Trade Centre Head Leaving

The Chief Operating Officer of the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre is stepping down.

Jim Owens has been managing the facility since 1988 and is leaving to take a new job at the Vancouver Island Convention Centre in Nanaimo.

Councillor Randy Manuel says the move has nothing to do with the facility’s upcoming switch to private sector management.

He says Owens was head-hunted by company officials in Nanaimo, who made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

It’s not known who will replace Owens at the convention centre.