<\/p>\n
Thomas Timmins<\/strong>, Leader, Energy Sector Practice, Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP and CCBC Board Director, shared insights on business resilience in a rapidly changing world. Hugo Lorenson<\/strong>, Regional Vice President, Commercial Financial Services \u00adGTR and Clarinda Andres<\/strong>, Commercial Solutions Specialist, Royal Bank of Canada, provided valuable guidance on global expansion, grant funding, and financial resources available to businesses. The event concluded with closing remarks from Bijan Ahmadi<\/strong>, CCBC Executive Director and COO, followed by a networking lunch, allowing participants to connect and explore collaboration opportunities.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tickets: <\/strong>CCBC Members: $20 + HST; Non-Members: $100 + HST<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Address: <\/strong>Gowling WLG, 1 First Canadian Place, 100 King Street West, Suite 1600, Toronto, Ontario<\/p>\n <\/p>\n About the Speakers:<\/strong> <\/p>\n Thomas J. Timmins<\/strong> <\/p>\n Thomas J. Timmins (\u8c2d\u6c11\u601d) is a senior projects lawyer based in Canada focused primarily on renewable energy projects and the global energy transition. He leads the Energy Sector Practice at Gowling WLG Canada. Named a \u2018Leading Lawyer\u2019 by The Legal 500 Canada and Who\u2019s Who Legal, Mr. Timmins serves as a Board member of the Canadian Ditchley Foundation, as an advisor at the Centre for Urban Energy at Metropolitan Toronto University, as a member of the Legal Committee of Transparency International and on several public and private boards. He also teaches Infrastructure and Project Finance Law and serves as an adjudicator under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement. Mr. Timmins served as the Leader of Gowling WLG Canada\u2019s highly successful China Practice between 2016-2024.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Clare Barnett<\/strong> <\/p>\n Clare Barnett\u00a0brings a unique perspective having both private and public sector experience in international business development and marketing, economic development, attracting Foreign Direct Investment, developing Business Retention & Expansion programs, and building an award-winning Innovation District.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n She has deep business development and marketing expertise cultivated through more than 15 years with the provincial government focused on Ontario\u2019s economic competitiveness, in addition to prior private sector experience in the technology space.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ms. Barnett served as Ontario\u2019s representative in the United Kingdom with a mandate to further Ontario\u2019s trade, investment and broader economic interests. She also established Ontario\u2019s first Investment Office, leading international business development and marketing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n More recently, Ms. Barnett created an award winning and accredited Economic Development Office with the City of Brampton, part of the Greater Toronto Area. Global brands invested under her leadership, and Brampton\u2019s place on the global stage was recognized through various awards, including being ranked one of Canada\u2019s best locations to invest.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ms. Barnett\u00a0now serves as the Director of Business Growth with the City of Toronto, leading economic development in Canada\u2019s largest city and economy. The focus of her work is Business Retention & Expansion, main street and small business support, entrepreneurship and investment attraction.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ms. Barnett is a thought leader in economic development and is a sought-after speaker internationally. She serves as an Advisor and Board Member to many organizations such as the International Economic Development Council, Organization of Women in International Trade and local start up incubators and accelerators. She has been called an inspirational leader and is personally focused on supporting women to grow their careers in economic development.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hugo Lorenson, LLP MBA<\/strong> <\/p>\n Hugo Lorenson is currently Regional Vice President, Diversified Banking, Commercial Financial Services with over 15 years of experience at RBC.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mr. Lorenson\u2019s breadth of experience provides him with a deep understanding of Commercial Banking. He began his journey as a Senior Relationship Manager in the GTA, progressing through various senior leadership positions, including Credit Adjudication and Commercial Advisory Groups. Additionally, he managed the Operations Centres that spanned across the Americas, along with providing oversight of the Caribbean Cards Operations Group. Mr. Lorenson has led high performing teams in the Retail, Franchising and Business Professional Services industries, as VP, Commercial in the GTA. Prior to his current position, Mr. Lorenson was one of the original RBC leaders to join the Group Risk Management National Internship Program.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mr. Lorenson was a practicing lawyer in Toronto before starting his career at RBC.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mr. Lorenson holds a Law Degree from Osgoode Hall Law School, an MBA from the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto and an undergraduate degree from Acadia University. He is an active volunteer member of RBC\u2019s Beacon program, the Rotman School of Management, as well as a York Region youth basketball coach.