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ULI Toronto’s Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) celebrated its 2016 Championship Team with an evening event on June 22 at the McCarthy Tétrault Toronto office. The evening featured a lively and deeply personal conversation with Janet De Silva, President and CEO of Toronto Region Board of Trade (TRBOT) and Geeta Sheker, Director, Initiative for Women in Business at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.

The event began by highlighting some of the achievements of the WLI network, including a substantial increase in ULI Toronto’s female membership and the launch of the She with He initiative. The annual “Champions in the Spotlight” booklet that features women leaders in Toronto’s real estate and development industry was also showcased as the event got underway.

This was followed by the conversation with De Silva and Sheker. Sheker acted as the interviewer, asking De Silva about being a woman leader, how she has built her career, lessons she learned while working in Asia for 14 years and her vision for TRBOT.

During the conversation, De Silva confessed that “there wasn’t such a thing as work-life balance” and to move forward one has to make choices and prioritize effectively. She recalled that one of the big perks of working in Asia was that she did not have to worry about household chores and could spend quality time with her son after returning from work. De Silva was quick to link the high commuting times in the Toronto Region as a major inhibitor to women who are trying to achieve balance. She also noted that conversations on transit and infrastructure funding were a major priority at TRBOT.

As a woman leader in the male-dominated world of trade and business, De Silva offered several tips to women on how to expand their careers. One must “try a global assignment,” ensure that “your contributions are visible,” and “volunteer on various boards”, she said. She also encouraged ULI members to join one of the many committees at TRBOT. In a candid remark, De Silva said that finding a supportive and encouraging partner was essential for career success. Oftentimes it was her husband who acted as her mentor — someone who she could bounce ideas off of and seek guidance from after a day at work.

Building a competitive Toronto was a key theme hammered by De Silva throughout the conversation. She said that through a strategic visioning process at TRBOT, it was determined that trade, talent and transportation will be the areas of focus.

On the trade side, De Silva stated that a Trade Accelerator Program (TAP) was launched by TRBOT to help GTA trade pick back up following the global financial crisis. “Our ability to ramp up the economy with more export-based companies is important” because “$100 million of export creates 1,000 jobs in Canada,” De Silva said.

De Silva raised concerns that Toronto has a “talent shortage” when it comes to engineers and workers in the trades. In response to this talent deficit, she revealed that TRBOT was chalking out a talent map and having a dialogue with high school students to raise awareness and cultivate a mindset among students about the vast job opportunities available in trades and apprenticeships.

On the transit side, she congratulated ULI Toronto and Executive Director Richard Joy for reopening the transportation file at TRBOT.

De Silva asserted that large metros need to be recognized on their own as Canada’s big cities are critically important to the national GDP and therefore need more attention.

Recounting her trade mission to Asia with Toronto Mayor John Tory, De Silva spoke about how the Mayor of Shanghai was surprised to learn that a major city like Toronto reports to the provincial government instead of directly to the federal government. She highlighted that TRBOT has started an initiative focusing on the 8 large metropolises of Canada.

The enthusiasm of both De Silva and the audience for the City of Toronto’s future was most apparent at this event. The energy was effectively summed up by one ULI member whose words resonated with everyone: “It’s our time and it’s Toronto’s time.”

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