Judy Goodman and her husband moved to Revelstoke last October. In that time she’s fallen in love with city and last week it was announced she’s landed one of the most high-profile jobs in town – that of Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce.
“I think it’s an amazing city,” she said. “I think there’s lots of opportunities, and I’m sure lots of challenges too. The people that we’ve met are fantastic, the setting can’t get any better. The nature, music scene – I just really, really love the city so I think it will be a fairly easy job to be an advocate for business in the city.”
Goodman, 47, was officially announced as the chamber’s new Executive Director last Wednesday, Apr. 4, filling a void in the organization that has been vacant for almost three months since Adelheid Bender stepped down as interim Executive Director in January. She replaced John Devitt, who was let go by the Chamber last August.
Goodman grew up in the small town of Sundre, in Alberta’s Kananaskis Country. She received a marketing diploma from Mount Royal University in Calgary.
From there, she entered the world of travel and tourism, working at travel agencies in Toronto and Calgary before moving to WestJet, where she helped the airline establish its eastern Canadian footprint and start up its corporate sales division.
“It was a very interesting sell because when WestJet came into Hamilton, the first eastern destination, many hadn’t even heard of WestJet,” she said. She developed contacts in the industry, working with business associations, and brought Westjet into a global distribution system.
“That brought WestJet to the forefront of the industry,” she said.
Goodman and her husband Jamie McMahon started coming to the Revelstoke area 15 years ago when they bought a property in Beaton. Four years ago they started building and spending summers there. Last year they decided to see what it was like spending a winter here, so they came to Revelstoke.
“We moved here in October and we love it,” she said. “We just bought a house and take possession next week.”
Goodman starts her new job on Monday, Apr. 16, and she said she’ll start by figuring out how to support the needs of chamber staff and members. She said she has attended one chamber meeting so far and chatted with several people there.
“The ones I chatted with were all very positive with their business and what was happening,” she said.
She cited her management experience and her experience working with her local community association in Calgary as parts of her resume that will help her in her new position.
Goodman avoided answering specific questions about Chamber business such as the business tax lobbying and new visitor centre.
“I see myself as a facilitator to listen to what people want and help advocate for them,” she said. “I can’t comment much more than that because I haven’t seen their strategic plan and their formal documentation.”
She had many positive things to say about Revelstoke, bringing up the heritage workshop she attended last weekend as an example.
“The people there were so passionate about Revelstoke,” she said. “One of things that came up, a plus about Revelstoke, is the colourful people.”