Museum Store Association

2008 Incoming MSA President's Speech

Gwen Benner
Sunday, April 13, 2008 – Tampa, FL

I am Gwen Benner. My day job is senior director of business enterprises of The Milwaukee Art Museum and, like many of you, I wear numerous cultural commerce hats within my institution.

Throughout my nine years on staff with the art museum I’ve been a member of MSA. I served on your board as a director at large, rotating off last April, and due to the unanticipated resignation of the first vice president, Darlene Dunham, late last year, I was offered the opportunity to rejoin the board as Darlene’s replacement. I am glad to be back — knees knocking — but excited to help our board steer the strategic course so ably chartered by your boards of the last three years.

With information overload at an all time high, you would have to be an ostrich to not to be aware of the staggering challenges that make up our current business climate. To name just a few that confront us:

Our changing demographics: generations, geographic shifts, growth in ethnic populations – affecting consumer patterns and the labor pool
The global society will wait for no one and consumer loyalty is in jeopardy. Our challenge is to stay unique and relevant in the midst of never ending technological advances.
The softening attendance in our institutions and therefore our stores; and the limited resources of time and money throughout our society.
Green issues and product safety. Social responsibility and fair trade are on everyone’s lips. Consumers are voting with their wallets and there is a shift in philanthropy from institutions to social causes.
The impact of the political climate on the economy and our culture: the war, the coming national election, the declining dollar, the aftermath of Enron, global warming, healthcare, and on and on.

Whew! It is daunting – but opportunities are there for those who move forward with a sound strategy. I suggest that you do your own SWOT analysis. Identify the major strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for your stores. Shore up your weaknesses, map out contingencies and build on your strengths and opportunities for growth. This kind of analysis should be on everyone’s mind, and besides, it is just good business.

So what’s good for the goose …

The board kicked off its first 2008 meeting with this important strategic activity. We reviewed our goals and objectives outlined in the strategic plan first adopted in 2006. With the assistance of our facilitator, we reevaluated our current environment and assessed what is still relevant, what is new, and which priorities we should incorporate into our operational plans for the next several years. We discussed what the metrics for measuring our results will be.

These last two years were committed to taking the first steps in the implementation of our first strategic plan — and make no mistake about it — this was a very big step for MSA. And now, we are committed to keeping that momentum. We are prepared to make tactical maneuvers to keep our vision on track. We will continue to reevaluate the plan periodically and redraw the roadmap as needed in our ever changing environment. For 2008 we set our compass on four important initiatives:

First, the further development of the Knowledge Standards Program. Our goal will be to make these standards an integral part of MSA’s educational programming and products. We intend to do our best to provide you with the tools needed to position each of you to be experts in this kind of earned income. The Knowledge Standards will also inform the planning for our annual Conference program starting with the Phoenix meeting in 2009.

Second, the identification of industry trends. If you don’t already read it, I encourage you to look at the Culture & Commerce News Brief that comes to you each week as an e-newsletter from Kathy Cisar, who always highlights a number of trend articles she has identified as important to our industry. But we need to find other ways to anticipate trends and communicate them to you and so we will be working on a strategy for this in 2008. If you’ve got any ideas don’t hesitate to let us know about them.

Third, we will continue our work on membership by increasing the breadth, depth and diversity of the membership community while enhancing leadership development activities within our ranks. We had a very successful membership campaign in the last quarter of 2007 which brought in nearly 200 new members. Our second campaign started in February of this year and is ongoing.

Fourth, MSA will continue to develop its partnership with industry organizations, such as the U.S. Cultural and Heritage Tourism Marketing Council and Shop America Alliance. We will be exhibiting at the American Association of Museums Conference in Denver immediately following our meeting here in Tampa. Our Executive Director Beverly Barsook, will talk to you about the importance of continuing this effort that will help our institutions increase attendance.

We look forward to sharing the next steps and our progress in all of these endeavors during the coming year.

Over the past few years I have had the honor and privilege of working with four MSA presidents — Mary Hele, Laura Murphy, Sallie Stutz and Lauren Salazar — plus two future presidents – Meta Devine and Leslie Hartman. They have been great role models and I continue to learn from every one of them.

Rotating off the board after today’s meeting are Amanda Rutland and Terry Tarnow. You will be missed but not forgotten — and we know where to find you! A warm welcome to David Duddy and Valerie Troyansky, coming on to the board this year as directors at large. Thank you both for signing up for a tour of duty.

This conference and the many by-products of MSA would not exist without Beverly Barsook and her dedicated, hard working staff from Denver. Beverly has a mantra that has helped immensely to engineer our future. She is forever focused on industry trends, the vision and mission for MSA, our strategic plan and the importance of momentum to carry out the plan. She is a constant inspiration for our board or what we might call our "springboard."

You have met your board today, and we are as diverse as this room – in the makeup of our venues, our experience, and our geography. Our primary goal is to advance the mission of MSA. Our decisions and actions will reflect and support that mission. We don’t just have “mission” moments. Our agenda and our time together are driven by a mutual concern and interest in the future of MSA and how to shape that future in the dynamic world we live in. In this election year, it is fitting to recognize that MSA and its board are not partisan — we are one party, one ticket — we are a partnership committed to cultural commerce.

So how will you know if we are doing a good job? Watch our communications with you – one-on-one, the weekly e-newsletters, the Web site, in the magazine, the white papers, press releases, etc. Each of these will tell you where we have gone, what progress we are making and what our goals are. Help us celebrate our successes, acknowledge lessons learned and forge ahead with map in hand.

For me, this year is one of plentiful change as I celebrate a new decade on all fronts. Some chapters have closed, while new ones are unfolding. Milestones in my personal life are accompanied by transformations in my professional life: a new boss, increasing economic challenges for cultural commerce and my new responsibilities with MSA. The yin and yang of all this change is the combined fear and hope that comes with it. The fear is just as human as the hope. Let it be a year of growth and development for me, you, our institutions, our stores and MSA. In this game of life, hope and a plan of attack trump fear every time.

My last message is a little biblical – “Go forth and multiply.” Help us grow this organization to maximize our potential. Become a stakeholder and strategic thinker for your store, your institution and for MSA. Your titles vary as much as your institutions, but regardless, we all think of ourselves as cultural commerce professionals.

Take home this thought: “Managers are people who do things right, while leaders do the right thing.” You all came to Tampa with expectations and my challenge for you is to add these goals for the last three days of the meeting:

Talk to three members you did not know before Tampa.
Talk to at least three vendors about their business climate and what they see as trends and opportunities for cultural commerce.
Commit to offer or ask for counsel or information from at least one colleague during or after the Conference.
Before you get home — in the airport, on the plane, train or automobile — collect your thoughts and rank the top three things you are taking back from this Conference.
And lastly, mark your calendars for Phoenix — May 2 – 5, 2009 — be there!

Gwen Benner
MSA Board President, 2008 – 2009