The Ignite Wanaka Chamber of Commerce board has appointed experienced retail and HR manager Andrew ‘Howie’ Howard as its new chair, replacing interim chair Bridget Legnavsky.

Howie is the people, culture and capability manager at Mitre 10 Mega Wanaka, and he is also the current board chair of Wanaka Primary School.

He was elected to the board at the AGM last November along with fellow new board members Emma Kenny, Jo Learmonth and Bronwyn McCarthy. 

At that time Bridget stepped back into the chair role – as an interim measure – after Pete Eastwood resigned from the board.

“We have already done some great work as a chamber in focusing our business plan and reviewing our strategic position and vision over the past few months,” Howie said. 

“I would like to thank Bridget for enabling the transition to a new board and leading our work up to now.”

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Howie is a former owner of an outdoor equipment importing business and also previously worked for outdoor retailers Racers Edge and Mt Outdoors. In his current role at Mitre 10, he is responsible for human resources, health and safety and learning and development for the business.

Howard’s appointment took place at last week’s board meeting and he said he was looking forward to a busy year with Ignite Wanaka.

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“We have some very exciting events coming up this year and are looking forward to building on past success and reaching for an exciting future,” Howie said.

“We will continue to deliver our key, successful events and programmes but there are two new aspects to our plan. 

“We have included a diversified economy as part of our strategy: the past year has shown us that diversified economies are successful economies. This is key to building resilience and future success in our district.”

The full board is now: Andrew ‘Howie’ Howard, Celia Crosbie (vice chair), Claire Dooney, Emma Kenny, Jo Learmonth, Bridget Legnavksy, John Metzger and Bronwyn McCarthy. QLDC deputy mayor Calum McLeod is ex-officio.

PHOTO: Supplied