Cathy Welta-Eagles is the new president of the Chamber of Commerce, and is looking forward to working with the business community of Estevan during the upcoming year.
鈥淚 absolutely love the position I have received and I am looking forward to my year as the president of the Chamber of Commerce,鈥� said Welta-Eagles.
Welta-Eagles was elected as the chamber鈥檚 president during the organization鈥檚 annual general meeting on March 14 at the Western Star Hotel.
When Welta-Eagles was asked the skills from her current job, working as the commercial account manager with the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), and how those would translate to the role of president, she said communicating and working with businesses are part of her job at RBC.
Welta-Eagles spoke very highly of the business community of Estevan and the challenges they have faced in recent years.
鈥淛ust the fact that we have so much support from them, we always want to hear from our businesses, I think speaks volumes about Estevan,鈥� said Welta-Eagles. 鈥淭he recent changes that have occurred with taxes at the federal level is absolutely always on the forefront of our minds so we can best serve the Estevan business community.
鈥淭hey did pull back a fair amount. Some changes were made, which was very good because we have a lot of small business in Estevan that would have been affected by those changes in a negative way.鈥�
Welta-Eagles noted that a big part of her role with the chamber is making sure the business community stays viable, while attracting new businesses and keeping the currently ones around.
鈥淚 think the business community in Estevan is actually amazing, I think that we have a wealth of knowledge and we have business owners that have been in business for 25 years to 50 years. Everybody has expertise in something and Estevan is always willing to share that with each other,鈥� said Welta-Eagles. 鈥淭hat is what makes us great because we can pull together as a community.鈥�
Welta-Eagles noted that her experience working with the RBC will be useful for the chamber and Estevan as a whole.
鈥淚 think I can bring a lot of understanding. I hear a lot of business pain points from working with RBC and I can bring those to light with the chamber,鈥� said Welta-Eagles.
鈥淚t is important to have conversations between different levels of government to ensure that everyone understands how important it is keep the communication going,鈥� she added.
Serving as president will have different roles and responsibilities compared to when she was the vice-president or a board member, but Eagles is looking forward to those challenges.聽
鈥淐omparing vice-president to president, I will be able to interact more with our executive director and be able to attend more chamber related events. I know some of those will be with Jackie (executive director Jackie Wall) and I will be doing more travelling around the province this year,鈥� said Eagles.
