People on the Move
Education
Manpreet Dhillon, founder and principal of Manpreet Dhillon Consulting, a firm specializing in executive and team coaching and leadership training, has been appointed by the provincial government to the Royal Roads University board of governors. She is also the co-founder of Be Your Own Best Friend, a South Asian women’s network.
Finance
Jeffrey Calvert has resigned as CFO of NatureBank Asset Management Inc. and has been appointed CEO at Prairie Paper Inc., a wheat straw paper company. Phillip Cull has been appointed CFO at NatureBank, and Rosita Morandin has been appointed director of finance. Cull most recently acted as vice-president at NatureBank, while Morandin served as finance manager. Prior to joining NatureBank, Cull was an executive director for Goldman Sachs International’s equities division. Morandin has more than 20 years of accounting and finance experience, working for Loewen Group, PricewaterhouseCoopers and a suite of early and mid-stage venture companies. Morandin joined NatureBank’s predecessor company, ERA Ecosystems, in 2009.
Media
DJ Kearney has joined New District, a dedicated online B.C. wine marketplace, as wine director and website editor. Kearney has 15 years of experience in various aspects of the wine industry, including teaching, writing, criticism and presentations for festivals and industry trade organizations. For the past several years she’s been the drink editor for Vancouver Magazine, and a critic and contributor for WineAlign.
Non-Profit
Children of the Street Society recently elected its board of directors: Leanne Atkinson, Pacific Community Resource Society, is president; Shana Rivett, social entrepreneur, is vice-president and Sarah Harris, Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, returns as treasurer. New directors are Jim Walker, Canadian Choice Wholesalers; Laila Rana, lawyer; Meherun Laila, Telus; and Priscilla Sanker, Anika Youth Services and Surrey Women’s Centre; returning directors are Trevor Ritchie, student teacher, and Oscar Ramos, detective, Vancouver Police Department.
The Vancouver Public Library Foundation recently elected its board: Terry Salman has been appointed chair emeritus, Susan Knott has been appointed chair and Karima Bawa is vice-chair. New board members Robin Hemmingsen and John Hodgins join existing board members Mary-Lynn Baum, Jamie Broadhurst, Erfan Kazemi, Lori Mathison, Paula Shackleton, Sally Warren, Paul Whitney and Gloria Wong.
The Pacific chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce has announced its 2016 board of directors. Newly appointed directors are Laura Ballance, principal, Laura Ballance Media Group, and Thoren Hudyma, vice-president and general manager of the Vancouver office of Global Public Affairs. Returning directors are Lynne Platt, Greg Timm, Cheryl Schell, Russ Crawford, Tracey Swain and Cecil Abrahams. Other board members are Maria Rajanayagam (president), Craig Hinton and Jeff Peterson (vice-presidents), Gibson Turley III (treasurer) and Dan Kiselback (secretary).
Anne Cooper has joined Decoda Literacy Solutions as a board director. A retired superintendent of schools for School District 19 (Revelstoke), she has more than 30 years of experience in district office, with 20 of those as a superintendent in B.C. Active in her community, she serves on the Revelstoke Early Childhood Development Committee and chairs the Revelstoke Literacy Action Committee. Cooper was also a founding member of the Revelstoke Social Development Committee and the Revelstoke Screen Smart Committee. She has been very involved with Ministry of Education projects, opening the first Strong Start centre in the province and the first Neighbourhood Learning Center in an elementary school, which serves as an extensive Early Learning hub.
Resources
Martin Turenne has succeeded Jim Gilbert as First Point Minerals Corp.’s president and CEO. Gilbert has stepped down to focus on other opportunities, but will continue to serve as a director. Turenne has served as the company’s CFO since September 2012. Christopher Mitchell, who served as the company’s CFO from July 2003 until August 31, 2012, will re-assume those duties, while continuing to serve as the company’s corporate secretary.
Technology
Geoff Hultin has been appointed vice-president, corporate sales, at Urban Communications Inc., one of Canada’s first telecommunications companies to deliver gigabit Internet service to the home. Hultin has almost 20 years of sales, business development and product management experience in the telecommunications industry. Prior to his appointment, Hultin held various sales roles with Allstream.
Rizwan Somji, Grant McTaggart and Nathaniel Payne have joined Cymax, the furniture e-tailer, as vice-president of technology, vice-president of merchandising and marketing, and senior director of data analytics, respectively. Somji has more than 15 years of experience leading high-performance technology teams and is the former co-founder and vice-president of engineering for ResponseTek Networks. McTaggart has more than 25 years of experience, most recently as a vice-president at Best Buy Canada. Payne has more than 15 years of experience in cloud computing and analytics; he was most recently with Cardinal Path.
Companies on the move
New Merger
Jensen Hughes, a Baltimore-based engineering consulting firm, has merged with Vancouver-based Gage-Babcock & Associates Ltd. The merger enhances the position of the combined organization as a global leader providing specialty engineering and consulting services in numerous vertical markets, including transportation, education, health care, corporate real estate, industrial and energy.
New Name
Tricor Pacific Capital, founded in Vancouver in 1996, has changed its name to Parallel49 Equity, and will continue to invest in businesses in the specialty manufacturing, business services and value-added distribution sectors. Email addresses have been changed and now end in @p49equity.com. The firm’s updated website is www.p49equity.com.
Hats Off
Business in Vancouver welcomes submissions from local small businesses and large corporations alike that demonstrate examples of corporate philanthropy and community involvement in the Vancouver area. High-resolution images are also welcome.
RBC Royal Bank donated $40,000 to YWCA Crabtree Corner in support of food programs for low-income women and their children accessing support services in the Downtown Eastside. The community kitchen at Crabtree Corner serves over 32,000 meals per year to women and children living in poverty.
RBC Foundation donated $10,000 to the Down Syndrome Research Foundation in support of the foundation’s educational programs for young adults with Down syndrome, as well as its reading programs for students of all ages.
Avison Young’s (AY) Vancouver office donated $7,000 to Children of the Street Society, one of four non-profits AY contributed to as part of the real estate firm’s fundraising initiatives in October. Other beneficiaries include Atira Women’s Resource Society, Covenant House and Yo Bro/Yo Girl Youth Initiative. In total, AY employees raised $30,000 for the four charities.
Variety – The Children’s Charity donated $15,000 to Special Olympics BC to help fund the implementation of 15 new programs for children with intellectual disabilities around the province this season.
Envision Financial donated $20,000 to YWCA Metro Vancouver, in support of Boys 4 Real and That’s Just Me, after-school programs in Surrey designed to promote self-esteem and self-awareness amongst boys and girls.
Presented by Buy-Low Foods and held at the Westin Bayshore Resort, the 34th annual Variety Market and Auction raised $94,837 for Variety – the Children’s Charity.
The Muslim Business Council of BC, in partnership with the Canadian Society of Fiji Muslims, donated more than $30,000 to Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation. The funds will go toward a new transport monitor, which is used to keep a close watch on intensive care patients’ vital signs as they are moved for testing and procedures within the hospital. Funds were raised during a 30-minute pledge drive at the council’s annual fundraising dinner. •
