It’s the end of an era for the Edmonton Downtown Business Association as CEO, Puneeta McBryan, says goodbye.
McBryan took on the role in December 2020 — in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic — and has played a crucial part in sparking change in Edmonton’s downtown and led many big projects in the core.
For five years, McBryan has been a key voice for businesses in area, helping them succeed in a time of uncertainty.
“I feel like I probably burnt out in that first couple of years, and it’s been a sprint for four and a half years, it just felt it’s a good time to take a beat,” said McBryan.
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She’s hoping to spend more time with her son and family.
McBryan says she’s proud of what’s been accomplished during her term and highlighted a number of programs within service delivery, including the Downtown Shine Crew, the Hire Good Program and EDBA’s Core Patrol.
She adds that in the future, she hopes the association will grow into a public-private partnership.
“Rather than having city administration, having some resources internally, and then us being over here as this tiny organization, I think we would be a lot more powerful as one combined entity,” said McBryan.
“We’d have so much more power, more latitude, definitely more resources, and I think you can then really empower that group to work on behalf of the city and the businesses to get a lot more stuff done.”
McBryan will remain as CEO until a new one is chosen by the EDBA board.
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