The Downtown Business Association has named Edmonton marketer and business strategist Puneeta McBryan as its new executive director.
McBryan has worked with many DBA member businesses through her leadership roles at ZGM Modern Marketing Partners since 2016, and her previous work for marketing firms Incite and Amplomedia.
McBryan tells Taproot Edmonton that storytelling will be key to the recovery, reconnection, and long-term economic prosperity of downtown Edmonton.
"I think my background as a marketer and communicator puts me in a unique position to look at these issues through both a storytelling and a behaviour change lens to make sure that Edmontonians from all over the city can rally behind and take pride in the excitement and attractiveness of our downtown, and can better understand how their decisions about where they choose to spend their work time, play time, and money actually have a huge impact on the future of our whole city," she said.
The DBA had been looking to fill the position since former executive director Ian O'Donnell resigned earlier this summer after the controversy around his "all lives matter" tweet ahead of a local Black Lives Matter protest.