THE AMPERSAND 
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Amazingly, it’s June. As Dr. Seuss once wrote, “How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December is here before it’s June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?” I’m not sure what’s more difficult to fathom: that the days will soon be getting shorter; that the one year anniversary of Calgary’s ‘longest day’ is upon us; that another fiscal year for Pekarsky Stein is about to go in the books; or that on the 29th I’ll celebrate my 17th year of marriage . . . not that that last point is unfathomable, just seems to have gone by so quickly, honey.
And if June is about growth then we have certainly felt some growing pains. A wise friend once said “small is beautiful” and while I’d rather grow than shrink (handicap and waistline aside), there is some sage in that counsel. Striking the balance between achieving the optimal size to ably serve our clients whilst maintaining a manageable equilibrium in our lives is proving difficult. We are reviewing space plans and a new lease in Edmonton, meeting trades for an office renovation in Calgary, upgrading our I.T. infrastructure, revamping our marketing material and once again wondering just how good a sense of humour the Fire Chief has as we plan our annual and ever-expanding rooftop Stampede Party. To be clear, the guest list is expanding; the rooftop is not.
While we aren’t burdened with directives from down east or needing to check with Head Office or dealing with bloated overhead to support our struggling Irkutsk office, the downside is that in addition to doing what I believe we all do best—top quality search work—I double as the VP, Facilities, Communications and Internal Affairs; Terry is Controller, Treasurer and Bookkeeper; Ranju is VP, Motherly Wisdom and All Things that Require Organization and Forethought; Lisa is VP, Swag and oversees our Corporate Social Responsibility initiative including supplying wonderfully inappropriate games at our various firm retreats. Jessica is Director, Networking as well as our official French speaker. Brendan is Director, All Things 20 Somethings Understand while Patrick is Manager Logistics, Procurement and Supply Chain. In Edmonton, an office of two, suffice to say Rick and Marie are our Jack and Jill of all trades. Yet it works and rather well if I may be so bold.
Granted, these are First World problems though ones I find myself spending an increasing proportion of my time managing. Yet, somehow it seems the busier we are the more efficient we become. Parkinson’s Law is the adage that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. And next to the definition is a picture of me and every member of my beloved team. Dozens of active searches underway including two recently added public company General Counsel searches, a Director of Leasing and Asset Management for a growing land development company and a search for the Executive Director of the Environmental Law Centre, to name but a few.
In Edmonton, Rick and Marie recently placed a VP, Operations for an energy services company, two Board Members for the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation, a Director of Finance for a regional waste commission and a President of a real estate holding company. Meanwhile Rick continues to train for triathlons, sit on the Board of the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation which recently raised more than $500,000 at its annual Courage Gala yet still finds time to renovate his bathroom.
All the while Terry continues his great work with Hospice Calgary and though I have just stepped off my Tourism Calgary Board, I have recently stepped onto the YMCA Calgary Board. It only took our newest hire, Jessica Young, about three months of living here to be discovered. In addition to executing numerous searches she has joined the Chamber of Commerce and is volunteering for the Calgary Women’s Centre as well. And, on June 7th, Jessica will be participating in a day-long funraiser called Marathon of Sport. All funds raised at the event are donated to the Special Olympics Foundation. To support Jess’s fundraising efforts, kindly donate generously by clicking here.
Taking a page from the law firm playbook, we recently arranged our first-ever secondment by having Lisa attend at a client site two days/week to get them through a recruitment crunch. Happily, unlike the usual law firm outcome, Lisa came back.
And then there’s Brendan Wade who, also on June 7th, will be participating in the Vulcan Tinman Triathlon. The Tinman has been a long-standing tradition in the Wade family ever since they founded the race 25 years ago. Over the years the race has grown from a very humble 200 participants to well over 1,000. The Tinman was first organized to help raise funds to build a fitness centre as well as promote physical fitness in the town of Vulcan. Once the fitness centre was built, the race has helped raise money for a number of fantastic community initiatives and organizations that promote health and wellness. Brendan has participated in the race over a dozen times but focuses most of his energy on volunteering – which is a convenient explanation for his poor results. For the last five years Brendan has proudly served as the President of the Board of Directors for the Vulcan Tinman Association the not for profit organization that oversees race.
And did I mention soccer season? Have you ever done so much business travel that you actually have found yourself wondering what city you’re in? I feel that way about community soccer fields. A fellow dad at my son’s U-10 game recently asked me on the sidelines what league and division my daughter plays in. I just stared blankly and said: “I have no idea.” He must think I’m a real jerk.
I haven’t discussed Ranju. That’s because I haven’t seen her. Ever since she became a Partner on April 1st she’s been buried under a pile of searches and rarely comes out of her office. To say she has been holding down the fort of late would be to elevate the status of fort holder downers everywhere. Thankfully we now have a bunch of her capital so she can’t quit!
There you have it. As the good Doctor said, My goodness how the time has flewn.
Regards,
Adam
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