DURHAM -- After almost a decade at the helm, Edna Klazek is leaving the United Way of Ajax-Pickering-Uxbridge.

Ms. Klazek announced her retirement as the organization’s chief administrative officer during its annual general meeting on Tuesday.

“I decided it was time,” she said in an interview. “At this point, my goal is to retire. Down the road, I might do a little contract work.”

Her immediate goal is to “spend more time with my husband, that’s my goal.

“In the last two years, there’s been a lot of personal loss in the family,” she said.

Ms. Klazek came to the United Way after a 30-year career with the Bank of Montreal, although she had been a volunteer with the organization for many years.

“When I came, I thought I’d be here five years and now it’s almost 10 years,” she said.

“There are a lot of positive memories,” she said, adding when she announced her retirement at the AGM, she noted, “This is the best job in Durham Region, next to being my husband’s wife.”

Ms. Klazek pointed to the volunteers and staff she has worked with as being the best.

“We’ve had a lot of accomplishments and it’s gratifying to see it changed and grown,” Ms. Klazek said. “I wanted to be a catalyst for change and I think I have been.”

Over the years, she’s worked to ensure a “whole corporate culture of change and staying current with what’s going on in the community.”

Ms. Klazek will remain on the job until December, “so there’s still some time” before she leaves.

The organization’s board of directors has established a hiring committee and will begin the search for a successor.