Alisha Benson, CEO of Greater Spokane Incorporated, has been named the chair-elect for the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives, a professional organization that supports, connects, and develops leaders and staff of local, regional, and state chambers of commerce and economic development associations.

ACCE serves leaders from 1,300 chambers of commerce across the country who look to ACCE for best practices, public policy, and trends. In her role as chair-elect, Benson will work closely with the organization’s CEO and chair as part of the executive committee.

Benson will step into the role of chair next July.

As a Spokane representative, Benson says she will have a front-row seat to conversations with leaders representing the top metropolitan areas across the country. When she steps in as chair, she’ll have the opportunity to welcome board members to Spokane for a spring meeting.

“To be able to be part of this leadership is an incredible opportunity,” she says.

Benson, who has been a member of ACCE for over a decade, says she's grateful to her colleagues from across the country who help each other navigate different events, issues, and catastrophes in their communities.

Most recently, Benson says she has been in conversations with chamber of commerce leaders from Los Angeles and Hawaii, two locations severely impacted by large wildfires in recent years, to better understand and prepare to help the Spokane community.

“Individuals and families come first,” Benson says. “But we also know there are a number of businesses operated from people’s homes that burned, or businesses in places that needed to be evacuated.”

While still in the early stages, Benson says she is listening to those leaders who have tackled this type of catastrophe in the past and is anticipating similar possibilities here. Los Angeles and Hawaii chamber of commerce organizations, for example, had to set up their own relief funds to cover expenses and damage that state emergency directives missed.