
City of Kamloops Interim CAO Byron McCorkell/via Mary Putnam
Kamloops City Council is pleased to announce the appointment of Byron McCorkell as the new Chief Administrative Officer.
The move takes effect following the Thanksgiving long weekend. This is an interim measure which follows McCorkell’s successful tenure as Acting CAO for the past several months.
McCorkell takes over from David Trawin, who remains on an extended leave for personal reasons. A statement from City Council says they continue to be grateful to Trawin for his many years of service, during which he has played a critical role in guiding Kamloops through key initiatives and developments.
“Council made the decision to hire Byron McCorkell as our new CEO,” said Deputy Mayor Mike O’Reilly. “And you know, over the last few months, he has proven that he can handle the role, and he has been very strong leader. And basically what we’ve seen from Byron is his vision and his able, his ability to execute on things that need to be done and really something that we wanted to see moving forward.”
“In the acting role, he was there filling David’s position, and that placeholder and what David had was trying to do with the organization. Now, in the interim role, Byron will be coming in with his vision and leading the city in the way that he feels should be done, not just on behalf of David Trawin. And so that’s really where that difference is. He was, he was continuing to act out David Trawin’s vision for the organization. And now we’re going to have Byron’s vision and plan for the organization.”
“Also bringing on permanent CAO provides more clarity for our staff and our organization moving forward, and then we thought that was something that was needed.”
Speaking to RADIO NL, McCorkell says in the acting role it didn’t allow for the ability to do some of the moves he was looking to do and replacing it with the interim tag solidifies that and gives solid footing to move forward on. “We have respect the fact that David has set a pretty solid course for the operation in the corporate, the corporation as a whole. Now, interim allows me to start making decisions from my perspective, and I don’t see any radical changes with what we’ve been doing. It’s just really the confidence of council to allow us to move forward in making those decisions.”
McCorkell has been with the City of Kamloops since 1999, when he accepted the Parks and Recreation Director position. He has played an integral role in making Kamloops Canada’s Tournament Capital and continues to propel the community forward through innovation and strategic thinking. His collaborative approach and commitment to the community have already made a significant impact, and City Council looks forward to continued progress under his leadership.
He says he is far from ready to see his time with the city come to an end. “Well, it’s been a good run. I’ve seen an awful lot happen in the city. We went through the successful communities in bloom, which I think changed the way people think about Kamloops. We did the Tournament Capital program, which created an economic venue for the city, as well as creating those facilities that we now celebrate, like the Tournament Capital center, and now we’re moving into the build Kamloops initiative and creating, again, some new facilities and community that will become iconic and start to represent our community in yet again different ways, in providing opportunities that we never had before. So it’s exciting. It’s been an exciting trip. 25 years, has been, it’s gone by really quick and I’m not really eager to see it end.”