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Julie Gibbons has been elected as the new President of Newry Chamber of Commerce and Trade at the Annual General Meeting held on Thursday 9 December at Customs House, Newry.
Julie is the current Managing Director of AbbeyAutoline, the largest Insurance Broker in Northern Ireland. Prior to this Julie was Operations Director of Autoline Insurance Group for 12 years before it was merged with Abbey. Julie is a law graduate from Queen’s University and holds an MBA from University College Dublin.
Edwin Flynn, CEO of Wood Innovations was elected as Vice President. Kieran Grant, Finance Director at Warrenpoint Port, was elected as Treasurer and Jackie Reid, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at DELI LITES Ireland was elected to the Board.
In her acceptance speech, President Julie Gibbons said “It is a privilege to be asked to lead the Newry Chamber over the next two years, given its long and rich history and indeed the entrepreneurial spirit of the whole region. The Chamber is highly respected as a strategic lobbying and networking organisation.
I would like to thank outgoing President Emma Mullen Marmion for the last two years of unbelievable energy and commitment through an historic Presidency facing some of the most difficult issues we have faced as an entire community in recent times.
I am excited about working with our members and key stakeholders to progress opportunities they have identified. As a Chamber, a large part of our focus has been on Brexit and Covid. These two issues were critical to our members who saw the value in having an influential collective voice and source of practical business support.
We have grown membership by over 30% during the pandemic to almost 250. These new members will bring fresh thinking and experience that I am eager to embrace and bring to the forefront. We will continue to work in partnership with other organisations to provide members with services that help their businesses to grow and flourish.
For more information about joining the Chamber, please visit newrychamber.com
