The new Regional Chamber of Northeast Indiana is expected to offer a unified economic development voice through advocacy targeted at the legislative and executive branches of government, regional economic development officials said.

"Legislators are not always well equipped to discern the regional importance of one concern over another," said John Sampson, president and CEO of the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership, which will work closely with the Regional Chamber. "We need to provide a clear message for our legislators for them to be able to take clear action."

Northeast Indiana chambers of commerce have for 10 years done lobbying through a coalition, but Mike Landram, president and CEO of the Greater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce, suspects the new group will provide even more lobbying muscle.

"They've indicated they've got substantial more resources to put behind it than we have been able to do," he said. "It's not an inexpensive sport.

"I'm absolutely for any way we can improve and expand on our advocacy mission. If it makes my chamber members more successful and helps them meet their business goals, I'm all for it."

The Regional Chamber is not a chamber in the traditional sense. It is not officially linked to the brand of local chambers; it is essentially a refocusing of the Northeast Indiana Corporate Council, which had concentrated on upgrading work-force skills and fostering innovation and entrepreneurship.

Steel Dynamics Inc. Chairman and CEO Keith Busse, who will chair a high-powered, nine-member board of the Regional Chamber, said it will not abandon the corporate council's founding mission, but its chief focus will be on advocacy related to policies that affect economic development.

Among the areas of concern governed by legislative and executive policy makers: taxing structures, regulatory mandates and infrastructure needs.

Rep. Matt Bell, R-Avilla, has been tabbed to run the Regional Chamber, and Busse anticipates two staffers will be hired to assist him. Bell will not seek re-election in November.

The Regional Chamber likely will be headquartered at 300 E. Main St., joining the offices of the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership, WorkOne and the Indiana Economic Development Corp., Sampson said.

Sampson, like Landram, welcomes the emergence of the Regional Chamber.

Sampson's partnership largely focuses on seeking out businesses interesting in relocating to northeast Indiana and suggesting to them possible sites. Those leads are then handed to local economic development organizations, which in turn try to seal the deals. The partnership, he said, does no legislative lobbying.

"What this (Regional Chamber) does," Sampson said, "is elevate our influence as a region. The more we can work together on common issues, the more we can be effective."

Both Sampson and Busse noted that the region is losing ground in its fight to retain good-paying jobs.

"We're at 80 percent of the national average in per-capita income, and the trend is down and we don't know where it's going to stop," Sampson said. "That's why we have to have a sense of urgency about getting on with this thing."

Added Busse: "I think we have a better chance if we put all our oars in at the same time and row together. We need to knock down the barriers to economic growth where they exist."

Busse said the Regional Chamber, which currently has about 45 to 50 mostly carryover members from the corporate council, including Business Weekly owner KPC Media Group Inc., will seek to grow the dues-paying membership at the same time it strengthens relationships with local chambers, the partnership, local economic development organizations, universities and other major players.

He anticipates that, in the process of solidifying and unifying the complex network of economic development organizations, some will fall by the wayside.

"Do I think there are some unnecessary organizations out there?" he said. "Yes, I do."

Busse declined to name those organizations, but one that appears to be on the bubble is the Northeast Indiana Chamber Coalition. Landram said he doesn't have an inkling about the future of the coalition, but acknowledged the Regional Chamber will be assuming some of the coalition's roles.

For his part, Bell said he will be working with local chambers and businesses "to build consensus on policies that are of regional importance.

"The other path," he said, "is working with legislators from northeast Indiana to enact those policies and put them in a position to understand they are strengthening not only their home community but the region at large.

"I think one of the biggest inhibitors to business growth right now is the fear of the unknown. I think a lot of people continue to be concerned about policy changes that are going to impact them. The greatest thing we can do is offer a measure of certainty to employers."

Bell and others involved with the Regional Chamber said it's going to take time to fully carry out the lobbying group's mission.

But Busse said the commitment of the Regional Chamber's business executives is unwavering.

"We do this off the clock, most of us," he said. "So it is a true love for the community that we're doing this."