President’s Welcome – June 2023

June traditionally means the start of winter, tax time and another Queensland victory in the State of Origin series. All three have come to fruition again this year and I hope you’ve enjoyed the latter as much as I did.

With the first six months of the year done and dusted we look forward to what the remainder of the year has to offer. From our Chamber’s perspective, we could not be happier with how the year has started, particularly with our three major events which included former Wallabies Captain John Eales, AFL Premiership star Tom Boyd and more recently big wave surfer Mark Visser. Our chamber has steered clear of ‘big name’ events in the past but we could not be happier with the quality of each of these speakers along with the large number of people who came along to these events.

These events would not be possible without the hard work of our executive team as well as Min Swan and her team at White House International.

Our new membership officer Sharon Dryden has hit the ground running, hopefully you have met her at our recent events. Sharon’s hard work along with that of our executive committee is paying off as our membership currently sits at over 300 for the first time in many years and it’s pleasing to have so many locals and businesses choose to join our chamber. This support is also very evident as most of our events are sold out within hours so we continue to encourage members to book as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

I wanted to recognise the recent resignation of our long term supporter John Williams who has stepped down from his leadership role with Mix and Sea FM.  John has supported our chamber for as long as I can recall and we thank him for his contribution and wish he and his family all the best for the future. The good news is that John’s replacement is our very own executive member Simon Rub. Simon’s work on our leadership team has been exceptional and we look forward to continuing our relationship well into the future.

Three other key supporters of our Chamber have also chosen different directions with Andrew Brodie resigning from his role as CEO of Sunshine Coast Airport, Paul Fisher resigning as CEO of Regional Development Australia after a five year term while Andrew Eves Brown has taken on the role of CEO of The Turbine following his stint with Sunshine Coast Council’s head of Economic Development. Many thanks to all three gentlemen for their significant support over the years.

Lachlan Ballinger holds the important position as treasurer on our chamber and we are thrilled that his business Yield Advisory have been named as a finalist in three categories for the 2023 Australian Accounting Awards.  Best of luck to Lachlan and his team when the winners are announced at the end of June.

Our AGM is due in September this year and we are always looking for new faces to join our leadership team. A number of the executive team have chosen to stay on for another year – including myself but a couple have indicated their time is due. We will thank these members individually at the AGM and we encourage you to reach out for a chat if you are interested in joining us.

Finally, thanks to our hardworking executive committee who do an incredible job with the support of Min Swan and her team at White House International. They are a great team who work well together and it’s my pleasure to be a part of such a fun and engaged group of people.

I look forward to seeing you at our next Chamber event.

Brendan Bathersby

President