The votes are in, and the Whistler Chamber of Commerce is set to welcome a new board come 2019.
The local chamber had four board positions to fill for a three-year term. Incumbents Brady Smith, executive director of the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre, and Tess Evans, founder and director of HR Galaxy, were re-elected to the board. Smith will serve as the incoming chair of the board, replacing Theresa Walterhouse of BDO Canada.
Newly elected directors Matt Woods, president and director of Coastal Mountain Excavations, and Sarah McCullough, the director of community and government relations for Whistler Blackcomb, are the fresh faces on the board.
Come Jan. 1, they will join existing board members Walterhouse; Andrea Bischoff of Work BC; Bruce MacMillan of Whistler Sports Legacies; Colin Hedderson of Aava Whistler Hotel; James Kirkwood of Kirkwood Consulting; Sarah Strother of Pique Newsmagazine and Whistler Publishing; and Nick Papoutsis of BlueShore Financial.
Whistler Chamber CEO Melissa Pace commended the breadth of the incoming board.
"We are heading into 2019 with a really strong board," she said, adding that the scope of the directors' experience gives the Chamber a powerful voice not only locally and provincially, but at the national level as well.
The board of directors is responsible for setting the direction of the resort's largest business organization and "empowering our organization to elevate Whistler's businesses," Pace said.
The Chamber's membership voted to confirm the 2019 board of directors at its annual general meeting on Nov. 22. The new directors will be sworn in at the board's first meeting in January.
