Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce Executive Director

Nov 052011

I am pleased to announce that I have started as of November 1st with the Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce as their new Executive Director. I am very much looking forward to meeting local business owners and community members in this exciting role as well as stakeholders in policy development to ensure economically healthy communities for all Canadians. See link below I will be attending the Chilliwack Hospice Gala this evening and then heading to Toronto for the Ivey Business School wrap-up, returning Tuesday evening in time for the Chamber board meeting on Wednesday.

http://www.chilliwacktimes.com/business/Chamber+names+executive+director/5636389/story.html

Beach day in October

Nov 052011

The day after Ivey I was able to spend one more day in London and contacted my friend and colleague Dr. Lynn Shaw, we both are advisors to the Canadian Injured Workers Alliance. Lynn was my tour guide and the weather was very warm, almost like summer. We toured the University of Western Ontario where she is a professor and other local historic buildings then headed to Port Andrew where she and her husband have a cabin. The farm country on the road out of town  with the vibrant oranges, reds and yellow of the trees made for a scenic and beautiful trip. It was so warm that we were able to walk barefoot on the beach, effectively getting in one last day of summer before I headed back west to home.

Back from the Outdoors

Nov 052011

The time spent in the outdoors in Strathcona and then Squamish was truly amazing. Due to injuring my knee (sprained ligaments) I could not continue as it wouldn’t heal in time, so, unfortunately I had to cut my trip short.  Upon my return I had a wonderful opportunity to attend Ivey Business School’s London ON campus, Spencer Leadership Centre for a refresher for professional women  in their Reconnect Program. The week was extremely informative having Ivey professors provide day long teaching sessions in marketing and other relevant business topics. Through one of their case studies on the effectiveness of traditional vs social media marketing I came up with a term ‘fusion’ marketing that I think is really where we need to go to include a broader target of consumers. Also having a day of financial accounting and half day of economics with the recent changes in accounting law in Canada and the current economic global situation was very useful.