Richmond Chamber of Commerce Annual Report 2017

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March 29, 2017

Richmond's Voice of Business

Annual Report 2016/17

2015/16 Board of Directors

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR A year and a half ago, I was honoured to be elected Chair of your Chamber of Commerce. What a time it’s been! I said then, that my focus, and our focus as a Chamber would be on providing value to members.

“Provide value” it’s an easy thing to say but more difficult to actually accomplish. Our members are a cross section of Richmond businesses. You’re a diverse group with vastly different needs. I am immensely proud of our Board and staff, and you, our members for working so hard

ROB AKIMOW Chair Richmond News BARBARA TINSON Vice-Chair Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) FAN CHUN Cororate Secretary/ Treasurer Dr. Power MICHAEL MCCOY Executive at Large DANA WESTERMARK Executive at Large Oris Consulting BRIAN WILLIAMS Chair of the Board of Governors Ashton Service Group GERARD EDWARDS Immediate Past Chair Incisive Marketing Inc. GRANT BRYAN Richmond Cares, Richmond Gives CHRISTINE CAMPBELL Co-Chair, Ambassador Committee Earleeray Holdings Inc. PHEBE CHAN Chair, Policy Advisory Committee Phebe Chan Law Corporation BRIAN CORCORAN Chair, Governance Committee PLLR Lawyers SARAH GALLAGHER Vancouver Airport Authority (YVR) MATTHEW KO Manning Elliott LLP CHRISTINE LIM Chair, Greater China Exchange Committee Scotiabank

throughout this year to identify those needs and begin the process to deliver the utmost value.

Beginning our last Board term, we developed an adopted a solid Strategic Plan, which identified goals of refining our governance structure, implementing a value-based membership model and growing membership in key demographics. As we come to the end of this strategic plan, we have remained focused and I am pleased to see these initiatives on track for success. Members have remained the fuel in our engine, sharing their feedback in conversation, in focus groups, through questionnaires and in surveys focused on policy issues. It is an honour to truly be able to say the Chamber of Commerce is the voice of business in Richmond.

When I think of the accomplishments of this past term, I can see the progress we’ve made.

We hosted Justin Trudeau on the precipice of his campaign, and we further engaged in the Federal election with our first All Candidates Meeting in over five years. Our chamber became a beacon of innovation in the province as we hosted two From the Kitchen to the Boardroom dining events, featuring discussion and dinner with some of our region’s top culinary masters. We brought almost 100 local students into our group at our first Women in Leadership panel & luncheon, highlighting three of Richmond’s most impressive executives. In 2016, the Richmond Chamber Scholarship Program was renamed to honour long-time Manager Carol Young and was launched for students graduating in 2017.

And our Chamber has put focus on innovation and sustainable business practices with our new Innovation Committee and the new Green Business of the Year Award at our hallmark Business Excellence Awards.

It is a tremendous honour to be back as Chair in 2017. I look forward to continuing our focus on value and the successes of the past. The past term has been a busy one, and I’m excited to say we were only getting started.

SCOTT MCCLOY WorkSafeBC CLINT UNDSETH Chair, Innovation Committee Stuart Olson MICHAEL YEUNG Korea Exchange Bank

Rob Akimow Chair, Richmond Chamber of Commerce Director of Advertising, Richmond News

Annual Report 2016/17

March 2017

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT & CEO I’m often asked by people I meet outside the Chamber, “what do you do?”

I tell them I’m in the relationship business.

My job is to connect our members with each other through effective networking.

My job is to connect business people with key decision makers, which we do at our policy-focused events. I connect members with educational opportunities. And I work to connect our members with new opportunities for growth.

Proposed 2017/18 Board ROB AKIMOW Chair Richmond News

BARBARA TINSON Vice-Chair Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) FAN CHUN Cororate Secretary/ Treasurer Dr. Power GERARD EDWARDS Immediate Past Chair Incisive Marketing Inc.

My job is to serve you, our members, and all other Richmond businesses whom I consider future members. Our job is to help you grow and prosper. When we do this, the Chamber prospers and ultimately the community at large benefits.

Growing a business means growing a team. Growing a team means growing a community. I hope I’m not too biased when I say that I think our community in Richmond is one of the best in the world and growing ever stronger.

GRANT BRYAN Richmond Cares, Richmond Gives

Over the past year, the staff, Board and I have had two focuses with everything we do: Value and Relevance. If what we do day in and day out is not creating value for our members, and is not relevant to our community, then we must ask ourselves “why we are doing it?”

CAMERON FLEMING HME Mobility & Accessibility

My first 637 days have been focused on honing our efforts to achieve these goals. At the direction of our Board, we have engaged in key activities which are intended to strengthen our organization as a whole, such as, modernizing our Bylaws, changing our fiscal and board year cycle, as well as exploring a revamped membership structure, to give our members more of what they need and want, and less of what they don’t.

We are the Voice of Business in Richmond. We are your voice. But this is only possible with your direction and input. Over the past year and a half we have engaged you in many various surveys. We thank you for your time and input. Thanks to your active participation, we have developed a stronger policy process than ever.

When I get asked what I do for a living, the other thing I say is that I have the best job in Richmond. It might sound cliché, but I mean it. I get to work every day with our amazing staff team, with a progressive and forward thinking Board, but most importantly with each and every one of you. Thank you for giving me the honour and privilege to serve you. To those I know already, I look forward to strengthening our connection. To those of our new members whom I have not have the pleasure of working with yet, I look forward to developing new and fruitful relationship with you and your business!

Matt Pitcairn President and CEO Richmond Chamber of Commerce

PHEBE CHAN Phebe Chan Law Corporation BRIAN CORCORAN PLLR Lawyers

SARAH GALLAGHER Vancouver Airport Authority (YVR) MATTHEW KO Manning Elliott LLP BROCK LAZARUK River Rock Casino Resort CHRISTINE LIM Scotiabank CLINT UNDSETH Stuart Olson KENNETH WU BDO

Chamber Staff

Matt Pitcairn, President & CEO Dan Sakaki, Manager, Membership & Business Development Terry Mok, SME Account Manager Shaena Furlong, Manager, Communications & Systems Sophie Li, Business Resource Centre Coordinator Ting Chen, Administrative Coordinator Wei Chen, Accountant

UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS Save the Date to Dragon Boat with the Greater China Exchange Committee May 30th, 2017

Nominations are now open for the 40th Annual Business Excellence Awards!

Chamber members are invited to India for an 11 day adventure in April 2018.

The Carol Young Scholarship Program is accepting applications!

Nominate online at RichmondChamber.ca

The Women in Leadership Luncheon is coming back in October 2017!

The best business Golf Tournament in Richmond is June 22nd at Quilchena Golf & Country Club!

More information on all programs available at www.RichmondChamber.ca

THANK YOU TO OUR CHAMBER PARTNERS

Presenting Partner

Richmond Chamber of Commerce #202, North Tower, 5811 Cooney Road Richmond, BC V6X 3M1