nOVEmBER 2018 BCBusiness 63 bcbusiness.ca
V
al Litwin is something
of a water rat. As a
child, he sailed with
his parents in the Gulf Islands
and enjoyed competitive swim-
ming. In Grade 10, he took
up sur•ng. "One of the perks
of growing up in Victoria,"
Litwin says.
Now the BC Chamber of
Commerce president and CEO
lives and works in Vancouver,
where he stand-up paddle-
boards. "I love the ocean, and I
was feeling a little bit stuck in a
rut with my urban options for
•tness," Litwin explains. "The
best thing about Vancouver is
we're all close to the water, so
after work I started, especially
in the summer, walking my
paddleboard in my ˆip-ˆops
down to Olympic Village. I
would throw it into False Creek
and paddle out to the outer
banks and some of the beaches
around the point."
As for •tness, paddleboard-
ing oŠers a core and upper
body workout. "It's incredible
for your balance, but I think
more than anything it's about
your mental sanity," he says.
Because he's on water, Litwin
doesn't wear headphones,
instead listening to the waves
and the wind, which clears his
head. He likes to decompress,
be by himself for a while, get a
workout and not be distracted.
In the past couple of years,
Litwin has been doing multi-
day long-distance voyages.
Chairman of the Board
BC Chamber of Commerce CEO Val Litwin
takes to the water to maintain physical and
mental equilibrium
by Felicity Stone
W E E K E N D WA R R IOR
(
quality time
)
WArrior
sPotlight
President and CeO of the
BC Chamber of Commerce
since 2016, Val litwin
was previously
CeO of
the Whistler Chamber of
Commerce, VP franchise
operations with nurse next
door and co-founder of the
Blo Blow dry Bar franchise.
In his current role, litwin is
expanding Mindreader, an
online network for survey-
ing the BC Chamber's 36,000
members. "With this new
technology, we're going
out there and finding out
more than ever what people
are thinking in B.C. when
it comes to supporting a
strong economy," he says.
O FF
T H E
C LO C k
tanYa gOEhRing
