Puneeta McBryan is leaving the EDBA
Puneeta McBryan said she will leave her role as CEO of the Edmonton Downtown Business Association once she has helped hire a successor, but not because she is moving to a new gig or has ambitions for the coming municipal election.
edmonton.taproot.news
Puneeta McBryan said she will leave her role as CEO of the
Edmonton Downtown Business Association once she has helped hire a successor, but not because she is moving to a new gig or has ambitions for the coming municipal election.
“The decision was a long time coming,” McBryan told Taproot. “My kid is growing up really fast, and I want to be home more. This is very much a personal decision, just as much as it is a career decision.”
McBryan was hired in December 2020 and has led the EDBA, and in some ways downtown, through challenging times since. From the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant shift in downtown work and leisure patterns, to social conditions that leave some feeling unsafe on downtown streets, McBryan has fought a challenging battle while stewarding new events focused on bringing fun and funding back downtown to stimulate business growth.
McBryan said her next chapter will be deciding what to do next, and underlined to Taproot she will not work for a candidate or run as one in October’s municipal election. On that point, she joked that some already call her role the 14th member of council. “Municipal politics is just hard,” she said. “I have so much respect for the people who do it, but I don’t think I could, especially after getting a little taste of it in this job.”
