With big shoes to fill, Dan Ayotte is ready for the year ahead.
Outgoing Timmins Chamber president Rob Knox has handed the reins of the board to Ayotte, who will be officially sworn in during the organization's annual meeting in September.
Knox said quite a few things were accomplished over the last year. The ongoing Reimagining Resiliency series, live events returning, and relaunching the Find it in Timmins campaign are some of the highlights.
Another notable change is the decision to sell the Chamber building across from the McIntyre Community Centre. The historic building was the former McIntyre Mine physician's home.
"With our rebranding and refocus on business needs, we felt the best decision was to move the building along and fortunately a Chamber member purchased the building from the Chamber … and we’re relocating to the corner of Pine and Algonquin in the City of Timmins,” said Knox.
The business organization is moving to the Scotiabank building at the corner of Pine Street South and Algonquin. With the building sold and the new location still undergoing work, Chamber staff is temporarily working remotely.
Knox noted that the pandemic allowed people to pivot and work from home while still providing services and doesn't think people will see any interruptions to the Chamber's programs or quality of service during the transition.
While Ayotte's a little nervous about the year ahead, he's looking forward to keeping the momentum going.
Getting out of the pandemic is one of the biggest challenges in the coming months.
"So far it looks pretty good, things are opened and opening so I’m hoping everything keeps going. Getting … people together in a room I think is very important and hopefully we can keep doing that,” he said.
Knox is confident Ayotte has what it takes to be the Chamber president.
From committee involvement to interacting with business owners and getting to the heart of what's going on, Knox said Ayotte is a natural.
“I think (he'll) have success because of his own business prowess and the fact that he’s leading a successful business himself gives him the confidence to talk to businesses that might not be doing as well or have something to offer in which he can glean from them and share with the members in our Chamber,” he said.
