CEO of Commerce Ballarat, Jodie Gillett, has been awarded a Medal in the Order of Australia as part of the King’s Birthday honours for her service to the Ballarat business community for more than fifteen years.
Ms Gillett became CEO of Commerce Ballarat in 2008, an organisation that aims to create a united voice for business in the region.
The work of Commerce Ballarat has been integral to the support and success of the business community and the group behind the annual Business Day Out and initiatives like the Business Confidence Survey.
Ms Gillett the support she has received from staff, family and the business community has been integral to her organisation’s achievements.
“This success is in a small part due to myself with incredible staff who have been with me a very long time and love their job and their city,” she said.
“That’s made it a whole lot easier and I’m also fortunate to get great support from family, so I feel very supported in every area.”
“It’s been an honour to serve our business community, they’re pretty amazing. They work closely together, they collaborate, and they support each other.”
With so many things on the Commerce Ballarat calendar each year, Ms Gillett said one major event often stands out.
“Looking back, the business awards every year are about so much more than an award or party,” she said.
“It’s about giving businesses a chance to review what they are doing and to celebrate what they are doing each year.
“We never get tired of seeing the joy that’s brought to the businesses who become finalists.”
One of the more challenging times faced by Commerce Ballarat was the COVID-19 pandemic which disrupted business globally.
“We hope that during the pandemic we stepped up, it was certainly our goal right at the start of 2020 that we didn’t want to leave anyone behind, so we really tried to diversify the organisation,” said Ms Gillett.
“We hope that has been helpful to many of our businesses.”