|
March
27, 2002
Trenval Board Busy Building Business
This
past year was again a very busy year for business activities at
Trenval and the partners at the Quinte Business Development Centre.
 Back
Row left to right:
John Sager, Brian Todd, Greg Chambers, Chris King, Bill Brant,
Rosemary Davis, Chirs Colton.
Front Row left to right:
Tom Nobles, David Valcamp, Mark McNamara, Brian Smith.
Absent: Steve Sioui, David Smallwood
David Valcamp, Chairman of the Board of Directors stated "I'm
very proud to head a team of dedicated staff and directors. Our
12 member Board of Directors are not just a group who rubberstamp
activities, they are all actively involved. They are business
people who volunteer their time and expertise in various vocations
and geographical areas to help build our business community. The
Board is also supported by 3 ex-officio members, Chris King, Quinte
Economic Development Commission, Raymon Lee, Human Resources Development
Canada (HRDC) and our Honourary/Founding member Jack Gibbons".
David Valcamp
of Foxboro is both an Engineering Technologist and graduate Mechanical
Engineer from Queen's University. He helped start-up and run Mobil
Chemicals' operation in Belleville as Site/General Manager. He
currently operates his own consulting business - Valcamp Associates
Inc. He volunteers his time in a number of roles with Belleville
Economic Development, Belleville General Hospital fundraising
and Loyalist College. With his background, and contacts with many
senior managers in the Quinte region, he is well aware of the
importance of a post secondary technical education. This has been
the driving force behind Phase I of the Human Resource Development
Project for the Manufacturing sector.
Again this
year, Trenval clients won two of the four award categories at
the 58 member Ontario Association of Community Futures Development
Corporations annual conference that we attended in Thunder Bay.
"This means that Trenval and their clients have now won 5
of a potential 12 awards in the last three years" Valcamp
noted.
Tom Nobles,
a resident of Quinte West and Past Reeve of Sidney Township, with
10 years of service is the senior member on the Trenval Board
of Directors. He was a Fire Captain in Belleville and has served
as a volunteer as Past President of the Muscular Dystrophy of
Canada (25 years) and Health Canada as well as the Board of Health.
At Trenval
he has been its Treasurer for the last three years and as such
is responsible to oversee Trenval's investment activities.
Tom reports
that in 2001 "twenty-five business loans were approved by
the Board of Directors totalling $780,986. These loans helped
to create 42 full time and 24 part time jobs. They also helped
maintain an additional 38 full time and 9 part time jobs for a
positive employment impact of 113 people."
Rosemary
Davis of Trenton is the chairperson of Trenval's Agriculture
Committee. Rosemary is also the current chairperson of the national
Farm Credit Corporation. She is the owner/manager of Tri-County
Agromart and is actively involved with numerous local agricultural
related organizations such as the Federation of Agriculture.
Rosemary stated
"I'm very proud that Trenval helped initiate and fund a study
and a strategic plan to determine the impact of agriculture on
Prince Edward, Northumberland and Hastings counties."
"Gerrit
DeBruyn chairs the committee, supported by the QEDC, OMAFRA and
the local Federations of Agriculture. Local agriculture-related
businesses were surveyed by consulting firm Walton & Hunter.
The study clearly shows the impact in sales of over half a billion
dollars and supporting close to 14,000 jobs in the 3 counties.
This study is important as it will form the basis for future planning."
Greg Chambers
is a chartered accountant in Belleville and is the Past President
of the Belleville and District Chamber of Commerce and now chairs
the Tourism Committee at Trenval. He has been the driving force
behind promoting the Quinte Area as a Great Place to Live. Over
65,000 coloured brochures have been distributed through trade
shows, tourist information offices and economic development inquiries.
This committee
has also arranged for a large mural along the Via Rail line advertising
www.greatplacetolive.com
and now has its sights on Highway 401.
Trenval has
paid for articles in magazines such a Great Place to Retire. They
have also been active in making PowerPoint presentations on this
topic to local councils and economic development organizations.
Greg said "this project has undoubtedly been a major influence
on more people relocating to our wonderful Quinte area."
Chris Colton,
in his second year with the Board, retired from the Canadian
Forces as the 8 Wing Trenton Operations in 2000. As the Chair
of the Aviation Committee he traveled to Seattle, Washington in
September of 2001 to attend the International Aerospace Trade
Show. His prime purpose was to analyze the potential of enticing
aviation related business to establish their operations here in
Quinte, at Canada's largest military airport.
"Being
in the US on September 11 was an unforgettable moment. As a direct
result of this tragedy and the world-wide sow down in anticipated
aviation related expansion, we must continue to work hand in hand
with 8 Wing Trenton in order to succeed in this environment. I
am confident that over time the unique location of this major
aviation resources will be realized and companies will include
the region of Quinte and 8 Wing Trenton in their future plans."
"Because
of the attractiveness of the Quinte Area, many Military personnel
choose CFB Trenton as their final posting location. Thus, upon
retirement, a large number of highly trained and uniquely skilled
personnel remain in this region. This pool of aviation expertise
can be a significant asset to any Aviation related industry that
is considering locating in Quinte."
