2017 Speakers
Lisa Charleyboy
Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Urban Native Magazine
Lisa Charleyboy (Tsilhqot’in from Tsi Deldel First Nation) is a true urban Native girl who lives on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Watuth First now calls Winnipeg home. The award-winning media professional expertly weaves her professional prowess and personal experiences to tell the contemporary stories of the Indigenous people of Turtle Island.
The former Toronto DiverseCity Fellow for 2013-2014 is finishing up her Executive Master of Business Administration in Aboriginal Business & Leadership at Simon Fraser University.
She keeps her finger on the pulse of Aboriginal issues through projects like the APTN documentary television series Urban Native Girl, the CBC Radio One summer radio series New Fire, and through her anthologies with Annick Press, including Dreaming in Indian: Contemporary Native American Voices, Urban Tribes: Native Americans in the City, and the Fall 2017 release – #NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women.
Philip Grosch
Partner, National Leader, Digital Services Consulting practice, PwC Canada
With more than 20 years of experience spanning many industries, including financial services, the public sector and communications in Canada and the U.S . Working out of PwC’s Toronto office, he and his team help clients harness the power of the new digital reality and disruption to drive innovation.
Philip strongly believes in the importance of identifying, inspiring and supporting top talent as a critical driver of business success.
As a member of PwC’s extended leadership team, Philip advocates for diversity and inclusion, encouraging his peers to develop and sponsor diverse talent. His reputation as a sponsor and champion also led to him being named as PwC Canada’s ‘HeForShe’ Role Model, one of four
within PwC’s global network. (heforshe.pwc.com/community/stories) Philip is a 2016 Catalyst Canada Honours Champion in the Business Leader category, recognized for his exceptional corporate leadership and transformational contributions to advancing women and inclusion in the workplace. He is a member of the advisory board for WXN’s ‘Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women’, as well as a board member for WNORTH, a
boutique conference for top and aspiring women business leaders.
Philip is a strong supporter of veterans with a focus on their successful transition to civilian life. He is on the board of Treble Victor Group (3V) and a member of Canada Company. He has been awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal as well as a Commendation from
the Minister of Veteran Affairs for his support of the veteran community.
Jan Grude
President and CEO, Pacific Blue Cross
Mina Hoorfar, PhD, PEng
Professor and Director, School of Engineering, The University of British Columbia – Okanagan campus
Mina’s current research emphasis is on rapid cancer cell detection through a 7ml blood sample – currently looking at Breast, Cancer, and Lung Cancers. This work is conducted on microfluidic devices. In addition, a device has been developed that detects antibiotic resistancy through breath samples. This device can also be used for Ketone measurement in breath for diabetes detection. A final emphasis of Mina’s research involves developing a biosensor for detection of biomarkers on Lab on chip platforms.
The Honourable Carole James
Minister of Finance, Province of British Columbia
Carole James was first elected MLA for Victoria-Beacon Hill in 2005 and served as Official Opposition leader from 2003-2010. Carole is honoured to serve the people of the community she grew up in, raised her children in, and continues to live in. She is the Minister of Finance and Deputy Premier.
She was elected to the Greater Victoria School Board from 1990 to 2001. She has also served at the national level as the vice-president of the Canadian School Boards Association. Her experience and dedication to communities is reflected in a number of appointments to provincial initiatives, including the Independent B.C. Budget Review Panel, the Public Education Restructuring Consultation, and the Ministry of Children and Families Secure Care Committee.
In addition she served a two-year term as the director of Child Care Policy for the Government of British Columbia.
In 2001, Carole moved to Prince George to serve as director of Child and Family Services for Carrier Sekani Family Services. As part of her management responsibilities, she coordinated the planning for regionalization of child and family services from the Ministry of Children and Families to an Aboriginal Authority
Pamela Jeffery
National Lead, Inclusion and Diversity Strategy Practice, KPMG
Pamela is an international thought leader and subject-matter expert on the topic of inclusion and diversity, bringing a unique understanding of the challenges and opportunities women, minority groups and their organizations face today. She brings over 25 years of success in delivering results for her clients across a variety of sectors.
Diane Ko
Front End Software Engineer, Airbnb
Diane is a front end software engineer at Airbnb, leading digital accessibility efforts. She is also president of Nerdettes, the women in technology employee resource group at Airbnb.
