Real estate broker Harp Khela is the new chair of Downtown Surrey Business Improvement Association’s executive board.
His selection to the 20-person board was announced Wednesday (March 27) by the DSBIA, a voice of 1,400 member businesses in Surrey’s downtown core.
Four others were picked for board executive positions including Stephen Dooley (1st vice-chair), Chris Gardner (2nd vice-chair) and Perminder Tung (secretary, treasurer).
Khela, recently ranked the world’s top Century 21 agent for a second consecutive year, represents Allure Ventures on the DSBIA board.
Elizabeth Model, CEO of the BIA, calls Khela “one of the finest and brightest individuals in our community.”
Allure Ventures’s developments have helped to transform the skyline of Surrey, according to a news release from the DSBIA. Last fall the company expanded into the hospitality sector with the opening of SKYE Avenue Kitchen and Lounge, located at Central City Shopping Centre.
Khela calls this “a tremendously important time for the downtown precinct of Surrey, with major investments coming from world-class developers, businesses and academic institutions,” he said in the DSBIA news release.
“The priority for myself and our organization will be to advocate and support the business community as we prepare to transition to the metropolitan centre of our province in the upcoming years.”
Directors of the 2024 Downtown Surrey BIA board are Kristen Bishop (Civic Hotel), Randal Dhaliwal (FASKEN), Stephen Dooley (SFU Surrey), Maury Dubuque (Nicola Wealth), Kirk Fisher (Lark Group), Chris Gardner (ICBA), Sonny Janda (Janda Group), Kathrin Matadeen (TD District VP Banking), Sonia Parmar (David Pel & Associates), Lutz Sprecher (Whalley Optical), Perminder Tung (King George Surrey Holdings Ltd.), Sunny Aujla (Farris Law), Soleman Hashmi (Hashmi Law), Nissar Dalal (Prospera), Kanwar Dhamrait (Oviedo Properties), Brad Howard (PCI), Harp Khela (Allure Ventures), Melanie Adamczewski (Urban Systems), Michael Johanson (Avalon/Arbour Memorial) and Homayoun Rad (Aplin & Martin Consultants Ltd.).