2014 was a milestone year for ULI Toronto. It was a year of transition that positioned us for a bigger and brighter future in the Toronto Region.

Stepping into the role as chair from my previous role as vice-chair, I inherited the benefits of an organization that earned a reputation for urban leadership in the pursuit of building healthy communities. Our programming and events have engaged the professional land use and real estate community across the broadest possible spectrum.

This year we hired our first full time Executive Director, Richard Joy, who shares my vision to take ULI Toronto to the next level of leadership in our region. In the coming year we plan to fully leverage the Urban Land Institute’s over 32,000 international member network to advance our City and our region by answering our local challenges with global solutions.

We close out the year with over 800 local members with a plan to exceed 1000 members by this summer – and a goal to increase membership to 1500 in the next two to three years. We will do this through a whole host of initiatives but our most important investment of time and attention will be towards the region as a whole. It should come as no surprise that we enhanced our name this year with the tag line ‘Advancing the Toronto Region.’

We also plan to continue to distinguish ourselves by bringing more women into our organization to build on the inspired leadership that we currently enjoy – an important signal to the marketplace of ULI’s commitment to equality. And, we intend to continue to harness the energies of the incredible 40% of our membership who are under 35-years of age to ensure that ULI Toronto remains a go-to organization for the next generation of real estate professionals.

Our leadership strength is only as sustainable as our volunteer base. 2014 proved that our capacity of our volunteers to drive success to our many events and programs is limitless. From our innovative ideas to some extremely timely actions, we are proud of the how our volunteers have pursued ULI’s global mission to advance the responsible use of land. Looking ahead we will seek to expand our volunteer base to grow our organization at a senior level – with particular emphasis on promoting from within to ensure growth opportunities for our emerging leaders.

Building an organization requires partners, and we are truly privileged to enjoy the sponsorship support of some of the region’s most dynamic companies. A number of these companies have been with us since our earliest days in the city – many others have joined us more recently. I want to thank you all for your commitment to ULI and confidence in what we look to achieve. Heading into 2015 we have ambitious plans to enhance and grow our sponsorship support as we expand our programming and impact. We have much to share with you all in the New Year on some exciting plans that lie ahead.

Lastly, make sure to look out for our exciting New Year’s challenge to arrive via email and Twitter on January 6^th, 2015. We are ringing in the New Year with a creative approach and a call to action to all of our membership and leadership to help advance our mission and the mission of the Toronto Region! Stay tuned…

This is an incredible time in our region’s history to make change happen and advance the discussion and demonstrate action of vibrant and thoughtful city building initiatives. I ask you all to find a moment in 2015 to help make your city a better place. The combined impacts of your efforts are limitless. Together we can make our region stronger than ever and a place where can all continue to be proud of for generations to come.

On behalf of the Management Committee and the Staff of ULI Toronto, I wish you the happiest of holidays and very healthy and prosperous New Year!

Sincerely,

Rob Spanier
Chair, ULI Toronto