Duane Hicks
After 11 years as Chamber manager, Dawn Booth is leaving the post.
Booth, who last day on the job was today, is starting a position with Service Ontario, located in the local Ministry of Natural Resources’ building, on Monday.
Booth, who first started as Chamber manager back on May 19, 1998, said her tenure has been a very positive experience.
“This job has been fantastic,” she remarked. “I have learned a lot, and met a lot of great people and been able to work with a lot of great people over the years.
“I absolutely love the job,” she enthused. “All of the different things I got to do were awesome.
“It’s lots of fun.”
Booth noted the role of Chamber manager entails many different duties—ranging from public relations, marketing, and project and event planning to bookkeeping and working with the board of directors.
As such, she never found herself doing the same things day after day.
“I learned lots of different skills—there was lots of learning and lots of fun stuff,” Booth said.
Taking some time to reflect on all the events she’s been a key organizer for over the years, Booth noted she’s worked on 11 home and leisure shows, 12 or 13 “Quest for the Bests,” and 10 business awards banquets.
She also offered a few words of advice for her successor: “It’s a fun job. Just take things as they come and go with the flow.”
Chamber president Cathy Emes said yesterday that Booth will be greatly missed.
“We’re losing a lot of experience and a lot of knowledge, but we’re excited for her new opportunity,” she remarked.
Gary Rogozinski’s 10-year involvement with the Chamber, including two years as president, began not too long after Booth started there. He said she “was invaluable to the Chamber, and it’s going to be really tough to replace her.”
“She had so many years of experience and was so diligent in her work,” he lauded. “She spent a lot of time organizing events and making sure they went over successfully.
“It takes a lot of dedication to do that.
“She pretty well did everything. She managed the books, managed the finances, ran the events, found new directors, trained new directors, kept everybody up to speed,” Rogozinski added.
“She is a very hard-working person and good to work with. It will be tough without her.
“She really made it into a good Chamber,” he continued. “We went through some tough times and we had quite a few good times in that time period. She’ll be tough to replace.
“I wish her all the best at the new job. I know she’ll do great at it.
“But it’s tough shoes to fill,” he reiterated.
Emes said the Chamber hopes to hire a new manager as soon as possible since it’s an important job and one that involves more dedication than Chamber volunteers can handle.
“We have relied on Dawn to do so much for us, and we all have full-time jobs, too,” she noted.
“We’re interested in someone who is interested in our community, and enjoys doing a variety of jobs,” added Emes.
“You’ll get to interact with three levels of government, and a lot of the business people, not only in Rainy River District but in Northwestern Ontario.”
The deadline to apply is 4:30 p.m. next Friday (July 17).
