VANCOUVER FOUNDATION - Key Persons

Aileen La Borie

Job Titles:

Member of the Development Committee

Aileen works with select business owner and high net worth clients of RBC to help them with succession, tax, retirement and estate planning. Her passion is to help clients to understand their current planning, work with them to craft a plan that reflects their needs, wants, and desires and help them to move towards implementing these plans with their own professionals. Prior to joining RBC Wealth Management, she practiced law in both Vancouver and Toronto, specializing in estate and trust planning, and tax litigation. Aileen obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of British Columbia in 2000 and graduated from Dalhousie Law School in 2003. She was called to the Bars in both British Columbia and Ontario in 2004. She has completed all three levels of the CPA in-depth tax course. Aileen feels that it is important to give back to the community, and is a consummate volunteer. She is the past Chair of the Vancouver Branch Executive of The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), and a Member-At-Large of the STEP Canada Board of Directors. She is also in her third term as Trustee of the YMCA of Greater Vancouver Foundation, and currently President of Vancouver Ocean Sports Society.

Alexander Dirksen

Job Titles:

Member of Métis Nation BC

A proud member of Métis Nation BC, Alexander has diverse experience as a researcher, facilitator, public speaker and strategist. From contributing to the development of national awareness building efforts to exploring tangible acts of reconciliation with individuals and organizations, his work is driven by a fierce personal commitment to decolonization and the meaningful advancement of reconciliation. Alexander currently serves as Program Director for Community Knowledge Exchange, where he is supporting innovative, decolonized and inclusive social change practices in Canada. He also serves on the board of Apathy is Boring, on the Partnerships Committee of the Vancouver Foundation, and on the City of Vancouver's Urban Indigenous Peoples Advisory Committee. Alexander has served as Manager of Strategy and Engagement with the First Nations Technology Council, Government Relations and Strategic Engagement with Reconciliation Canada, Operations Manager for the Banff Forum and as a researcher at the Centre for Global Research at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, where he explored transitional justice and reconciliation in the context of Timor-Leste. Alexander holds an M.A. in Global Affairs from the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto and a B.A. (with Honours) in International Studies from Simon Fraser University. In 2018, Alexander was recognized as one of 200 global "Leaders of Tomorrow" by the St. Gallen Symposium.

Alim Fakirani

Job Titles:

Researcher

Alim Fakirani is an educator and researcher born and raised in Montreal. After completing undergraduate work at McGill University, Alim pursued graduate studies in the field of education at the Institute of Education - University College London, UK for two years on a scholarship. Alim's professional experience includes working in international development as a researcher and educator in various African countries, an educator within a program developed by His Highness the Aga Khan, a consultant with civil society organizations, and as an active member of his faith community. Alim is also a recent father of two wonderful young girls under the age of four. His expertise as an educator, academic work on minority representation in education, and his experience of fatherhood have informed his outlook on social, environmental, and cultural issues.

Alison Gould

Job Titles:

Member of the Investment Committee
Chief Investment Officer of the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation

Alison Gould is currently Chief Investment Officer of the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation. The Federation has assets under management of approximately $6 billion invested in support of multiple pension and benefit plans. Ms Gould was formerly Chief Investment Officer of the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC). ICBC has revenues of approximately $4 billion and assets under management of approximately $15 billion.

Allison Bottomley

Job Titles:

Senior Director, BC Arts Council Secretariat and Strategic Engagement

Amora Takawira

Job Titles:

Manager, Youth Policy Program

Anar Shamji Popatia - Chairman

Job Titles:

Chairman

Anar is a recipient of the 2013 RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award in recognition of her leadership in community engagement. She was nominated for the 2014 YWCA Women of Distinction Award and the 2015 Diversity Champion Award sponsored by the Women's Leadership Circle of the Vancouver Board of Trade.

Andrew Kohlgrueber

Job Titles:

Manager, Partnerships

Andrew Siu

Andrew Siu works for the Health Design Lab, a research centre at the Emily Carr University of Art + Design focused on applying participatory design research methods to improve complex health challenges. He previously worked for the BC Patient Safety and Quality Council, a government organization that accelerates quality improvement initiatives across the province. He also served on the board of the grunt gallery, an artist-run organization that provides an inclusive and open space for artists that would otherwise be unrecognized. Andrew is a graduate of the University of Lethbridge, Emily Carr University of Art + Design and California College of the Arts.

