First Meeting with the New Board

Thursday was the first assembling of the new Board for the 2010/11 Sherwood Park Chamber of Commerce.  I am taking over as President July 1st with my first official "duty" being to wave at the families watching the Canada Day Parade next week.

The first meeting was fairly typical - a few new faces this year meeting the returning Directors from the previous year.  We discuss a few things to aim at for the coming year, look at the portfolios the Board works on over the year and divvy up the workload.  This was the first time I could remember that there was an un-filled position, so we'll have to figure out someone to take on that responsibility for the coming years.  My first challenge! :)

After the meeting we went for dinner at one of the member restaurants.  "7 6 Bistro" has recently been purchased and renamed as "Venice" so we decided to head there for dinner and allow the Board opportunity to get to know the new folks better.  Carri and I had a pizza and I think we'll be back - great food!

I think Carri really appreciated a rare chance to have Miller looked after for the evening and get out with "only adults" around.  She picked out a new outfit and met us for dinner around 5pm.  It wasn't a late night, but a few hours away from watching a hyperactive and attention-craving toddler went over quite well for her...

Looking forward to a great year with the new slate of Directors.  Grateful for the opportunity to try my hand at providing direction and leadership in the community!  Really looking forward to working with the other chambers around Alberta and across Canada -especially on the policy work we've been doing.  We also get the opportunity to play host for the 2012 Alberta Chamber AGM, so a good chunk of the planning process will fall on our laps.  We've seen some good shows put on recently by Grande Prairie and Lethbridge.  St. Albert is really pumped about hosting the AGM this year, and I think that will give us a good benchmark for our AGM in 2012. 

Also coming up is the Canadian Chamber's AGM, in Gatineau, Quebec this year.  A little nervous about the timing - it's only a few short weeks after Carri's due date.  I'm not too keen about leaving at that time, but we discussed this before making the commitment and will hope for the best.  All in all, I'm excited about what lies before me and can't wait to see how this plays out!  First interview with the press is in about 2 weeks.  Have to gather my thoughts and make sure I can convey a clear message of where we're wanting to take things in the coming year.