Manuel Dias and Dale Kosowan have been appointed principals at MCM Interiors Ltd. Dias has been part of the MCM team since 2005 and has focused on corporate offices and public spaces; some of his local recent prominent projects include Lucasfilm and Lululemon Athletica’s head office. Since joining the MCM team in 2006, Dale Kosowan has focused on the hospitality, corporate and residential sectors. Kosowan has worked on projects across Canada with various hotel chains, as well as smaller boutique-style hotels; recent notable projects include the lobby at 745 Thurlow, the Pan Pacific Hotel in Vancouver and Hotel Indigo in Pittsburgh.
Finance
Oscar van der Meer, chief digital and payments officer at Central 1 Credit Union, has left Central 1 after 18 years with the company. Until a replacement has been found, Henrique Godinho, currently associate vice-president of technology services, will step into the role of interim vice-president, digital and payments.
Simon Blunden has been appointed director, people and culture, at GroupHealth Benefit Solutions, and will be based in the company’s South Surrey head office. In this newly created position, Blunden will oversee human resource initiatives across the company’s offices throughout Canada. Blunden brings experience from a diverse 20-year career in the human resource field, working in business-to-business and business-to-consumer services in a variety of sectors including communications, hospitality, media sales and, most recently, transportation.
Legal
Christopher Ross has joined DLA Piper (Canada) LLP’s Vancouver office as an associate in the tax group. Ross practises in the area of corporate and personal income tax, with particular emphasis on corporate reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions and personal tax and estate planning. He also provides tax advice to donors, charities and other not-for-profit organizations.
Bahar Hafizi has joined Gowling WLG’s Vancouver office as partner. Hafizi’s practice focuses on corporate/commercial law with a particular emphasis on debt and non-public financing, project finance, real estate lending, asset-based lending and other corporate banking facilities. Her practice comprises cross-border transactions, credit syndication and local financings and is involved in the structuring and documentation of credit facilities and secured transactions, including credit syndication, asset-based loan structures and routine operating and term credit facilities.
Jeremy Wong has joined Westcoast Wills & Estates as its newest associate lawyer. Wong practises in estate planning and probate law.
Media
Vancouver-based Yulu Public Relations was recently named Agency of the Year at the 2017 PR Daily Corporate Social Responsibility Awards. Yulu’s client portfolio includes the Clinton Foundation, the Equal Rights Amendment, Fuck Cancer, Chopra Center, the David Suzuki Foundation and World Housing. Most recently, the agency partnered with Red Bull Amaphiko Academy, a global summit for social entrepreneurs; Genus Fossil Free, operating in the fossil-free investing space; and B Lab, the non-profit entity that oversees B Corporation certification, given to companies that, according to bcorporation.net, “use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.” It is unclear from the website what specific social and environmental problems have been solved by B Corporation-certified companies. Yulu is Canada’s first B Corporation public relations agency.
Non-profit
Catherine Chick has been appointed chief information officer at Mitacs, a national not-for-profit organization that designs and delivers research and training programs in Canada. Chick joins Mitacs from Seaspan, where she served as vice-president, business services and technology. She started her career in management consulting and moved into the program delivery and technology operations functions.
Companies on the Move
New in town
Ottawa-based Waterbridge Creative Media LLC has opened its West Coast production office in Vancouver, providing creative branding, advertising and video production services. Darren Wilson has been appointed West Coast president for the firm. See waterbridgewest.com for contact details.
New location
Indochino has moved its head office to a new, larger location at 300 – 720 Robson Street in Vancouver. The menswear retailer has also made several new executive appointments: Peter Housley, previously chief marketing officer, has been appointed chief revenue officer; Michael MacIntyre has rejoined the company as vice-president of e-commerce and omnichannel strategy; Janet Jensen has been promoted from director of people and culture to vice-president of experience; Lisa Craveiro has been promoted to director of acquisition; and Natasha Moseley is now director of project management after previously serving as manager, information technology strategy. In 2017 so far, Indochino has promoted 45 people in its offices in Vancouver and China, as well as in showroom management.
Hats Off
King’s Auto Lease celebrated its second anniversary by hosting a charity gala dinner at the Sea Harbour Restaurant in Richmond. Proceeds from the charity gala – $58,288 – were donated to the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation.
Hy’s of Canada donated $2,500 to the Canadian Red Cross’ British Columbia fires appeal fund. In July, the Fire on Ice cocktail was created and added to the menu at Gotham Steakhouse in Vancouver as well as the Vancouver and Whistler locations of Hy’s Steakhouse. Hy’s of Canada pledged to match the sales of this cocktail through the end of August with a donation to support the wildfire relief work, which is helping displaced families in affected regions of B.C.
The Sylvia Ingalls Education Endowment Fund at the Crossroads Hospice Society was recently established by Ken Ingalls and family with an initial donation of $59,500. The fund will support education and training programs on topics such as end-of-life care, grief and loss, dementia, effective listening and spiritual health for the society’s palliative-care service volunteers providing care to the residents of the Tri-Cities and surrounding area in both Crossroads Inlet Centre Hospice and in the community.
The District of North Vancouver donated $3,400 to Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland. These funds will help the organization match at-risk girls with a supportive mentor through its one-to-one mentoring program on the North Shore.
At a celebration of International Literacy Day on September 8, the Rotary Club of Vancouver donated $5,000 to Decoda Literacy Foundation in support of the Fostering Literacy program. •
