Under the stewardship of biotech executive-turned-business consultant Michael S. Jones, the Crenshaw Chamber of Commerce has gone from just four members in 2005 to nearly 260 today.

To use a sports analogy, it was quite a baptism by fire for the seven-year president and chief executive officer: his ascension to the job mirrored that of the assistant coach forced to step up after the head coach abruptly resigns.

In an interview with The Wave, Jones recalled that he threw his hat into the ring when he and some fellow business colleagues produced a set of written recommendations to help the organization get back on track.

“One of the first things we recommended was to get a new president and new offices,” he recalled.

“The board followed our advice and the new president was elected. I believe he read the report and the next day he quit — so he was there for like a day. To this day I don’t quite know why. Maybe it was too much, or there were too many issues.

“But I felt very concerned about this very important business organization because of the need in our community. So, I threw my name in. By that December we made up new brochures and had 12 members, and as of right now, even with the economic downturn when we lost quite a few members, we have nearly 260 now.”

Born and raised in South Los Angeles, having attended La Cienega Elementary School, Mount Vernon Junior High and becoming “a proud” graduate of Dorsey High School, Jones, 56, went on to receive a degree in biology at Pacific University in Portland, Oregon.

His early professional career mixed working as an executive in Kansas for the pharmaceutical firm of Burroughs Wellcome (now GlaxoSmithKline) and as a pastor through his “love” of the ministry.

The biology grad had also set up his own company, Success Management, a business and professional coaching consultancy to help people achieve their goals and dreams.

Jones returned to L.A. in 1998 and promptly married his high school sweetheart from Dorsey, who teaches French at his alma mater. The Dorsey connection also sees him volunteer as part of a group called Motivated Men who patrol the halls in suits and ties to help make sure kids get to their classes on time.

Jones’ relationship with the chamber initially came through his role as a manager with the Crenshaw Family YMCA, which was affiliated to the development organization.

“Our services offer a number of benefits — which include business mixers, referrals, new member receptions, guest speakers and political access,” said Jones, who receives a small stipend for his duties.

“The membership includes everyone from micro businesses that work out of their home, entrepreneurs, community organizations, all the way up to big box corporations like Walmart.”

He added: “But, the thing we’re most proud of is called electronic economic development. It’s a term we coined for our new website, crenshawchamber.com. It’s been around for about two years, and it’s so powerful in the things it can do. When you go there you are so connected — we’re almost like the Google of Crenshaw.”

According to Jones, the site has had over three million unique hits in the last  year, and helps to promote its members via member coupons, advertising pages, company templates, search engine optimization, business directories, e-blasts and more.

“I’m not only hopeful, but confident that this is going to be a major destination for the City of L.A.,” he said. “We have the light rail traversing across the community with the Expo and the Crenshaw/LAX lines. That will bring a lot of transit-oriented development.

“The Crenshaw Baldwin Hills Plaza is becoming a place of opulence; there’s the first class quality of the Rave Cinemas, and you walk through the mall now and it’s clean and pristine and attracting new bunsiness owners.”

Photo: Crenshaw Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Michael S. Jones points out the benefits of the organization's new website. Credit: Olu Alemoru