From left to right, Howard Levine, Jim Wyant, Zvi Shapiro, Mike Polak, Paolo Vena and Stephen Hindelang Montreal's WIT ("West Island Team") Chapter was founded in February 1999 by Zvi Shapiro and Howard Levine. In its earliest days, WIT met at the Days Inn in St-Laurent and a frequent topic of discussion was whether the group would ever grow so large that it would require a “real” meeting room.   WIT initially thrived before surging to over thirty members under the leadership of Mike Polak (today a member of the BNI International Board of Advisors). In its second year, the Chapter went through a retrenchment period when numbers dropped to under twenty. With Zvi and Howard back at the helm, WIT gradually regained momentum and made it back to over thirty members.   Since then, the Chapter has been growing steadily. A determined new-member drive under Stephen Hindelang's leadership drove membership from the low thirties to almost sixty. Jim Wyant, who succeeded Stephen as President in 2002, focused the effort of his leadership team on developing structures and protocols that could support the huge membership. During Paolo Vena’s marathon two-year term at the helm, WIT made it as high as seventy nine members before stabilizing at around seventy, a number it held to during Steve Schmidt’s leadership.   Today, with over seventy members, WIT remains Canada's ... indeed, the World's ... largest BNI Chapter! In a typical week, the members of WIT will exchange over 120 referrals, host ten or more visitors and report over 60 dance cards ("B.B.I.'s"). Meetings open each week with a half hour for open networking, starting at 6.30 a.m. The formal part of the meeting begins at 7.00 a.m. and, by 8.30 a.m., President Ali Mohammadi is bringing things to a close.    When asked what makes WIT work, Zvi Shapiro points to the leaders, official and "unofficial", all of whom strive to prevent the development of competing groups within the Chapter. Howard Levine takes great pride in the strong organization that WIT has developed and is quick to credit the contribution of successive executive teams to making the Chapter what it is today. Mike Polak notes the importance of a strong and active membership committee - WIT's has eight members and meets weekly - and an effective, dedicated member development team, focused on rapidly training new members to be fully operational in short order.   As or the future, Zvi is quick to point out that some predicted doom at fifty members less than two years ago, "So," he says, "who knows?!" - Web Hosting by Global Access Tech. - Web Design by Global Access Tech. - Copyright ©2008 - bniwit.com