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In Their Words
Alisha Benson made history last September with her appointment as the first female chief executive officer
of Greater Spokane Incorporated (GSI). The organization, which began as the Spokane Regional Chamber of
Commerce in 1893, is the driving force behind Spokane’s economic revival and ongoing expansion.
Benson comes from a small town and family that instilled two major lessons: a strong work ethic and being
more effective through teamwork. She’s used these values to steadily expand her responsibilities at GSI, where
she started as a membership manager more than 12 years ago. She recently shared her story with staff writer
Andrew Lenderman and discussed her plans for what’s next in economic development in the Inland Northwest.
Can you please tell us a bit about your background?
Absolutely. So, I grew up in a small town in Montana and went
to college at Washington State University in Pullman, where I
met my now husband. We lived on the west side of Washington
for a year, then back in Montana where I first served with
AmeriCorps VISTA and then worked for the State Department
of Health. My husband and I moved to Spokane 12 years ago,
shortly before I started in my first role at GSI.
In my roles at GSI, I’ve had the opportunity to see the
organization from all angles, from starting on the membership
side, to working in education and talent and leading our work
in that regard, to overseeing the operations of the organization,
and the strategy and economic development work. I am honored
to lead as CEO.
How does growing up in a small town, or working in
your dad’s office supply store, help you with your role
today?
In general, I owe it to my parents, and I’d even say back to my
grandparents. They instilled the work ethic and an expectation
to give it your all and to show up and do your best. Both of
my grandmothers worked in an era when it was not terribly
common. And my one grandmother — who truly is one of my
greatest influencers in my life — played on one of the first AAU
women’s basketball teams in Iowa.
Growing up in a small, rural community, people work hard to
make ends meet and to get things done. And the teamwork that’s
required, no matter what we were doing, it required groups of
people to get it done. If you tried to do everything on your own
you were going to be less successful.
So, that was my experience throughout my whole life. And
reflecting on the work that we did, and the friends that we did
it with, though you may have differences of opinions about
things, you still came together for whatever you were trying to
accomplish, whether on the basketball court or in an election, it
took everybody doing his or her part.
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It sounds like you had a pretty strong support
network as a young person. Obviously, you could
have done a lot of different things. Why did you
choose economic development work?
A f t e r g ra d u a t i o n f ro m c o l l e g e, I wa s s e e k i n g
opportunities and jobs where I could build on the kind
of work that I enjoy doing and the skills that it requires.
My work when I was in Montana was all around coalition
building and bringing diverse groups of people together,
advocacy, designing strategies that enable collaboration
and alignment. The role of the chamber, of a community
having a big idea and figuring out how to make the
impossible possible, was the kind of work that sounded
very meaningful to me. Now from the lens of leading a
business development organization, I have increased
appreciation for our communities and community
development, and the employer community is what
powers that growth.
All of those elements combined in a way for me at GSI;
I hadn’t really thrown all that together until I came and
had the opportunity to work at this kind of organization.
And I ended up, you know, as they say, drinking the Kool-
Aid and having the opportunity to create and to learn
more and dig deeper, and I ended up loving this space
that we get to lead in every day.
What motivates you?
I’d say a couple of things. On a personal level it’s my kids
and my husband.
Professionally what motivates me is the opportunity
to get up every day and lead work that’s going to create
a lasting impact on our region and our community. We
get to operate in a space that we can actually help lift up
and drive that impact. And that’s a cool space to be in and
pretty motivating.