Mullen over 30 years of service to Newry Chamber

BIDDING adieu to the organisation he has lent his expertise to for over three decades is business man and friend to Newry Jerome Mullen who has announced his retirement from the Newry Chamber of Commerce.

 Mr Mullen, who first joined the Chamber in 1988 and was the organisation's president for three years,  will be hanging up his hat as a member after having diligently served the business community throughout Newry, Mourne and Down for  almost forty years.

Whilst there are many individuals throughout the business community in Newry whose contributions to the Chamber of Commerce are as a valuable as the employment and services which their firms have provided the degree to which the now 83 year old Jerome has worked to make the Chamber what it is cannot be understated.

To such  an extent has the leadership, guidance and initiative shown on the part of Mr Mullen helped the  Chamber to grow that it now stands proudly as the third largest chamber of commerce in the north just behind Derry and Belfast, a fact which the County Cavan native is very proud of.       

Third largest chamber  

We have brought Newry's chamber  to the position of the third largest chamber in Northern Ireland” said Jerome, “There is only Belfast and Derry above us.”

“I have had 37 years in the chamber having joined it in 1988 . In those days it was a voluntary organisation comprised mostly of men.

 “I remained in it for a number of years and then I left it as I was building my own business from 1992 onwards. There were 50 members that was the kind of number that was around in those days. Then I got pulled back into it at the end of the 90's 

“Someone asked me to come back in and if I could take a look at it and reorganise. They knew the sort of way that I would want to go with it in relation to developing an international brand of business organisation worldwide and for us to be a positive, strong organisation that would give some level of leadership within the business community and be a representative organisation.”   

Presidential Tenure

 It was in Jerome's three year tenure as president of the Newry Chamber of Commerce that he would be afforded the authority and  leadership needed  to make the necessary decisions  that would mould  the Chamber into becoming the formidable business body which it is today .

 These would include the formation of a working executive, the drawing up of a formal constitution by which the chamber would abide and the assimilation of what was then known as the Newry Chamber of Trade.

“I was president of the chamber from 1997 to 2000,

“I went forward to map out my own particular strategy of wanting to build a strong organisation. The meetings would have been normally a monthly meeting of all the members but it was only a very small number would have ever attended.

“So I put together a working Executive. This was a group of activists that I knew would take on the role and build a cohesive organisation to be out there advocating for business and representing business over these years. This was the Chamber of Commerce.

“Then there was the Chamber of Trade. Jack Murphy and Declan McChesney were the two men involved  in the Chamber of Trade that represented the traders and  shopkeepers in the town centre as it was then.

“They had separated themselves in the mid 1970's from the Chamber of Commerce . However I looked upon this as an opportunity to bring these two chambers together  into one organisation and build a good strong body and build up the membership which it is now with 350 members.

 “I managed to persuade the Chamber of Trade to become amalgamated with the Chamber of Commerce. The late Declan McChesney was my cohort. He and I got on very well together and worked together. We decided that we would put the two organisations together into the Chamber of Commerce and Trade.

“We set up a new constitution for that body maintaining the history of the old chamber and bringing everything together  and agreeing on a two year term for president.

The plan worked very well because you had good continuity as the years went on. Every two years people would come, put their back into the presidency for the two years, set out their own particular plans and agenda and try to achieve what they wanted to see in terms of growth and development.

“There was then a very strong working executive of twelve people, it is now fifteen representing all sectors of the business community.

“We then had a series of new events, the business awards, employers awards and the various networking events that we would have held over those years.

“I remained on as an executive member for all those years. I carried a fair bit of experience and was always able to bring a perspective  in terms of the history of the chamber, were it had come from and where it was going too.” 

Accomplishments

Whilst the accomplishments that Jerome has accumulated throughout his time in the Newry Chamber of Commerce are myriad according to the veteran business man some of his most proudest  accolades are the work he did during the signing of the Good Friday Agreement as well as increasing the representation of women on the Chamber.

  “During my years as president I got involved in the Good Friday Agreement which followed for the Intertrade Ireland Body. I was one of the people who campaigned for this  and for the Intertrade Ireland Body to be located here in Newry. 

“ This was the most important body that was set up under the Good Friday Agreement. It was economic, it was business. We see it now today. “This is a hugely important organisation for business across the Island of Ireland in terms of intertrade.

“ We later on campaigned for city status for the people of Newry. I was one of the people involved  in this particular  campaign as well. We set out our stall as we campaigned and we were determined to get this which we got.

“This was a surprise to everyone in Northern Ireland that we as a nationalist town would be successful in getting the city status under the Queens Golden Jubilee. This was in 2002. These were great events.  

“The other thing that I am very proud of is gender equality and the amount of women in the Chamber.

“I was there when the first female president was elected, Mary Doran,  some years ago. Since then we have had five female  presidents. We have our annual dinner which is fully inclusive. In the old days it would have been black tie men about the place and there was hardly a women in sight. This was an awful image we were portraying which I could not bear to see and I wanted to see a growth in gender equality.”

Whilst you may be able to take a man out of business you can never take the  business out of a man with Jerome sharing in the fact that in spite of his stepping away from the Newry Chamber he will still in his own words “be around” to lend a helping hand of assistance to anyone who may need it.       

Helping Hand

“I still hold the role of honorary counsel of Poland and to see the number of Polish businesses that have grown here. There is a wonderful cafe and an engineering workspace outside Newry doing great work and it is all Poles in it.

“To see this development of our area by the new communities that came after 2004 to work and live here it is absolutely phenomenal

“Seeing all this kind of growth and development, this is what I am really proud to have seen, to encourage and help  whatever way possible.

“While I am retiring from the chamber at 83 I still have good energy, and am still going to be around . I will be doing bits and pieces if anyone needs me or if they need help, advice, assistance or just to talk to.

“There is always a time when you must go and leave it to a younger generation to take over. I have been there long enough.  I am leaving a very strong chamber in very good hands with Michael Savage doing a wonderful job as a CEO.”