Tourism Kelowna is welcoming a new CEO into the fold.
Since its inception close to 20 years ago, Tourism Kelowna had been lead by Nancy Cameron, who stepped down as CEO back in June.
Board Chair Daniel Bibby says filling that position was a big job, as the board got 96 applications from across Canada.
He says they hired a local firm, LoveHR, to help deal develop a short list.
"The executive firm helped short-list that to five over time, and we then went to panel interviews. There was a diverse group of board representatives involved in that recruitment process," he said.
"Unanimously, they came through with the lead candidate being Lisanne, and then I did a final interview with her, myself."
That's Lisanne Ballantyne, who will officially take over on October 30.
He says she'll lead the organization's efforts in marketing Kelowna to central Canada and the US pacific northwest.
"There's so much potential in Kelowna and in the Okanagan Valley, certainly being the gateway to everything, all the great activities that there are in our destination. So we've got to tell the world, and I think it's critical that as we move forward, there's many emerging markets that don't know about Kelowna yet, and we need to start to tap into those," he said.
Bibby says along with skills relating to destination marketing and economic development, there were a couple other things that stood out.
"She's been involved with a fair amount of government and First Nations relations, which really attracted her skill set to our team," he said.
"She also came across very, very strong in being able to work with our team - we wanted to bring somebody in who could really help embrace the already-great culture we have, and continue to move it forward into the future."
She's coming from Edmonton, where she was the General Manager of the Shaw Conference Centre, and oversaw 650 events per year.