“One of the things we've heard over and over since taking over the ATA is that our members really miss the opportunity for local networking and for a grass-roots legislative effort,” she said. ATA members in Arizona have expressed interest in starting a chapter, said Anne Smith, chapter development manager at the ATA. Chapters are to meet in the summer or early fall in Virginia, Ohio, Southern California, Illinois and Washington state.
The Southeast chapter, which includes Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, held its first meeting this month. The New York chapter held its inaugural meeting this week. “They want local information to filter up to the national organization.” “I think the thought the idea of having chapters was redundant to the ATA, but with this new organization, the new directors, they feel that the local chapters are actually vital to the organization's existence,” said Joel Linchitz, president of Phone For Success, New York, and interim president of the ATA's New York metropolitan chapter. The chapters also will aid in recruitment for the ATA, which has suffered from falling membership in the past few years.
The Washington association, which hired a professional management company after its board resigned last year amid a financial scandal, wants to use the chapters to stay in touch with local legislative issues and to provide networking and educational opportunities for its members at the regional level. The ATA hopes the chapters will flourish under hands-off management in which the local groups will get minimal guidance from the association.
Local chapters of the American Teleservices Association are being revived after they were disbanded by the previous management of the organization, which represents about 1,000 telemarketers and call center operators nationwide.