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.
Presenting Sponsor
As women we need to celebrate our success and accept the compliments that come with that success without guilt.
SMA Group, Chartered Professional AccountantsWow, what a fantastic event last week. While it is advertised for entrepreneurs it is really an inspiring event for business women of all ages and positions. What an incredible line up of guest speakers.
Western Union Business SolutionsInspiring, amazing speakers, I learned many new things, great energy.
A wonderful event. I met some incredible people and was very inspired. You have gathered such an amazing group of people.
Vicki SaundersFounderSheEOExcellent location, food, really enjoyed the Plenary sessions. Met some wonderful women in business.
I am feeling inspired, educated and frankly blown away by the many amazing women and men that we encountered over the three days. What a fantastic and first-class event! It so exceeded any expectations that I had and I have been passing the word around at BMO that we should be very proud to be the presenting sponsor at this event.
BMO Bank of MontrealI 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 Group
I had a riot at EXCELerate, and if there is anything I can do for you or your patrons ongoing please don’t hesitate to ask.
Tantalus LabsGreat opportunity to learn and connect!
Thoroughly enjoyed the conference and learnt so much from amazing thought leaders, high quality panel speakers. It is refreshing to see that as we continue to grow as women entrepreneurs we are impacting the quality of lives of ours, our family and the community at large. Thank you for putting together an exceptional conference that can have a far larger reach in the future. It was definitely worth the long distance travel and excited to grow GroYourBiz in the UK.
Claris Coaching
