People on the Move
Education
Erik Snowberg has been appointed Canada excellence research chair (CERC) in data-intensive methods in economics at University of British Columbia (UBC). Snowberg was previously at the California Institute of Technology; his new appointment marks Canada’s first CERC dedicated to social sciences research, and also accompanies the launch of a new Centre for Innovative Data in Economics at UBC. Part of Snowberg’s research, register data – data collected by governments from the programs they run – will be used to understand the economic integration and political representation of immigrant communities, along with issues of inequality.
Finance
Janine North, founding CEO, Northern Development Initiative Trust, will be retiring in the fall. She will remain CEO until her replacement has been selected and hired and will work with her successor to ensure a smooth transition. The trust was established by the province in 2005 with a mandate to strengthen the economy. It has used its resources to approve more than $142 million in funding for more than 2,000 projects throughout central and northern B.C.
Hospitality/Tourism/Convention
Bard on the Beach ratified its 2016 board of directors at its recent annual general meeting. The executive consists of Jim Bovard (president), sports physician; Margie Knox (vice-president), community organizer; Michael Baddeley (treasurer), managing principal, Integro Insurance Brokers; and Beth Macdonald (secretary), lawyer, McCarthy Tétrault. Directors at large are Douglas Clarke, president, Vancouver Management Ltd.; Craig Ferris, lawyer, Lawson Lundell LLP; John Geddes, senior executive, MDA; Darlene Howard, management training (retired); Bernie Maroney, professor, University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business; Marlie Oden, founder, Bridge Communications; Kostya Polyakov, partner, KPMG; Douglas Welch, managing director and principal designer, Eos Lightmedia; and Marg Vandenberg, external relations consultant.
Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver was recently awarded its third consecutive Forbes Travel Guide five-star rating, the highest level possible. The Forbes Travel Guide awards ceremony will be held at the hotel on April 13, bringing hundreds of Forbes five-star general managers and high-level hospitality executives to the city. This is the first time in its 58-year history that the awards ceremony has been held outside of the U.S.
Simon Bolsover has been appointed executive chef at Wedgewood Hotel & Spa, Relais and Châteaux. Bolsover has more than 25 years of experience in the restaurant industry and will manage the culinary program at Bacchus Restaurant, as well as catering for private functions and in-room dining. He most recently worked as executive head chef at Seaham Hall Hotel & Spa, a five-star boutique property near Durham, U.K. Prior to Seaham Hall, Bolsover was head chef at Great Fosters Hotel in Egham, Surrey, U.K.
Non-Profit
Christopher Nicolson has been appointed president and CEO at Canada West Ski Areas Association, effective April 4. Nicolson has 30 years of direct ski industry and association experience and has worked at Sun Peaks, Whistler Blackcomb, Silver Star, Forbidden Plateau and St. Anton, Austria. Most recently, Nicolson was president of Tourism Sun Peaks.
Public
Cam Battley has been appointed senior vice-president, communications and medical affairs, at Aurora Cannabis Inc. Battley, currently chair of the advocacy committee for the Canadian Medical Cannabis Industry Association, will be operating in close proximity to Ottawa and Toronto, and will be responsible for external communications, collaboration with the medical community, business development, government relations, and patient and other stakeholder initiatives. Battley has spent more than 15 years working with international health professional NGOs, innovative and generic pharmaceutical companies, and biotechnology and medical device companies.
Companies on the move
New Address
Smoking Gun Interactive Inc. will be moving offices at the beginning of April. The local video game developer will be relocating to 1000–900 West Hastings Street in downtown Vancouver, postal code V6C 1E5. All other contact information remains the same.
Spring, Vancouver’s activator for entrepreneurs and startups, has announced it will be partnering with digital media and technology school RED Academy, creating the first skills and innovation hub of its kind in British Columbia. Spring, which helped local entrepreneurs raise more than $4 million last year, will be moving into the newly expanded RED Academy at 1490 West Broadway on April 1.
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.
Music Heals, a Vancouver-based foundation that raises money and awareness for music therapy across Canada, recently donated $15,000 to Camp Kerry Society, which provides music therapy for bereavement services. March is Music Therapy Awareness Month in Canada. Tempo Gin is donating $1 per bottle sold for the month of March, and Music Heals is inviting businesses to collect used iPods for the Music Heals iPod Pharmacy, where good-as-new iPods are paired with headphones donated by Skullcandy and an iTunes gift card and given to music therapists to use with their clients. Details can be found at musicheals.ca/ipod-pharmacy.
Each year, the Hyatt Regency Vancouver donates the collected charitable proceeds from its annual Gingerbread Lane festive display to Make-A-Wish BC & Yukon. Proceeds of the 2015 display totalled $4,500.
City of Burnaby and City of Surrey donated $4,000 and $2,000, respectively, to Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland in support of its Burnaby and Surrey mentoring programs.
For the second year, the Edith Lando Charitable Foundation, dedicated to building the self-esteem of children in B.C., donated $4,000 towards Down Syndrome Research Foundation’s programs for children with Down syndrome.
Griffins Boxing and Fitness donated more than $12,300 to Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver. Funds were raised to support Big Brothers’ mentoring programs at the gym’s 10th annual Evening at the Ringside event.
RBC Foundation donated $20,000 to Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation. The funds will be used to help upgrade the equipment inside Royal Columbian Hospital’s two cardiac catheterization labs.
Polygon Homes donated more than $130,000 to Union Gospel Mission. The funds will be used to support the non-profit’s Eastsiders after-school program.
BlueSky Properties Foundation donated $7,500 to the Vancouver Public Library Foundation in support of Alligator Pie, an early literacy program for young children in daycares in the Downtown Eastside, Strathcona and Mount Pleasant. The challenges these children face include English-language skills and cognitive development, which put them at risk of encountering problems in their school years and beyond.
The CKNW Orphans’ Fund raised $60,000 at its annual Pink Shirt Day Ladies Luncheon presented by Coast Capital Savings. The lunch took place at Blue Water Café with more than 200 women in attendance. Funds raised will go directly to supporting anti-bullying programs in B.C. •
