The new chair of the St. Albert Chamber of Commerce has big plans for the new year.
Rosanna Fischer is co-owner and vice-president of KDM Management Inc., a condo management company. This week, she was sworn in as the incoming chamber chair.
Fischer has been on the chamber’s board of directors since 2021, and is no stranger to the world of non-profits. She has been running the charity KDM Helping Hands since 2010 (it became a registered charity in 2014) and spent four years on the board of the charity Chicks with Cheques.
Fischer said she and the rest of the chamber board have their sights set on four major projects: an ambassador program; a retention, improvement and growth program; a youth chamber program; and a vendor marketing program.
“I have a pretty lofty set of ideas," she said. "'Shoot for the stars and land on the moon,' is what I'm hoping for. In 2023, we were voted Alberta Chamber of Commerce of the year. This year, we’d like to aim for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Year award.”
With the ambassador program, the chamber could recognize as representatives individuals and businesses who have made large contributions to the city. Fischer said it’s a strategy that could help with “networking and strengthening community connections.”
The youth chamber program would equip young St. Albertans with skills to become the city’s future business leaders, she said.
The chamber will also examine how it might work with new technologies such as generative AI.
“I think we're going to focus on how we, as a chamber, can embrace the technology for processes and initiatives that can be made more efficient,” she said. “If we can embrace it, then in turn, how do we pass it off to our members?”
Fischer expects inflation, high interest rates and the ongoing recovery from the pandemic will continue to pose challenges for businesses.
“We have to be adaptable, and we have to be resilient, and we have to have a collaborative mindset,” she said. “Strength comes in numbers. I think the chamber plays a strong role in guiding businesses through difficult times.”
Mike Howes, outgoing chamber chair, said he looks forward to remaining on the board and seeing Fischer take the reins.
“We had a great year at the chamber,” he said. “I think our biggest success [in 2023] was the fact that we came out of COVID. We had 10 full meetings. That's the first time we held all 10 meetings in four years. And as a networking organization, that is huge.”
Howes pointed to the increased attendance the chamber saw in 2023 (over 750 members, up from 600) as a major sign of success.
“People must have been so pent up during COVID that they were dying to get out,” he said.
He is also proud the chamber was able to purchase new signs for the north and south ends of St. Albert.
“It's a very valuable thing to the chamber revenue-wise, and it's very valuable to the businesses and the not-for-profits that advertise on that sign,” he said.
Fischer said she will draw from the support of the mentors who preceded her throughout her tenure as chair.
She believes one of St. Albert’s biggest strengths is that its citizens come together to support one another in times of need, and the same is true of its businesses.
“The chamber steps up when needed, and we will continue to do that,” she said.
