Members of the BVI Chamber of Commerce and Hotel Association ratified a new board of directors last week and outlined some of the organisation’s goals for the future, including increasing the Chamber’s digital presence.
The roughly 20 BVICCHA members who attended the annual general meeting elected Nona Vanterpool Bonelli to serve as chairwoman; Shaina Smith as president of business; Chaunci Cline as president of hospitality; and Wendell Gaskin as treasurer. Each new board member ran unopposed.
Ms. Vanterpool Bonelli — the owner of Vanterpool Enterprises — noted that members plan to digitise some of the BVICCHA’s offerings and use more advanced software for things like data analysis and their membership list.
“We just plan to become state of the art when it comes to running a chamber, making sure we’re able to keep track of our members, making sure we’re able to keep track of what our members expect us to do for them,” she said.
Ms. Vanterpool Bonelli also said they hope to grow the organisation’s membership.
“Businesses know that as a united group we have a better chance of being successful at advocating for various things when it comes to taxes, when it comes to anything to help businesses function better, to navigate the system better,” she explained. “We want to be able to not wait for [government] to propose legislation but suggest [it].”
BVICCHA officials are currently reviewing a draft of “e-commerce” legislation provided by government, she added.
Ms. Vanterpool Bonelli also thanked the outgoing chairman, Louis Potter, who was elected to the post in 2014 after being appointed as interim chairman in late 2013.