After nearly 20 years of representing Berks County in the State Senate and on Capitol Hill, former Rep. Jim Gerlach has taken on a new leadership role: President and CEO of the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance (GRCA). But his goal to build a bigger and better Berks remains the same.
Q: How has the transition been from the Hill to Reading? I represented a lot of Berks in both the State Senate as well as Congress, so over the years I’ve come to know a lot of the leadership in the public, private and philanthropic sectors of the county. I know the communities, the issues and the initiatives here very well, and I’ve been able to reconnect with a lot of old friends, so its been very smooth, and I’m enjoying it tremendously so far.
Q: What are your goals for the GRCA? My three main goals are to ensure that our chamber members have the very best services for the dues they pay. Those services include various programs and tools so they can improve their own business operations, connect with other businesses, and find additional skills training opportunities. Beyond that, we want to understand the top economic development priorities for the county and help build the unity necessary to get those priorities accomplished. My third goal is to develop a stronger advocacy voice for pro jobs policies at the state and federal level. Legislators need that real-world perspective to advocate for the best policies. At the end of the day it’s all about retaining and growing jobs in Berks County.
Q: What issues or initiatives are you taking on first? The first initiative we really moved forward with was Rebuilding Berks. We wanted to create a lot of good source information, training and outreach for our businesses to help them regain their footing following the COVID shutdown. The program has been really successful so far, particularly because the county commissioners partnered with us on it to provide some financial assistance to businesses. We’ve also implemented “Buy Local and Connect Local” efforts aimed at getting residents and local businesses to buy as many local products, supplies and services as possible.
Q: What about life after COVID? We’ve started a 2030 strategic action planning process to identify the top projects for the county in terms of developing the economy and retaining jobs, as well as how we can actually get them done. We want to get all the important sectors working together to accomplish those projects over the next 10 years.
Q: As such a long-time leader in this area, what is something that stands out to you about Berks? I’ve always been impressed with the commitment of its leaders. People are really passionate about this area and want to see it improve. To me, there is never a question of commitment or getting people excited to get involved; people here really want to pull together and do things. So, my goal now is to find out how to get consensus among those leaders around what needs to be done and get to it.
