Thank you and goodbye … from Chanette Roughton

Thank you and goodbye … from Chanette Roughton

Chanette
Farewell Chanette

On 31 March, the IBIA secretariat said goodbye to one of its longest serving members of staff, Chanette Roughton.

Chanette, who moved to the UK from her native Cape Town, South Africa in 1996, has worked for IBIA for the last seven years. She joined as administrative support helping to organise IBIA’s many events and moved on to manage IBIA’s invoicing and payments.

“I joined IBIA in June 2009, when the office was located in Southampton”, she says. “I have really enjoyed my time working with IBIA, particularly the Annual Dinner and the Convention, both events are challenging in terms of sheer volume of organization and administration, but great fun when you get there. I have also been lucky enough to attend the IBIA Convention in Hong Kong, Dubai and Connecticut, USA. It’s a smaller event than the Annual Dinner but still very enjoyable, and I have to say Dubai was the best – despite it being nearly 50 degrees!”

“For the last two years, the IBIA dinner has attracted more than 1100 guests”, she adds. “The work starts properly in September and it can be a real challenge around Christmas as we juggle other deadlines – like the membership directory and the administration around the Board elections. It can be very stressful getting it all organised, as the details for all of the tables can change quite a lot as we get closer to the date! But on the evening it all comes together and the feedback from members is generally very positive.”

Chanette says that she has seen IBIA grow and change over the years, she was heavily involved in the office move from Southampton up to London, and she says she will miss many of the great people she has met over the years.

Her new role will see her developing her accounting skills focusing on payroll and invoicing, and most importantly it’s close to home. She has been commuting for two hours each morning and evening to IBIA’s London office, but with her daughter starting school in the autumn working closer to home will have obvious advantages.

Last but not least, she says anyone joining the IBIA office should be able to multi-task and have fun. “It’s a busy office,” she adds, “but there are some great events and a lovely team to work with, I am certainly sad to leave.”

Peter Hall, CEO, IBIA added: “As many of our members know Chanette has been an integral part of our team for many years and was often the first point of contact for them. We will miss her positive attitude and we all thank her sincerely for her hard work and contribution to IBIA’s success during her time with the association. Personally I have appreciated Chanette’s contribution to the office move and seeing things settled in, I know speaking on behalf of the membership we all hope her career move is a fruitful one and wish her every success for the future.”

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