Whanganui & Partners' manager Philippa Ivory has already left the organisation

Whanganui & Partners chair Myles Fothergill says the organisation's board and staff are working well despite the resignation of its general manager.

Whanganui & Partners chairman Myles Fothergill began the agency's latest public forum on Tuesday by addressing "the elephant in the room" - the sudden resignation of general manager Philippa Ivory.

The forum came a day after Whanganui & Partners and Whanganui District Council confirmed Ivory had resigned after just seven months in the job.

Fothergill said Ivory had given a month's notice with a finishing date of September 14 but the Chronicle has been told by several sources that she has already departed the organisation.

She did not attend Tuesday's forum.

At the forum, Fothergill thanked the Whanganui & Partners' team for the work they had done over the last few months - "that's Philippa and her team" - and the board for its work.

In an apparent reference to a Wanganui Chronicle editorial, he said all of the economic agency's board members lived in Whanganui "although we have a couple of different accents".

"We are in the position we are specifically because of our skill set in governance but we also have skill sets in other areas," Fothergill said, citing experience in business, education, aviation and other areas.

"We don't work in the organisation, we work for the organisation."

Board members worked alongside the agency's staff, he said.

Whanganui & Partners' draft economic development strategy had been completed and would be presented soon. The previous strategy was discarded in late 2017.