At our Annual General Meeting which took place on Wednesday March 30, 2011, I was pleased to be re-elected to the Board of Directors and honoured to be chosen as your Chair for the upcoming year.  I want to thank our retiring Board members for their past work on behalf of the Chamber, with a special note of thanks to Gerald Searles, the immediate Past Chair of the Board for his efforts having served on the Board for the maximum term of 6 years. I would also like to welcome our new Board members and look forward to working with our new group of talented and dedicated individuals who bring a wonderful mix of expertise and knowledge to the table to work on behalf of the Vaughan business community in promoting the vision and mission of the Chamber.

 

As we enter the next year of our mandate I want to encourage all members to become involved with the working committees of the Chamber in order to get the most form your membership.  In addition to our Business Achievement Awards and Golf Committees, which are specific event oriented working committees, we have our dynamic Policy Committee, which has been responsible for number of exciting events and activities over the past year including the Mayoralty debate and the pre-budget (Federal) seminar/workshop and works on advocacy at all government levels on behalf of our membership, the Advertising Committee which merges the former Advertising, Events and Membership Committees into one efficient working group and our newest committee, the Industry Committee, which has recently been formed to work for and promote the manufacturing and industrial component of our Chamber membership.  All of these committees welcome new members and you should contact the Chamber office to learn more about the committee activities and how to become involved with one of them.

 

As I have noted a number of times over the past few months, the Chamber is looking forward to working with the new City of Vaughan municipal council, led by Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua and the new municipal council to promote the attraction and retention of business in the City.  We have developed direct links with the City's Economic Development Department and we are pleased to have Janet Whitehouse, the City's Community Business Development Officer, as a member on our Industry Committee to solidify that link.

 

I wish you continued success, and look forward to seeing you all at the Business Achievement Awards on April 28th!  

Sincerely,

Michael Manett  
Chairman of the Board of Directors

Going Global: A Series of International Business Workshops   

Offered through the Vaughan Business Enterprise Centre       

 

Are you thinking about expanding  your business globally?  Do you provide services to exporters?  Do you export goods abroad?  If the answer to any of these questions is YES, then you are encouraged to attend "Going Global Workshops:  Knowledge you NEED to do International Business".  This six-part series is being offered through the Vaughan Business Enterprise Centre.

   

Click here to learn more about these courses. For further information, please call VBEC at 905-832-8526.

Are You an Inspirational Leader?     

The key is to motivate yourself first!      

  

To become a motivational leader, you start with motivating yourself.  You motivate yourself with a big vision, and as you move progressively towards its realization, you motivate and enthuse others to work with you to fulfill that vision.

To read the rest of this article, compliments of Chamber member Eloise Pasianotto of Effective Professional Consulting Group, please click here.