor’s Task Force report, especially the public works stimulus part of that package. And we will offer whatever resources the chamber can to help implement the proposals, whether it’s databases of companies or anything else the city might need. We will also lobby in Washington for passage of the economic stimulus package there.

Q: Anything else that the chamber might do to stimulate the local economy?

A: From an image standpoint, we need to work with the L.A. Convention & Visitors Bureau and others to get out there on the bully pulpit and talk about the importance of people coming back to L.A. We cannot allow this situation to cycle down even further.

Q: There has been a long-standing debate within the L.A. chamber about whether it should take a broader role in the region. What’s your view?

A: First, you have to look at what the economic region is. Here, the economic region crosses county boundaries; people commute from one county to another. So I would have to say that the chamber’s focus should be on the economic region. However, I don’t see this organization becoming a Southern California Chamber of Commerce; it just doesn’t make sense.

Q: In L.A., the business community is quite fragmented and made up of many small companies. How do you plan to get L.A. area businesses to speak with one voice?

A: I can’t speak as to the history here, but it is my experience that if you unite these businesses around a common agenda of economic prosperity, they will speak with one voice on that agenda. There should be enough in common for them to agree upon, like business-friendly regulations, improving the transportation network and education.

Q: It’s no secret that local chambers here don’t talk to each other much, let alone coordinate policies. How do you plan to change this?

A: The local community chambers provide excellent services for their members. They do things for their members we can’t do, and vice-versa. But on issues that are common to chambers, such as the overall business climate, or transportation or education, I want to form a coalition of chambers, to present a stronger voice. And not just chambers, but also other business organizations, like the World Trade Center Association or the L.A. Economic Development Corp. or the Central City Association.

Q: In the past, many local elected officials have been wary of the chamber and business interests. How do you perceive the local political leadership here?

A: I only just got here, but I do have one observation. In the seven years I was in Sacramento, I was never formally introduced to the City Council there. Here, I was formally introduced to the City Council during my first week on the job. They were very welcoming and said they were eager to work with the chamber to improve the economy. I haven’t yet met with Mayor (James) Hahn, although we’re in the process of setting that up.

Q: What prompted you to get involved in politics and to run for office at such an early age?

A: I got my first exposure to politics in the sixth grade when I was a page in the (California) state Legislature. That’s when I figured out I wanted to go into politics, or “civics” as it was called at the time. In high school, I was chairman of the California High School Students for (Robert F.) Kennedy, during the 1968 campaign and very much wanted to go into national politics. When he (Kennedy) was assassinated, I turned away from national politics and decided to focus on local politics.

Q: Given how far and how fast you had risen, you could have gone on to much higher elected office. So why didn’t you?

A: As my second term as mayor drew to a close, my wife and I had twins. During my political career, I had seen too many of my close friends in politics lose their families to their political lives. There was also the issue of money: politics doesn’t pay well to support a growing family and I really disliked the whole fundraising scene.

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