BCLC appoints president, CEO

NEWS — B.C. Lottery Corp. has a new president and CEO — the same man who has served in the job on an interim basis for more than a year.

BCLC announced Wednesday that Jim Lightbody has been given the job he’s acted in since January 2014.

“The board of directors believes Jim Lightbody is the best person to lead this organization in this time of renewal,” said board chair Bud Smith.

“He has demonstrated strong leadership in the last 14 months as interim CEO. That combined with his understanding of the organization, his commitment to innovation and to employee engagement make him the ideal person to lead the organization going forward.”

Lightbody has been with the corporation for 14 years, previously serving as vice president of lottery gaming and more recently as the vice president of casino and community gaming. His background includes more than 25 years of experience in consumer packaged goods, where he held leadership positions with Procter & Gamble, Nabob Foods and B.C. Hot House.

The announcement of Lightbody’s appointment came the same day that results were released from a Thompson Rivers University (TRU) study that estimates BCLC’s Kamloops head office has had an economic impact of $1.1 billion on the community of Kamloops since it opened on April 1, 1985.

The study was conducted for BCLC by Dr. Laura Lamb, an economist at TRU’s School of Business and Economics using data from the 2013/14 fiscal year and from 30 years of operations to estimate annual and cumulative economic impact.

The study estimates BCLC’s head office annual economic impact is $47.3 million, which factors in an annual payroll of $37 million. In addition, the study estimates that for every two jobs at BCLC, one is created in the community for an estimated total annual employment impact of 639 direct and indirect jobs.

The Kamloops office is home to most of BCLC’s technology and finance employees with the majority of jobs classified as professional. The study notes that 80 per cent of employees have completed post-secondary education; two thirds have attended TRU at some point in their careers. These factors result in salaries that are higher than average for the city.

The study explains the social benefits of this type of workforce include higher rates of volunteerism and community participation. It estimates nearly half of all BCLC staff volunteer an average of 80 hours of their personal time to over 100 community organizations every year.

Over the past 30 years, BCLC has generated more than $18 billion for the Province, to support communities, provincial programs, charitable and community organizations.