(Patricia Phillips is one of the winners of the 2024 Canadian Women in Real Estate Awards, presented by Connect Canada CRE. To read about all of the winners, go to our special CWIRE Awards section.)

As CEO of PBA Group, Patricia Phillips leads the management, growth, strategic direction, business development, and asset and property management for this dynamic and expanding Canadian company.

PBA owns, manages and develops its own properties. Phillips is responsible for safeguarding the future and vitality of the organization, driving its progress through her expertise in business leadership.

Over the past 30 years, she worked for, founded and led businesses as a woman traditionally male-dominated sectors including finance, energy, and commercial real estate.

As a strong believer in diversity, she strives to increase it.

“My personal experience and success working with people of diverse backgrounds tells me that the future will benefit from diversity as much as technology and other forms of innovation,” she writes on her LinkedIn page.

Under Phillips’ leadership, PBA Group has closed more than $1.5 billion in transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, dispositions, reverse takeovers, and amalgamations, demonstrating her skill in negotiation, structuring, and closing high-value deals. Before joining PBA Group, she was the founder and CEO of three successful private oil and gas companies engaged in the exploration and development of oil and natural gas in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.

Phillips’ career includes experience as an economist working on trade policy for the Tokyo Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in Geneva, as well as time on Wall Street as a financial analyst with Credit Suisse First Boston. There, she co-managed the energy and sovereign sectors, working directly with financial issuers on initial public offerings, capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, and restructuring.

Since moving into real estate, Phillips has earned numerous awards. In 2023, she received two Stevie Awards for Women in Business: A Gold Stevie Award for Female Executive of the Year and a Silver Award for the Maverick of the Year.

Her other honours include the Maple Leaf ICSC Award for her development of Strathcona Square Shopping Centre in Calgary, an accolade that highlights her expertise and dedication to real estate excellence. PBA and its properties have also garnered a number of awards under her guidance.

In fall 2024, PBA’s Dorian Hotel in Calgary was awarded the prestigious One Michelin Key from the Michelin Guide. An award-winning The Dalton became one of first hotels in Canada to receive the honour as the publication recognized North American hospitality properties for the first time.

The Dorian is inspired by Irish author Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, a novel that combines philosophical fiction with gothic horror. The hotel contains literary themes throughout its premises.

Phillips developed the project as a legacy to her father, Joe Phillips. Having spent much of her childhood in England, she sought for years to bring some British whimsy to Calgary through an innovative luxury, boutique hotel build in his honour. Her father’s character reminded her of Wilde’s “contrarian and charismatic nature,” she noted in a LinkedIn post.

In 2023, Fodor’s Travel recognized the Dorian as one of the best hotels in North America. The development has also earned a number of other accolades.

Another PBA hospitality real estate project, the Element Hotel by Westin is the first hotel project under the City of Calgary’s widely praised downtown office-conversion program, known as DIP.

Also in 2023, Phillips co-chaired the Calgary Real Estate Forum.

Committed to community engagement, Phillips co-founded the Phillips Foundation, which supports various Calgary charities. She also co-founded Calgary Rising, a collaborative initiative designed to encourage capital investment in private infrastructure to support economic growth and benefit the broader community.

Phillips is actively engaged in the arts and business communities; she sits on the Glenbow Museum’s board of governors and serves on the board of directors for Jostle Corporation and Headversity, which aims to revolutionize workplace well-being.

Her dedication to both professional and community service underscores her commitment to fostering growth and vitality in the business and cultural sectors.

These are some of the reasons why Phillips was chosen for a Canadian Women in Real Estate Award.

(To read about all of the winners, go to our special CWIRE Awards section.)