President's Message by Chris Browne 

 

 

I have found my year as President of the Penticton & Wine Country Chamber of Commerce very rewarding. As President I became far more aware of the issues faced by businesses and the community at large.

We begin each year with a visioning exercise in which we develop a set of goals that we believe can be accomplished within the next year.  Once those goals have been agreed upon, we create an action plan to allow us to move forward throughout the year. The visioning exercise assists us in keeping to our vision of being a dynamic, trusted and respected business authority that drives economic and social growth and improvement on behalf of our members and the community at large.

Some of those lofty goals were: 

We had a diversified Board that brought expertise from all areas of the business community to the table. We were represented at many community events, Council and other association meetings. We make every effort to be out in the community as much as possible to ensure that we have the proper knowledge to allow us to be confident in our decision making process.

Our networking events have greatly improved with a higher number of attendees. Our communication has improved with many articles, press releases and letters to the editor.

We believe we have made a diference in the community. Our Chamber is a great organization and we would like to see more of our members involved in making decisions that clearly affect our community.

I have have appreciated working with the Chamber staff - Lorraine Renyard, Wayne Tebbutt, Susie Latham, Kelly Reid, Kerry Stansfield, Aaron McRann, Andrea Davison, Lisa Mueksch and Darlene Culbert. I would like to thank them for their efforts during the year.

I was very lucky to have so many great directors sitting with me around the Boardroom table. I thank them immensely for all their hard work and input. They are Past President Judy Poole, President-Elect Randy Kowalchuk, Vice-President Jason Cox, David Newman, Peter Benson, Cary Schneiderat, Jo-Anne Canal, Bob Van Balkom, Cliff Bristow, Colin Buckingham, Deborah O'Mara, Dan Albas and Rene Carloni.

2007 Annual General Meeting Reports

Thinking about Hiring? 

1. Know what the job is. Take the time to write down a detailed job description and ask for input from other staff.
2. Define the qualifications. Identify the "must have" skills for the position. These might include personality traits, education or previous work experience.
3. Look in the right places. Seventy-five percent of small businesses rely on referrals when looking for new employees - it's an effective screening process you can generally trust. This is where JobWave can help you. We are your local network to candidates who are pre-screened to your criteria. These candidates are interviewed for exceptional attitude by JobWave placement coordinators who understand BC small business.

To find out about hiring through JobWave, call 1-888-JOBWAVE or your Penticton Employer Solutions Representative, Don Strang at 276-1002.