Two new board members elected to business chamber

Two new members have been elected to the board of the Southland Business Chamber.

Kate French, co-owner of The Batch Café, and Melissa Dykes, co-owner of Fi Innovations, are the successful candidates in an election contested by a record 16 candidates.

“It was good to see the high level of interest from a wide range of candidates, representing different industries, for the vacancies this year, and we welcome Kate and Melissa to the board,” president Neil McAra said.

Chamber chief executive Sheree Carey said both Dykes and French being business owners would be good for the board.

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“It means our SME (small and medium-sized) business owners have strong representation from a board that understands the challenges of having to make tough decisions with their own money, and the support required by the chamber, especially in the economic environment we’re currently facing.”

The 2023/2024 elected board members and their companies were McAra (Findex) as president, Reece McDonald (Good Tech Team), Simon Owen, (The Orange Sheep), Helen Robinson (Hawthorndale Care Village), Chris Hughes (McLeay Precision Engineering), French and Dykes.

The two members that resigned were Rod Sinclair (Focus Technologies), Carla Harper (FMG).

French and Dykes would be formally inducted at the chamber annual general meeting on April 4.

The 2023/2024 appointed board members were Nigel Gear (South Port), Mark McLean (SBS Bank), Richard Gray (Fonterra), Chris Blenkiron (NZAS), Bronnie Chamberlain (Fiordland Business Association).

Appointed board member Carla Forbes (Naked Creative) had resigned.

The Southland Business Chamber was established by business leaders 160 years ago.