Angela Contreras

Angela is currently an independent management and evaluation consultant, adult education practitioner, and scholar. She is also a certified international crime investigator, specializing in trauma informed practices and transitional justice. She brings her experience and expertise in areas such as access to justice, public legal education and information, sociology of law and education, and migration. She also currently serves on diverse educational and advocacy advisory committees in the Canadian Council for Refugees.

Angela Hapke

Angela Hapke is currently the cofounder of Central Referral Solutions, a digital health start-up launching a product to ensure that no patient is lost in the referral process to specialists. A passion for creating solutions for defined problems that are complex to change led to the founding of the business. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Lethbridge, earning a Bachelor of Arts and continued her studies to complete a Masters of Business Administration in her home town of Kamloops.

Ania Landy

Ania is a graduate student in Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University. Currently, she is working as a project manager on the "Creating Upstream Change in Community Mental Health" and as a research manager on the "Raising the Curtain on the Lived Experience of Dementia" initiative. Her research interests include intersectional approaches to understanding health inequities and participatory approaches to health research, with an emphasis on mental health inequities and a critical exploration of community engagement in mental health research. Before coming to SFU, Ania completed her Bachelor Degree in Therapeutic Recreation at Douglas College.

Awele Juwe

Job Titles:

Coordinator, Grants & Community Initiatives

Balraj Kalkat - CFO

Job Titles:

Director, Finance
Director, Finance / Finance & Operations

Barbara McMillan

Job Titles:

Consultant

Barbara McMillan is a Vancouver-based consultant focused on building organizational capacity and fostering strategies for collaboration to increase impact and sustainability. With her in-depth experience in partnership and network development; governance and planning; strategic community investment; program development, management and evaluation; and networks for change, she brings practical knowledge and tools to assist organizations to increase their capacity and effectiveness. Barbara has worked and volunteered with a wide range of leading community and civil sector organizations, locally and globally, including Vancouver Foundation, Community Foundations of Canada, Vancity Community Foundation, Health Canada, and Simon Fraser University. She has provided training, coaching and planning support to hundreds of non-profits and foundations, and has developed presentations, papers, workshops, resource guides and other tools to encourage and support collaborative and network approaches for addressing issues. She is currently involved in several collective impact efforts at local and regional levels. Barbara holds a Master of Management Degree (National Voluntary Sector Leaders) from McGill University and a BA in Communications from Simon Fraser University, and has completed the BC Instructional Skills Workshop.

Barry Rivelis

Job Titles:

Board Director of the Royal Canadian Mint
Member of the Honorary Governors' Council
Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy and Information Officer of Pacific Blue Cross

Barry is the Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy and Information Officer of Pacific Blue Cross (PBC). In his current role, Barry is accountable for strategy and planning, analytics, merger, acquisition and integration, enterprise governance (including the Program Management Office) and information system operations. Prior to joining PBC, Barry was the Chief Information Officer of the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA), Vancouver Coastal Health and Providence Health Care and before that, Vice President of TELUS Corporation where he was instrumental in the creation of TELUS Health. Prior to joining TELUS, Barry was a Vice President of Cap Gemini in Vancouver and a partner with Ernst & Young in Toronto where he was appointed, in 1999, one of the youngest partners in the Canadian firm's history. Barry is a Board Director of the Royal Canadian Mint and a Member of the Information Technology Advisory Council of the University of British Columbia. He is a past Board Director of the Vancouver Foundation and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. In 2019, Barry was chosen as Business in Vancouver's Chief Information Officer of the Year.

Bill Walters

Bill brings extensive experience from multiple sectors including government and non-profit. He has held positions from a broad range of perspectives from grassroots to strategic, where he has gained substantial experience in systems change and community development. He currently enjoys the semi-retired life where he consults part-time on topics such as diversity and inclusion on non-profit boards.

Bob Smith

Job Titles:

Member of the Honorary Governors' Council

Bob is committed to community service and currently is President of the Volunteer Cancer Drivers Society--an organization providing patient transportation to treatment throughout the Lower Mainland. He is also a Public Adjudicator for the BC Law Society.

