Business lobbying organizations in B.C. are undergoing staff changes.
One major change is that Fiona Famulak has resigned from her position as president and CEO at the BC Chamber of Commerce, effective June 13.Another is that Ken Peacock has left his role as senior vice-president and chief economist at the Business Council of British Columbia (BCBC). Neither Famulak nor Peacock has yet posted this news on their LinkedIn profiles.
Another change is atop the BC Hotel Association, where president and CEO Ingrid Jarrett last year announced she planned to retire at the end of 2024. Paul Hawes is listed on the organization's website as its "incoming" president and CEO. Jarrett has yet to update her LinkedIn profile to show that she has left the organization. She is one of BIV's 2025 Influential Women in Business award winners.
The BC Chamber of Commerce today announced Famuluk's departure, after four years at the helm. It did not say where she is headed.
BIV reported in October that Famulak said her organization continued to face financial pressures largely born from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As a result of COVID, the business environment is quite different these days and we’re finding ourselves that members are far more discerning on where they want to put their money, because if they are financially stretched quite often the first thing to be cut is discretionary expenses such as membership,” she told BIV in October.
“We’ve seen that at this end and certainly the chamber network has seen that.”
Julie Ziebart, chair of the board of directors at the BC Chamber of Commerce, said in a news release: "Fiona has been a dedicated champion and tireless advocate for this organization, the 100 local chambers of commerce and boards of trade across the province and the approximately 36,000 businesses we collectively represent," Julie Ziebart, chair of the board of directors at the BC Chamber of Commerce said in a news release.
Famulak's decision to stay in the job for another four months is to enable her to assist with an orderly and smooth transition, according to the BC Chamber of Commerce.
Board member and chair of the human resources committee, Kim Adkin, will lead efforts on behalf of the board to find the next president and CEO, it added.
“There is never an ideal time to leave an organization. However, having just delivered the final year of the organization’s 2022-2024 strategic plan, now feels like the right time for me to find a new and exciting career challenge,” Famulak said.
BCBC CEO Laura Jones confirmed Peacock's departure but did not elaborate when asked by BIV.
"There's lots of movement these days in the in the association world," she said.
Jairo Yunis in December started work at BCBC as its director of policy, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He had previously spent two years and eight months at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), working up to the role of director for British Columbia and western economic policy.
The BCBC has not yet appointed anybody to be its new chief economist, Jones said.
David Williams remains BCBC's vice-president of policy, she added.
Jones herself has a long history with B.C. organizations advocating for businesses. She spent 20 years and two months at CFIB, working up to be chief strategic officer and executive vice-president, before joining BCBC as CEO in June 2023.
