The Penticton and Wine Country Chamber of Commerce is heading into 2015 with a newly elected board.
The new board of directors was elected at the chamber’s annual general meeting on March 26 at the Ramada Penticton.
The first order of business for the 13 new directors was electing the board executives. The election took place on April 1, with Jason Cox returning for his third term as President.
Cox’s first term was in 2009 and he served as president for the second time in 2011. This year marks his 10th consecutive year on the board.
“It feels good, it’s exciting. Having been around that table as long as I have, I’ve seen and had the opportunity to work with a lot of strong boards and this incoming board has a good mix of experienced returning board members and some new faces and voices around the table,” Cox said. “I’m excited to work with this group.”
Cox plans to bring continuous improvement for the chamber looking at systems throughout the organization to make things work better internally for the board and externally for members.
The board will also be taking part in a governance workshop in late April to learn the ins and outs of the position.
Cox said the chamber is rolling out a mentorship program this year where more experienced board members will work with newer members.
“It will bring people along and develop the leaders we have around the table into long term commitment to the chamber and their own leadership in the future,” Cox said.
On the membership side, Cox said the board is actively looking to improve relationships through a process started 10 months ago called member outreach. The process involves reaching out to the chamber businesses, either by phone or in person, to have conversations about what’s going on in the community, what’s going on in their business.
“It’s sort of an environmental scan to see what we can be doing as a community organization to make things better for the business community and the economic climate,” Cox said.
Cox will be joined on the board by Andrew Nendick, who was elected for his second term as treasurer, Jennifer Taylor was elected vice president and Ernie Blumke will return as past president for 2015.
“I’m honoured to be elected to this position. I’m excited to take a leadership role in moving the chamber forward as the dynamic, trusted and respected business organization that it is, driving economic and social growth on behalf and in support of our member,” said Taylor, newly elected vice president.
The new board members are Chris Boehm, Burger 55; Don Brown, Brown Benefits Agency Ltd.; Daryl Clarke, individual member; Doug Dean, Grape Escapes Wine Tours; Doug Eaton, Locke Property Management Ltd.; Rylan Hernbert, Next Level Marketing; Corey Jessup, The Sandman Hotel Penticton; Keith MacIntyre, Big Bear Software Inc.; Michael Magnusson, Lake City Casino Penticton; Chris Marte, Royal Lepage Locations West Realty; Mark Melissen, Wildstone Construction and Engineering Ltd.; Nendick, White Kennedy Chartered Accountants and Taylor, Taylormade Ideas.
The handover to the new board will commence with a governance training seminar before the first official board meeting on April 29.