Kari Gares is named one of Vernon's Top 20 Over 40

The Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce has released its Top 20 Over 40 list for 2020, and Castanet will be featuring all of the honourees.

You may know her for her mortgage brokerage, but you definitely know her as a city councillor.

Kari Gares owns her own brokerage firm under the Verico Financial Group, a mortgage broker network, and also sits as a Vernon city councillor. When it comes to balancing her work life with her city council duties, she has one simple answer on how she does it.

"Scheduling and time management is the key," says Gares. "It's the key to both the success of my business as well as insuring to meeting my obligations through the City of Vernon."

Gares has been a part of many causes for kids in the Vernon area over the years. She started a Selects Interior field lacrosse program that aimed to help local kids discover their talent through the sport. Which they did – 16 students involved in the program were offered NCAA scholarships.

She also sponsors Vernon minor hockey teams year after year, she sponsored the Starfish Backpack campaign and taught high school students financial literacy for adulthood.

"Anything that involves youth in our community, I'm 100 per cent in support of," says Gares. "We should make sure the youth in our community have every chance possible to succeed."

The Chamber's Top 20 Over 40 is sponsored by KPMG, the Regional District of North Okanagan and Castanet.