It is with great excitement that we announce that MAPLE Business Council is launching a New York Chapter.
Since we founded MAPLE in 2015, our vision has been to connect U.S. and Canadian businesses through investment, trade and entrepreneurship. We began in a place we know well, Southern California - where we raised our families and pursued our careers. While every market is unique and enjoys its own relationship with Canada, much of the playbook of launching and nurturing a cross-border community between Canada and the United States can apply from one market to another. It comes down to creating the forums and platforms to connect business leaders together from which trusted relationships and new opportunities & collaborations can be made. And doing this in the spirit of supporting and learning from one another. This takes an experienced business professional who lives and works in the market and who brings a passion to pursue this mission.
We are proud to welcome John Costanzo to the MAPLE leadership team as our Executive Director for MAPLE Business Council in New York. John brings a distinguished 35-year career in international supply chain management - most recently as the CEO of Purolator International headquartered in Jericho, NY. While at Purolator, John grew sales tenfold and expanded their U.S. market presence from 3 markets to 32. Be sure to read our interview with John where he shares some of his cross-border perspectives.
We would also like to thank Deputy Consul General Khawar Nasim of the Consulate General of Canada in New York for the warm welcome he has extended to our mission.
As is the case with Southern California, the economic ties between Canada and New York are significant. Canada is New York's #1 customer. In 2017, 5 million Canadians visited New York spending over $1.2 billion. And two-way goods trade exceeded $31.1 billion in 2019. Add to that another $8 billion in services exports from New York to Canada.
Thank you to our members, partners and friends whose support and participation over the past five years have made reaching this milestone of forming a New York Chapter possible. From day one, you have made MAPLE Business Council a very special cross-border community. We could not be happier to offer you a bi-coastal network represented by the two largest U.S. markets. We look forward to bringing you updates from our New York Chapter.
And to those who are new to MAPLE Business Council in the greater New York region, welcome! We look forward to getting to know you and sharing the opportunities in Southern California and Canada with you.
Our New York Chapter is based in New York City-Long Island from which we will serve the Canada-U.S. business networking needs of New York and adjoining communities in the tri-state region.
With the addition of our New York Chapter, all our members across Canada and the U.S., will enjoy additional networking, content and partnership opportunities. For existing members, your MAPLE membership benefits have just grown! You can attend our New York Chapter in-person and online events as well as benefit from the content being shared by our members joining us in New York.
We will be sharing news of MAPLE New York Chapter events and new members on our website. Our first event will be a webcast in early August. We will be providing more information in the coming weeks.
Stephen Armstrong
Robert Kelle
Co-Founders