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THE VANCOUVER BOARD OF TRADE’S WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP CIRCLE®
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In her speech as outgoing chair of The Vancouver Board of Trade, Sue Paish told the audience, “Whether in your personal or business life, knowing what you stand for and why is fundamental to both success and happiness. Once we have that sorted out, it’s far easier to identify the things that matter.” And, though health and wellness are at the top of Sue’s list, we also know that supporting women and helping their voices be heard are also important. As the founding chair of the Women’s Leadership Circle®, Sue has focused on engaging women in The Board’s public policy issues and making sure the WLC addresses areas of interest and topics of relevance to women. Under her leadership, our 2,000 WLC members have tapped into the knowledge of McKinsey’s How Remarkable Women Lead, learned Catalyst’s insights on the importance of women on boards and had intimate roundtable discussions with community leaders such as Carole Taylor, Mayor Dianne Watts and Mayor Gregor Robertson. As the extremely busy CEO of Pharmasave Drugs (National) Ltd., Sue has decided to step down as the chair of the Women’s Leadership Circle Advisory Council. We want to thank Sue for her amazing contribution of time, energy and support to the WLC over these last two-and-a-half years and for making a significant difference in this community. 
We are very pleased to announce that Janet Austin, CEO of the Vancouver YWCA, has taken on the role of chair of the WLC Advisory Council. Janet has been actively involved with the WLC since its inception and is a strong advocate for women and families, especially in the areas of early learning and care for children, permanent and transition housing, and support services for single moms. The consummate volunteer, Janet is a recipient of the Business in Vancouver Influential Woman in Business Award, Vancouver Board of Trade Community Leadership Award, the Queen’s Jubilee Medal for Community Service and the Big Sisters “Big Heart” Award for outstanding contribution by a volunteer. In 2008, she was named to the WXN (Women’s Executive Network) list of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women. Like founding WLC chair, Sue Paish, Janet carried the torch in the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay which she considered a thrill of a life time. She spent nearly two hours with schoolchildren who wanted their photos taken with her holding the torch and gave her torch away to her nephews so they could share it with all their school friends. Janet is a passionate, positive and inspiring business and community leader. We can’t think of a better person to lead the WLC in the coming year.
Mayor Dianne Watts of Surrey and WLC Advisory Council member is short-listed for the 2010 World Mayor Prize. The prize, which has been awarded since 2004, honours mayors with the vision, passion and skills to make their cities incredible places to live in, work in and visit. Watts is one of 25 mayors (out of more than 840 nominations around the world) who made it to the final round for this very prestigious award. She is one of two finalists from Canada and one of four from North America. An international think tank’s editorial board will choose the winner this fall based on the number of votes received and persuasiveness of supporting comments. Take the time to support an amazing woman leader from the Lower Mainland. Vote and add a supporting comment at 
You may have seen Bill Good or Mike Killeen wearing this spectacular tie on their CTV newscasts. Any man who wears this eye-catching tie gets a compliment. It was created by Vancouver Board of Trade master artist-in-residence Bill Helin, who is of Tsimshian ancestry and a world renowned carver, painter and jeweler. The good news is there are also a number of beautiful 100-per-cent silk scarves of the same design. 
When Canadian Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier officially opened the first annual Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) in 1910, admission was 50 cents and approximately 68,000 people attended the event. Today, the PNE has become the largest annual ticketed event in the province and has welcomed more than 75 million visitors. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Fair at the PNE, the organization has planned “the most extensive slate of free with admission programming in British Columbia history.” There is an Anniversary Opening Concert featuring Bryan Adams and The Beach Boys. And, they are bringing back the PNE Parade! Not seen since 1995, this one-time special event will take place on Friday, August 20 at 7 p.m. and travel along Beach Avenue from English Bay to Sunset Beach. It will highlight the PNE’s 10 decades of history, have a cast of 2,000 people and feature—for the first time in Vancouver—12 giant parade balloons, similar to Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York!
Summer is the time when many companies test-drive their flextime policies. An article in 
Spring 2010 hasn’t really gotten us ready for summer, and Vancouver’s short but fabulous summers may even be shorter this year. So, how to maximize your time in the sun? Some of the best advice on time management, particularly in the work of Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz (The Power of Full Engagement, Free Press, 2003), focuses on managing energy, not time. One of the most powerful pieces of advice is to block your time off into manageable segments, giving 100 per cent of your focus to work for a specific amount of time. For example: you work (no checking emails, answering phones, grabbing coffee) for an hour-and-a-half. Then you stop, and take a break. This requires getting up from your desk and doing something different. Eat a snack (healthy snacking is very important in managing energy) and do something physical. Do some “at desk” stretches or actually go outside and soak up 15 minutes of sun. Everyone’s office environment is different, but spending 7 hours at your desk is energy draining and not effective. Break the lunch-at-your-desk habit this summer. Plan to have lunch outdoors every day (weather permitting). Ask someone from the office you’d like to get to know better if they’d like to bring their lunch and eat outside for a change. Or ask a friend to meet you and enjoy the sun on one of downtown Vancouver’s plazas or patios. Set a goal to make summer work refreshing and productive.
The Minerva Foundation for BC Women has launched a new, hands-on leadership training program called Women Leading the Way (WLW). WLW’s initial pilot program will have two intakes (Jan. 2011 and Sept. 2011), with each cohort accepting up to 25 women. The first six months involves classroom/online training and the following six months involves applying these leadership skills to a specific project, with the help of mentors. The project will culminate in a Global/National Conference in March 2013, where lessons learned from this pilot project, and models for the future, will be shared with agencies, organizations, communities and social change agents from around the globe through live web streaming.
In May of this year, Operation Phoenix, a year-long project in The Province newspaper examining the issues of the Downtown Eastside, won a National Newspaper Award in the special project category. The in-depth series examined the issues facing our most vulnerable citizens in Vancouver’s most troubled neighborhood and looked at what needs to be done to help them. It drew the community into a giant discussion about potential solutions. It was the largest project ever undertaken by The Province and covered close to 200 pages in the newspaper between February, 2009 and January, 2010. 
Shirley Chan, member of The Vancouver Board of Trade’s Community Affairs Committee and CEO of Building Opportunities with Business Inner City Society, was awarded a For more information, please e-mail design@boardoftrade.com.
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