Honouring Leadership and Service: Solomon Wong Receives Inaugural Member of the Year Award

The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade's 2026 Business Distinction Awards marked the launch of the inaugural Member of the Year award, which recognizes a GVBOT member that has made outstanding contributions to the organization through volunteering, mentoring, speaking or participation on committees. The member’s involvement meaningfully supports GVBOT’s Purpose and Vision and has acted as an ambassador and advocate for the organization. 

We were pleased to present the 2026 Member of the Year Award to Solomon Wong, President & Chief Executive Officer of InterVISTAS Consulting. Solomon has made significant contributions to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade through more than two decades of leadership, service, and advocacy.  
 
A leading voice in Canada's aviation industry, he has helped advance innovations that transformed the travel experience, from trusted traveller programs to streamlined security and border processes. He served for many years as Chair of our Regional Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and continues to support the growth of World Trade Centre Vancouver programming. Through his active participation, steadfast commitment, and enthusiastic promotion of the Board of Trade's work, Solomon has become a trusted leader and outstanding ambassador for our business community.

Solomon presented the following remarks at the 2026 Business Distinction Awards upon receiving this recognition: 

It is an honour to be the first recipient of this award. Thank you very much to the selection group for selecting me.

I think one of the things that is really important to me, looking back on nearly 30 years of work in transportation, tourism, and other areas, is the degree to which we rely upon transferring knowledge.

I think the story is really about the opportunities that were given to me early on. I was encouraged to attend the Board of Trade Transportation Committee, and those conversations, nearly 30 years ago, gave me valuable insights.

I see Mark Duncan seated next to me, who has been a key part of many of the advancements in transportation. Through the many different roles Mark has held over the years, he has provided a great deal of mentorship.

I would also like to recognize Paul Levelton, the former Chair of the Transportation Committee. Looking at some of the opportunities he created, watching how Paul chaired meetings and steered discussions forward, and seeing him in action were all incredibly valuable. Those experiences, as well as our collaboration on different projects, have been so critical.

So, the call to action for everybody here is this: we are not moving fast enough on generational knowledge transfer.

The ability to pass knowledge forward to the next generation, and the generation after that, is incredibly important. We need to make sure we act on this.

I very much appreciate the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade for this award, but also for championing a call to action that is so critical to the future of our region and the many sectors represented in this room.

Thank you very much.