Bernadette Uzelac
Andrew Mathieson
GEELONG Chamber of Commerce has appointed as its new chief a woman who built a recruitment and consulting firm over more than two decades in the city.
Bernadette Uzelac is set to replace disgraced former executive officer Greg Rowe who resigned after a couple of weeks in the job when police charged him with fraud offences.
Ms Uzelac said her experience operating People At Work recruitment agency gave her confidence the chamber had carried out appropriate due diligence in her appointment.
“I don’t think the chamber did much wrong previously, either,” she said.
“I think it’s one of those things that regardless of how many checks and balances they did they would never have uncovered that past.”
But Mrs Uzelac, who recently accepted a job with Geelong’s Gartland Real Estate, was reluctant to reveal further details of her recruitment to the chamber.
She believed her previous experience working with companies from small business through to multinational corporations would help in the new role.
“I can bring years of experience of being a business owner and operator and, having started my business from scratch, I can really empathise and understand the struggles of business,” she said.
Mrs Uzelac wanted the chamber to keep Geelong “moving ahead in leaps and bounds”.
“I’ve got ideas floating around in my head at this stage of many possibilities but I’d really like to start working with the directors and support their strategic direction.”
Chamber president Jim Walsh said Mrs Uzelac brought “a wealth of business experience and networking skills” to help the organisation restore its membership.
Greg Rowe was employed in August as a replacement for former executive officer Lawrie Miller before a magistrate found him guilty of three counts of obtaining property by deception.
