After a challenging 12 months, Yass Valley Business Chamber has revealed new faces among its leadership team.

New president Glen Wynn and vice president Jim Hutton were voted in at the chamber’s AGM earlier this month when acting president Andrew Curlewis announced his intention to step down.

Mr Curlewis said he needed to focus on his growing real estate business, Yass Valley Property.

He became acting president eight months ago when the existing president of 17 months, Brad Davis, resigned due to personal reasons.

Despite the added responsibilities and facing a pandemic, which affected every chamber member, Mr Curlewis helped the chamber to conduct a member and non-member survey that informed a priorities workshop in May.

The chamber’s latest priorities include networking and relationship building; providing support and practical information for businesses; engaging with other successful regional business chambers; encouraging the community to use local businesses; supporting local business’ voices to the government and celebrating the achievements of Yass Valley businesses.

Mr Curlewis also welcomed several new members to the chamber in recent months.

“I had a lot of people come up to me with ideas about what the chamber should do, and instead of passing that onto the chamber, I encouraged them to join and make it happen. We’ve had a few people join the chamber and make it stronger as a result,” Mr Curlewis said.

New president Mr Wynn said he had been thinking about throwing his hat in the ring for a while.

“As a business owner in town, I’m full of motivation. I’ve seen the chamber going in a fantastic direction, and I think I’ve got the right personality and drive to continue that,” he said.

Mr Wynn has lived in Yass with his wife, a teacher at Berinba Public School, and two young daughters for nine years. While he is from Wollongong, his wife is originally from Yass.

Before taking on the local Jim’s Termite and Pest Control franchise just over a year ago, Mr Wynn was an area manager with Subway. He described himself as a people person and said he would bring his background of helping businesses to grow to the chamber.

The chamber’s new vice president, Mr Hutton, owns 1 Life Coaching and has an extensive naval background.

“Strategy is one of his strong points, so I think he’s going to bring that to the chamber,” outgoing president Mr Curlewis said.

Mr Wynn congratulated Mr Curlewis on a successful eight months as acting president, describing him as a fantastic mentor and friend.