TBOWIT Secretary, Christyna Doege, represented TBOWIT at the 2014 Fall OWIT International Board Meeting held in Ottawa, Canada over Friday and Saturday, October 26th and 27th. The weekend started off with an event featuring speakers: 
  Karen Bland - President OWIT International
  Astrid Pregel - Executive Director for Canada WEConnect International
  Brian Mitchell - Executive Director of TFO Canada
  Lois Brown - Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development

It was announced by PS Brown that the government of Canada was donating $10 million (CAD) to support funding aimed at developing the ability of small and medium sized enterprises and related trade-support institutions in developing countries to pursue export opportunities. The funds will be managed by TFO Canada. What a boon for OWIT Ottawa to be linked to an announcement of this caliber!

 

Saturday was witness to an all-day conference where chapter representatives heard from the OWIT International Board regarding current and future goals, listened to presentations from OWIT Peru, OWIT DC, and OWIT Charleston on best practices, and discussed opportunities in each chapter. The luncheon speaker was Johane Seguin, Senior VP of Extractive & Resources Group - Export Development Canada who gave an very informative and insightful presentation. Another noteworthy afternoon session was led by guest Lisa Fancott of EnGenue Consulting who led attendees in a discussion to identify barriers in access to market and the keys to success in overcoming such barriers. 
Saturday was capped by an evening dinner.

 

For those who had later flights, OWIT Ottawa led an expedition on Sunday morning to Gatineau Park where we were able to see the fall colors under a picture perfect blue sky.

 

Congratulations to OWIT Ottawa for hosting an excellent international board meeting!