Mike Harcourt served three terms as Mayor of Vancouver, where he helped establish the city as one of the world's most livable through forward-thinking land use and planning policy. He went on to become BC's 30th Premier from 1991 to 1996, where he shaped urban growth across the province through the landmark 1995 Growth Strategies Act. After decades of writing the policies that governed how cities grow, Mike has put his money where his mouth is.

He and his son Justen are now active missing middle developers, building small-scale multi-family housing on Vancouver's west side through Harcourt Asset Management. He knows firsthand what it takes to move a project from policy to permit to construction because he's doing it.

A self-described recovering politician, Mike brings a perspective no one else in this room can: he was the government, and now he's the developer he always wished he'd created better conditions for.