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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The top staff seat at the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce will be kept warm this fall, as executive director Tim Doyle pursues another seat, as mayor.

Sylvie Francoeur, pictured here in 2005 as director of communications and tourism for the Conseil de developpement economique des Territoires du Nord-Ouest, has been named interim director of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce as Tim Doyle takes a leave of absence to run for mayor. - NNSL file photo

Sylvie Francoeur - known for turning around the Conseil de developpement economique des Territoires du Nord-Ouest, also known as CDETNO, during her time as executive director of the French business association - has been named interim executive director of the chamber, as Doyle takes a leave of absence to run in this fall's municipal election.

"When Tim announced (he was running), we had to make a decision if we wanted to have an interim or if we wanted to just leave the administrative assistant alone," said Larry Jacquard, president of the chamber. "But with everything that's happening in the next two months - including the election itself that the chamber becomes very heavily involved in - we decided we needed a person with a lot of experience as a general manager for the chamber."

Francoeur, who has been working as a consultant with her new business Ayni Conceptions, was selected mainly because of her seven-year record with CDETNO, from 2004 to 2011, which included nearly five years as executive director.

"When she came on board, CDETNO was doing very poorly, there was even talk of closing CDETNO," Jacquard said. "She built it up to one of the major economic drivers for French businesses in the NWT and formed a lot of partnerships with governments and non-French businesses.

"She was our first choice because of all of her experience (at CDETNO) and she also has a lot of experience in the fundraising and partnership development, so we approached her and made an offer and she accepted," Jacquard said.

Francoeur's contract starts Tuesday and lasts until the end of October.

She said she was apprehensive about taking on the two-month contract during a busy period for the chamber which will also include planning for small business week - which takes place next month - and planning for the chamber's annual general meeting and president's ball in the fall.

"Because it's such a short period of time and because it's such a fully-booked period for the chamber, if it wouldn't have been for Larry with a very strong board behind him, I probably would not have accepted," Francoeur said. "But because there's a strong president, a strong board, as well as a strong administrative assistant, it's possible to get in there and finish the job that was started and make sure these events go off without a hitch."

While the chamber has not yet taken an official stance on the candidates for the municipal election, Jacquard said "as a business chamber, we support any business platform.

"What we want is a mayor that is aware and concerned with the business owners' concerns with what's going on in Yellowknife right now," he said. "There's been a lot of questions from the chamber concerning how the downtown core has been handled and what the city has and has not been doing to stimulate growth and to provide a more enticing and safe environment for downtown residents and downtown businesses. We're hoping that the next council and the next mayor will take these issues seriously and move forward on some new bylaws and some new policies."

The board granted Doyle the leave of absence with the right to his job back if his run for mayor is unsuccessful.

"After all his time of service, we accepted to give him that leave of absence," Jacquard said. "And if he becomes mayor, at that point, we will be announcing that we're looking for a new general manager."

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