In 2004, Rick Karp took on what he thought would be a nine-month to one-year role as the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce president.

Now, 14 years later, Karp is getting set to leave the organization, a move he plans to make sometime in July after a new president has been hired.

In an interview last Thursday afternoon at the chamber’s downtown offices, Karp reflected on his career at the chamber.

He emphasized that the initiatives and programs developed over the years have been the result of work by many.

“I feel really proud of what we’ve accomplished,” Karp said, pointing to a white board full of plans and projects the chamber has underway.

“The board tells the story.”

When Karp took on the job, the chamber’s activities consisted largely of fundraisers like an annual golf tournament to help keep things going, even with the chamber having to shut down its offices each summer.

He took on the job with a goal of having the chamber become self-sufficient and work on issues for the business community.

One of those first efforts was in hiring an office administrator, providing a consistent presence in the office.

As Karp continued his efforts for the chamber as an organization, he soon found himself dealing with issues as local businesses that were part of the growing membership continued to contact the chamber with concerns.

One of those first issues was in addressing the standardized signs the territory was proposing for the Alaska Highway that would replace individual signs.

Businesses came to the chamber arguing the small spaces allocated for business advertising on the signs were not large enough and would not allow for tourists to find out about their business service.

Efforts saw the chamber push for changes with a new format for signs to be displayed in a way that allows for travellers to know what services are available.

Karp enjoyed working on the chamber’s strategic planning and issues as they came up, and found himself there past the one-year mark he had anticipated to stay at most.

“I started to feel good that it was making a difference,” he said.

As his work continued over the years, he found the lines of communication opening more with governments. The chamber was also able to start or be part of a number of initiatives to help local businesses.

“The Yukon Business Development Program is one of the most unique in the country,” Karp said.

That venture, which is funded through CanNor, provides companies with assistance in the development of business and marketing plans and with business advisory boards made up of local and Outside experts, tailored to their individual needs.

The companies that are part of the program benefit from a mentorship and development over a one-year period.

Karp said he’s also pleased with the Partnering For Success initiative that brings together businesses and government officials to work on resolving issues.

That has seen concerns around housing, tourism, energy and procurement brought up and addressed, he noted, pointing out that it means government is at the table listening.

“We’re making great strides in procurement,” he said of recent efforts.

As Karp gets set for his final months at the chamber, he said there are also a lot of new initiatives underway.

Those include the development of a new website for the chamber in addition to all the continued programming.

Its annual Business Connects conference in May is also set, with both Rick Hanson and former Yukoner Elaine Lee (an artist and playwright now based in Alberta who has lived with Osteogenesis Imperfecta since birth) addressing delegates.

While he is excited for the chamber’s future, Karp said, it’s time for him to move on to something else.

After deciding that these would be his last months with the chamber, he said he realized his career seems to change every 14 years.

He worked as a teacher for 14 years before he and his wife, Joy, moved here from the Kingston, Ont. area to purchase the city’s first McDonald’s restaurant franchise.

They operated the Fourth Avenue location in Whitehorse for 14 years beginning in the mid-1980s. The couple then owned their salon for 14 years.

He noted Joy’s passing in 2017 has meant major life changes for him.

Intending to stay in Whitehorse, he said he plans to focus on his writing, including finishing his work on the story of Joy’s life.

The story he had written of her early 1990s kidnapping to Grey Mountain was made into a CBS production a number of years ago.

Karp would like to pick that story up again and focus on the remaining years of her life and the many contributions she made to Whitehorse.

He also has a book he wrote years ago on which an editor had given him feedback that he plans to go back to work on.

That’s along with a sci-fi novel that’s still in the works, built around his own ideas on economics.

Given his work with the chamber and that he was providing care to Joy in her final years, the writing was shelved in recent years.

He is also looking at doing some travelling after his work with the chamber wraps up.