Vancouver lawyer Mitchell Gropper, a senior partner at Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy, has been installed as University Canada West’s new chancellor. Gropper was an organizing member of the Canadian Council for Public Private Partnerships, a member of the Canadian Bar Association, the Canadian Tax Foundation and the Arbitration and Mediation Institute of British Columbia.
Health/Medical
Mark DiPaolo, partner and general counsel, Sarissa Capital Management LP, has been appointed to the board of directors at Novelion Therapeutics Inc., a biopharmaceutical company. John Orloff has also joined the board, while Geoffrey Cox and Jorge Plutzky have stepped down.
Hospitality/Tourism/Convention
Lisa Haley, previously assistant general manager and wine director at L’Abattoir, has been promoted to the role of restaurant director at the restaurant, taking over from Ricardo Ferreira, who served as general manager at the restaurant since 2015. Before joining L’Abattoir, Haley was wine director and assistant general manager at Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar, and prior to that was general manager at Burdock & Co.
Legal
Shaun Driver has become the latest commercial litigator to join Boughton Law Corp. Driver’s primary focus has been on insurance defence litigation, an area of practice demanding numerous multi-day trials. Driver is a former Williams Lake city council member and is a lecturer and mentor at Thompson Rivers University.
Non-profit
Cheryl Bosley has joined Eagle Ridge Hospital Foundation as its director, fund development. Prior to this appointment, Bosley was philanthropy manager, B.C./Yukon, at the Canadian Red Cross.
Minerva BC welcomes four new directors to its volunteer board: Joe Olivier, regional vice-president, RBC; Nicole Byres, partner, Miller Thomson LLP; Denise Williams, executive director, First Nations Technology Council; and David Martin, creative director, Hyphen Communications. They join board members Kirsten Sutton (chair), managing director, SAP Labs Canada; Zahra Rasul (vice-chair), owner, Rasul Learning Group; Christine Marks, director of communications, Goldcorp; Carol Chiang, partner, KPMG and Bob Elton, executive-in-residence, Vancity.
Glen Murray has been appointed executive director of the Pembina Institute, effective September 5. Murray is a former mayor of Winnipeg and most recently served as Ontario’s minister of environment and climate change. Murray succeeds Ed Whittingham, who led the Pembina Institute through a period of unprecedented policy change in Alberta and across Canada over the last six and a half years.
Real estate
Dean Doolan has been admitted as partner at Johnston, Ross & Cheng Real Estate Evaluators, a full-service fee firm. Doolan has 28 years of experience in the valuation of residential, multi-family, commercial, industrial and agricultural properties for the purpose of mortgage investment, litigation and feasibility studies. He has appeared as an expert witness before the Provincial Court and the Supreme Court of British Columbia and served as a director of the Vancouver chapter of the Real Estate Institute of British Columbia.
Resources
David Yancie has resigned as a director of ExGen Resources Inc. in order to focus his efforts on finalizing retirement from the daily operations of his large agricultural business. Yancie has been a director of the company since July 2009.
Technology
Andreas Truckenbrodt has been appointed president and CEO of the Canadian Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association. Truckenbrodt formerly served as CEO for the Automotive Fuel Cell Cooperation, a Vancouver-based joint venture of Daimler AG and Ford Motor Co. Truckenbrodt led Daimler’s and Chrysler’s Hybrid Development Centre in Troy, Michigan, in co-operation with General Motors and BMW AG. Prior to that, he was responsible for Daimler Chrysler’s Center for Fuel Cell and Alternative Powertrain Vehicles and worked with Ballard Power Systems.
Transportation
Gerry Wang, Seaspan Corp.’s CEO, co-chairman and co-founder, will retire effective December 31 to focus on family business investments and ongoing charitable efforts. Wang will continue in his current role as CEO until the earlier of when a permanent CEO is identified or December 31, and will continue to serve on Seaspan’s board until the end of the year. The board of directors has appointed David Sokol, a member of the board and executive committee of Seaspan, as chairman of the board. Sokol also currently serves as a director of WashCo, Seaspan’s founding shareholder and largest shareholder today. Concurrent with this change, Kyle Washington and Wang have both been recognized as chairman emeritus. Seaspan has promoted Peter Curtis to executive vice-president and chief operating officer. Curtis joined Seaspan in 2001 as vice-president to establish and lead its ship management function and has served as COO of the company since 2012.
