New chamber CEO focused on building local business community

CENTRE WELLINGTON – Continuing to grow the local business community and support for the 'shop local' movement is important for Centre Wellington businesses going forward, said the Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce’s (CWCC) incoming CEO. 

Brock Aldersley, an almost-lifelong Fergus resident and business school graduate, will be taking the lead of the CWCC early next month. He’s taking over from Sally Litchfield who moved on from the position earlier in the summer. 

Aldersley said in a phone interview he owns Fergus hair salon Cut & Design with his hairstylist husband Clinton, which initially got him involved with the chamber when the business opened about a year ago.

When he heard Litchfield was moving on and saw the job posting for the CEO role it piqued his interest and he applied.

“I really love all things business related, I really like networking, I miss being in front of people,” Aldersley said, explaining he had previously been working in purchasing for a local store for a few years before launching the hair salon. 

“Once we got our business running last year, it was nice to be out in front of the public and go to those (chamber) events and see what the business community can do together. I thought it would be really fulfilling and enjoyable to be part of that.”

He explained the CWCC CEO’s role is to be the public face of the organization advocating for business with different levels of government, explaining the benefits of membership and hosting workshops and events to help build a business community, which he sees as increasingly important as Centre Wellington grows in population over the coming years. 

“We’re growing so much, we really need to make sure that we can provide everything here so that we can continue to build the shop local, support local because we are getting a lot more people here,” Aldersley said. “As the potential customers and clients grow, it’s important to continue to make sure that people know that they don’t have to travel outside and they can stay within our community.” 

Something he thought his predecessor did very well, particularly during COVID, was to decipher what was happening in the news and make it relevant for members. 

“It’s important to continue to build a chamber as somewhere that’s really your go to place for knowledge and where we can collectively build on that and support it,” Aldersley said. 

When he initially starts the job, Aldersley said he plans to be out and about a lot meeting with the business community to get a pulse for what’s going on in the local community. 

His official start date is Sept. 5.