News Archives: Building Success on the Metrics that Matter
Saturday, October 21st, 2023
Eunice Friesen, Board of Governors Distinguished Innovation Leadership Award recipient.
When you think of a successful business owner and leader, you expect them to be ambitious, comfortable with risk, and highly attuned to the market. Eunice Friesen, this year’s recipient of the Board of Governors Distinguished Innovation Leadership Award, is certainly all those things. Upon meeting her, however, you quickly realize that she is also warm, committed to care-giving and passionate about creating inclusive spaces. She puts people first, in all respects, and is an excellent and inspiring example of how that attitude can drive innovative thinking and bring about prosperity and personal satisfaction.
Caregiving has been an integral part of Eunice’s life ever since she enrolled, straight out of high school, in GPRC’s nursing diploma program. After graduating and spending some time as a pediatric nurse, Eunice took on the unique and challenging role as the charge nurse at the region’s Young Offenders Centre. This experience - which turned out to be the longest-held position of her diverse career - had a lasting impact on her. “It was in that role that I learned the value of autonomy as an employee, while at the same time, the value of a collegial atmosphere and team-oriented approach,” Eunice explains. “The experience of making an immediate impact on someone’s life or experience, even a subtle one, is something I’ve always kept with me.”
In 2003, Eunice moved on to occupational health, and it was at this point that her career begin to shift towards business leadership. It is hard to not be awed by her professional efforts and accomplishments in the two decades that followed. Eunice was the founding Executive Director of the Grande Prairie Primary Care Network, where she played a pivotal role in enhancing the delivery of healthcare services to the community. She served the Province of Alberta in appointments for two Ministries, was a member of Grande Prairie City Council, and has sat on multiple Boards of Directors within the community. The list of her awards and acknowledgements is long but suffice to say, her efforts and impact on the community have not gone unnoticed. Among many others, her accolades include the 2022 Queen's Platinum Jubilee Award for service to the Province of Alberta.
In nominating Eunice for the Distinguished Innovation Leadership Award, Lisa Maguire shared that, “Eunice’s achievements demonstrate that success and excellence are not limited to a particular field of study. While her foundational education is in nursing, she has gone on to achieve remarkable success as an entrepreneur and community leader. Her story can inspire individuals in any field who aspire to make a positive impact and achieve excellence in their chosen endeavors.”
The city of Grande Prairie continues to benefit from Eunice’s innovative approach to inclusion and her efforts to address the unique needs of our diverse community. An example of this is how the Bear Creek Funeral home - just one of the businesses she and her husband currently own and manage - welcomes and provides private space for a diversity of cultural grieving practices and traditions. The Friesens have also expanded their community offerings to include rental space within their facility for a wide range of gatherings, meetings, and celebrations.
You might think this would be a good time to slow down and enjoy the fruits of her labours, but Eunice is not one for sitting idle (if running multiple businesses and founding new ones can be considered idle!) She recently earned her Master of Business Administration with a specialty in Innovation Leadership, which she explains as an opportunity to learn how to be bold, think differently, and find new ways to approach old problems.
Eunice’s leadership style can be summed up as ‘populus primus’, which is to say, ‘people first’. For Eunice, this includes herself. “The best leaders understand themselves just as well as they understand their team members and colleagues. They look at the big picture and communicate to the team how each member’s actions impact the overall outcome. A good leader also has a keen sense of knowing when and where to be of help, when to lean on others, and that success is born less from focusing on the business outcome and more by prioritizing the people, whether that’s staff, fellow leaders, customers, or partners.”
When asked what advice she might give to new alumni as they embark on their own career journey, she offers, “Be open to opportunities that come your way. Had I stuck to a pre-conceived plan, I would have missed out on the most interesting and fulfilling aspects of my career. It’s by following unexpected opportunity that I carved out the path I did and led me to the absolute honour of being recognized with distinguished awards such as this one.”
In her role as mentor to young business professionals, Eunice will often ask them, “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” Great food for thought for all of us, and a telling insight into Eunice’s personal approach to challenge and risk. And when we look at Eunice’s impact on our community and those who live here, imagine what could happen if we were to all approach our lives and careers with her brand of courage and commitment. It would be nothing short of transformational.
Watch Eunice talk about her connection to NWP.
