VICTORIA - David Black, president and owner of Black Press, will become the new chair of the B.C. Progress Board, replacing David Emerson who will continue to participate as a regular member of the board, the government announced today.

Other new appointees are:

• Eva Lee Kwok
• Jill Leversage
• Jeff Mallett
• Gerry Martin
• Jeet Sandhu
• Carol Seable
• Brian Surerus
• Doug Whitehead

Since its inception in July 2001, the B.C. Progress Board has created a system of benchmarking which tracks British Columbia's progress against a number of economic, social and environmental indicators. It has published its results in three benchmarking reports, all of which can be located on the Progress Board's Web site at: http://www.bcprogressboard.com/ In addition, the board has produced two special reports -- one on BC's regional economies and the other on the provincial education system -- both of which are also available on the Web site.

In announcing the new appointments, the government thanked outgoing board members Pat Corbett, Donald Gould, Derek Lee, Michael Phelps, Stephanie Sharp and Gerri Sinclair.

Biographies of the 18 members of the progress board are attached.