The first executive director of the Selkirk Biz will retire this week.
After working for almost 15 years with the Biz, Sheri Skalesky will retire tomorrow, May 18, and move on to a new stage of her life.
Skalesky started working as executive director of the Selkirk Chamber of Commerce, now known as the Selkirk Biz, in October 2008.
Past president of the Chamber, Kelly Lewis, and Dave Bayluk hired Skalesky. At that time, Lewis came on as vice president and Bayluk as president. Lewis worked with Skalesky for four to five years.
“She was very diligent in what she did. She got us organized. She got us sending out regular memberships, going out and meeting new members, promoting The Chamber, having events, and getting people out to events,” said Lewis.
Skalesky did her practicum with The Chamber before being hired.
Lewis said Skalesky was instrumental in the early years when they tried to get the Biz back on its feet and grow it.
“She was great when we hired her, and she brought a lot to The Chamber at the time… She understood the need to grow The Chamber and what we had to do,” said Lewis.
When they were working together, Lewis said Skalesky worked hard at promoting and getting The Chamber dollar program off the ground. That program then led to the Biz Bucks program the community knows today.
Skalesky said that when she started back in 2008, they had a few annual initiatives, so she was getting accustomed to some of the events that were happening at that time. Fast forward 15 years, and they’ve taken on many new and exciting initiatives.
“We always had a great team of people around the table with so much skill, knowledge and experience working together to create something new and exciting for our business community and just for the community as a whole,” she said.
Kelly Cook, past president of the Biz over 15 years ago, worked with Sheri for a couple of years.
“If you gave it to Sheri, you knew it was done. You didn’t have to check or follow up. I always used to say at our meetings that if Sheri was happy, I was happy. That’s just the type of person she was,” said Cook.
Skalesky was reminded of her favourite Biz memory just last week. It was a pre-pandemic event in June at the Manitoba Royal Yacht Club. Members had come down as part of a networking night and to showcase some of the new members they had at the time.
She said it was one of the most memorable, fun, and exciting days at The Chamber office.
“It was outside of the normal events that we would host…We were able to sort of put our day jobs off to the side, and it was almost like you were in some sort of fantasy world of lifestyles of the rich and famous,” said Skalesky.
Chuck Davidson, the executive director of the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce, the umbrella organization for the entire chamber network – the Selkirk Biz being one of their 64 members, has had a relationship with Sheri for over a decade.
“She is going to be greatly missed once she leaves in terms of the legacy she’s had in terms of supporting and growing the Selkirk Biz to what it is today,” he said.
“The next person coming in is going to have big shoes to fill because of the impact she’s had on the local business community.”
Skalesky said her favourite part of her job is that it’s never the same day twice.
What she will miss most is being in touch with what’s happening in the communities and playing that role in working towards making the communities a better place to work, play, and do business in.
Jim Pelletier, past president of the Biz from 2021 to 2022, worked with Sheri for about six years.
“Sheri is the backbone and the brains of the Selkirk Biz,” he said.
Once she retires, Skalesky said she is looking forward to doing things that speak to her.
“Sometimes you don’t get the opportunity to experience as much as you want to. This is the beginning to explore that,” she said.
She is passionate about music, loves being outdoors and gardening, and spending time with people she is close to. These are things that will now be more available to her. She said she looks forward to doing as much of that as possible.
Skalesky said there are some people she wants to thank who were important parts of her career.
She wants to recognize Kelly Lewis and Dave Bayluk for believing in her when they hired her. She said she has always looked up to Lewis as a mentor.
Skalesly also wants to thank her partners and Bev Clegg at the Selkirk and District Community Foundation. She has worked side by side with her since day one and is very glad for that partnership.
Lastly, she wants to thank her current board. She had worked with many that had been around for a while. She said she couldn’t think of better people to work with.
