After eight months of searching, the district of Invermere has a new chief administrative officer (CAO). Andrew Young will be stepping into the position of CAO as of Monday, November 2nd, 2020.

Young has been the CAO for the district of Taylor in northeastern B.C. for the past two years, a role he will continue until October 12th. He also worked as the CAO for the District of Wells in central B.C. Before that, he spent one year and a half as the corporate officer and planner of the Village of Valemount, among other positions.

Young is originally from Vancouver. He moved several times in his younger years as his father worked for the RCMP. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in geography and economics also a Master of Arts (M.A. Planning) from the School of Community and Regional Planning. Since then, he has worked for municipal governments, except for a stint with the University of British Columbia (UBC) as manager of community planning. The next CAO of Invermere wasn’t looking for a new job. Instead a heading hunting company, Waterhouse Executive Search, contacted him on behalf of Invermere. After he researched the district of Invermere, he became intrigued by many of the developments happening here. “Dynamic and interesting recreation base but not only base on recreation or tourism… Small or medium-sized industries such as Kicking Horse Coffee, which is a big success story… Many other things that are going on here in Invermere help stabilize the local economy and help it grow,” he said.

Invermere purchased the Lake Windermere Resort Lands (LWRL) last April for roughly $5 million. The district with help from consultants B&A Planning Group, are currently working on the Athalmer Neighbourhood Plan, which entails better public access to Lake Windermere, the re-development of the public boat launch at Pete’s Marina, the possible addition of a wetland boardwalk system and interpretation platform and residential development of the Athalmer Neighbourhood. These new opportunities made the CAO position for the district of Invermere professionally attractive for Young. He was previously responsible for leading the development of some large neighbourhood plans, which made the community a great fit for Young. “I feel very fortunate to be the candidate that Mayor (Al) Miller and the council selected,” he said. Young is hoping to work closely with Miller, council and district staff. Young also wants to help Invermere develop a mature vision for its rapidly developing areas. “By doing that, hopefully, Invermere will become a stronger and more resilient community,” said Young.

Invermere mayor Al Miller added that “it has been quite a lot of searching over the last eight months, but ultimately, we’re very happy with the end results.” He insists, “Our interim CAO Kindry Luyendyk has done a tremendous job of holding our administration and the rest of the management team together. I certainly want to make sure that she gets a proper thank you.”