Leadership expands when your circle expands: How ELP helps professionals prepare for what’s next
At a certain point in a career, the question is no longer just, “How do I become better at my job?” but rather “What comes next, and what kind of leader do I want to be when I get there?”
For Dr. Michelle Chan, that question had been on her mind for some time.
Working at Genome British Columbia, a non-profit organization that leads genomics innovation on Canada’s West Coast, Chan had explored a range of professional development opportunities through various institutions and organizations. But she felt something was missing.
“What I found was missing was that mandatory in-person element,” she said. “And ELP provided that.”
The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade’s Engaged Leadership Program, or ELP, is designed for managers, entrepreneurs, and mid-career professionals ready to take the next step in their leadership journey. Beginning its sixth cohort in January 2027, the six-month program combines resilient leadership training, mentorship, community engagement, networking, and roundtable conversations with prominent business leaders.
For Chan, a member of the 2026 cohort, the opportunity to step outside her usual professional environment was a major part of the appeal.
“It gave me an opportunity to work with people beyond my circle,” she says. “Sometimes you sort of fall into this silo and the things that people would recommend would be very similar. So, I was looking for that diversity.”
That experience shifted how Chan thought about mentorship and her own development as a leader.
“I learned that mentorship is actually a mindset shift,” she says. “Knowing what that is and then learning your own leadership skills, and what you want to do as a leader, is very different from all the other courses I’ve learned from.”
Chan has already recommended ELP to colleagues in middle management, particularly those who have been in their roles for five or six years and are beginning to wonder what comes next.
“For those that are looking to see, ‘What else do I need to reach that next director level? What am I missing when it comes to executive presence?’ this gives you a little flavour of what you need to work on,” she says.
Walter Pela, BC Regional Managing Partner of KPMG Canada and 2024-25 GVBOT Chair, spoke with the 2026 cohort and shared how he understands this career stage well.
“The most difficult period for my career was, I’ll call it, middle management or new leadership, because you are dealing with so many stakeholders,” Pela told participants.
But leadership development does not happen in isolation. Pela said one of ELP’s greatest strengths is its ability to bring people together across sectors, organizations, industries, and experiences.
“Years later, opportunities often arise because of the relationships you build, because of your willingness to say yes, your acts of service that you offered,” he said. “Leadership expands when your circle expands.”
That idea resonated with Jerome Francis, a participant in the 2026 ELP cohort and Director of Recruitment and Admissions, Undergraduate Programs at SFU’s Beedie School of Business.
“One of the aspects that I enjoyed about ELP was the networking, meeting other business leaders, and then getting the opportunity to get out of the office and engage with the larger community,” Francis says.
Through conversations with his cohort, Francis discovered that while industries and organizations may differ, many leaders are wrestling with remarkably similar questions.
“We’re all trying to deal with emerging technology or disruptive technologies,” he said. “We’re all trying to deal with how you build relationships in a period when people don’t want to build relationships. Society has changed, and the people in society have changed, and that has an impact on business.”
For Francis, one theme continued to emerge throughout this ELP experience: resilience.
“How do we be resilient in an ever-changing world? How do we be resilient when there’s a lot of uncertainty?” he said. “That’s one of these transferable skills that I think, with AI and changing technologies, will be really important.”
This is exactly the kind of leadership challenge ELP was created to address.
“At the Board of Trade, we believe that engaged citizens build stronger, healthier and more connected communities, and that leadership, integrity, empathy and vision are essential to our region’s economic and social resilience,” Rosine Hage-Moussa, GVBOT Director of Events, Program and EDI Initiatives, told the 2026 ELP cohort at their graduation celebration. 
And, as Francis discovered, those personal connections can create an energy that extends far beyond a single session.
“People leave energized, and they go and bring that energy into their next space,” he said.
For the high-potential managers, forward-thinking strategists, innovative leaders, and entrepreneurs considering their next step, the 2027 Engaged Leadership Program is an opportunity to ask bigger questions, expand your circle, and build the resilience to lead through whatever comes next.
Applications for the 2027 Engaged Leadership Program are now open. Take the next step in your leadership journey and apply today.
Named after the late Dr. Don Rix, a renowned philanthropist and Governor of GVBOT who was dedicated to supporting the development of young people, the Rix Centre for Leadership houses the Engaged Leadership Program and Leadership Lab Series, initiatives which aim to provide resilient leadership training, mentorship, education and community engagement opportunities for new leaders, managers and entrepreneurs in the Greater Vancouver Region.