PETER HOLST (CHRISTY CLARK); ADAM BLASBERG (JANICE ABBOTT); PAUL JOSEPH (JANET AND KATHERINE MCCARTNEY) MARCH 2016 BCBUSINESS 51
for immigration to Canada; this year
two more offices will be opened in
Shanghai and Beijing.
l s o we l c o m i n g t h e
masses—if from a differ-
ent economic stratum—
are twin sisters Janet
and Katherine McCartney
in their capacity as producers of the
annual
TED conference. "It's about
creating an environment conducive
to meaningful interaction," says
Katherine. She works single-mindedly
toward that goal, thinking through
every minute of the four-day experi-
ence for the 1,200 attendees who each
pay $8,500. The event, which attracts
the likes of Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Bill
Gates and Google's Larry Page, moved
to the Vancouver Convention Centre
from Long Beach, Calif., in 2014. Indi-
cations are that the conference is here
to stay, thanks in no small part to the
sisters' meticulous management.
And from the global elite to some
of Vancouver's most vulnerable,
Janice Abbott is building community
through Atira Property Management
and Women's Resource Society—one
of the largest social service agencies
in the Downtown Eastside. Abbott
launched the endeavour in 1983 in an
effort to support women and children
affected by violence. She has led the
organization from a single transition
house to a large, multi-service agency
with more than a dozen programs and
16 non-market housing sites.
•
O
ne of the hardest places to
disrupt, says Premier Christy
Clark, is government. In her
view, being disruptive means
confronting the status quo with the
view that the status quo always needs
to be changed. "Government is very
big, very process-oriented, and has
multiple bottom lines that we measure
by," she says. "Status quo lives and
breathes more heartily inside big insti-
tutions than anywhere else in society.
So it's harder here. I think you always
have to be questioning the relevance
of everything you're doing all the time
and be prepared to change it."
As she enters the final year of her
mandate, Clark's leadership can be
Political
Powerhouses
FOUR WOMEN—FROM THE
PREMIER ON DOWN—WHO ARE
SHIFTING THE POLITICAL
DIALOGUE IN B.C.
b y M A R C I E G O O D
SUPPORT TEAM (From top) Janice
Abbott; Janet and Katherine McCartney
