AdvantageHOPE’s executive director Tammy Shields will step down once the organization finds her replacement.
AdvantageHOPE announced on June 1 in a press release that the role will see a transition. Shields will continue in her role and participate in the transition.
The decision to start the transition now comes as a result of “good timing.” Shields said that AdvantageHOPE has received a new three-year mandate, developed a project management structure for their $500,000 Rural Dividend Fund and also recruiting in the summer months will allow them to attract candidates who might have families and need to move.
According to Shields, her contract was to expire at the end of 2016, however, the timing of her contract’s expiration intersected with the expiration of AdvantageHOPE’s contract with the District.
“The board and I felt that it was not a good time to try and recruit a new executive director until we knew that the contract with the District would be extended,” she said.
“By the time that was confirmed, I think it was October, and I was already working on planning for the next year, including some significant grant applications, and discussed with the board that I continue on a short-term basis, up to another year.”
Shields got a contract extension for either a year or a 30-day notice period from herself or the District.
Shields said she has faith in AdvantageHOPE’s direction and feels proud of what they have achieved.
“After the March AGM, I brought up with the board that it would be a good time to start the recruitment process, as AdvantageHOPE is on solid footing with other staff, and so that the new candidate could be in place for the fall, when a lot of the planning for the next year occurs,” said Shields.
She has led the organization since July 2013.
“I’m hoping to still stay involved in AdvantageHOPE and the community,” said Shields. “I went into the role not thinking that I would be there long-term — a lot of the things that I had hoped to accomplish in my time there has been accomplished or well on their way.
“I think it’s good for the organization to get some fresh blood in — it’s not that I’m planning to go anywhere and not be involved — it’s just that I think it’s time for somebody else to take over the reins of that role, for a while.”
Shields said that tourism and economic development “are intrinsically linked,” and has worked at developing the branding and messaging. She highlighted that the Visitor Centre was run by a third-party contractor when she first became the executive director.
This debate came up at the May 8 council meeting when Shields presented the quarterly report. Most councillors agreed with this assessment that economic development and tourism are linked and all councillors said they did a good job on tourism. Councillors Bob Erickson and Donna Kropp dissented on AdvantageHOPE’s record of economic development.
She also said that another goal which AdvantageHOPE has had was to increase the return on the District’s contribution by leveraging it.
“I think that has really happened over the last few years with different grants that we’ve been awarded,” said Shields, such as the Rural Dividend Fund.
Internally, Shields said she wanted to build “better organizational strength,” adding that when the previous executive director left, “the business of the organization really came to a halt.”
Shields added that she wanted to develop AdvantageHOPE such that its operations did not depend on one person being there.
If she could do something differently, Shields said she would put more emphasis on communicating with the community.
“AdvantageHOPE, in my mind, was really an outward-facing organization that was focused on bringing people to Hope” said Shields. “We didn’t allocate a lot of our resources towards talking directly to our community and I think that has caused some misconceptions and some public relations issues that maybe could have been avoided.”
Shields said AdvantageHOPE has a subcommittee looking into a communications strategy.
“It might be that we still don’t take on that role, but we make sure that then the District is taking on that role,” said Shields.
The board has uploaded a job posting seeking a full-time employee who will receive a compensation from $60,000 to $80,000, depending on skills and experience. The posting will close on June 30.
According to board chair Anna Gladue, Shields’ last day has not been set and that they have set up a hiring committee.
Mayor Wilfried Vicktor said council will ratify who the next executive director will be.
“Council will have final say on who gets hired but just as a matter of process … [AdvantageHOPE’s board] will work with council to shortlist who is going to be hired,” said Vicktor.
Erickson said the departure of Shields marks a “sad thing for AdvantageHOPE.”
“We’re going to have some serious decisions in the District of Hope regarding economic development,” said Erickson.
Erickson defined “economic development” as long-term, stable jobs from small businesses and the new director should have experience in this aspect.