The board of directors has also formed the office of the chairman under the direction of Sokol, who will oversee the CEO succession and overall leadership transition. The office of the chairman consists of Wang; Curtis; Mark Chu, chief development officer and general counsel; David Spivak, chief financial officer; and Gabrielle Smith, director of human resources.
Hats Off
Vancity is supporting more than a dozen local food projects through its enviroFund program with a total of $220,000 in funding. The program is funded by Vancity enviro Visa cardholders; 5% of Vancity enviro Visa profits support the program. Grants are being distributed to non-profit organizations working on projects that directly benefit local communities:
•BC Eco Seed Co-op (Vancouver/Fraser Valley): enhancing local ecological seed distribution ($15,000);
•David Suzuki Foundation (Vancouver): supplying local markets with sustainable fish ($15,000);
•Fresh Roots Urban Farm Society (Vancouver, Coquitlam): the Suwa’lkh school earth spirit healing farms ($20,000);
•Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society (Vancouver): surplus food processing initiative ($15,000);
•Italian Cultural Centre Society (Vancouver): the food hub ($15,000);
•Lohbrunner Community Farm Cooperative (Langford): development of a sustainable food system in Langford ($20,000);
•Pollinator Partnership Canada (Victoria/Gulf Islands): farming for bees ($15,000);
•SeaChange Marine Conservation Society (Victoria): SNIDCEL (Tod Inlet and Gowlland-Tod Provincial Park) resiliency project ($20,000);
•Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (Vancouver): community extension for small-scale producers ($20,000);
•T. Buck Suzuki Environmental Foundation (New Westminster): the B.C. young fisherman’s network ($15,000);
•The Capital Region Food and Agriculture Initiatives Roundtable (Victoria/Gulf Islands): closing the local food supply gap ($20,000);
•The University of the Fraser Valley (Abbotsford): local food sourcing by Fraser Valley restaurants ($15,000); and
•Your Local Farmers Market Society (Vancouver): expansion to year-round operations ($15,000).
Organizations interested in participating in the enviroFund program should check the Vancity website in January 2018 for details on how to apply.
RBC Foundation donated $25,000 to the Take A Hike Foundation. These funds will help vulnerable youth from the Vancouver, Burnaby and Kootenay-Columbia school districts to complete high school. The funding will allow for 80 youths to participate in Take A Hike’s combination of academics, adventure-based learning, counselling and community involvement. As part of its commitment to making a difference for youth, employees from RBC have been volunteering since Take A Hike started in 2000.
Pacific Coastal Airlines’ annual golf tournament, held at Richmond’s Mayfair Lakes Golf and Country Club, raised $65,000, which has been donated to support:
•the Source Club in Powell River, which provides support and helps adults with mental illness reintegrate into society and find meaningful work;
•Vancouver’s Native Education College, which offers certificate and diploma programs leading toward high-demand careers including health care, counseling, tourism and administration;
•Cranbrook’s Ktunaxa Nation’s Scotty’s House and the Street Angels program. Scotty’s House provides accommodation for vulnerable adults who have aged out of the child welfare system and the Street Angels program offers meals, computer access and more. These charities serve both aboriginal and non-aboriginal people in the community.
In addition to the charities listed above, Pacific Coastal Airlines donated $10,000 to the British Columbia Economic Development Association’s Economic Disaster Recovery Program to help that organization with its support of local businesses affected by wildfires. $5,000 came from proceeds of the golf tournament, and Pacific Coastal Airlines matched that with an additional $5,000.
As the official tech partner of Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver and Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland, Microsoft has donated $20,000 to be shared between the charities and is hosting free coding camps for children in Big Brothers’ and Big Sisters’ mentoring programs. •
