1Berkshire Recognizes Butler's Decade of Leadership, Announces Move
PITTSFIELD, Mass.— Jonathan Butler was recognized for a decade of leadership at 1Berkshire's annual meeting on Thursday.
Smiles were all around as Board Chair Lori Gazzillo Kiely and Director of Member Services Christine Hoyt surprised Butler with a plaque in front of a large crowd at the Barrington Stage Company's Boyd-Quinson Theatre.
"For all of our members and our board of directors, it's a privilege for me to serve all of you and work with your organizations," he said.
"I look forward to continuing that and putting just as much energy and passion into it."
When Butler joined the organization in 2014, he was executive director of the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce. He then navigated the 2016 merging of the chamber, Berkshire Economic Development Corp., Berkshire Business Bureau, and Berkshire Creative into the 1Berkshire that is known today.
"That was no easy feat with many different stakeholders and constituents to consider along the way. He's done a fantastic job of leading this organization through that transition and growing and evolving since then," Kiely said.
"He's built out a strong team that has stayed with him for many years, which speaks volumes in this employment environment. He successfully navigated the organization through the pandemic, which was also no easy feat as we all know. Jonathan in his 10 years has positioned 1Berkshire as the resource for the business community and visitor economy."
Butler's recognition was not the only surprise during the meeting. He announced that 1Berkshire has sold its property at 66 Allen St. after 12 years and will move to the second floor of Crawford Square on North Street.
"It was not for lack of a fondness of the space. We love Central Station but like many other landlords, as we owned the building, we reached a point kind of post-pandemic where making those numbers with finding tenants and keeping commercial space full was becoming challenging," he said.
"And as a nonprofit where that's not primary to our mission, we made the decision that moving on from owning our own real estate was probably the best move. We actually quickly were able to identify a buyer and closed in August."
Over the last six weeks, the new space has been outfitted to welcome the organization.
"We're really just proud to be in the center of downtown Pittsfield," Butler said.
"We're everywhere. We're north, we're central, we're south, but Pittsfield is the heart of the Berkshires and the city in the middle of it all. It's important that we're here and we're excited for this next chapter of 1Berkshire at a new location."
In fiscal year 2024, 1Berkshire took in about $1.8 million, with $257,492 from more than 700 member businesses, $61,257 in events, and $526,938 from programs.
"Our member retention this past cycle was 84 percent, which is a number that we're very proud of. About 80 percent is the industry standard for organizations like ourselves so we're always striving to exceed that and we've done that in the prior year and the current year, which is only about five months into the process," Butler reported.
"We're actually at 78 percent retention so we're optimistic that we'll be able to have similar numbers to last year with membership and members are what give us our voice. Our credibility is our membership so membership is always the number one priority for 1Berkshire."
The organization also saw 24 million impressions on over 1,600 social media posts in 2024 and had more than 1,400 members attend events. So far there have been over 665 graduates of the Berkshire Leadership Program and nearly 400 graduates of the Youth Leadership Program.
Kiely applauded 1Berkshire for navigating through the year "very successfully" and setting the regional agenda for Berkshire County "which is really what 1Berkshire does as we face what could be a really challenging year coming up."
"And while we do have our obstacles and challenges here in Berkshire County, we have many more strengths. 1Berkshire does a tremendous job of helping us overcome these obstacles and helps us highlight the reasons that we so love living and working here," she said.
"One area in particular that Jonathan and his team have really gained a handle on this past year is the housing crisis that we're facing. There's a lot of pieces to it and a great deal of work being done on it but Jonathan has helped guide us on a steady course of working toward improvement, especially as it relates to workforce housing, which I know is so important to all of us."
During the five-year progress report of Berkshire Blueprint 2.0 over the summer, housing was highlighted as a critical component of the plan.
In late 2020, 1Berkshire and the BRPC assembled a working group of regional partners and created A Housing Vision For The Berkshires, which identifies critical issues and 62 strategic actions to solve them.
Issues such as unaffordability, scarcity, declining stock, and lack of resources were called out among many others. Strategies are categorized into four broad categories: education, advocacy, financial resources, and building a supportive environment.
General Dynamics' Director of Marketing and Strategic Communications Brenda Burdick reported that GD has grown from 500 employees in 1997 to 1,600 employees today in Pittsfield.
"We currently have two dozen open requisitions for positions in engineering and manufacturing and that includes internships for the summer of 2025. As one of the largest employers in the region, our goal is to ensure our current and future employees know all the wonderful reasons to live and work here in the Berkshires," she said.
"To do this, we work with federal, state, and local officials to articulate the needs of our business and our community. For example, workforce housing is very important to us as we continue to attract and retain employees. It's critical to our ability to grow our workforce and I'm excited to hear about the latest housing developments and I know there will be more coming."
Keynote speaker Brooke Thompson, president and CEO of Associated Industries of Massachusetts, spoke about the unique strengths of the Massachusetts business community and the many uncertainties that it faces.
She recognized the importance of including Western Mass in the statewide agenda.
"So much attention is often given to folks in and around Boston," she said.
"Name the issue, whether it's housing, transportation, workforce, whatever it may be, and it's critical that we take a look at the state as a whole because we're not going to be successful if we're not dealing with the challenges facing all of our regions of the commonwealth."
Butler pointed out that 1Berkshires gets to have events in the "coolest places," referencing the Barrington Stage.
BSC's Artistic Director Alan Paul said it is great to be part of a company that is such an economic driver of foot traffic on North Street.
"We have over 40,000 patrons every year who spend $8 million annually in the Berkshires. BSC purchases over $1.3 million of materials and supplies from local merchants," he reported.
General Dynamics was the presenting sponsor of the annual meeting and Berkshire Health System was the underwriter. Other sponsors include Adams Community Bank, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Allegrone Companies, Classical Tents, B Accounting, the Hillcrest Educational Foundation, Mad Macs, Antil Creative, and Onyx Specialty Papers.
Tags: 1Berkshire, annual meeting,
