Date/Time
Date(s) - December 5, 2018
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Location
Fairmont Waterfront Hotel
Categories No Categories
Unlike any Business by the Book event in the past, this special Christmas luncheon promises a unique experience, with visually engaging presentations by three diverse business leaders.
Unlike past BBB luncheons, we’ll be offering an experiential event that will impact all five senses – come see, hear, taste, and feel the power of belief! You’ll explore a Winter Wonderland, taste some incredible food by Executive Chef Karan Suri, and engage with local business minds. Plus, three of our past speakers will return to take you through a Pecha Kucha presentation (20 images x 20 seconds), demonstrating the power of belief in their personal and professional lives.
Event Speakers
David Robertson
Chef/Owner at The Dirty Apron Cooking School
Chef David Robertson has built his career in the culinary industry for over 25 years.
From his solid background and training in classical French fine dining, David’s passion for new flavors and foods has taken him all over the world in the pursuit of expanding his culinary repertoire and skills.
David’s wanderlust and zeal for new food and cooking styles has taken him to many top culinary destinations around the world where he cooked for people such as John Travolta, Warren Buffet, Van Morrison, Diana Ross, Neil Armstrong and many more.
Throughout his career, David came to realize that not only does he love food, but he also loves teaching people about it. In 2009, together with his wife Sara, David realized his dream of opening a recreational, state-of-the-art cooking school in the form of The Dirty Apron, which since has evolved into The Dirty Apron Cooking School, Catering, and Delicatessen.
David’s first cookbook, The Dirty Apron Cookbook launched in October of 2014, which quickly became a national bestseller for two years in a row.
When not in the kitchen, David utilizes his culinary talent in the Downtown Eastside to make an impact and difference among young kids and families in need.
Jonathan Friesen
CEO at Mission Group Enterprises Ltd.
Jonathan was raised in the small Japanese coastal town of Kanazawa, on the edge of the Japan Sea during the rapid economic growth of the 1960s. Having attended boarding school in Tokyo in the 70s and University in Los Angeles in the 80s, he gained a broad perspective, which pointed in the direction of the business world.
After settling in Vancouver in 1983, he began working for Mitsubishi Corporation in Vancouver, BC. The nearly 4 years he spent at Mitsubishi let him experience an organizational system of the highest levels of proficiency. By 1987, Jonathan had begun a career in property development by building high-rise communities in the Vancouver downtown core and resorts in the South Seas. After several years of success, the Friesen family retired on the island of Grand Cayman and took part in a charitable housing organization. By 2001, Jonathan felt that he was ready to move back to British Columbia to reengage with the property development world.
The dawn of Mission Group in 2002 has illuminated many opportunities in Kelowna and the Lower Mainland. The organization is a vertically integrated group of companies engaged in development, marketing, construction and property management.
Jonathan is primarily involved in corporate growth strategy, vision and the cultivation of strategic partnerships. He regards the highlight of working at Mission Group Enterprises, is experiencing the power of a well articulated ‘winning aspiration’.
Cycling has become a passion for Jonathan. The constant need for drive, the potential of being off balance, and the opportunity to see the world in a new way makes every ride amazing. (In fact, this bio was revised from Japan where Friesen was on cycling tour of Shikoku Island.)
Jenny Konkin
President & Co-Founder, Whole Way House Society
Since her early teens Jenny has worked all over the world with orphans, at-risk youth, ex-offenders, the homeless, people with disabilities, mental health issues and illnesses and most recently, marginalized seniors and veterans.
Coming from a family history of housing the homeless, providing a safe home for 26 foster children and helping to heal countless marriages and families, Jenny comes from a legacy of compassion. After her father’s terminal cancer diagnosis, in 2010 Jenny left her fast-rising career with Earls Restaurants and changed courses to follow in her family’s footsteps. While working in her grandparent’s low income Single Room Occupancy building, the heartbreaking death of a resident who was completely isolated and alone, inspired Jenny, along with her brother Joshua, to start Whole Way House Society. She started on a mission to combat loneliness and isolation by building healthy communities and instilling value and purpose in one of Canada’s roughest postal codes, the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. Whole Way House is in it’s 3rd replication and is aiming to provide more safe and affordable housing for vulnerable seniors facing homelessness.
In leading Whole Way House, Jenny is part of the BC Housing Supportive Housing Leadership Forum, serves as the Vice President of the Board for the Veterans Memorial Housing Society, is Co-Chair of Business By The Book and serves at Coastal Church.
Jenny is a public speaker, has been featured in national and international media publications such as Global News, CKNW, The Huffington Post, the Vancouver Sun, the Province, Breakfast Television, and many more. She was also awarded a spot on Business in Vancouver’s Top 40 Under 40 2018 list.
Jenny has traveled to over 26 countries, loves to play with her two dogs, Jake and Sophie-May and explore her beautiful city of Vancouver.
http://businessbythebook.ca/christmas/?mc_cid=b11015d02c&mc_eid=db1f4797cd