Acting on impulse has endeared longtime Urban Development Institute CEO Maureen Enserto many industry insiders.
It has also helped her find employment.
Long before Enser became an authority on real estate issues and community development, she was a personal assistant to former federal fisheries minister Jack Davis.
He promoted Enser to the post in the late 1960s after he witnessed her placate an office full of angry fishermen who had gathered in his office to protest the closing of a salmon fishery.
?I jumped up on a desk,? said Enser, whose first job at the ministry was to write fish cookbooks. ?I don?t know whether it was because I was wearing a mini-skirt or because there was this young woman stomping her foot on the desk, but they calmed down.?
Enser told the crowd to appoint four representatives, who, she bluffed, could air concerns with the minister when he returned from lunch.
Former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeaulater made Davis Canada?s first environment minister. One of Enser?s first tasks in the new ministry was to be a liaison between Davis and marine biologist and TV celebrity Jacques Cousteau. Davis wanted Cousteau to investigate the practicality of declaring part of Georgia Strait a marine reserve.
While the reserve was never established, Enser found in Cousteau an early mentor who would nurture her passion for sustainability.
Years later, Enser again acted on impulse and wound up with a new job. This time it would be at the institute where she would spend most of her career.
Enser interviewed to be the first full-time executive director of the Urban Development Institute in 1982, the day after she had a dream about a large tree with several branches that she felt represented aspects of a successful organization.
Trilogy Properties Corp. CEO John Evans headed the UDI recruitment panel that hired Enser.
He asked one question: ?If you were executive director, what would you do with the organization??
Immediately Enser thought about her dream and impulsively launched into a long-winded explanation about what each branch could represent. Some of the boughs that she envisioned, and which later became pillars at UDI were:
?a code of ethics;
?a strong education and professional development program; and
?a government-relations strategy focused on being partners with government building communities, not merely lobbying for developers or specific developments.
?I must have been talking for 20 minutes,? Enser said. ?Then, I came to my senses and realized that I?d been talking a long time. I was embarrassed. I left the room and was hitting my head with my hand wondering how I could do such a stupid thing.?
Evans intercepted her before she had left the building told her she had the job.
?Maureen has a strong intellect and a good grasp and interest in policy,? Evans told Business in Vancouver. ?She also has a great way of getting along with people of all political stripes. That?s extremely important in the position she?s been in. She?s the go-to person for many politicians in the province when it comes to housing policy and other real estate matters.?
Retiring will not be easy for Enser. She has spent 28 years as executive director of UDI?s Pacific region. In that time, she has built the organization from a cubbyhole office with a $50,000 budget into an organization with a $3.5 million budget and 15 staff.
Seven years ago, she became CEO of the umbrella federation of UDI branches across Canada.
In retirement, Enser said she?ll spend more time with her children and her grandchildren. But because of her passion for making housing affordable and all developments sustainable, she plans to remain active in those areas.
She?ll also continue to spend time:
?on the advisory board of the Granville Island Trust;
?on the industry advisory council of the Homeowner Protection Office; and
?as co-chair of the Rental Housing Supply Coalition with New Westminster mayor Wayne Wright.
One of her bugbears is that about 70% of the land in Metro Vancouver is protected from development – either for agricultural or other purposes.
?I think some land that is protected could probably have a more efficient use,? she said. ?I don?t want to say that too much land is protected, but I think, back in the day, when we created the agricultural land reserve, there wasn?t sufficient thought to what land was included. They just drew lines on a map.?
Enser is also in favour of increasing density to make housing more affordable. But plenty of Vancouverites are wary of higher density, particularly when it?s in their neighbourhood.
According to Enser, the city?s plan to boost tower heights to 12 storeys near Oakridge Centre in the Cambie corridor doesn?t go far enough.
Born in Winnipeg, the 63-year-old grew up as an air force brat, attending 13 schools before obtaining an undergraduate degree in political science from Ohio State University.
Following her graduation, she returned to her parents? home in Ottawa and helped pack all the family?s possessions in storage before setting out on a road trip with her parents, three siblings, grandmother and pets.
It was 1968, and the family was charged with some of the Sixties? free-spirit zeitgeist. Heading west, they zigzagged across Canada and the U.S. until they hit Vancouver.
Enser, whose marriage lasted seven years, has two children and one grandchild.
?I?m proud that UDI has helped the industry set up a collaborative process, whereby, instead of being in conflict with local government and communities, we?re partners,? she said.
?Take a look down in the U.S. When you do development, you usually hire lawyers at the same time you hire your architect. We have a more collaborative, respectful approach to problem-solving.? ?
