Photo: Contributed
Angela Gordon wanted to spread her wings when she was younger, so that is exactly what she did.
Who knew those wings would carry her back home to the Okanagan?
Gordon moved to The Netherlands in her late 20s, learned Dutch, became a citizen and worked for many large corporations in various strategic roles. At the start of her career in the Netherlands she worked for telecommunications providers and helped launch new innovations such as location-based services and the BlackBerry. Later, she transitioned to work for Accenture, a global consulting powerhouse, where she worked for 10 years in Western Europe, the U.S. and Canada.
Gordon is now back in the Okanagan, loving life in her old hometown of Kelowna and using everything she learned over the last two decades in her new role as an investment advisor for Odlum Brown Limited. Her impressive career, plus volunteer work in the community, is why Gordon has landed on the Top 40 Over 40 list, presented by the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce and BDO Canada.
“Being an advisor is about building relationships with your clients, listening to them, understanding what they want and how you can build a portfolio to help deliver that for them,” Gordon says.
“The diversity in the first 22 years of my career have given me a different set of values and life skills, the ability to make quick connections with people and the ability to see things from different viewpoints.”
Most of Gordon’s work in the community revolves around Kelowna Women in Business, which makes sense given her experience and how hard she’s had to work to get where she is today.
“I’m a big supporter of advocacy for women,” Gordon says, “and that comes from my own battles scars of smashing the glass ceiling and confronting HR about pay gaps.”
Gordon also volunteers for Soup Sisters, the Karis Society and CRIS Adaptive Adventures.
“I really enjoy being in the community again and being able to volunteer and feel that connection,” she says.
Getting back into the community also helps Gordon on the professional side of her life, which has taken some getting used to after a couple of decades in the ultra-fast lane.
“One of the biggest challenges I had coming back to the Okanagan was I had to build a network,” she says. “It’s hard sometimes to explain all the experience you’ve had when it’s not really relevant at a local scale. The things I’ve seen and done are big-city, Fortune 500 companies, and it doesn’t always translate.
“So it’s nice to be honoured in the BDO Top 40 Over 40, because I’m proud of my career and those experiences make me who I am today and now, I am looking forward to being active in the Okanagan and to help build our local economy.”
All Biz Releases Stories
