The Timmins Chamber of Commerce highlighted a full year’s worth of successes for the business community during the organization’s 64th Annual General Meeting and President’s Dinner on Sept. 18.
Hosted at the Porcupine Dante Club, the event allowed more than 150 attendees to hear from immediate past president Art Pultz about the Chamber’s achievements through 2012-2013 in service of its 800 members.
This included hosting 50-plus events in order to provide education and networking sessions to local businesses, while offering more than 70 discounts to help members with their bottom line. This year also saw many advocacy victories for Chamber members on such issues as energy pricing, local development policies, and downtown development, due in part to the Timmins Chamber’s partnerships across the North and at the provincial and federal levels.
These successes also included the members’ election of a strong Board of Directors for 2013-2014, which -- along with incoming Chamber President Phil Barton of Lucid Networks -- was officially sworn in by Mayor Tom Laughren as part of the evening’s proceedings. The theme of success continued as attendees heard first-hand from keynote speaker Orlee Wertheim, head of the global mining business development team at the Toronto Stock Exchange and the TSX Venture Exchange, about the state of global mining markets.
The annual general meeting also served to recognize individuals and businesses that have made significant contributions to the Chamber and the business community.
This year’s Service Award was given to Terry DiTullio of Norfab Metal and Machine, in recognition of having dedicated six years to the Chamber’s board of directors -- the maximum amount of time someone can consecutively serve.
“Terry has been steadfast throughout these many years in providing his time, energy, and ideas to help advance the interests of businesses throughout the region,” said Pultz.
The Chamber also named Christine Leclair as the recipient of this year’s Alex Klimack Award, which serves to recognize an outstanding volunteer for their hard work and commitment not only to the Chamber but the community as a whole. As past president, Leclair has dedicated countless hours in 2012-2013 to help the Chamber build a five-year strategic plan in order to help the organization to focus more clearly on the needs of the region’s business community.
“What this means is that thanks to the hard work Christine has put into leading this project, the Chamber now has an incredibly clear view of the work that we will take on to help business,” said Pultz. “It’s also made us a much stronger organization, ensuring that we have the consistency and continuity we need to make sure our efforts are stronger, and that we can offer the best possible service to our members.”
The Chamber also offered a rare Honourary Lifetime Membership to Don Wyatt, of Wyatt Image Solutions, in recognition of his decades’ worth of service to Timmins.
Wyatt served not only as Chamber president in 1993-1994, but he has demonstrated his passion for the community before and since in spearheading countless projects. These include organizing of the Chamber’s always-successful golf tournament over 20 years, his chairing of the Ontario Chamber Convention committee in 1999, and chairing the Hospital Board.
“Today, it is for his relentless and unwavering support of the Timmins Chamber, its goals and our mission ‘to help business succeed in business’ that the Board unanimously supported the honourary lifetime membership of Don Wyatt,” said Pultz.
