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VEDC Board of Directors
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Thomas Davis Thomas is the Manager of Structured IR/FX Analytics where he leads a group of quantitative analysts responsible for researching and implementing financial models to price and calculate market risks of multi-currency and interest rate derivatives. Thomas was the Team Lead for Gregor Robertson’s Municipal Election Campaign. He also has a BSc from the University of Guelph as well as an MSc and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of British Columbia. |
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Malcolm Earle Malcolm is the Vice President of the Industrial Division at Colliers International. He operates as a commercial real estate broker throughout the Lower Mainland with a focus on the Fraser Valley market (Delta, Surrey, Langley, Abbotsford and Chilliwack). He is primarily involved in user and investment sales to local and national companies, with a focus on industrial land development sites related to manufacturing and distribution. Malcolm is a past Board Member of the BCIT Entrepreneurship Advisory Committee and is actively involved with municipalities regarding community growth initiatives and industrial land inventory issues and challenges. |
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Thomas English | VEDC Past Chair Thomas English is engaged in a general business law practice with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate activities at Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP which is one of the largest law firms in Canada with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and New York. Tom is a past Director of Vancouver International Airport Authority (Chair of Governance Committee), Nabob Foods Ltd., Canadian Hotel Income Properties Real Estate Investment Trust, Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre Authority and Volvo Penta Canada Inc. Tom is presently on the Board of Directors of Cypress Equipment Co. Limited, Discovery Foundation, Discovery Parks Incorporated and Perrin Investments Ltd. He has been President of the Vancouver Aquarium Conservation Foundation since 2000. |
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Robert Harper | Treasurer Robert currently provides CFO level services to one junior mine exploration and development company as well as an engineering firm with 45 employees. He is an experienced and resourceful executive with strong financial and comptrollership, leadership, team building and negotiating skills who can articulate vision, set goals, implement and execute strategies, and monitor progress. He is skilled in investigating, analyzing and modeling business ventures and in negotiating the resources and agreements required for launching and sustaining these ventures. Robert is a past Director of the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre and New Ventures BC (formerly TELUS New Ventures). |
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Michael Heeney | Secretary As Bing Thom’s partner and long time colleague, Michael excels in leading talented creative teams on complex, multi-dimensional design projects. He has a special expertise and private passion for enhancing cultural activities as a means of improving the health and vitality of urban centres. Michael is a member of the Architectural Institute of British Columbia, the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, the Project Management Institute, the Real Estate Institute of British Columbia, the Lambda Alpha International, the Real Estate Institute of Canada and is a LEED accredited professional. |
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Lea Johnson Formed by Lea Johnson in 1986, Johnson Management Inc. has nearly 20 years of experience in international and local human development through providing advisory services in education, training, and technology transfer, and using Results Oriented Management to design, manage, evaluate, and monitor human development projects. JMI has conducted projects in Asia, Central and South America, the Middle East, Ukrainia, Russia, and Canada. Led by Lea Johnson, JMI values continued work in developing tools and methods that will improve capacities and lead to reducing poverty and improving the quality of life through sustainable economic, social, and ecological development. Lea is a Board Member of the RainCity Housing and Support Society which focuses on the problems of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. He is registered as a professional engineer and is currently enrolled in the Graduate Program in Development Studies at the London School of Economics. |
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Karim Kassam Karim is the Director of Business and Corporate Development, leading key negotiations for Ballard Power Systems and working on strategic corporate initiatives. He also owns and operates multiple Boston Pizza Restaurants in Metro Vancouver as well as Senior Retirement Homes. In addition to his role on the VEDC, he is a member on the Ismaili Council for BC as well as on the board of the Women's Health Research Institute. |
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Maureen Kirkbride | VEDC Chair Maureen is the Chair of the Vancouver Economic Development Commission. As Director of Government relations at Telus, Maureen is a senior communications and public policy professional with extensive experience in government and community relations, strategic planning, issues management, advocacy, media relations, community investments and employee communications. Maureen is a Director at Large and Communications Chair of the BC Chamber of Commerce, and a Member on the Advisory Board for the Women’s Executive Network. |
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Rob Malli As Vancity’s Vice President of Finance, Rob leads the finance and audit teams to gather, report and harness financial information as a key factor in successful, strategic decision-making. His portfolio includes business performance, accounting, internal audit, risk and compliance reporting. Rob has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Simon Fraser University and is a certified risk professional (CRP) through Chicago’s Bank Administration Institute. His insights into corporate decision-making, risk management and leveraging organizational knowledge have led Rob to become a frequent speaker at many provincial and national conferences. Rob serves on numerous executive committees for Vancity including the risk management committee; asset liability management committee and senior leadership committee for Citizens Bank of Canada. |
