From left to right: Brett Wells, Brenda Byers, Marlene Goldberg, and Patty Hughes. (Prince Albert and District Chamber of Commerce/Facebook)

By Nick Nielsen

2 New Directors

Getting to know the new members of the Prince Albert Chamber of Commerce

Nov 6, 2024 | 5:23 PM

Some new faces have joined on to the Prince Albert Chamber of Commerce, ready to help businesses grow and find success here in their community.

Brenda Byers is stepping up in the role of chair from her current role as the vice chair, while Marlene Goldberg and Brett Wells are joining the Board of Directors for the first time.

Starting with Byers, she is excited to see what their new additions will be able to bring to the Chamber of Commerce moving forward. She owns the company BIT Consulting, a consulting firm that helps small businesses with their IT and digital strategies.

Similar to her work, Byers is impressed with the way the Chamber of Commerce has worked in the past to connect businesses together and share their ideas on how to improve each other’s processes. She’s impressed with what the Chamber has been able to accomplish in their last few years, and shared praise for CEO Patty Hughes for her ability to connect with the provincial government.

“Patty Hughes, our CEO, is fantastic at ensuring those concerns are voiced at a provincial level and has done a great job in ensuring that the request for keeping that corporate tax and business tax low in the province. That has been I think a real success. Plus, the Chamber’s ability to cooperate and collaborate with the City of Prince Albert, I think has been a real success over the last couple of years.”

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Goldberg works her day job in the business financial services department at RBC, so she comes in already having experience in helping businesses grow and succeed in Prince Albert.

“I think it’s really important to advocate for businesses and to be a part of the community. Our businesses are what bring to life our city and so to be a part of that and to help grow and assist in any way I can is really just what I wanted to do and be for our businesses. So that’s what my primary was, and just to be a big support.

In her line of work, Goldberg helps advise business owners on how to manage their money best to complete projects and grow their business. She has helped a lot of businesses find funding that they may not have known was available to them, and she hopes to bring that knowledge to the Chamber to help even more businesses.

“So from my perspective, a lot of people also aren’t aware they might already have relationship managers when it comes to their businesses and they might not talk to them on a regular basis, or they might not know of the things that are available to them. So when it comes to different programs that are available, even if they’re not necessarily with RBC, it’s always good to be proactive in that and sharing that knowledge with others because again, it really goes back to the businesses, it really goes back to the people and I love helping people.”

Last but not least is Brett Wells, who owns Spruce Buds Cannabis in Emma Lake and Candle Lake, which are still in the Prince Albert Chamber of Commerce district. Wells was inspired to join the Chamber by another business owner in Prince Albert.

“My father-in-law owns Ted Matheson’s downtown, and Fred’s been a big part of the Chamber and supporting the community. He was really a driving force and telling me, ‘hey, get involved, get out there and support Prince Albert’, and really I took that and ran with it. That’s been a big one for me, was Fred kind of giving me the push to get going, and just interactions day-to-day with business people. They see the support. Patty’s done a great job, getting out into the community and being very vocal. So yeah, it was a combination of many things for sure.”

In his current role, Wells deals with a board already and has been part of the fundraising committee for the Ronald McDonald House in Prince Albert.

“I think having a vision that’s aligned for sure and working together as a group and really rolling in the same direction. That’s really what I’ve pulled from my experience on boards, is getting everybody to align and move forward despite maybe some of the opinions of others. At the end of the day, the decision is made and we move forward as a team and get to work.”

As part of the Chamber already since 2021, Byers is impressed with the range of different events they have been able to provide the businesses of Prince Albert.

“Some businesses want a morning breakfast event, some want lunch, some want supper, some want evening networking, and so that’s one thing that the Chamber has been really dedicated to do is to bring those different timed events.”

When asked about a type of business that may be missing from the Prince Albert area, Byers said that she’d like to see something more focused on economic development in the area that could help businesses get off the ground in the city.

“I would love to see a lot stronger economic development organizations within the area. I know that the city had employed an economic development officer for a period of time, so of course the Chamber would love to partner and work with more organizations or programs that are building that economic development awareness messaging. I know Signature Developments have done a great job at raising awareness of the activities within Prince Albert, so I’d love to see more of that.”

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Nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com