Executive Director’s Message

Well, it has been a year! A year since the entire planet was brought to a screeching halt, as the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a global pandemic. A year since the local government emergency operations centers were activated and drastic changes were made to ensure the safe delivery of essential and non-essential services to their communities and citizens. A year since the local government sector made the largest technological transformation, almost overnight, as thousands of employees were transitioned to working from home.

While there is much hope on the horizon with the phase 2 rollout of the province’s vaccination program, working from home, visiting friends and families over Zoom, and dreaming of post-COVID-19 travel will continue to be our “new normal” for a bit longer. To borrow from the very famous and widely popular motivational British poster, we will all need to “Keep Calm and Zoom on”, …remote on…dream on…AND conference on!

Planning for our second annual virtual conference, The Future

is Now: Response, Recovery &

Resilience, is in full swing! Last year, we did our absolute best to provide an in-person experience for our first virtual conference— minus the social events. This year, we are upping the ante all around by delivering more live presentations, maximizing engagement opportunities for all delegates, and delivering a Gala & Awards night hosted by Adam Growe of Canada’s Cash Cab fame. Adam will bring his Cash Cab quizmaster skills to engage and entertain gala goers.

We are extremely excited about this year’s keynotes. Dan Pontefract, former head of Learning & Collaboration at Telus and author of several leadership books, including Flat Army, Open to Think, and Lead, Care, Win, will draw on his vast experience to reflect on leadership transformation and remaining resilient in times of major change. Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute and declared winner in the BC Leader’s Debate this past

October, according to BC Business, will address the pressing and important issues facing Canadians here in BC and across the country pre-, mid-, and post-pandemic.

In addition to the social events, keynotes, an array of plenary panels, and concurrent sessions including forum sessions, we have also added some personal development micro-learning sessions aimed at increasing productivity, building emotional IQ, acknowledging the importance of good mental health, and getting social with LinkedIn.

We hope that you and your team will join us this year to learn, engage and connect and to help make our second annual virtual conference an even bigger success than last year! •

Board of Directors

President Trevor Thompson Vice President Lorraine Coughlin Secretary-Treasurer Nyla Attiana Past President Genelle Davidson

Directors at Large

Jim Bauer Jeannie Bradburne Shelley Hahn Rianna Lachance Lenora Lee Jennifer Lockhart Michelle Mason Talitha Soldera

Staff

Kala Harris, Executive Director Erica Christie, Manager, Operations and Member Services Gerilee McBride, Graphic Design Kala Harris Executive Director