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Fond farewells for Canterbury Chamber of Commerce boss

Author
Newstalk ZB Staff,
Publish Date
Thu, 30 Nov 2017, 7:16AM
Today's Peter Townsend's last day after almost 22 years in charge (File photo - NZ Herald)
Today's Peter Townsend's last day after almost 22 years in charge (File photo - NZ Herald)

Fond farewells for Canterbury Chamber of Commerce boss

Author
Newstalk ZB Staff,
Publish Date
Thu, 30 Nov 2017, 7:16AM

A flood of farewells for the departing CEO of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce.

Today's Peter Townsend's last day after almost 22 years in charge.

He led the chamber through the start of the earthquake rebuild, and negotiated $250 million in support subsidies to keep businesses alive post-quake.

Mr Townsend said the earthquake made him stick around.

"That held me in the job, we had a new Chamber of Commerce building to rebuild, I had to rebuild my house, there was a lot of rebuilding work to do in the city, but the time is right now to move on."

Mr Townsend said he's been overwhelmed by all the members who've made contact in his last few months.

He said there's been "literally hundreds of messages and comments from members. We had a Christmas function last week, and that was combined with a little farewell for me, and 500 people turned up for that."

General Manager Leann Watson is taking over as the Chamber's first female CEO.

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