Education
Stuart Ruttan and Sarah Wareing have been appointed dean of the School of Criminal Justice and Security and Office of International Affairs and dean of the School of Public Safety, respectively, at the Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC). Michel Tarko has also been appointed for a second five-year term as JIBC’s president and CEO.
Ruttan joined JIBC in 2008 as a credentialing specialist; his most recent position was as associate dean at the Centre for Graduate Studies and Academic Planning, and he also served as chair of the graduate certificates in intelligence analysis and tactical criminal analysis.
Wareing joined JIBC in 2006 as the co-ordinator/instructor for emergency social services training in JIBC’s emergency management division (EMD). In 2009, she switched focus to the bachelor of emergency management studies program, and most recently served as acting director for EMD.
During his first five-year tenure as president and CEO, Tarko has led the development and continued implementation of the JIBC 2015-20 strategic plan and related pan-institute plans including the 2015-20 indigenization plan, 2016-20 communications and marketing plan and the 2016-20 education plan.
Finance
Ed Brett has been appointed vice-president, marketing and communications, at Grouphealth Benefit Solutions and will be based out of the company’s head office in South Surrey. Brett has 20 years of diverse business-to-consumer and business-to-business financial services marketing experience, most recently from British Columbia’s credit union sector.
Hospitality/Tourism/Convention
David Mueller and Tim Schulte have been appointed executive chefs at Bauhaus Restaurant, which recently celebrated its two-year anniversary.
Human Resources
Gerry Thiessen has been appointed senior vice-president of group benefits strategy at Rise People, a Vancouver startup and Canada’s first and only all-in-one human resources, benefits and payroll platform. Thiessen has had a 30-year career in group benefits and prior to this appointment served as director of business development at Sun Life Financial.
Christine Willow, partner, Chemistry Consulting Group, was recently elected to the board of directors of Tourism HR Canada, a national organization that works to identify and address labour market issues in the Canadian tourism sector.
Legal
John Sandrelli has been appointed managing partner at Dentons’ Vancouver office, succeeding Lori Mathison, who has been appointed president and CEO of the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia. Sandrelli has more than 25 years of experience in corporate restructuring and reorganization matters, and serves as a member of the firm’s Canada region board. He has also contributed globally in roles with the firm’s Asia-Pacific region and with its global advisory committee.
Non-profit
Jim Hudson has been elected chairman of the Pacific Salmon Foundation’s volunteer board of directors. He is a chartered accountant who recently retired from a varied career as a financial executive, public servant, country club manager and independent business adviser. Hudson has served for many years on a variety of corporate and not-for-profit boards and is past president of Pennask Lake Fishing & Game Club.
Resources
Patrick Avery has been appointed director of petrolithium business development in Utah and Colorado at MGX Minerals Inc. Avery will lead the company’s North American subsidiary, Petrolithium Corp. of America, in developing its assets. The primary focus will be in permitting, infrastructure and logistics. Avery has nearly 25 years of experience and most recently held the role of vice-president, Santa Fe Pipelines.
Sales/Marketing
Hubert Wat has been appointed vice-president, marketing, at Rennie Group. Wat has more than 20 years of experience as a senior marketing executive across a variety of sectors and most recently served as vice-president, global marketing, for Rocky Mountaineer. Prior to that, he served as vice-president, marketing, atthe Forzani Group Ltd., the owners and operators of Sport Chek, Atmosphere and Sport Mart.
Technology
Dean Guest has been promoted to regional vice-president for Salesforce Western Canada, commercial, and is based in Vancouver. Guest originally joined the Salesforce team in June 2015.
Hats Off
The Peter & Joanne Brown Foundation donated $30,000 to Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland. These funds will help the organization match at-risk girls with supportive mentors through its one-to-one mentoring program.
Lundbeck Canada donated $10,000 to Union Gospel Mission’s Summer Connect event. Hundreds of people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness connected to crucial services because of the pharmaceutical company’s sponsorship of the event.
The District of West Vancouver donated a $5,000 grant to Children of the Street Society to support the delivery of the society’s Taking Care of Ourselves & Taking Care of Others prevention workshops for young people in West Vancouver.
RBC Foundation donated $100,000 to Vancouver Public Library Foundation. The funds will support the central library’s expansion plans. •
