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Git 'er done in Enterprise
Hamlet's new SAO to identify opportunities for community

Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, August 11, 2010

ENTERPRISE - Peter Groenen believes Enterprise is a vibrant community with a vibrant future.

NNSL photo/graphic

Peter Groenen is the new senior administrative officer for the Hamlet of Enterprise. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

And, Groenen will now help create that future as the new senior administrative officer (SAO) with the Hamlet of Enterprise.

"I think that the SAO has a leadership role in the community and with council," he said. "It's trying to identify opportunities for the community and develop the community, whether it's economic development for businesses or community projects."

Groenen began his new job on July 5.

In essence, he said his role is to help make Enterprise – a South Slave community of about 90 people – a better place to live and an even more vibrant community.

"Really, the council and the people know what they want," he said. "It's the SAO's job to figure out how to git 'er done."

Groenen, 54, is no stranger to the North, having previously worked in a number of NWT and Nunavut communities between 1979 and 1997.

"The North has always been in my heart," he said. "It has been since I got here."

Groenen recalled that, when he first came north, he had planned to stay for a year, but he enjoyed the outdoors lifestyle, the opportunity and the cultural diversity.

The native of Lloydminster, Sask., Groenen first came north to manage the co-op store in Whati and also worked for Arctic Co-ops in the Nunavut community of Arviat, Inuvik and Yellowknife, where he helped train Northerners to manage co-ops.

In 1983, he began managing the Yellowknife Co-op.

"We took it quite a ways," he said, noting there were only himself and one other employee when he started, but the operation grew to over 100 employees by the time he left in 1997.

That year, he moved to Arctic Co-ops central office in Winnipeg and worked there until he resigned in 2006.

Groenen then moved to Calgary, where he was semi-retired.

"I was doing a bit of consulting and then I was doing a small business advisory kind of service around the Calgary area and then I managed a health food store," he said.

Groenen and his wife, Jane, moved to Hay River last year for family reasons.

He figured he'd find something to do when he got to the community.

"I was pretty open," he said. "I have a senior management background, but I thought, 'Well, maybe I'd go drive a truck.' Just to find something to do."

Then he found out that Enterprise was looking for a new SAO.

"When this job came up, I thought, 'Boy, that's a perfect fit for me,'" he said. "Thankfully, they offered me a job."

Groenen, who had never before been a municipal SAO, noted he worked with boards while at the co-ops.

"With co-ops, they were like mini economic development corporations in the communities," he said. "We were involved in everything, like creating employment and offering services, and really a hamlet is not a lot different."

Groenen said there have been no surprises in his new job.

"I'm still getting my feet wet," he said, adding he thinks he will eventually see many differences between being an SAO and working with co-ops.

"I'm kind of a people person, so I work on building relationships and communication with people," he said. "It works well. You get things done."

Groenen said it makes him feel good to work for the community and its people. "It's what makes me tick."

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