New president on board
Rory Francis takes over job with chamber of commerce
The Greater Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce announced its board of directors for 2017-18 at the chamber’s annual general meeting recently.
Rory Francis, of P.E.I. BioAlliance was sworn in as the chamber’s 112th president.
Since 2004 he has been executive director of the P.E.I. BioAlliance, a not-for-profit network of bioscience businesses, academic and research organizations, and government agencies. From 1991 to 2003 Francis held deputy minister positions in several provincial government departments.
Francis is a member of the Canadian BioAccord and serves as a board member with the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute, the Atlantic Chamber of Commerce, the Food Island Partnership, the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, and is president of the Eastern Canada Oilseeds Development Alliance. He chairs the advisory board for the Culinary Institute of Canada’s Technology Access Centre at Holland College.
Francis is joined on the executive by Jennifer Evans, first vice-president, Ocean 100/Hot 105.5; Dawn Binns, second vicepresident, Insight Brand & Marketing Studio; Blair Corkum, vice-president finance, Blair Corkum Financial Planning Inc.; and Pam Williams, past president, Cox & Palmer.
In addition, nine members of the board of directors were confirmed: Darcy MacNeill, Earthform Corp.; Adam Runge, Invesco Enterprise Services; Jeff Murphy, Murphy’s Pharmacies; Matthew McMillan, MacPherson Roche Smith & Associates; Colin Younker, The Spa Total Fitness Centre; Barb Smith, Stewart McKelvey; Ashlee London, Elanco Canada Ltd.; Mike Cronkhite, TD Bank Financial Group; Doug Ezeard, Arsenault Best Cameron Ellis.
“The chamber serves as the voice of business locally, regionally and nationally for close to 1000 members,” said Francis. “We accomplish this through advocacy efforts, by providing education and networking opportunities, and by celebrating the many successes of our local business community. I look forward to working with the board of directors, chamber members and all our partners to grow our local economy.”