C.P. Boyd and Associates

“An opportunity of a lifetime!” That’s how Pat Boyd, owner of her own management consulting business, describes her role as a Project Manager during the recent G8 Summit held locally in Huntsville in June, 2010. Working anywhere north of Toronto is a bonus for Boyd, but being able to use her cottage on Kawagama Lake near Dorset as a home base is her idea of heaven.

Boyd worked with IBM for 18 years in a variety of management and administrative capacities. During her time with IBM, Boyd lived in five different Canadian cities. In 1992 she decided to begin working more from her cottage in the Haliburton Highlands. In 1993 she started her own business, C.P. Boyd and Associates. “I was doing a lot of different things for IBM,” Boyd said. “I finally decided it was time for me to specialize in one field.”

As Managing Director of C.P. Boyd and Associates, Boyd provides project management and relocation consulting services to corporations in Ottawa and the Greater Toronto Area.

Even though she works primarily on her own and builds her business through referrals, she has assisted high-profile clients in the municipal, provincial, and federal governments as well as numerous private sector organizations. She has even been responsible for relocating a fertility centre, complete with highly complex laboratory equipment and live embryos, and moved 600 staff for a prominent legal firm out of the Eaton Centre into a new facility in Toronto’s Financial District during the Christmas shopping rush.

There is no doubt that Boyd is an extremely innovative businesswoman. She is a founding partner of ProFitness Advisors Group Ltd., a consulting company focused on improving the business results of small to medium enterprises through innovation, enhanced team effectiveness, and business process optimization. ProFitness is actively involved with the National Quality Institute in developing offerings to assist Ontario businesses to comply with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).

Boyd’s work experience expanded further in 2005 when her lake association, in partnership with the Federation of Ontario Cottagers’ Associations (FOCA), introduced the “Docktalk Program,” a province-wide initiative aimed at educating lakeside cottagers and residents on important environmental issues affecting the lake. “It was a bit of a change for me, working on a project involving our lake,” Boyd said. “But I certainly enjoyed it.”

Over the course of the summer, Boyd arranged 100 one-on-one Site Visits with cottagers and managed the schedule of the Docktalk Shoreline Guide, a 4th-year student studying toward a university degree in Biology and Aquatic Resources. Boyd also spoke at the customer appreciation days at both marinas on the lake, the annual regatta and various road association meetings to promote the program.

The summer contract led to her taking on the Director of the Environment role for the Kawagama Lake Cottagers’ Association and now she manages the KLCA website.

Over the years, Boyd has worked from the cottage whenever possible, completing the pre-planning of moves. She has a ‘home office’ set up there, with satellite ‘higher speed,’ an all-in-one printer/scanner/fax/copier and her wireless laptop. She spends the majority of the summer season at the cottage and a significant portion of the winter months. “Our cottage is now more our home than our house in Newmarket,” Boyd said.

For engagements in Ottawa, she drives through Algonquin Park. “It’s so much nicer watching for moose than driving on the province’s crowded Series 400 highways,” Boyd said.

In the spring of 2010, the G8 opportunity arose. Boyd partnered with AMJ Campbell, the ‘official movers of the Summits,’ handling all the warehousing and moving requirements for both the G8 and G20 Summits as their Project Manager. A 46,000-square-foot warehouse was set up by AMJ Campbell in the region to gather and stage all the furniture, computers, telephones, ceremonial flags, and original artwork for both summits.

Boyd’s role was to work with the Summits Management Office staff to ensure the furniture requirements for all the various venues at the summit were handled. It certainly was a big job,” Boyd said. “And a fabulous experience. Deerhurst is about thirty minutes from Dorset and it’s a drive right through beautiful cottage country. One morning on the way to the G8 I had to stop my car to wait while turtles laid their eggs next to the road, and several other times I had to stop and let deer and even bears cross in front of my car.”

“Working from my cottage in Haliburton County is absolutely amazing,” Boyd said. “There is a wonderful style of life up here. Everybody in the community is so kind and supportive of what I do. It really helps with business. I’ve been so much happier working in Haliburton than I ever was working in Toronto. I love what I’m doing, and I love where I work.”