The past twelve months have seen stellar growth for East Coast Connected. This could not have been possible without the contributions from our volunteers in Toronto, Ottawa, and the Atlantic Provinces; our key sponsors including the governments of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, plus Alexander Keith's and McInnes Cooper; as well as our Board of Directors – all who have worked so hard to make this year such a success.

Looking back, we have seen our Coast and Cocktails speaking series continued throughout the year. Highlights from this series included presentations from Business New Brunswick, Scott McCain, and McInnes Cooper.

We were also excited by the positive feedback from the 2nd annual Atlantic Business Summit (ABS) held in June at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. There was an exciting line-up of speakers, including John Risley and Dan Tapscott. We would also like to thank all the organizatios that helped support ABS 2009 including presenting sponsors Dalhousie University and the Rotman School of Management as well as InNOVAcorp, The New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, TD Bank Financial Group, St. Mary's University and Acadia University.

The East Coast Army launched in January 2009 and made significant social and charitable contributions that included monthly pub nights raising funds for the IWK Health Centre in Halifax and a bake sale benefiting the Yonge St. Mission. As well, the Army hosted a number of social events to keep members engaged and having fun, such as a golf academy and the 'Sail and Summit' tall ship adventure.

Our biggest story has come out of our newest Chapter in Ottawa. We’ve received a very warm welcome with close to 200 people in attendance at the kick-off event in November. The Ottawa team has already begun initiatives benefiting the Ottawa Food Bank and is participating in the ‘Adopted Holiday Family’ this season. Stay tuned for a formal ECC Ottawa launch announcement for winter 2010.

Looking ahead, we are already making plans for ABS 2010 and have some exciting Army initiatives in the works plus a few surprises for our Coast and Cocktails series. Keep your eyes peeled for new events as we launch into the New Year.