VANCOUVER

Thursday, June 1, 2023

Honouring

Canadian Business Leader of the Year

Ryan Beedie, who was born and raised in Burnaby, is the President of Beedie, one of Western Canada’s largest industrial and residential development companies.

He is also widely known as a philanthropist, having personally contributed more than $125 million to 350 organizations, including Simon Fraser University, Ronald McDonald House, B.C. Children’s Hospital and The One Campaign, an organization fighting poverty around the world. He also sits on The One Campaign’s Global Leadership Council.

In 2018, Ryan launched Beedie Luminaries, with a personal commitment of $50 million, to provide post-secondary scholarships for promising but disadvantaged students, mainly in British Columbia. Most recently, Beedie Luminaries launched its Spark program (Single Parent Awards for Resilience and Knowledge), providing single parents facing financial adversity with support for full-time or part-time studies.

Ryan’s work has earned numerous awards and acknowledgments, one of the most recent being his induction into the Order of British Columbia.

Canadian Business Leader Lifetime Achievement Honouree

As CEO of Purdys Chocolatier, Karen Flavelle’s passion for quality, chocolate and people has been the key to her success in re-invigorating the iconic 115-year-old heritage brand and increasing its reputation for premium chocolates. A native Vancouverite, Karen bought Purdys Chocolatier from her father in 1997. She prioritized listening to Purdys customers and revolutionized many aspects of the business including merchandising, marketing, recipe development, factory and store efficiencies and more. Through her leadership, Karen grew the business from 42 to over 80 locations across Canada including Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and established an E-commerce sales channel.

Karen and Purdys have always been passionate about giving back. As a purpose-driven and family-run organization, Purdys supports communities where they do business: in Canada and the Ivory Coast. Support ranges from paying premiums to source sustainable cocoa to support cocoa farmers, to investing in organizations through Purdys Purple Partnerships that support the 2SLGBTQ+ community; Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (BIPOC) communities; and women & children.

Karen has supported many organizations privately, the major recipients being: BC Children’s Hospital Foundation creating the Flavelle Wellness Park, Take a Hike Foundation and Pacific Autism Family Network Foundation.

In addition to Purdys being named an AON Best Employer nine times under her leadership, Karen has won numerous awards such as being named WXN’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada, BC’s top 500 most influential business leaders in Food and Beverage, a Top CEO in Canada by Glassdoor.

View the Press Release

Event Information

Thursday, June 1, 2023 | Reception and Dinner 5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Fairmont Pacific Rim | Vancouver, BC

Contact Details

For more information or to attend the dinner, please contact Kimberly Gale, Vice President, Member Relations at kgale@chamber.ca or 403.614.4681.