A message from the chamber president
A vibrant workforce is key to the economic health of any community. One of the challenges facing local CEOs has been retaining young talent. A common complaint among 20-and 30-something rising stars in the workforce was a difficulty in making peer-to-peer business and social connections. For this reason, in 2006, the chamber of commerce decided to explore the creation of a network for young professionals. Celia Nardo, Abby Sykas and a small but energetic group gathered at the chamber and decided to host a social networking event. Each member of this initial steering committee was asked to invite all of their young professional peers. Our goal was to gather a group of 50 to 60 young professionals to help build professional and social relationships. Our first meeting attracted well over 100 people. After that, word spread and the enthusiasm to build upon the initial success was strong and growing. The Concord Young Professionals Network was born. Since then, the CYPN contact list has grown to more than 2,500 email addresses. The CYPN steering committee has become a vibrant standing committee of the chamber with assigned staff. A CYPN representative serves on the chamber board of directors. CYPN events include monthly educational programs, business networking, social events, nonprofit trade shows and more. If you or someone you know could benefit from becoming a part of this dynamic group, call Jessica Fogg at 224-2509, or email her at jfogg@concordnhchamber.com. Or, visit concordypn.org.
Timothy G. Sink
President, Concord Chamber of Commerce
CYPN chairman is passionate about group
More than six years ago, the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce, seeing the growing concern about the outmigration of young college graduates and young professionals to other states, created and launched the Concord Young Professionals Network to an enthusiastic and growing audience of young professionals in the capital region.
In 2007, the University System of New Hampshire formed the 55% Initiative to investigate the trend of recent college graduates migrating away from New Hampshire after completing their studies. Considering that the state’s population is the fourth-oldest nationally, the efforts of the visionary educators and business leaders who led the initiative quickly gained traction. The chamber, already enjoying the successful creation and launch of CYPN, was represented on the Governor’s Task Force for the Retention and Recruitment of a Young Workforce in New Hampshire, out of which great progress has been made.
After dozens of social networking events and enrichment focused learning events, including many valuable lunch and learn sessions, CYPN is a thriving organization with a distribution list of more than 2,000 members. Many of our members actively participate in helping to plan and coordinate these events. Without these volunteers, we could not make it happen. Thank you to all of the committee members who devote their time and effort to making CYPN the successful group that we are today. The essence of CYPN’s mission is to make Concord a better place to live, work and play for young professionals, and I truly believe that we are accomplishing this goal, and then some, with every effort that we make.
Josh Robinson
Chairman, Concord Young Professionals Network
