Goodbye (for now) from Sheena Miller, Chamber Manager
August 25, 2020
I found it an invaluable experience to assist our board in hiring a passionate and community service minded leader to continue to advance our Chamber priorities. Jill Barrowman will work hard to represent your business needs, challenges, and ideas in this coming year.
What a fast moving, fascinating and, with the Covid-19 experience, rather unusual chamber year it has been! Thank you for your confidence in me and for allowing me the opportunity to work closely with you in addressing a long list of important chamber initiatives. Together, we have achieved a great deal. As I reflect on the work we have done since I began my position with the chamber last August, I am proud and highly satisfied with our shared work in the following areas:
- Increasing Chamber membership (40 new members!)
- Raising membership value through new events, advocacy priorities, one-on-one membership support
- Unique Member and Community Roundtables
- Enhancing Chamber fundraising: increased sponsorship revenue
- Targeting social media presence, optimized communications
- Elevating Chamber outreach and community engagement
- Strengthening media partnerships
- Record attendance at various Chamber events including the All-Candidates Debate and Community & Business awards
Planning creative Chamber events and projects: GoByBike Business Tour, New Business Reception, Virtual Canada Day, and collaboration on many more events
- Refining advocacy efforts and policy development with the BC Chamber, Northern Chamber network and our government stakeholders
- Supporting action items on several roundtables and committees including: Economic Transitions Team, Northern Economic Chamber Roundtable, Bridging, Bulkley Valley Social Planning, and Tourism Smithers to name a handful; and
- Prioritizing and executing strategic planning for Chamber operations
- While it has been extremely busy behind the scenes during Covid, I welcomed the challenge and opportunity of pivoting over to support our members day and night through increased advocacy, action, communication, and outreach. While you might not always see or understand the behind the scenes operation of the Chamber, I know you appreciate the immense amount of work that goes into supporting and improving our business community. Representing our business community and greater community is a significant responsibility. Never has a Chamber been so valuable or played such a critical and dynamic role to advocate for you, our valued business network. Please know that your membership support is more important than ever. Your membership support powers our office to power you!
The passionate and dynamic participation of our chamber members makes me confident that our chamber will continue to work hard to elevate our business community, while navigating this unique and unusual time. Well into phase 3 of Covid recovery, we know that resilience, recovery, and continuity remain at the forefront of our daily thinking and strategic planning at our office. While we continue to navigate the new normal in an unknown economic future, we all know the value of collaboration, connectivity, and support for one another. Recognizing this, our Chamber has responded strategically, creating new task forces, advocacy priorities and a newly refined dynamic service model where we are committed to helping you grow and transition through whatever the future brings!
For now, I prepare to temporarily leave the Chamber in competent, caring and highly skilled hands. With much excitement, I say farewell for now as I (and my family) prepare to welcome a new baby girl in early September. I will be monitoring and responding to emails over the month of August. As always, please reach out with questions, concerns and comments - before I’m officially on duty at my “other” new job!!
It’s been a pleasure to represent our Chamber network in the past year and I look forward to returning to my role in the months ahead. Take care, be calm, be safe, be kind, be exceptional everyone!
Sincerely, Sheena Miller
