Former Hawke's Bay Today display ad sales manager Angela Kilkolly has been appointed as the acting chief executive of the Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce.
Ms Kilkolly, who now heads Media Solutions HB, is also a current Chamber board member and accepted the temporary role following a board meeting yesterday.
Her role will be to support staff and ensure it was "business as usual" pending the appointment of a new CEO in the New Year.
All non-operational matters involving the Chamber will be handled by president Katja Williams and those related to Business Hawke's Bay by its chairman, Stuart McLauchlan.
The changes come after businessman Gavin Bush left the organisation suddenly last week, less than a month after being appointed CEO.
Ms Williams said the Chamber would advertise for a new chief executive earlier next year but did not say whether the drama of the past week would influence changes in the way the board selected its next CEO.
Ms Williams had received letters of support from Hawke's Bay businesses and other chambers following speculation people had asked her to stand down.
The letters give her the confidence to carry on and help the Chamber of Commerce refocus priorities heading into the New Year. "We need to ensure we can carry on and focus on good initiatives to support businesses in the Bay and look at things like lobbying to keep the East Coast rail network and get membership feedback on the GM issue."
Ms Kilkolly did not want to comment. The current Chamber board members included Doug Ducker, managing director of Pan Pac Forest Products, Brent Linn (A&P; Showgrounds), Dan Browne (Indelible Ltd), Andrew Bayly (360), Rebecca Mackenzie (The Property Group), Adele Rose (3 R Group) and Stuart McLauchlan (Langley Twigg), Jim Ferguson, (Gifford Devine Lawyers), Peter Wilkins (Orders Please) Anna Lorck (Attn! marketing), Lynne Gibson (Dynamics3 Recruitment), Adrienne Pierce (SMART Business) and Ms Kilkolly.