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LL Cool J once rapped, ‘Don’t call it a comeback’. Eddie Matthews is taking a similar approach to things as he nears the end of his time as the general manager of the Stratford & District Chamber of Commerce: it’s not the end of an era, but rather the closing of one chapter.
“I don’t know what the next chapter is going to be yet, but I know this has been a good one,” he said of his position, a chair he’s been filling since 2019. “All I was doing was an extension of what I was doing at the radio station, which was getting a sense of what’s happening in the community. Everything I did … was trying to remain on the pulse of what was happening. I wanted to continue that here at the Chamber.”
Matthews oversaw a lot during his time as GM, including helping to shepherd businesses through a pandemic and building membership to where it now sits at 330. He did it with a very simple philosophy: how can we help?
“It was a lot of talking with people and finding out what they needed from us, trying to be their voice,” he said. “We want to be able to serve and promote area businesses. You can’t be all things to all people but we can at least try to.”
He gives credit to those who held the position before him and the work they did. Brad Beatty and Gary Lobsinger had their own way of doing things, and Matthews had his. Being as vocal a cheerleader for the chamber’s members is the thing he wants people to remember him for, and it was that side of the gig that took a little on-the-job training for him to fully understand.
“I wanted to be an asset for local businesses, speaking on their behalf,” he said. “But I really didn’t know about the advocacy side of things until COVID kicked in. That’s when we really started coming forward with the advocacy because we were able to speak to all levels of government and be the voice for business.”
Being able to pitch in and help, whether it was with the BIA, Invest Stratford or area municipalities, Matthews made sure the local business community was well represented. And with the search for the next GM to take the chair, he has a piece of advice for whoever that turns out to be.
“Don’t just sit in the chair - you have to have the personality to get out and go out into the community,” he said. “That was one of the things I loved about this job, not having to be in the office to do my work. For eight hours a day, I was able to go out and hear from businesses and find out from them what was going right and what wasn’t. I was asking, ‘how can we help promote your business?’, and we have so many great things that worked in doing that from our social media to the business booster videos that we were doing that highlighted different businesses. I just hope that whoever comes next will be that cheerleader for business and keep looking for what works.”
So with the next chapter coming more into focus daily - Matthews plans on sticking around until the end of June – there are plans that he and his better half have made. Trips, some down time, the usual stuff you’d think about when you reach this stage of life. Oh, and there’s also the goalie-for-hire sign still hanging around his neck.
“I still have a few factory original parts and I’m still playing hockey, too,” he said. “So if the guys need an extra goalie, the pads are ready to go.”
