Thank you to all those who supported our seventh annual black-tie charity event the TMA Toronto Spring Gala: An Evening Honouring Women in Restructuring held on May 25, 2017. The Spring Gala raises funds for a local women's charity that demonstrates a strong commitment to turning around women's lives and recognizes the contributions of female professionals in Toronto's restructuring and insolvency community. It is an award winning event, having been recognized with a special events award by TMA Global at The Annual in 2016.

TMA Toronto chose the Native Women's Resource Centre of Toronto (www.nwrct.ca) as the benefit charity. The Centre focuses on helping Aboriginal women gain the capacity and skills to improve their quality of life and employment prospects. Thanks to your generous support of this event, we raised over $50,000 for the Centre.

Sarah Midanik, the Executive Director of the Centre, recounted a moving story of a woman and her children whose difficult lives had been turned around with the help and support of the Centre. The example illustrated the broad range of services provided by the Centre and the strength and resilience of Native Women.

The evening included a silent auction with items donated by members and firms in the Toronto restructuring community as well as local businesses. Justice Frank Newbould, a tremendous supporter of the Spring Gala, conducted a "lively" live auction of event packages and was able to provoke some good natured competition among the attendees which resulted in extremely favourable bids for the items.

In addition to raising awareness and funds for a local women's charity, the TMA Toronto Spring Gala awards a Women of Excellence award at the event.

Congratulations to D.J. Miller of Thornton Grout Finnigan LLP, the recipient of the 2017 TMA Toronto Women of Excellence Award. The criteria for the award is applied on a rolling basis over three years, reflecting different stages of women within the profession. This year's award, "The Exemplar" is for a woman who is twenty plus years into her practice and who has demonstrated leadership in the various areas of the restructuring profession, provided critical mentoring and sponsorship of younger women and taken steps aimed at retaining women within the profession.

We hope those who attended the TMA Toronto Spring Gala enjoyed the opportunity to socialize with fellow TMA members and guests. We greatly appreciate your on-going support of this event. It is a truly signature event in the TMA global community that gives us an opportunity to give back to a local charity and celebrate the contributions of women to the profession.

Yours sincerely,

Andrea Yandreski, Sandra Rosch, Michael Hanson, Harvey Chaiton

Co-Chairs, Spring Gala Committee, TMA Toronto Chapter

A special thank you to our dedicated volunteers who helped to organize and host this successful event.

Sue Anderson, TMA Toronto; Mica Arlette, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP; Rachel Bengino, Thornton Grout Finnigan LLP; Sonia de Lorenzi, National Bank of Canada; Katherine Forbes, Richter; Russell French, BDC Business Development Bank; Anamika Gadia, KPMG LLP; Rebecca Kennedy, Thornton Grout Finnigan LLP; Brad Newton, BDO Canada Limited; Caleigh Smith, Richter; Eva Smoluch, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers; Michael Stewart, Alvarez and Marsal Canada ULC; Leanne Williams, Thornton Grout Finnigan LLP

You can still give to the Native Women's Resource Center of Toronto by going to the donation page on the website (www.nwrct.ca) and choosing 'TMA Spring Gala 2017' under 'Select the Fund Your Donation Will Support'.