229889
228935
Kamloops  

Kamloops entrepreneur named chair of BC Chamber of Commerce

Familiar face at BC Chamber

A familiar face has been sworn in as the new chair of the BC Chamber of Commerce board of directors.

Aleece Laird, a Kamloops resident and owner of Amplify Consulting Inc., takes over the volunteer role. It was previously held by the Lower Mainland's Kristine Simpson.

Laird was the president of the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce in 2014 and joined the BC Chamber board in 2016. She was a director for her first two years and vice-chair last year. The provincial organization represents 125 chambers and boards of trade (roughly 36,000 B.C. businesses).

"For me, as a small business owner from Kamloops, it’s actually incredibly humbling to have this role," Laird tells Castanet. "I love it because I'm representing the people that I work with every day. That’s pretty awesome because we can make some pretty significant change for the business environment."

Laird was nominated for the position by Deb McClelland, former executive director of the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce.

"Deb believed in me and that was very wonderful of her to do so. It was quite lovely to be nominated."

It's certainly a challenging time for business, Laird says, pointing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Top of mind for her during her year-long term is holding meaningful conversations.

"Not only at our board table but across our network; it’s going to very helpful for our chamber community to drive change the we need to see for businesses to not only survive but thrive. ... In my incoming chair speech, I really asked the membership to be generous and to give us their thoughts and their engagement at our regional roundtables, where we discuss policy with provincial government leaders," she explains, noting chamber survey feedback is another important tool.

She's also asked chamber members to take advantage of any event opportunities in their region. The more dialogue, the better, Laird says.

"We have to have such open ears to listen to people and their struggles so that we can actually help them."



More Kamloops News

233021