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A Strong Contributor

There has been much discussion regarding Madison Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Eileen Banisch in recent days; I would like to highlight my experience working alongside her for many years. She has, and continues to be, a strong contributor to our town, as well as the shoreline and surrounding area.

If you follow shoreline tourism and are part of the business community, you may remember the Shoreline Chambers Government Relations Committee and subsequent spinoff, the Shoreline Tourism Committee. They started as group collaborations (Eileen was one of the driving forces for creation) of shoreline towns’ chambers of commerce from Old Saybrook through East Haven.

I had the pleasure of working with Eileen on these committees between 2008 and 2013 in a mainly volunteer role as coordinator/secretary/etc. Under Eileen’s direction, the committees built support among chamber members and local tourism groups to advocate for member towns and tourism dollars. We met regularly with state and local legislators from both sides of the aisle to further our public policy goals.

Eileen continually encouraged diversity of committee members to broaden our leverage; she often sought the business community’s feedback and participation on actions taken by the committees. She demonstrated the utmost respect for businesses in town, and a keen understanding of how to achieve the committees’ strategic objectives.

The five years I worked with Eileen, observing her hard work for and commitment to building up all of Madison’s businesses, are just a fraction of her many years of exemplary service to the Town of Madison.

Maureen Griffin

Madison