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They cover 42 years of being passionate about making Kelowna a better place to do business, work, live and play.
They are the 15 past-presidents and the current president of the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce who attended yesterday's Kelowna Chamber Past Presidents breakfast at the Hotel Eldorado.
The past-prez in attendance who served the longest ago was Gerry Gee from 1980, thus the 42-year timeline right up to current president Pamela Pearson, who is also the director of operations at Sentes Automotive.
Because of a COVID pause, this was the first such gathering in two years, so there was a lot to catch up on.
Pearson brought past presidents up to speed on the biggest issues facing the chamber and society currently -- inflation, labour shortage and post-pandemic recovery.
Other parts of the chamber's three-year strategic plan were also discussed, including lobbying for a North End Kelowna bypass road and a second bridge spanning from the Westside to Kelowna to link into that bypass.
Each president was also asked for the highlight of their tenure.
Brad Cronquist mentioned the groundwork being laid for UBC Okanagan during his presidency in 2002.
James Paterson saw the new Bennett Bridge open and the toll booths on the Coquihalla Highway closed in 2008.
And Steve Thomson, who was prez in 1998 and would go on to be the Liberal MLA for Kelowna-Mission, 2009-2020, including a stint as minister of agriculture, was proud of agricultural land protection and programs during his presidency.
Over the Kelowna chamber's 116-year history, 103 men and women have served as president.
The first was Daniel Wilbur Sutherland, 1906-08, who was a city councillor when Kelowna first formed in 1905 and would also go on to be mayor 1907-08, 1910-11 and 1917-29.
He, obviously, wasn't at the past-presidents breakfast because he died in 1931 at the age of 66.
The first woman president was Marion Bremner in 1985.
Bremner wasn't at the past-presidents breakfast, but she was at the Kelowna Business Excellence Awards in March, where she was named 'business leader of the year.'
Here's the list of everyone that's served as Kelowna Chamber of Commerce president over the organization's 116-year history.
Daniel Wilbur Sutherland - 1906-08
W.A. Pitcairn - 1909
P. Dumoulin - 1910
J.W. Jones - 1911
R.B. Kerr - 1912
A.W. Bowser - 1913
S.T. Elliott - 1914
W.G. Benson - 1915
E.M. Carruthers - 1916
H.F. Rees - 1917
W. Haug - 1918
W.A. Pitcairn - 1919
L.V. Rogers - 1920
H.F. Rees - 1921
W.E. Adams - 1922
G. Stirling - 1923-24
A.G. McCosh - 1925
W.R Trench - 1926-27
N.M Foulkes - 1928
T.G. Norris - 1929-30
G.A. Meikle - 1931-32
J.H. Horn - 1933
J.H. Horn/D. Chapman - 1934
D.Chapman - 1935
S.T. Miller - 1936
W.A.C. Bennett - 1937-38
D.C. Paterson - 1939-40
R.G. Rutherford - 1941-42
R. Whillis - 1943-44
J.D. Whitham - 1945
W.T.L. Roadhouse - 1946
R.P. MacLean - 1947
T.Greenwood - 1948
F.N. Gisborne - 1949
J.I. Monteith - 1950
C.G. Beeston - 1951
H.V. Faulkner - 1952
G.D. Imrie - 1953
J.K. Campbell - 1954
W.B. Hughes-Games - 1955
C.E.R. Bazett - 1956
C.D. Gaddes - 1957
H.S Harrison-Smith - 1958
A.R. Pollard - 1959
L.H. Leathley - 1960
R.H. Wilson - 1961
J.B. Smith - 1962
T.C. McLaughlin - 1963
R.L. Sharp - 1964
J.C. Foote - 1965
Bill Bennett - 1966
Ken Harding - 1967
N.B. Winsby - 1968
Gordon Hirtle - 1969
W.G. Knutson - 1970
R.S. Alexander - 1971
D.A. Chapman - 1972
Lawrence Salloum - 1973
J.L. Gordon - 1974
C. M. Stringer - 1975
Roger I. Cottle -1976
Dale Hammill - 1977
Jim Doak - 1978
Gordon W. Tovell - 1979
Gerry Fee -1980
Walter Gray - 1981/1982
Nick Frost - 1983
Larry Chalmers - 1984
Marion Bremner - 1985
Jim Mills - 1986
Norm Stevenson - 1987
Paul Mitchell - 1988
Robert Guy - 1989
Frank Bechard - 1990
Dean Cooper - 1991
Bruce C. Dionne - 1992
Rick Howard - 1993
Stafford McKergow - 1994
John Marritt - 1995
Cathy Comben - 1996
Lorne Ettinger - 1997
Steve Thomson - 1998
Dave Rush - 1999
Todd Sanderson - 2000
Lorraine McGrath - 2001
Brad Cronquist - 2002
Ken Ficocelli - 2003
Ken Bessason - 2004
David MacLean - 2005
Kevin Crookes - 2006
Laura Thurnheer - 2007
James Paterson - 2008
Norm Lecavalier - 2009
Wes Shields - 2010
Karen Hawes - 2011-12
David Bond - 2013
Curtis Darmohray - 2014
Ken Carmichael - 2015
Tom Dyas - 2016-17
Carmen Sparg - 2018
Nikki Csek - 2019
Jeffrey Robinson - 2020-21
Pamela Pearson - 2022
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