The Cochrane & District Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce its new president of the Board of Directors, Ozzie Sawicki.

Sawicki has called Cochrane home for the past 16 years and has been a prominent business owner in the community as well. Sawicki is the Director & CEO of Amped2Play Inc. and was a serving director before becoming the new president.

Outgoing Chamber President, Kelly Sinclair says, “I am thrilled that Ozzie has stepped forward to take over the presidency. I have the utmost confidence that he will guide the Chamber to further success.”

Sawicki says, “I think what is important right now, is obviously the transition from Kelly Sinclair and her role as president to myself. We’ve tried to make it seamless Kelly still acts as past president so I think the important thing for us is the communication of that transition remains strong so that it is a continuous set of ideas that are moving forward.”

Mr. Sawicki's professional experience brings a wealth of talent and knowledge to the role. He is an experienced CEO, business leader, and a Canadian Paralympic Hall of Fame Coach with over 30 years of coaching and a passion for Paralympic sports.

Sawicki recognizes that these are unprecedented times and that moving forward will be a whole new normal for the Cochrane & District Chamber of Commerce, and everyone in the community including residents and businesses. “There is a real hope that things start to normalize in the months to come but I think we also have to be cognizant that as much as things normalize there’s still a process that’s happening that people have to be aware of the health concerns that are out there. So it’s the balancing the health considerations versus the business opportunities that need to happen for our small and medium businesses in town especially,” explains Sawicki.

So, what does the president of the Cochrane & District Chamber of Commerce see as the next steps forward for the Chamber? As Alberta starts to plan the next steps of reopening, Sawicki says the chamber needs to be prepared to collaborate with the town to ensure that business members are aware of what will be involved with coming changes and what resources are going to be available to the businesses.

Sawicki says one of the motivations behind his presidency was that he “prefers to participate and advocate rather than sitting back and waiting to see what happens."  Having his own business in town facilitates the initiative to understand the issues and address the questions of what other businesses are doing in and outside of Cochrane. The bottom line, Sawicki says, “It just made me realize that the Chamber is an avenue to find those things out.”

Congratulations to Ozzie Sawicki on your new role with the Cochrane & District Chamber of Commerce.