The face of the Grande Prairie and District Chamber of Commerce has changed, but only slightly.
Shawna Miller is now Past Chair, while former First Vice-Chair Cody Beairsto has been acclaimed as Chair, and Second Vice-Chair Jordan Menzies takes his spot.
Beairsto of Beairsto and Associates says he’s looking forward to the year ahead, working with a board that has the right mix of ages and businesses.
“We have a young and youthful board and it’s mixed in with some very experienced people as well. We get to tackle some of these issues, and doing it representing what Grande Prairie is; it’s a busy town, it’s a population that’s an average of 29.7 [years old].”
Rob Petrone, Noel Roberts, Chris Seppol, and Richard VanderZee are returning for their second terms on the board, while Wade Pilat, Joe Renooy, Cheryl Weaver and Dan Wong filled the vacant spots.
Beairsto says the challenges he expects to face are the same ones facing the chamber for the past century, like transportation and resources, but notes that labour continues to be a big issue for Grande Prairie.
Shawna Miller held the Chair position for the past two years, and feels they got a lot done in that time, including work on the Temporary Foreign Worker program and labour issues.
“We’re constantly talking to elected officials about these changes; we haven’t quite gotten where we wanted, but we’re staying on top of it, and that in itself is a huge accomplishment with a program like this that is constantly changing.”
2015 also marks the chamber’s 100th anniversary, and there will be several events to mark the occasion.