After close to seven years in the role, Allan Asaph is stepping down as the executive director of the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce (ACOC).
The former ACOC and Abbotsford-Sumas Rotary Club president said he’s cherished his time at the helm of the group.
“When I took the role on the goal at the time was to try and rebuild the chamber’s relationship with the city and senior levels of government,” he said. “We wanted to strengthen our position and over the past six years we’ve accomplished a major portion of what we set out to do. We’re in a very strong position right now as a chamber.”
Asaph said he is most proud of how he was able to help the ACOC get more involved in the community and some of the major decisions of local government.
“Moving our chamber from a position of being reactive to proactive was a big thing,” he said. “We’ve really tried to put the chamber more in the dialogue of what is taking place within our community. We now sit on three city committees, we are very involved with Tourism Abbotsford and became very engaged with the city regarding the OCP and Agrifresh.”
He said putting the interests of the business community out there at the discussion stage helped make his reign as executive director a success.
“He has been a valuable part of our organization and has contributed greatly to the growth and success of our Chamber,” said ACOC president Mark Warkentin. “He has been a key resource in our advocacy and policy work and has strengthened the relationship the Chamber has with all three levels of government.”
Another big achievement for the ACOC under Asaph was receiving recognition from the Chamber Accreditation Council of Canada as an Accredited Chamber with Distinction. Only 10 chambers in B.C. have received such an honour. That recognition was awarded in 2016.
“What that did is recognize the fact that our chamber is so involved and engaged in all activities that are important for successful chambers,” he said.
Asaph said he loved getting to know all the organizations important to Abbotsford, and said the future looks bright.
“The next decade for Abbotsford is going to be a major one in terms of defining our role,” he said. “We are on the verge of becoming a brand new city with the new OCP and the emergence of innovation that we are really reinventing who we are as a community.”
Despite stepping down as executive director, Asaph said he will remain a chamber member and continue to be involved with Rotary and a number of other local groups. He added that he hopes to travel, compete in a marathon and do so more biking with his free time.
“I’m proud of the time I had to spend with the chamber as executive director,” he said.
The ACOC has begun the process of recruiting and selecting a replacement, and details about the position can be found at abbotsfordchamber.com/jobs.