Right off the bat, the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce's new president admits 2023 is going to be a dicey year.
"The most important thing I, and the chamber, can do this year is to help local businesses thrive in a challenging climate," said Dan Price, who will officially become chair of the chamber's board of directors on March 31.
"There's high inflation, higher interest rates, a labour shortage, supply chain issues and increased crime downtown. What we can do is listen to chamber members and work with all levels of government to make things better."
Price, who is also the director of tax and estate planning at Sun Life Global Investments, will be sworn in as chair at the chamber's annual general meeting at the Coast Capri Hotel along with a board of 20 business and community leaders.
With this switch over, the Kelowna chamber has also gone from calling the top position 'president' to chair of the board of directors.
Because inflation, interest rates, worker shortage, supply chain and crime are also provincial, national and international issues, it seems every business organization, citizens' group and government is on the same page trying to make things better.
A recent example of how the Kelowna chamber has pitched in is the Commercial Goods Study it helped the City of Kelowna get funding for.
How commercial goods get here is part of the transportation network that links Kelowna to the rest of the world.
Chamber members have identified transportation as a key priority as the city grows.
Another key priority is addressing the labour shortage.
The worker crunch is a global problem because baby boomers are retiring at a rate faster than younger generations can replace them.
But the crisis is exacerbated in Kelowna because our pricey housing, scarcity of and high cost of daycare and general high cost of living means even workers who want to move to the city are put off.
"The reality is our cost of living is prohibitive for many," said Price.
"I have a friend who wanted to come to Kelowna, but has decided to stay in Calgary because their money goes so much farther there."
The metropolitan Kelowna area (essentially the Central Okanagan) has hit a population of 235,000 and is one of the fastest growing in Canada.
That proves the city is a desirable place to live, work, play and invest with people moving here regardless of the cost because they can afford it.
But, our growth could be even brisker if the high cost of living wasn't partially blocking the way.
Price has been on the chamber board for six years, most recently as vice-chair.
With the chamber's move-up system, the vice-chair automatically becomes chair the following year.
That means even as Price gets ready to take over the top position from Pamela Pearson of Sentes Auto Group, we know who will be chair in 2024-25 -- Maryse Harvey of MH2 Consulting.
Directors are elected annually via voting by chamber members.
Price said he's been expertly mentored to become chair by the five presidents who preceded him -- the aforementioned Pearson, Jeffery Robinson of Rush Ihas Hardwick Lawyers, Nikki Csek of Csek Creative, Carmen (Sparg) Lobsinger of Silver Lining Management Consulting and Tom Dyas of TD Benefits who was elected Kelowna's new mayor in October 2022.
The 2023-24 board:
- Chair: Dan Price, Sun Life Global Investments
- Vice-chair: Maryse Harvey, MH2 Consulting
- Past-chair (past-president): Pamela Pearson, Sentes Auto Group
- Secretary: Derek Gratz, UBCO
- Annika Betts, Sandhill Winery
- Patrick Bobyn, Pushor Mitchell Lawyers
- Daniel Bussiere, Benewealth Strategies*
- Treena Carson-Piva, Real Property Management
- Aaron Dow, Lawson Lundell Lawyers
- Sarang Gokhale, Mission Group Developments*
- Amarjit Lalli, TS Lalli Holdings (Subway franchises)*
- Paula Quinn, KF Aerospace Centre for Excellence
- Carmen Rempel, Kelowna's Gospel Mission
- Curtis Tarapaski, Acres Enterprises construction*
- Marina Warrender, KPMG consulting and accounting
- Chris Wills, Venture Commercial Realty
- Daniel Winer, Central Okanagan branch Canadian Home Builders' Association*
- four advisory positions will be appointed from the City of Kelowna, Okanagan College, Westbank First Nation and Okanagan Business Students Association
*denotes new to the board
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