Top execs to refine leadership skills for optimal performance

Ontario, BC CA Institutes team up to develop innovative program

Toronto, Ontario (September 12, 2006) - Leading for Optimal Performance: A Program for Executive Management is a cutting-edge course developed for top professionals that offers the latest strategies and techniques for increasing employee and organizational effectiveness while driving personal and corporate change. According to the Institutes of Chartered Accountants of Ontario and British Columbia, when launched in the fall of 2006, this new program will transform and enhance the career paths of its target audience: chief financial officers, chief operating officers, vice-presidents, senior controllers and senior managers seeking effective business solutions.

"There are a wide range of business training options available, but Leading for Optimal Performance has been developed to deliver greater value to executives who want proven best-practice strategies that allow them to manage change, conflict and innovation, while optimizing the performance of their teams, resources and overall organization," said Robert Gagnon, Associate Director, Professional Development at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario.

"This program combines the analytical competencies expected from financial professionals with the leadership and team building skills necessary for leaders in this ever changing dynamic world. We teamed with the B.C. Institute on this because we wanted to come up with a joint program that addresses the continuous business learning needs for a broad spectrum of senior leaders who are at or looking to join the highest levels of business."

Leading for Optimal Performance will help participants:

Explore, acquire and refine the personal and organizational skills needed to be an outstanding leader
Develop a powerful negotiating presence by discovering a process and the tactics necessary to influence others and create mutual profit improvement solutions
Understand how people and organizations respond to change, how to overcome resistance and build high performance teams
Define and implement ways to create a culture that nurtures creativity and innovation
Adopt and adapt best practices performance measurement tools
Learn techniques for identifying your organization's competitive weaknesses and strengths and identify strategies for enhancing productivity and performance
Build a culture of accountability
Link tactical action plans to an organization's overall strategic direction
Become the "go-to person" for designing practical and innovative business solutions and in implementing needed change initiatives
Identify, evaluate and select profitable business opportunities while managing risk

The weeklong sessions are intense, beginning on Sunday evening and continuing until Friday afternoon to give participants willing to make the time commitment a focused and comprehensive curriculum.

To ensure the course's ambitious goals are met, outstanding faculty have been recruited for Leading for Optimal Performance, including:

Dr. Jim Murray is CEO of optimal solutions international, a firm that specializes in helping people and organizations achieve their full potential. For over three decades, he has been teaching his courses to the accounting profession in several provinces. He is a best-selling author, a highly regarded change agent with an enviable track record of accomplishments, and has provided strategic counsel to over 600 organizations during his stellar career. He currently is training Canadian soldiers negotiation techniques for use in Afghanistan and other hot spots.
Dr. Vijay Jog is Founder and President of Corporate Renaissance Group and a Chancellor Professor of Finance at Carleton University. He is a leading authority in shareholder value creation, activity-based costing and management, and organizational performance improvement. Vijay has been published extensively in national and international journals, and has over 100 articles, monographs, and books to his credit. He consults extensively with government and private sector organizations around the world and has received numerous awards for his research and publications, including the prestigious National Post "Leaders in Management Education" award for Ontario.

"Chartered Accountants have been leading the way in leadership training for financial professionals for many years," said Gagnon. "Leading for Optimal Performance builds on that experience to provide executives with the management tools, techniques and skills to handle both the increasing complexities of everyday demands and the moments of crisis when effective leadership is crucial to success."

WHAT:   Leading for Optimal Performance: A Program for Executive Management
INSTRUCTORS: Dr. Jim Murray and Dr. Vijay Jog
WHEN AND WHERE: September 17-22 at The Westin Resort & Spa, Whistler, British Columbia

October 22-27 at White Oaks Resort & Spa, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario

About the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario:
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario is the qualifying and regulatory body of Ontario's 32,000 CAs and 4,000 CA students. Since 1879, the Institute has protected the public interest through the CA profession's high standards of qualification and the enforcement of its rules of professional conduct. The Institute website is: www.icao.on.ca.

Media interviews:
Robert Gagnon (Ontario Institute), Moira Bryans (BC Institute), Dr. Jim Murray and Dr. Vijay Jog are all available for media interviews to discuss Leading for Optimal Performance.

For more information please contact:

Perry Jensen
Director of Media Relations
[T] 416-969-4271
[F] 416-962-8900