The Rotary Club welcomed Lisa Kowalchuk to the meeting today.  Lisa has been the Executive Director of the Chamber for slightly over 10 years, and has been a significant force in the Chambers amazing performance at the Provincial and Federal levels.  The local chamber has been recognized as the Alberta "Chamber of the Year" 3 times in the last 10 years, most recently in 2018.  The Chamber of Commerce has been around since 1900 and has had to adapt to grow and prosper in this changing society.  there are 870 members of the MH Chamber, and over 25,000 in chambers across the province.

 

 

Lisa mentioned that one of her current Board members is Rotarian Sara Koch, who was in the audience and she acknowledged the contributions of a number of Rotary members to the success of the Chamber over the years.  She talked about the goals of the Chamber, some of the challenges of a small chamber and a number (and it was a significant number) of accomplishments over the past year.  Lisa spoke about the makeup of the chamber and how that has shifted over the past 10 years.  As well, they want to be a credible advisor, to their members and to governments at all levels.  That means their approach has to be balanced and to the benefit of the entire community.

 

 

Lisa answered several questions from the audience and was presented with a Rotary "Medalta" half-full coffee mug by Mike Christie.  Lisa's presentation in "pdf" form is available on the club website under club documents and presentations.