Glen Korstrom

Five women will be recognized for their contributions to local business at Business in Vancouver’s seventh annual Influential Women in Business Awards luncheon March 2 at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel.

The event will honour the winner of the second annual Lifetime Achievement Award, 83-year-old Wendy McDonald, who has run the BC Bearing Group for the past 55 years.

“The goal of these awards is to draw attention to women who have enough business experience, clout and success to be appointed to corporate boards,” said Business in Vancouver director of sales and marketing Cheryl Carter.

“We’re all familiar with the figures that show women are underrepresented on these boards. So, the awards are one way to highlight women who would be able to make substantial contributions if they were appointed.”

Judges included Vancouver city councilor and Business in Vancouver vice-president Peter Ladner, last year’s IWIB lifetime achievement winner, Doreen McKenzie-Sanders, Leading Edge British Columbia vice-president of campaigns and partnerships Linda Thorstad, and Western Management Consultants consultant Lois Nazhirney. They selected the winners from a short list of 10 finalists. The judges’ selections are confidential until the luncheon.

All nominees had to be active owners, partners, presidents or senior managers at a private- or public-sector company and either live or work in B.C.

Judges determined winners through assessing nominees’ achievements in three areas: professional and entrepreneurial accomplishments, power and influence, and business community involvement.

CanWest Global Communications Corp. anchor Jill Krop will emcee the luncheon again this year. All finalists will be introduced to the audience and will accept a gift to honour their achievement being short-listed.

“All the women in this group have achieved extraordinary success in B.C. Some of them have gone further in their careers by the sheer volume of being in business for an extended period of time. That translates into them having accumulated more influence,” Carter said.

Last year’s winners included Purdy’s Chocolates owner Karen Flavelle, Culinary Capers owner Debra Lykkemark, Amara International Investment CEO Eva Lee Kwok, TransLink CEO Pat Jacobsen and Sport BC president and CEO Sandra Stevenson.

Past winners have also included current BC Minister of Finance Carole Taylor, University of British Columbia president Martha Piper and QLT Inc. founder Julia Levy.

gkorstrom@biv.com