DeVolder doubles up on speaker award
Dr. Mark DeVolder is getting pretty comfortable around a podium. The Vernon resident recently earned his second straight Top 5 Speaker Award in the Change Management division.
And it didn’t take long for the bookings to flow in as a result. He was immediately contacted to give a presentation in Dubai on May 18.
“The people of Vernon have been so supportive of me. I’ve received calls and e-mails asking ‘Have you heard yet? Did you win?’ So many people told me that they voted for me.
“And it’s definitely made a difference to my business. The exposure I’ve received from The Morning Star and other newspapers has had a positive impact on my clients and made a significant difference on my Google rankings.”
DeVolder is represented by more than 65 top speaker bureaus in Canada, U.S., England, Australia and South America, and also does consultation work for the federal government. Some of his other clients include NASA, Transportation Investment Corp. (managing the Port Mann Bridge Project in Vancouver), California Dental Association and City of Ottawa.
The Top 5 Speaker designation is awarded to keynote speakers for excellence, expertise, presentation skills and original contribution in their field.
Outdoor Exposure tackles online terrain
Oliver Stankiewicz wants to combine the accessibility of a local store with the value of Internet shopping.
Stankiewicz, the owner of Outdoor Exposure, a new and used clearance outdoor gear and clothing store on Silver Star Road, believes it is possible.
“Outdoor Exposure’s goal is to provide high-end product at similar prices as you would see online. Our used program provides the opportunity for people to sell and recycle quality high-end technical, recreational and performance gear.”
Stankiewicz, who opened the store last October, has watched the market for outdoor gear slowly be taken over by online sales, which he said takes money away from small business in local communities.
“We needed a way to bring these sales back to the community by providing similar prices to compete with the typical online store,” he said.
Outdoor Exposure carries a range of equipment, including ski, snowboard, snowshoe, mountain bike, paddling, climbing, camping and hiking. They will be accepting summer gear at the end of March – kayaking, climbing, hiking, biking, wakeboarding and camping.
They stock brand names like The North Face, Patagonia, Mountain Hardware and Dakine.
Cornett-Ching tracks down driver scholarship
Sarah Cornett-Ching is on the fast track to success. The Summerland product, a regular in the street stock events at the Motoplex Speedway, recently earned a $7,500 scholarship to the Race 101 Driver Development Program in North Carolina.
Cornett-Ching was recognized as the most improved driver on the ARCA West Sportsman Series last season, and earned a fifth-place finish in the West Coast Sportsman Series in her Aaron’s Dream Machine Cadillac CTS.
This season, she intends to run two races in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, in Vernon and Saskatoon. She attends Okanagan College in Kelowna where she is completing her second-level welding certification.
