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| Who we are | What we do | Chairman's Message | GM's Message | Board Members | |
Message from the ChairmanSeptember 2011 “A Year of Evaluation” A Year of Evaluation Western Economic Diversification (WD) funding is holding fast, there are no signs of additional funding in the near future, and the waiting game to see a renewal of our contract with WD has begun. Our General Manager and his team have the challenge of finding new ways to create additional revenue to subsidize our daily operational expenses. This will also include trying to secure a long-term office space at a reasonable rate - certainly no easy task but we have the right leadership to pull this together and to ensure that Community Futures Wood Buffalo continues to serve our community well into the future. Our fearless leader and general manager Ross Jacobs, brought in a new office manager to replace Salem Alahmad, who has moved on to further his career. We welcome Christie Busich to the CFWB team, who joins Ross and our amazing Business Analyst, Ashley Kimber. We had a very successful business resource show in both Fort McKay and Anzac this year, which brought some well-needed information to our outlying communities. In furthering our commitment to business development in the region, Ross has been working with the provincial and municipal governments to offer and spearhead economic development projects. This has certainly helped secure our role as a stakeholder in our business community. This year we were pleased to see our lending portfolio expand into new business sectors that we have not worked with in the past, including a local newspaper, a hobby games company and an environmentally-friendly cleaning products firm. We have continued offering the funding, mentorship and services that our region needs and deserves. The most difficult challenge is that we have achieved this while operating in a deficit position. This is not an easy time and we thank our committed group of professionals who make up our board of directors. We are also very appreciative of the leadership of our general manager Ross Jacobs, along with his staff, in maintaining one of the top CF offices in Alberta. Thank you again to the board and your involvement in Community Futures Wood Buffalo. Dan Sorensen
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