Patricia Ross currently serves as Deputy Mayor for the City of Abbotsford and has been a councillor for 21 years. She is Chair of the city’s Intergovernmental Affairs committee, Vice-Chair of the Fraser Valley Regional District and serves on the board of the BC Municipal Finance Authority. Patricia’s philosophy toward government is to fully embrace sustainability principles, considering the environmental, social and economic impacts in all decision making. Patricia is a Fellow of Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) International, a research and training program dedicated to fostering worldwide sustainability. Her research has taken her to Oaxaca, Mexico; Costa Rica, Zimbabwe and Argentina. Patricia is a motivational and keynote speaker as well as a published free-lance writer who has a passion for helping businesses and communities reach their best sustainable potential. In December 2004, Patricia spoke at the International Climate Change Conference in Buenos Aires about the challenges and rewards of environmental conservation in local government. From 2000 to 2006, Patricia took on the job of Public and Media Relations Coordinator and Chief Lobbyist for the City of Abbotsford on their successful and precedent setting campaign of opposition to the polluting power plant proposal of Sumas Energy 2 (SE2). Patricia is excited about using her expertise and experience to help mentor women achieve success in business and politics through GYB. Patricia has been named one of the Abbotsford New’s Top 100 Most Influential People in Abbotsford several years in a row and has won many awards for her community work including Abbotsford’s 2009 “Woman of the Year,” “Newsmaker of the Year” from the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce, “Green Leader” from the Abbotsford-Matsqui Rotary Club, “Paul Harris” Rotary club Fellowship and Queens Diamond Jubilee award.
I thought it might be impossible to top EXCELerate 2015 – but BAM! you did it again!
Encore CatalystInspiring, amazing speakers, I learned many new things, great energy.
This expert group of panelists gave a wealth of advice to the audience—the clear and incisive responses made my job as moderator so much easier! Kudos to Barbara for arranging this, and to the panel for an excellent session!
EDCWomen Power!!!
Andrea OberdieckSauder School of BusinessEpic conference, memorable speakers and loads of positive feedback from delegates!
Shirley BennieLoved it!
Christina Stewart Praxis Performance GroupThere is no question that this was once again one of the most captivating conferences that I have attended—with not only one good idea—but many. It is wonderful how the panels all have different points of view that foster challenging perhaps our previous opinions or at the very least give us more information to have an informed opinion. Our team thought it was time well spent indeed!
McCurdy FinancialOne of the most worthwhile conferences I have ever attended. I can’t wait until next year!
Tim & Sharon GloverOwners,Light-Core Inc.I think it’s safe to say that we were all blown away by the calibre of the gala – the dinner was fantastic, the performance lovely and Ann Mukerjee’s keynote was beyond inspiring!
Stephanie HayesLeadership DevelopmentOverwaitea Food GroupI have been a delegate and speaker at many, many, many conferences but this one is I have to say is the best I have been to. When I first looked at the itinerary I could not wrap my head around why you would choose such world wide speakers to talk about things larger than us small businesses but it wasn’t long after the speakers began on Wednesday evening that I became so deeply inspired and then even more so as the next two days passed.
Little Fish Big Pond