Company of Young Professionals Leadership Forum

By Amanda Grochowich

The Vancouver Board of Trade's Company of Young Professionals (CYP) program hosted its seventh annual Leadership Forum on May 12 — a marquee event featuring networking, a panel discussion with business and community leaders, and the presentation of the 2015 CYP Engaged Leadership Certificates.

This year's panel discussion featured a number of accomplished speakers, who were invited to share career tips and lessons on innovation.

Igor Faletsky, CEO of Mobify, shared his experience with starting a company in Vancouver and offered a few recommendations, such as: look for something small but exciting that will let you ride a wave over the next 10 years; have a good team from the get go; don't underestimate the significance of the American market; make sure you have a quick path to profit; and, most importantly – never give up!

Juggy Sihota, Vice President of Customer Experience Strategy and Operations at TELUS Health, described how TELUS is opting to tackle a national challenge – improving the provision of efficient yet cost-effective Health Care services. She highlighted how the innovations of tomorrow will come through trying to solve the everyday challenges of today. Sihota noted that TELUS Health has started the process by investing in Electronic Medical Records (EMR) technology and home health monitoring for patients living with certain chronic diseases.

Tracey Renzullo, Marketing Faculty with the BCIT School of Business, focussed on the importance of self-innovation. She said the first step is to pick your passion – identify what you want to be known for and stay current on the latest tools and trends. Renzullo offered a few tricks on how to stay current, given the huge amount of content that is generated on an annual basis, including effectively using Google Alerts, Twitter lists, Swayy.co and Pulse to keep abreast, listening, learning, and of course, contributing.

The annual Leadership Forum also honours recipients of the Engaged Leadership Certificate – a three-year program that recognizes CYP members who have achieved specific milestones in leadership, networking, development and volunteerism.

Congratulations to the 2015 CYP Engaged Leadership Certificate recipients:

Frederick C Bantados – Senior Manager, TIO Networks Corp
Daniel Binng – Merchandiser, C.B. Constantini Ltd.
Erin Brown – Marketing Educator, Unbounce
Emily Chan – Applications Consultant, Oracle Primavera P6
Renee Chau – IT Project Manager, TELUS
Vanessa Connolly – Government Relations & Public Affairs Manager, FortisBC
David Dryden – Consultant, Investors Group
Fred Haiderzada – Project Manager, TELUS
Erzsebet Institorisz, Billingual Customer Service Representative, Sage
Kyle Krystalowich – IT Risk & Assurance, EY
Carolyn Price – Marketing Coordinator, Aquatic Informatics
Taralynn Reburn – Senior Manager, Premium Sales, Canucks Sports & Entertainment
Marcin Samiec – Technology Manager, Fresh Tracks Canada Inc.
Lydia Tay – Senior Associate, Boyden Global Executive Search
Scott Tully – Power Systems Engineer, BBA
April Yau – Account Manager, 6S Marketing