Diane graduated from UC Berkeley in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences and went on to work at Intuit and SurveyMonkey before joining Airbnb.
Alice Laberge
Corporate Director, Royal Bank of Canada
Alice Laberge is currently a corporate director of the Royal Bank of Canada, Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, Russel Metals and the Canadian Public Accountability Board (CPAB). She previously was chair of SilverBirch Holdings Inc. and a director of Delta Hotels, BC Hydro, Catalyst Paper and Fincentric Corporation.
Alice was President and Chief Executive Officer of Fincentric Corporation until 2005 and prior to this appointment she was its Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Fincentric in 2000, Alice was Senior Vice-President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer at MacMillan Bloedel Limited and was with MacMillan Bloedel for over 18 years.
Alice received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alberta and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of British Columbia. In 2001, Alice was honoured with the PEAK Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Association of Women in Finance and in 2006 she received the Influential Women in Business Award. In 2015 Alice was presented with the Institute of Corporate Directors ICD Fellowship Award.
Karina LeBlanc
Retired Canadian Goalkeeper, UNICEF Ambassador
Karina LeBlanc is a recently retired Olympic and professional athlete who has had the honour of being the longest serving soccer player for Canada, playing for nearly 18 years. She has been a part of 5 World Cups and two Olympics, winning a Bronze Medal in London in 2012.
Dinal Limbachia
IMPACT 10x10x10 Programme Manager, UN Women
Dinal Limbachia has a solid foundation in project management working as a Management Consultant for Accenture for nearly 5 years. She quickly progressed at the top consulting firm working on large scale IT implementations with global clients, reporting up to CTO level and managing operations.
Born in Manchester, Ms. Limbachia holds a BSc in International Business and French from Aston University.
Ms. Limbachia manages the IMPACT 10x10x10 initiative at HeForShe working with Heads of State, global CEOs and University Presidents to advance gender equality.
Lori Mathison
President and CEO, Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia
Lori Mathison, FCPA, FCGA, LLB, was appointed the president and CEO for CPABC on August 1, 2017. She leads the organization’s Executive Management Committee and represents the province on the national Council of Chief Executives for the Canadian CPA profession.
Previously, she was the managing partner of the Vancouver office of Dentons Canada LLP, where she was a partner in Dentons’ Tax Law group. Her background includes providing specialized tax advice on domestic and cross-border transactions, advising on dealings with the government, and providing strategic corporate counsel to clients.
She was recognized by her peers with a CPA fellowship designation in 2016, and as one of Canada’s leading lawyers in the area of Tax Law by the Best Lawyers in Canada publication in 2017. Mathison is involved with the community and currently serves as the senior vice chair of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade and serves on the board of the Vancouver Public Library Foundation. She also sits on the Law Society of B.C.’s Task Force on Law Firm Regulation and on the Dean’s Advisory Committee at the UBC Centre for Business Law.
Rick Perreault
CEO & co-founder of Unbounce
Rick Perreault began his career as a digital marketer leading award-winning marketing teams whose work helped turn clients into billion-dollar powerhouses. But throughout this time, Rick was plagued with constant tech bottlenecks every time he needed a landing page created or updated.
Recently named one of Canada’s fastest growing companies, Unbounce empowers marketers to build, publish and test landing pages and other conversion tools without the help of a web developer. Under Rick’s leadership, Unbounce has grown to a team of over 200 people working across three offices and serving over 14,000 customers worldwide.
Georgiy Sekretaryuk
CEO, Cering Technology Inc.
Georgiy Sekretaryuk is a second-year Computer Science and Mathematics student at Simon Fraser University. As an enthusiastic problem-solver passionate about giving back to the community, his goal is to improve the future for generations to come.
Kirsten Tisdale
Government and Public Sector Leader, EY Canada
Kirsten was appointed Managing Partner of Canada’s Government and Public Sector (GPS) practice in 2016. Prior to the Canadian GPS appointment Kirsten served as the firm’s Global Government and Public Sector Advisory leader where she sat on the global GPS executive team and drove solution development and investment strategy in the GPS sector in over 100 countries. She also serves as the Global Client Service partner for one of Canada’s largest and most complex accounts.
