A Good Run
I'm sure you know how much it can hurt to lose a key member of your team—especially when you realize things will never be the same after that person walks out the door.
That's how I feel about the departure of creative director Cathy Mullaly, who's decided to retire after a long and distinguished career. For the five years that I've been in this role, I've had the privilege of working with Cathy, who started at Canada Wide in 1990 before taking over as art director of Bcbusiness in 1997.
It's impossible to overstate Cathy's influence on the magazine over the past quarter century. Unflappable, resourceful and outspoken, she worked with seven different editors-in-chief, setting the visual tone and direction. But she also employed, developed and encouraged a huge number of contributing photographers and illustrators—and played a vital role in editorial decisions. Then there's her seemingly effortless ability to generate brilliant cover ideas.
Along the way, as creative director of Bcbusiness and then also of our sister publication Vancouver magazine, Cathy won several major awards, including a gold National Magazine Award for service journalism in 2020.
But above all, she's a fundamentally decent person whom we have all loved being around. And I, for one, will miss her formidable math skills.
We're sorry to see Cathy go, but I know she has plenty to keep her busy, starting with a long-awaited ski season in Nelson. We're also pleased to welcome our colleague Edwin Pabellon to the Bcbusiness team as senior art director.
For Cathy's final issue, we kick off 2022 with the eighth edition of our Best Cities for Work in B.C. ranking (p.30), which for the second year focuses on resilience. Contributor Andrew Macaulay has refined the criteria to put a stronger emphasis on economic diversity and residents' sense of belonging, among other factors. We also hear from business owners in several topranked cities who have more than met the challenges posed by the pandemic.
On page 46, you'll find our 2022 Business and Economic Outlook, whose seven expert panellists take stock of the past year and share their thoughts on where the coming one might take us. Besides offering a raft of numbers, they had no shortage of opinions about what B.C. must do to keep shaking off the pandemic downturn. Thanks to the panel—ryan Berlin, John Davis, Fiona Famulak, Alex Hemingway, Ken Peacock, David Williams and Bryan Yu—for their insights.