Using Your Brand Pillars To Drive Value With Jason Brandt, President and CEO of the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association

From Persona To Personal

Jason Brandt is President and CEO of the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association (ORLA). He specializes in association management and government affairs at state and local levels. His duties at ORLA include launching innovative programs and products that assist the hospitality industry in being profitable. Before his tenure with ORLA, Jason was the CEO of the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

Associations work on behalf of their constituents to make life better or easier in multiple ways. But what if there is reluctance to join? How do you effectively communicate the value that your association provides?

According to Jason Brandt, whose association works on behalf of Oregon hospitality businesses, it’s essential to specify how value is provided. His association does it by pointing to its four pillars: government advocacy, collective bargaining to get products and services of value, workforce development, and industry intelligence. Jason says any restaurant or lodging business stands to benefit from at least one, if not all, of those pillars by joining forces with thousands of comparable businesses that have similar needs and priorities.

On this episode of From Persona to Personal, Roger Hurni chats with Jason Brandt, President and CEO of the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association (ORLA), about effectively communicating the value of association membership to businesses in a specific industry. Jason shares why his association exists, discusses the four pillars it's focused on, and reveals how it recruits new members. He also talks about what keeps him up at night as he navigates the challenges ORLA faces.