Kirsten was a leader in EY’s consulting practice between 1998 and 2000 and joined Cap Gemini Ernst and Young after the split, where she worked for several years in large scale transformation and outsourcing. She left Cap Gemini in 2001 to join the Province of British Columbia as a Deputy Minister reporting to the Premier’s Office responsible for driving public sector transformation. She led a portfolio of over $2.4B worth of projects which delivered over $500M in savings as well as service transformation to the Province.
Other recent leadership experiences include Vancouver Managing Partner for Korn/Ferry and recognized thought leader and frequent speaker on trends in talent management and leadership, board diversity, and public sector governance and transformation. Kirsten currently sits on the boards the BC Women’s Hospital Foundation and the BC Cancer Foundation. She previously served as a Director for Partnerships BC, as chair of their HR and Governance Committee, The Canadian Council for Board Diversity, and was a founding director of the Centre for Outsourcing Research and Education.
Siri Uotila
Research Fellow, Women and Public Policy Program, Harvard Kennedy School
Siri Uotila is a research scholar at the Women and Public Policy Program at the Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government. She is an expert in promoting gender equality within organizations and in translating academic research into practical interventions to advance women in society.
Vickie Whitehead, CPA, CGA, MBA, CAFM
Senior Manager, BC Lead Aboriginal Client Services, Deloitte Vancouver
Vickie Whitehead is a Senior Manager at Deloitte, leading the Aboriginal Client Services British Columbia and Northwest Territories practice. Vickie has been working with First Nations across Canada for over 20 years supporting them to be able to reach their community goals. Her work focusses on First Nation’s: Trusts, Governance, Financial Management, Program Management and Strategic Planning.
Vickie is Cree Métis, is the Vice-Chair of the National Aboriginal Trust Officers Association, and on the Technical Advisory and Advisory Council of the Aboriginal Financial Officers Association of BC. Vickie completed her Masters of Business Administration in the spring of 2012, holds a CPA, CGA, designation, and is a Certified Aboriginal Finance Manager.
Kory Wilson
Executive Director, Indigenous Initiatives and Partnerships, BCIT
Kory Wilson is the current Executive Director of Indigenous Initiatives and Partnerships for BCIT.
Kory is Chair of the National Indigenous Education Committee of Colleges and Institutions Canada and a Global Access to Post-Secondary Education Ambassador. Kory has a law degree from UBC.
Kory is a member of the We Wai Kai Nation (Quadra Island) and is Musgamagw Tsawataineuk and Laich-Kwil-Tach. Both nations are part of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation, also known as the Kwak’wala speaking people.
Jody Wilson-Raybould, P.C., Q.C., M.P.
Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Government of Canada
The Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould is the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, MP for Vancouver Granville, a lawyer, advocate, and former Regional Chief of the BC Assembly of First Nations.
After being elected as the Member of Parliament for Vancouver Granville in 2015, Minister Wilson-Raybould was appointed Minister of Justice and Attorney General on November 4, 2015.
Minister Wilson-Raybould is a descendant of the Musgamagw Tsawataineuk and Laich-Kwil-Tach peoples, who are part of the Kwakwaka’wakw and also known as the Kwak’wala speaking peoples. She is a member of the We Wai Kai Nation and is married to Dr. Tim Raybould.
Philip Grosch
Dinal Limbachia
Dr. Miklós Dietz
Elisabeth Finch
Fiona Macfarlane
Philippa Wilshaw
Miyo Yamashita
Jill Krop (Moderator)
Raven Lacerte
Ann Makosinski
Leigh Wall
The Honourable Christy Clark
Janet Kennedy
Emily Naing
Nanon de Gaspé Beaubien-Mattrick
Chris Hatton
Sue Paish
Ravi Saligram
Jan Grude
Pamela Jeffery
Kory Wilson
Lori Mathison
Karina LeBlanc
Siri Uotila
The Honourable Janet Austin, OBC
Adina Williams
The Honourable Patricia Hajdu
Gary Agnew
Kevin Brennan
Jake Stika
Wyle Baoween
Tanya van Biesen
Liz Lougheed Green
Helena Gottschling
The Honourable Mary Ng
