Spotlight

We are four months away from ACCE’s annual convention, and the ACCE team is in full convention planning mode for the event that has distinguished itself as the professional development and networking event of the year. Attendees from chambers across the country come to learn from leaders in their respective fields and to share ideas and best practices with their peers. 

To ensure that everyone has an opportunity to attend, ACCE has partnered with the State Executive Association Network (SEAN), a group of leaders of state chamber associations, to provide scholarships to the convention. One of the biggest cheerleaders for our SEAN scholarships and the convention is the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Executives (KCCE) association. Just two years ago, they awarded 12 scholarships to Kentucky chamber professionals to attend the 2012 convention in Louisville! 

With professional development at the core of KCCE’s mission, Ali Crain, executive director of KCCE, recognizes the value of participating in the SEANs scholarships from a financial standpoint. “We’ve taken advantage of the SEAN’s scholarship opportunity each year,” she says, “because it allows us to ‘buy one get one.’ We provide a scholarship for one of our members who would not have a chance to go otherwise and then I, as executive director, also get to go.  You can’t beat that!”

KCCE already has pledged its support of the 2014 convention – a momentous event as ACCE celebrates is centennial year of serving the chamber profession. It’s a decision, says Crain, that just “makes sense. This year, our board felt it was important to allocate monies for seven additional scholarships. It’s important for us and our members to meet other executives from across the U.S., share ideas and build our network while getting top industry training.”

If you are a State Executive Association interested in partnering with ACCE to award a scholarship to the ACCE Annual Convention, complete the online application for the SEAN scholarship no later than May 16.