Ottawa

EY’s Ian Sherman named chair of new Ottawa Board of Trade

August 28, 2018

Ottawa’s newly formed Board of Trade has named its first board of directors as it works to consolidate the operations of three chambers of commerce into a single economic development entity.

Ian Sherman, the chair of the former Ottawa Chamber of Commerce and a tax practice leader at EY, will be chair of the new organization. Two vice-chair positions will be held by representatives of the two regional organizations that merged with the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce: Mischa Kaplan, the former chair of the West Ottawa Board of Trade, and Joelle Hall, the former vice-chair of the Orléans Chamber of Commerce.

Rounding out the executive is corporate secretary Lynn Johnston, a small business adviser at TD and former West Ottawa Board of Trade director, and treasurer Ruby Williams, a senior manager at Deloitte and former corporate secretary of the Ottawa Chamber.

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Members of the two larger economic development organizations agreed to merge in June and were joined by the Orléans Chamber of Commerce earlier this month.
Supporters of the merger argued that businesses across the city would have more clout with one unified group representing their interests to various levels of government and deliver services to members more efficiently.

At the same time, some critics argued the interests of east- and west-end businesses would be overlooked in a larger citywide organization – a fear some merger advocates said was unfounded or, at the very least, outweighed by the benefits of being part of a larger, more influential business advocacy group.

Excluding Ottawa Board of Trade CEO Ian Faris, the 22-member transitional board is comprised of 11 former Ottawa Chamber of Commerce directors, seven former West Ottawa Board of Trade directors and four former Orléans Chamber of Commerce directors.

The new Ottawa Board of Trade says members of the transitional board “proportionately represent the consolidation.” A committee will propose a future governance model for the board that’s expected to be adopted in early 2020.