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Clarinda (Claire) Andres, MBA<\/strong> <\/p>\n Claire Andres is a Commercial Solutions Specialist with over 10 years of professional experience with the Royal Bank. She has earned multiple awards for her work in personal and business banking, credit and investments and specialized solutions for commercial clients.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ms. Andres owned a business in the wholesale trade of industrial soaps before coming to Canada, thus she recognizes the many challenges business owners face and the needed support to be successful. A business enthusiast, and passionate in business development, she continues to help business owners get access to valuable resources and innovative solutions to help them achieve their goals.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bijan Ahmadi<\/strong> <\/p>\n Bijan Ahmadi serves as the Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of the Canada China Business Council (CCBC), overseeing the operations and activities of the Council across its seven chapters in Canada and China.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Before joining CCBC, he co-founded and served as the Executive Director of the Institute for Peace & Diplomacy (IPD) from 2018 to 2024. IPD is a non-partisan think tank operating in Canada and the United States, dedicated to fostering constructive engagement and interest-based thinking in international affairs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n During his tenure at IPD, Mr. Ahmadi launched the organization\u2019s Asia research program in 2020 and its flagship annual conference, the Indo-Pacific Strategy Forum (IPSF), in Ottawa in 2021. Today, IPSF is recognized as Canada\u2019s premier conference on the country\u2019s engagement in the Indo-Pacific region. He was also the co-editor of Canada-China Brief, a biweekly policy newsletter providing the latest developments and expert insights on political and economic relations between Ottawa and Beijing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In his work on China, Mr. Ahmadi has advised large corporations and SMEs on navigating Canada-China trade, policy, and regulatory developments. He has also spearheaded the publication of numerous research reports on China and Canada-China relations and led Track 2 diplomacy initiatives in collaboration with Chinese and American research institutions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mr. Ahmadi holds a Master\u2019s degree in Global Diplomacy from SOAS University of London and a Master of Applied Science from the University of Toronto. Before founding IPD, Mr. Ahmadi worked in strategy and management roles in the financial services and real estate sectors, where he honed his skills in organizational leadership and operational planning. He also served on the executive boards of several Canadian non-profits and NGOs, including the Toronto branch of the Canadian International Council.<\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\u00a0\u00bb1_3″ _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.16″ custom_padding=\u00a0\u00bb|||\u00a0\u00bb global_colors_info=\u00a0\u00bb{}\u00a0\u00bb custom_padding__hover=\u00a0\u00bb|||\u00a0\u00bb][et_pb_gallery gallery_ids=\u00a0\u00bb79242,79251,79245,79268,79271,79260,79263,79257″ posts_number=\u00a0\u00bb17″ show_title_and_caption=\u00a0\u00bboff\u00a0\u00bb show_pagination=\u00a0\u00bboff\u00a0\u00bb zoom_icon_color=\u00a0\u00bb#e3002b\u00a0\u00bb disabled_on=\u00a0\u00bboff|off|off\u00a0\u00bb _builder_version=\u00a0\u00bb4.27.4″ pagination_font_size_tablet=\u00a0\u00bb51″ pagination_line_height_tablet=\u00a0\u00bb2″ locked=\u00a0\u00bboff\u00a0\u00bb global_colors_info=\u00a0\u00bb{}\u00a0\u00bb][\/et_pb_gallery][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On March 18, 2025, CCBC held a sold-out discussion on the City of Toronto\u2019s 10-Year Action Plan for Toronto\u2019s Economy (2025-2035) and its implications for Canadian and Chinese business communities. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1687,"featured_media":79257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[176],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ccbc-past-events"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1687"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79231"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79278,"href":"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79231\/revisions\/79278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/March-18-2025-CCBC-event-sponsors-Jan20.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Thomas-Timmins-low-res.png\")
<\/p>\n
Leader, Energy Sector Practice<\/em>
Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Clare-Barnett-photo-square.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Director, Business Growth Services<\/em>
City of Toronto<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Hugo-Lorenson-Profile-Photo.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Regional Vice President<\/em>
Commercial Financial Services GTR<\/em>
Royal Bank of Canada<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Clarinda-Andres_Profile-Photo.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Commercial Solutions Specialist<\/em>
Royal Bank of Canada<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ccbc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Bijan-Ahmadi-square.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Executive Director and COO<\/em>
Canada China Business Council<\/em><\/p>\n