Infrastructure Ontario (IO) executive Toni Rossi will remember her selection as this year’s Outstanding Leader as part of the Women’s Infrastructure Network (WIN) 2020 awards program for several reasons, one of which is how she was able to command the attention of her family at her Toronto home during the online ceremony.
It was an unusual COVID-19 twist, she laughed during a recent interview.
With everyone in her family at home during the April 23 ceremony, Rossi had to commandeer the household’s broadband to watch the streaming results uninterrupted. But it gave her daughter an opportunity to watch and learn as her mother spoke about the accomplishments of the women, many of them friends and colleagues, who were nominated in the Emerging Leaders category and alongside her mother in the Outstanding Leaders class.
“When my name was called it was a surreal moment,” Rossi recalled. “My kids were cheering and saying, ‘way to go mom.’ Their reaction to the list was huge and it made me reflect on all that talent.
“It was a COVID moment.”
Rossi, a 30-year real estate professional, currently serves as president of the real estate division with IO after previously presiding as IO’s interim president and CEO. She came from the private sector, serving as a top executive with Oxford Properties and Cadillac Fairview.
Her WIN award citation noted how Rossi is “committed to sharing knowledge and expertise within the industry,” and that she “provides fresh perspectives to challenging problems and is able to manage large projects spanning multiple partners.”
“I was honoured and I was quite humbled because I have watched this organization grow over the years and I have seen a lot of the talent and professionalism of the past winners of this award so I know the quality of those outstanding leaders,” Rossi commented. “To be seen in that same light is quite humbling.”
WIN now has almost 1,000 members across Canada and Rossi has been involved in the Canadian chapter from the beginning.
“The reason WIN came together was there was a need to gather this group of talented individuals and find ways to have networking and business opportunities,” she said. “To bounce ideas off of each other, connect with each other, and then that talent is a part of things like conferences and panels. The diversity of the types of experiences is huge.”
WIN serves a forum for generating ideas thanks to the variety of professions of its members, Rossi said. And WIN members tend to learn how to be capable communicators of the value of diversity at their workplaces and while serving as mentors of both young males and females.
“You really learn a lot about yourself,” she said about being the only woman sitting at a project table. “You learn how to make sure that you are putting forth ideas that are relevant and helpful. I can offer good comfort and stability as a sounding board to these young women. Their voice is important and their perspective is critical, and the diversity of thought that you bring is key.”
Women tend to find different ways to collaborate and they are not afraid to make tough decisions from a practical perspective, Rossi said.
“My experience in meetings with a diversity of males and females, and different ages and minority groups, is that the conversation is richer…we look at different developments and how to look at a community and how to create a new infrastructure project that is going to be long-lasting, that is going to serve our citizens or our tenants or our clients.”
WIN also cited Rossi for her extensive service to the community. Rossi’s parents were immigrants and so seeking security of food and shelter was a core value, she said.
She is currently a director for Habitat for Humanity Canada and was the first chair of Canadian Women Build. A former track athlete and mother of a competitive beach volleyball player whose husband was a coach for the Canadian beach volleyball team at Sydney in 2000, Rossi was also the inaugural board chair for the Canadian Olympic Athlete’s Fund.
The various ventures “energize” her, she said, in that she is committed to community-building.
“I value anything that is associated with that kind of excellence-driven transformation of communities and the grassroots, when people are helping themselves to get better,” she explained.
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