Media Releases
Out on Bay Street promotes diversity in Canada’s business community with new organization and annual conference
September 23, 2010
TORONTO, ON — For the fourth year in a row, the Out on Bay Street conference will bring LGBTQA university students in business, economics, law and engineering together with inclusive firms from corporate Canada. Named after Toronto’s Bay Street, the symbolic centre of business in Canada, the conference features educational workshops on a variety of career-oriented LGBTQA topics including mentorship, legal issues, and diversity, as well as a career fair, and networking opportunities. The event will be held on September 23 to 25 at the Courtyard by Marriott in downtown Toronto.
But the conference will also be the kick-off for the launch of Out on Bay Street as a non-for-profit organization which will provide year round initiatives with dedicated programs in networking, leadership and mentoring.
“Our vision is to create programs that will foster growth in all aspects of our member’s professional careers,” says Lucy Zhao, the inaugural president of Out on Bay Street and conference chair. “We will create a national program that will encourage universities and business to be more inclusive and will allow all students to come to a place in their education and professional careers where they can fulfill their potential.”
New to the conference for 2010 will be the launch of Out on Bay Street’s Women Initiative with a panel discussion featuring female corporate leaders to be held on September 23 at Lola’s Commissary. “We have the power to establish ourselves as a truly diverse organization and the Women’s Initiative will play an important role in addressing women’s issues in the workplace from a LGBTQA perspective,” adds Zhao.
A gala dinner will close the conference with keynote speaker Scott Brison, the Liberal Member of Parliament for Kings-Hants (Nova Scotia). He is a key Liberal Party spokesperson on economic issues and currently serves in the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet as the Liberal Party Critic for Finance.
TD Bank Financial Group is the title sponsor of the event with thirty one additional sponsors from the worlds of law, media, marketing, public health, marketing, packaged goods, telecommunications and finance providing support.
The conference is organized by a team of business and law students, undergrad business students, and recent graduates from universities in the Toronto area.
Complete conference details, including registration details for students, are online at www.outonbayst.org.
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For more information, please contact:
Ken McGuffin
Manager, Media Relations
Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto
416.946.3818
mcguffin@rotman.utoronto.ca