The Medicine Hat Rotary Club was delighted to welcome back, the leader of our local Chamber of Commerce, Lisa Dressler. Lisa has been the Executive Director of the SEAC since 2009. and has led the local chamber at a Provincial and National level. Lisa began her talk by explaining some of the changes we would see in the graphics and the workload that the local chamber has taken on. They have expanded their footprint, and now look after the business community in Medicine Hat, Cypress County, Redcliff, Brooks, Bassano, County of Newell, Duchess and Rosemary. Their territory now covers almost 20,000 sq km and a population of 105,000. That has been a big change!!
The Medicine Hat Board of Trade was founded on May 28, 1900 under the Boards of Trade Act by a group of business people including bankers, barristers, ranchers, merchants, contractors, physicians, a hotelier, lumber dealer and a butcher. Over the years, the Chamber has been known as the Medicine Hat Chamber of Commerce, the Medicine Hat & District Chamber of Commerce and in 2024, transitioned to the Southeast Alberta Chamber of Commerce. Since that time, this member-based organization has been the voice of the business community and has always stood for promoting business, monitoring government and championing managed growth in the local economy.
The chamber has three pillars of their work; connect, support and influence. These fit nicely into their mission, "Our Mission is to be an essential source of information and solutions to strengthen our community as a catalyst for growth, uniting business, driving leadership and fuelling success through our connections, support and influence."
You can get involved as a business owner by supporting the chamber or keeping in touch by subscribing to their newsletter at https://www.southeastalbertachamber.ca/publications. They have a weekly newsletter called "The Voice", and we all love our Newsletters!! The Chamber also puts on a number of events throughout the year, probably most notably the annual "Spring Trade" show, which will be March 7 - 9, 2025.
Lisa also advised that they are hosting the Alberta Chambers of Commerce conference here from May 29-30 with our 125th Anniversary Celebration for our Chamber.
Lisa was thanked for her presentation and her work on behalf of the community by President Mike. He presented her with our Rotary Mug (manufactured locally at Medalta) and we are sure to welcome her back in the future.