The Red Deer &District Chamber of Commerce is heading in a new direction after letting go its chief executive officer.
An announcement on Tuesday said Tim Creedon was released of his duties as CEO.
“It was a very tough decision for the board, but we wanted to move in a different direction and felt the membership was best served by having new leadership in to do that,” said Bradley Williams, president of the Red Deer &District Chamber of Commerce.
Williams said he had previous discussions with Creedon about making a change, but the decision to replace him still caught Creedon off guard.
“Tim is very much a professional. There was a certain degree of surprise, and I’m sure it wasn’t what he was necessarily looking for, but he understood the reasons behind it,” said Williams.
Creedon’s experience is something that won’t be easily replaced, but Williams is confident the chamber will find a qualified candidate sometime in the near future.
“We’ll be starting a search here very quickly. We haven’t decided on what attributes we want in a new CEO, so we need some time. We have a visioning session in January, where we will lay out a plan for the future,” said Williams.
For now, Rick More, manager of membership and community relations for Red Deer &District Chamber of Commerce, will assume the role of interim CEO.
“The board has full confidence in Rick and his abilities to continue to run the chamber in a very professional way, and do the right things for our membership.
“He’ll be able to accomplish what we need to get done while we are in search of a new CEO,” said Williams.
Creedon had been with the Red Deer Chamber since 2008 when he took on the role as executive director. The position changed to CEO about a year ago.
jonathan.guignard@www.reddeeradvocate.com