Bonnie Wong

Job Titles:

Manager, Investments
Manager, Investments / Finance & Operations

Branislav Henselmann

Job Titles:

Member of the Board of Directors
Chairman of Governance & Human Resources Committee
Managing Director of the Cultural Services Department
Member of the Board of Directors / Chair, Governance & Human Resources Committee

Branislav Henselmann is the Managing Director of the Cultural Services Department, the City of Vancouver's hub for support of arts, culture, and creative life, tasked with research, development, and implementation of long-range culture and arts related policy. Prior to his appointment, Branislav served as Executive Director of Ballet BC, overseeing the company's transformation and expansion to national and international stages. Previously, as the Executive Producer for the Michael Clark Company in London, Branislav produced and toured a number of high profile theatrical works and museum commissions world-wide. As Head of Programming and Learning for DanceEast, a national dance organization overseeing dance development and artistic programming in the East of England, and the Artistic Curator for New York City Ballet's Choreographic Institute, Branislav led a wide range of initiatives to promote the development of emerging choreographers involved in new classical choreography. Originally trained as a dancer in Munich, Branislav later deepened his studies at the conservatory level at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance in London. He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from New York University, is a DAAD German Academic Exchange Fellow and a New York University Dean's Fellow. He formerly served on the Board of Canadian Dance Assembly as the Chair of Ballet Companies Standing Council and has been recognized as one of Business in Vancouver's Forty under 40.

Brenda Eaton

Job Titles:

Corporate Director
Member of the Board of Directors
Member of the Executive Committee
Member of the Board of Directors / Member, GCI Committee

Brenda Eaton is a corporate director, serving on the Boards of a number of private, public, not-for-profit and crown corporation Boards including BC Ferries, Westland Insurance and Life Labs. Prior to becoming a corporate director Ms. Eaton was a senior leader in the BC Government. From 2001-2005 she was Deputy Minister to the Premier. Prior to that she held executive positions in the BC Government, including Deputy Minister of Finance and Treasury Board; Energy and Mines; and Social Services. For several years she was Chief Financial Officer of a Health Authority. Ms. Eaton has also been active in the not-for-profit sector. She currently serves on the Boards of the Max Bell Foundation, BC Alzheimer's Society, and Canadian Red Cross.

Bruce Passmore

Job Titles:

Executive Director - Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society

Bruce has worked in senior roles for over 15 years in the NGO sector both in Canada and internationally. He is thrilled to link his many passions and experiences as part of the Foundation's Advisory Committee, and to be a member of an incredible team of dedicated folks. Bruce completed a Masters degree in Peace and Conflict Studies at Royal Roads University, focusing his participatory action research on the reconstruction of violence-affected communities. He volunteers on numerous barrier reduction projects and initiatives, including coaching para-Nordic skiers.

Calvin Fong

Job Titles:

Director, Donor Services

Camelia Bus

Job Titles:

Finance Assistant
Finance Assistant / Finance & Operations

Camille Wong

Job Titles:

Manager, Donor Services

Carmen Lansdowne

Job Titles:

Member of the Board of Directors
Member of Governance and Human Resources Committee

Carmen Lansdowne, Kwisa'lakw, is a member of the Haíɫzaqv (Heiltsuk) First Nation and is adopted into the Ḵwikwa̱sut̕inux̱ Haxwa'mis First Nation. Since early 2017, Carmen has served as the compassionate, thoughtful, and creative Executive Director of First United Church Community Ministry Society and First United Church Social Housing Society where she has led a turnaround resulting in increased organizational stability and capacity. An ordained minister in the United Church of Canada and theologian by training, she maintains academic interests, church ministry, alongside indigenous way of being, parenting, and partnering. She currently sits on the Board of the Sandy Saulteaux Spiritual Centre in Beausejour, MB, and chairs the national Indigenous Candidacy Board for the United Church of Canada, supporting Indigenous, and non-Indigenous candidates for ministry in Indigenous contexts. She has previously served on the Pension Board of The United Church of Canada (UCC), as well as the governing bodies of the United Church of Canada (Toronto) and the World Council of Churches (Geneva) from 2006-2013. Carmen holds a PhD from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA as well as two graduate degrees from the Vancouver School of Theology and a BA, History from UVic. She is passionate about creating a life with great stories and amazing adventures with her family.