The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce and its Chief Executive Officer Dan Rogers have parted ways.
Rogers confirmed the dismissal to Black Press Media late Thursday, but the chamber had so far not released a statement on Rogers’s status, although the chamber website indicates Colleen Clark is the new acting CEO.
Rogers said he was disappointed to be let go as he loved his job and believed in the chamber’s mission to be a voice for the small business community feeling pressured by, “government restrictive regulation red tape and incurring greater costs to operate in the current economic climate.”
“It is a mutual parting of the ways,” Rogers said.
“It is within their prerogative to go in a different direction if they choose. The relationship is severed and I can’t say much more than that because we are still talking over the terms of my dismissal.”
However, the lack of a formal chamber announcement, he noted, has left a lingering thread of wrongdoing possibly involved.
“I saw one headline that said I was fired but that is not the case. There is no wrongdoing here. That is not the case,” he said.
Rogers, a former city councillor and mayor of Prince George, was hired by the Kelowna chamber in 2017 initially as the executive director and was then promoted to chief executive officer.
Three years prior, Rogers had worked with the Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce in a similar capacity.
Rogers said he is proud of what the chamber has accomplished during his tenure, as at 1,100 members it is now the largest chamber group outside of the Lower Mainland and Victoria.
“It is on solid financial footing, the strongest it has ever been,” he said.
He also pointed to Kelowna being one of only six chambers of commerce across B.C. to earn national chamber accreditation, which he described as “a seal of approval for excellence in operations that our team had managed to maintain for the last number of years.”
As for his future plans, Rogers said he will consider any and all opportunities. Living in Kelowna, Rogers has one daughter currently attending UBC Okanagan and another working as a paramedic in the Lower Mainland.
Black Press Media has reached out for a comment from the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce administration.
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