Longtime Surrey Board of Trade CEO and president Anita Huberman yesterday told BIV that she is resigning effective Aug. 30, after giving her notice to her organization's board of directors last week.
"I gave them my 60 days' notice, as per my contract," said Huberman, 51, who started her career at the Surrey Board of Trade more than 31 years ago, when she was 19 years old. She has been at the organization's helm for 18 years.
Her first role was as a tourism information counsellor, back when the Surrey Board of Trade managed tourism for the City of Surrey, she said.
Huberman said she will be "hunting down new opportunities" and that she is not yet sure what she will do next.
"This just gives me the freedom to explore new opportunities," she said. "It is time for the next chapter of my career."
Huberman's tenure is extraordinary among CEOs at Canadian boards of trade. She estimates that among the approximately 430 boards of trade in Canada, there is an approximate 30-per-cent turnover among top executives each year.
Huberman carved out a reputation for being very responsive to media requests and has been a recognizable advocate for various issues that relate to Surrey.
She revitalized the Surrey Board of Trade’s government advocacy portfolio to take it beyond taxes and employment to include social policy issues like poverty reduction, healthcare, and child care, she said.
She has hosted networking events, developed awards programs, made countless connections and opened a second location for her board of trade, alongside the new Surrey Technology and Skills Centre that recently opened in partnership with Western Community College.
BIV has bestowed many awards to Huberman through the years, including the Top Forty Under 40 award more than a decade ago. She is a regular in BIV's BC 500 list of influential British Columbians. She has written many opinion pieces in BIV, including one as recently as June 26.
Huberman holds the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal and has received a Canada 150 Community Medal. Women We Admire named Huberman as one of its Top 50 Women Leaders in Vancouver. In 2022, she won Simon Fraser University's Distinguished Alumni Award.
“Anita is a true champion of Surrey, the business community and the community at large," said Rory Morgan, chair of the Surrey Board of Trade's board of directors. "She lives and breathes this commitment – giving of her time and energy like few others to help make Surrey a better place to do business and a better place to call home.”