Brian Smith
of Belleville is now also a member of the Trenval Board of
Directors. His experience as a past member of Belleville council
is extremely beneficial as he chairs Trenval's Community Development
Committee. He and Bruce Davis (past Trenval chair and now executive
member of the QEDC board) are both actively involved members of
the Quinte Health Services Physician Recruitment and Retention
Committee. Mr. Smith stated "The Trenval Business Development
Corporation and the Quinte Economic Development Commission are
concerned about the well being of our residents. We are also aware
that access to physicians and other health care services is a
key requirement in a community in order to attract and retain
businesses. The current and forecasted physician shortages are
true barriers to economic growth for various regions across the
province "This is why assisting with Physician Recruitment
and Retention has become one of our community development priorities."
Brian Todd
of Brighton is a retired Superintendent of Instruction of the
Northumberland Clarington Board of Education. As a member of the
Trenval Board he heads up the Education Committee and is a member
of the group that is tackling the issues of skilled trade shortage.
He has also
taken on the role of Chairman of a group of residents and business
people who have established the Brighton Health Services Centre.
They have made arrangements to purchase Creekside Banquet Hall
in Brighton and turn it into a Health and Community Services Centre.
Brian has made numerous professional presentations on the Trenval
PowerPoint projection equipment in order to obtain financial support.
The cost of the total project will be $1.1 million dollars. Brian
Todd stated "There has been a significant growth in the population
of Brighton as a result of the influx of people choosing to retire
in the beautiful Brighton area. Health care and adequate physicians
is becoming a major concern. We believe that community health
problems require community solutions."
David Smallwood
is the retired owner/operator of Home Hardware in Campbellford,
where he has been very active in municipal affairs. He is the
chair of the Trenval Outreach Committee.
As a result
of amalgamation, the area he now represents has increased in size
and is now called Trent Hills. Recently he attended a meeting
with various local representatives who were interest in establishing
a Trent Hills Small Business Development Board. Their objective
is to establish a group of mentors to assist local entrepreneurs
and business candidates. This could be coordinated by Mr. Smallwood
as Trenval's representative. Mr. Smallwood stated he "was
eager to work with such a group who could effectively promote
the existing Trenval business counselling, information and financing
services".
Steve Sioui,
a resident of Quinte West (Trenton Ward) is a lawyer in Trenval
with the firm of Fleming, Garrett & Sioui. He is the backup
for Chris Colton, chair of the Aviation Committee.
Steve in his
profession adds strength to Trenval Board in ensuring that proper
policy procedures are in place and that there's due diligence
is being practiced in carrying out Trenval's business activities.
Steve states "I'm pleased that Trenval Executive Director,
Gerrit DeBruyn, has been successful in acquiring funding to continue
to expand the role of Martin Edwards who in the last two years
has provided export development consulting services to over 293
clients."
Bill Brant
is a retired Dairy Farmer from the Tyendinaga area on the eastern
corner of Trenval's area. He is a graduate of the Kemptville Agriculture
College and is the natural back up Rosemary Davis on the Agriculture
Committee. He is also a former Mohawk Chief, Chairman of the Indian
Agriculture Program and an Honourary member of Ontario Institute
of Agrologists. Bill Brant has only recently joined the Trenval
Board of Directors. His background should be very helpful to support
our clients in the agriculture area. He is extremely interested
in the major breakthrough that Canadian Organic Sprout Company
Inc, a Trenval client. (last year's OACFDC winner of the Technology
Award) has made in the hydrophonically grown and dried powder
sprout process. Bill states that he agreed with the recent comments
made by Agriculture Minister, Brian Coburn when provided with
$253,000 to their project "the global and domestic markets
for projects like these are growing at an amazing pace and I'm
looking forward to providing any assistance we can to such leading
edge clients".
John Sager,
from the Stirling area, is the most recent addition to the Trenval
Board of Directors. John's experience as a Certified Management
Accountant, Manager at Nortel and member of the board of various
community service organizations including the Past Chair of the
Loyalist Board of Governors will undoubtedly be very beneficial
for the Trenval team.
He is also
the current Planning Director of the Hastings County Museum of
Agricultural Heritage. This organization in the last four years
has built several museum buildings in Stirling with a value of
over $250,000. This organization is basically debt free as they
have been able to successfully raise the required funds through
tremendous community support for this worthy historic tourism
initiative.
Mark McNamara
of Belleville is the Vice Chairman of Trenval. Mark is a Community
Banking Manager with Scotiabank (28 years) and is a Fellow of
the Institute of Canadian Bankers. Mark is also very involved
in having a local Community Futures Development Corporations establish
a regional Venture Capital Fund to help local businesses establishments
grow with the infusion of equity funding.
Mark said
"He's proud Trenval and the Business Development Centre partners,
who are working closely together to provide one stop shopping
for business development in the area. The March 28, 2001 visit
by Premier Mike Harris is a testament to the Centres success."
Premier Harris stated the partnership had made it easier for the
government to provide this funding ($2 million internship dollars)
"as it was clear that you have your act together".
In a follow
up letter to Trenval Executive Director, Gerrit DeBruyn, he thanked
the partners and also wrote "The Centre is a model of cooperation
and a great example of effectively delivered public services.
You can be proud of what your team at the Centre has accomplished."
|
