Late last year I was at the Green Economy: Ontario conference and one of the panel speakers was David Paterson, GM Canada’s Vice President Corporate and Environmental Affairs, along with some friends of SWR: Susan Jantzi of SunLife Canada and John Coyne of Unilever Canada, among others. While I listened to the thoughts of the panel, it became increasingly apparent that it would be great to bring David’s perspectives to Waterloo Region. He was generous enough to agree.
On January 28, David W. Paterson will be speaking at an SWR breakfast event held at the Tannery. While I will not be giving any spoilers in this blog, I want to share the top three reasons I think many of us in Waterloo Region should be there to hear what David has to say.
- New way of thinking: As David and I talked, it became clear that there is a fresh perspective affecting many different aspects of his work and GM’s direction. It is exciting, it is compelling, and it could change so much about our daily lives.
- Connection to Waterloo Region: David is well acquainted with our community. He is a former Blackberry employee and he has many friends in the community. David is aware of and excited about what is happening in Waterloo Region and is compelled to be part of it.
- Sustainability is central: While I may be biased, I think this is how it should be. The surprise was how David is approaching this at GM. Inventive, exciting, paradigm shifting.
If you can be at this event on January 28, I would heartily encourage you to do so. In fact, I would encourage you to invite your upper management team to join you. If they need any more encouragement, David is ALSO the Chair and Director 2015/16 of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce!
Registration is open and I can’t wait to see you all there.