September 8, 2008
SOUTHERN INTERIOR DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE TRUST (SIDIT) ANNOUNCES NEW CEO
Jim Thomson, Chairman of the Southern Interior Development Initiative Trust, (SIDIT), today announced that Ms. Luby Pow will take over as CEO of the organization as effective September 22, 2008.
Ms. Pow, a resident of Vernon, is currently the Chief Credit Officer with VantageOne Credit Union and has over 32 years experience as a banking and Business Development professional. In her capacity as Chief Credit officer of VantageOne Credit Union Luby was accountable for managing the risk of a diversified portfolio of $225 Million. Since joining Vantage one in 1994 Ms. Pow has Developed and implemented commercial lending processes, trained administrative staff and developed products and services growing the commercial Loan, mortgage and Leasing Portfolio from $0 to $85 million currently.
Prior to joining VantageOne Ms. Pow held various positions of increased responsibility in commercial credit with The Bank of Montreal. Luby Pow was raised in Vernon and is married with 2 daughters.
“After an extensive search our Board of Directors believes it has chosen an excellent Leader who will Guide SIDIT’s efforts to satisfy our mandate of helping foster and nurture new and sustainable economic development opportunities which will help expand and diversify the economy of the Southern Interior. We have an incredibly qualified and capable new CEO and we are very excited to see her take the organization to the next level, “said Jim Thomson Chairman of SIDIT.
Jim Thomson, Chair of the Southern Interior Development Initiative Trust (SIDIT) further advises that SIDIT is a Public Trust created by the Province of British Columbia with a $50 million one-time allocation to support economic development in the Southern Interior. Governed by a 13 member Board of Directors representing local government and the private sector, SIDIT focuses on opportunities that demonstrate measurable and sustainable economic benefits.
In 2007, its first full year of operations, SIDIT committed approximately $9.6 million in funding.
Mr. Thomson also thanked outgoing CEO, Ron Baker, for his role in getting SIDIT up and running and into the operational phase. “Luby Pow will be responsible for taking SIDIT to the next level in its life cycle, building on the solid foundation and momentum achieved by SIDIT under Ron Baker’s leadership. Now that the critical formation phase is almost complete, Ron will be moving on to other opportunities. I would like to thank Ron for the significant contribution he’s made in setting the right, tone, energy and structure at SIDIT,” said Thomson.
