Meet your Committee
Re-assessed every 12 months according to our Constitution, the Committee keeps fresh and updated with the latest local and business happenings.
Executive Committee
Ben Hennessy
President
Principal - Hennessy Real Estate
Paul O'Donnell
Vice President
Managing Director at Rettie & Vickery
Sam Bath
Treasurer
Director at SB Accounting
Keira Gifford
Secretary
Owner/Operator at
Raw Confetti
General Committee
Michael Broekman
Lifetime Member
Namoi Valley Bricks
CJ Baldry
Allied Partnerships Australia
Bill Ashford
Cooridoon Health Services
Gemma Bunner
Shaw & Bunner Legal
Darren Swain
Whitehaven Coal
Craig Neale
Wholegrain Milling
Tracie Finlay
Dragonfly Opal
Damien Roman
GBP Cranes
Josh Cameron
Rome Mortgage Services
Hollie Crawford
Community
Representative
Subcommittees/2023 Projects
An immediate priority is identifying the common pain points for many of our businesses and helping to address them. For many, recruitment and retention remains a significant challenge due to widespread labour shortages. While there is no one silver bullet for this challenge, there are many worthwhile approaches to addressing this and other challenges our businesses are encountering.
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We need to do more in promoting Gunnedah as a great place to work, live and thrive. We need to promote the positive attributes of living & working in Gunnedah, continue to strengthen the social and economic fabric of our great community and help build strong businesses that remain the lifeblood of our economy.
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Following is a snapshot of some of the projects for the year ahead.
Recruitment & Retention
Including how to create an outstanding company culture, becoming an employer of choice in the competitive battle for talent and some of the common HR challenges businesses are dealing with today.
Retail Precinct
Renewed focus on delivering meaningful value and support to our Retail Precinct to ensure our retailers benefit from the wider economic prosperity of the region and market our retail precinct as a drawcard shopping experience for the wider region.
Business Awards
Annual Gunnedah Chamber of Commerce Awards & Gala Ball help put our many faceted successful businesses under the spotlight, bringing well-deserved kudos and wider public recognition, as well as building team morale.
Business Development Manager
Engage a full time Business Development Manager. This person will be entrusted with delivering the vision, by managing projects and finding new ways to help business. We believe the right person will be able to assist with grants and funding applications, as well as be a first point of call for businesses looking to engage with Gunnedah.
Music Festival
We will be actively seeking grants and sponsorships to host a significant music event, designed to bring a welcomed kick to our retail and hospitality industries, engage our Youth in this exciting project and further put Gunnedah on the map.
Networking
To bring together our local business community frequently, allowing this sharing and pooling of ideas and resources and business collaboration.
Health Industry Partnership
Partnering with Gunnedah Health Connect to support our existing health professionals in growing their businesses, networking to find opportunities to grow their businesses and bring further health care providers to our region.
Marketing Gunnedah
Creating a region-wide cohesive plan for selling the benefits of living in our great part of the world, including the economic, social, environmental, educational, and cultural benefits of life in the Gunnedah District.
Government Lobbying
Lobbying Local and State Governments for an overhaul of the DA approval process to improve speed to market for expansions to existing businesses and encourage a greater uptake of new business development in our region.
Mastermind Sub-Group
Creating a “Mastermind’ type sub-group, sharing management and marketing strategies to catapult business growth.