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Cybele Negris Cybele is a Founding Partner & COO of Webnames.ca Inc. and a Founding Partner of CBD Consulting Ltd. (dba CBD Construction and Construction by Design). Through her leadership, Webnames.ca Inc. has become one of Canada’s top Internet solutions companies. She leads her team who serve Canada’s Fortune 1000 corporations, top trademark agents, government agencies and small to medium sized businesses. Cybele is a Board Member of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs and is the former President of Wired Woman Vancouver. She is an active agent for change through her participation in the Industry Canada's national forum for shaping the direction of information, communications and technologies (ICT) industries. She also participated in the Small Business Roundtable run by Rick Thorpe, BC’s former Minister of Small Business & Revenue. She is a mentor under the Wired Woman Mentorship Program and she also provides mentorship & inspiration to her staff as well as through numerous speaking engagements & events fostering & promoting women entrepreneurship and women in technology. Cybele has been featured in the recently released book New Pioneers: Stories of 100 BC Women Entrepreneurs, celebrating contemporary BC female entrepreneurship and innovation. Women entrepreneurs from 42 communities around the province were chosen to be profiled because they are role models and new pioneers in business. Cybele’s awards include PROFIT W100 - Canada's Top Women Entrepreneurs, (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 & 2008), Finalist, YWCA Woman of Distinction (2006 & 2007), Finalist, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Pacific (2005), and winner of Business in Vancouver’s Top 40 Under 40 (2003). |
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Linda Nowlan Linda is a public interest environmental lawyer and consultant. She worked at and then led one of Canada’s foremost environmental law nongovernmental organizations, West Coast Environmental Law, for ten years. She has also worked for the Program on Water Governance at the University of British Columbia; the UK Foreign Office, attending the World Summit on Sustainable Development as a UK government delegate; and for two United Nations agencies. In the private sector, she practiced civil litigation for five years in Vancouver. She is a cofounder of Smart Growth BC, the lead Vancouver urban sustainability organization NGO and a past President of its Board of Directors. She sits on the Greenest City Action Team for the City of Vancouver, the Vancouver Foundation’s Environment Committee, and the Canadian Council of Academies’ Expert Panel on Groundwater. She is a member of the Law Society of BC, the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law, the ELAW Alliance, and is a Fellow of LEAD International. |
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Olga Shcherbyna Olga works with multiple stakeholders in the field of immigrant labour market integration. As a Founder and Senior Partner of Diversity CLUES consulting company, Olga has leadership responsibility for managing a number of practical and research projects aimed to address systematic barriers immigrants face in Canadian labour market. For the last two years, Diversity CLUES has been contracted by the BC HRMA to manage a provincial government funded initiative titled Immigrant Talent Integration Project. The project is intended to develop a number of practical tools to address significant barriers in the process of connecting organizations and immigrants. Olga is an active advocate in the field of immigrant social and economic integration and she volunteers tirelessly in this area. Her volunteering efforts were recognized by one of the largest immigrant serving agencies which selected Ms. Scherbina as one of Dr. Kes Chetty MOSAIC Award recipients. |
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Lino Siracusa | VEDC Vice-Chair Lino is the Vice Chair of the Vancouver Economic Development Commission. He has over 20 years of leading diverse business units and teams numbering from 5 to 60 employees in diverse locations and managing budgets up to $15 million annually. As Executive Director Granville Island, Lino leads CHMC’s efforts to improve the financial viability and development potential of Granville Island and established the B.C. Housing Technology Transfer, Export and International Centre for CMHC’s Country Teams and programs for Japan, S. Korea and Italy. Lino established the Economic Development Office for the City of Richmond in 1987 to encourage commercial and industrial development and to attract investment. |
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Julian Thorsteinson Julian is a Business Development and Communications Manager with 17 years marketing and management experience in the financial services sector in Canada and France and has 10 years experience as a communications consultant, freelance writer/editor translator. She has expertise in communications, writing and editing, cross-border marketing of international investment management services and business development. Julian is Vice President and past Treasurer of DLC Society, which provides residential, vocational and recreational services to adults with developmental disabilities, and current President of DCL Foundation which is dedicated to advocacy and fund raising to improve the quality of life of adults with developmental disabilities as valued citizens in our community. |
City Council Liaisons
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Geoff Meggs |
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Andrea Reimer In 2008 Andrea left the Green Party to support Gregor Robertson's bid for mayor, co-chairing his campaign to be nominated for Vision Vancouver and was elected herself to City Council in November 2008. She ran on a campaign of three big ideas: Greenest City on Earth, a City of Compassion and Opportunity and a City of Strong Neighbourhoods. |
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Karen Levitt Karen is the Director of Business Planning Secretariat at the City of Vancouver. The Business Planning Secretariat was created in April 2008 to take responsibility for the City’s corporate business planning and business support services. The Secretariat reports to the General Manager and takes direction from the Business Planning Committee, a senior management committee that is co-chaired by the two Deputy City Managers. The Secretariat’s primary responsibilities are corporate business planning, business, economic, policy and strategy resourcing and relationship management. |