The new president of the Penticton and Wine Country Chamber of Commerce says that 2016 is an exciting time to take over the position.
Mike Magnusson, general manager at Lake City Casino pointed out the major projects getting underway in the city: not only the construction of a new building for the casino to move into, but the expansion of the Lakeside Resort and “most importantly,” the expansion of Penticton Regional Hospital, the largest construction project in recent decades for the community.
“It is definitely a bit of an economic boom for Penticton,” said Magnusson, who has been running Lake City Casino since 2014, working for parent company Gateway Entertainment since 2000.
“This is a new, exciting experience for me,” said Magnusson.
Magnusson is also looking forward to the chamber’s move into a new building. Ironically, that was made necessary by the casino’s new location, next to the chamber’s current location.
With the construction and expected economic boom, Magnusson said he wants to be sure that local business community benefits. It is not only attracting the workers to help fill the jobs, but also ensuring there is affordable housing available to house them.
“That is not necessarily a chamber issue, but it goes back to making sure our businesses have the tools to succeed,” said Magnusson, who also wants to spread the word about the value of being a chamber member.
Magnusson said the chamber already does a great job with networking events and the like, but they also want to reinforce the value of things like just being on the chamber directory, as well as adding new features.
“For me, it is working with the executive director to identify best practices by all the chambers in B.C. and adopting some of those to add more value to our membership,” he said.
Magnusson doesn’t expect the ongoing work of the casino move to interfere with his ability to fill his new role as chamber president, though he did ask himself that question. Much of that work, he said, will fall on the construction project team, and then on the management team.
“We have a great network of managers that take on different roles within the casino and the company,” said Magnusson.
Magnusson said that one of his goals when he came to Penticton was for the casino to support the community and celebrate that role; a goal he said will inform his work for the chamber.
“It is our community that keeps our businesses alive and prospering. I think there is certainly a moral obligation to return that favour, and to work on bettering the quality of lifestyle within the community, he said. “If the residents of Penticton and the South Okanagan are taken care of, that has a direct impact on all our businesses.”
Magnusson was elected president following the election of new directors at the chamber’s annual general meeting on March 30. Following that vote, the new directors selected the board executive at a special board meeting on April 13. Along with Magnusson as president Doug Eaton was elected as treasurer, Jennifer Taylor was elected for her second term as vice president, while Jason Cox takes on the past president role.
Chamber directors also include Alfonso Aragon of BMO Nesbitt Burns; Don Brown of Brown Benefits Agency Ltd.; Doug Dean of Grape Escapes Wine Tours; Rylan Hernberg of Next Level Marketing; Domenic Rampone of Budget Blinds; Julie Read of Wildstone Group of Companies; Diana Stirling of Loco Landing; Tracy Van Raes of Total Restoration and Daryl Clarke as an individual member.
