CHUCK LAFFERTY
Born to the Dene Nation in Fort Simpson, Northwest Territories, Chuck is one of 10 siblings. He attended the residential day school in Fort Simpson from 1965 to its final year, 1969. Before joining PLEA as their Knowledge Keeper in 2021, Chuck held roles with the Vancouver Aboriginal Child and Family Services Society, Urban Native Youth Association, Vancouver School District, and Pacific Community Resources Society.
QUEENIE CHOO
As CEO for one of the largest non-profit social service organizations in Canada, S.U.C.C.E.S.S, Queenie leads innovative programs across diverse social services. She is a former executive director for Alberta Health Services. In 2020, Queenie was appointed by BC Premier John Horgan to serve on the Provincial Economic Recovery Task Force.
CONFERENCE PRESENTERS
BRUCE MACDONALD
Bruce is the President & CEO of Imagine Canada. When carnivals and social good combined, it pointed to a path and for 30 years Bruce has been walking that route. From working for organizations that provide services to young people, older adults, persons with disabilities, community service clubs and sports and recreation groups, Bruce's experiences have led him to Imagine Canada. Prior to that, he was the CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada. In early 2019, Bruce was appointed Co-Chair of the Permanent Advisory Committee on the Charitable Sector working with the federal government.
DR. JENNIFER CHARLESWORTH
Jennifer is British Columbia’s Representative for Children and Youth. She was appointed as Acting Representative effective Aug. 31, 2018 and confirmed two months later. Dr. Charlesworth has worked in the B.C. social and health care sectors since 1977. From 1980 through 1992, she served in front-line child welfare, social policy, program management and executive roles within government, and was engaged in formative work on deinstitutionalization, community inclusion for people with disabilities, women’s and girls’ health, mental health and youth services. She served as the Secretary to three Cabinet Committees, including Social Policy and Aboriginal Relations.
Jennifer was a member of the executive team during the formation of the Ministry for Children and Families.
NIKI SHARMA
Niki Sharma was elected MLA for Vancouver–Hastings in 2020 and is the Deputy Caucus Chair and Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development and Non-Profits. She is also a member of the Treasury Board.
Niki is a lawyer whose practice focused on representing Indigenous people, including residential school survivors. She was raised in Sparwood, B.C. A mother of two, she has lived in East Vancouver for over 15 years and has deep connections in the community.
PANELISTS
TERI COLLINS
Teri is a committed public servant with extensive experience leading and partnering on public policy initiatives and service improvements across a range of government and sector organizations. She has been a member of the Attorney General's executive team since January 2022, and is currently Acting Associate Deputy Minister. She has been a member of the government's corporate executive team since 2015. Her leadership of the Housing, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism teams includes advancing priority initiatives to address the anti-racism, housing crisis and homelessness issues, maintaining sound building safety and construction standards, and overseeing operations of the Residential Tenancy Branch. As a former ADM in the Ministry of Health, Teri provided leadership and oversight to a number of key mandated initiatives and programs including: increasing access and reducing wait times for surgical and diagnostic care, implementation of specialized services for seniors and mental health and substance-use clients, accountability for provincial specialized service programs, hospital and community care, and the response to COVID-19.
BERNADETTE SPENCE
Bernadette has worked in child welfare for over 25 years in the areas of program planning, policy development, and management, and is CEO of one of the largest child welfare organizations in Canada, Vancouver Aboriginal Child and Family Services. Her theoretical and practical approach to her work is informed by aboriginal world view and practice -specifically the structure of ceremony and life span development to inform organizational development, partnership and community development.
KARIN KIRKPATRICK
Karin was elected MLA for West Vancouver-Capilano in 2020 and serves as the Official Opposition Critic for Education, Children, Family Development, and Childcare. She was previously CEO of Family Services of Greater Vancouver and led some 500 employees across 12 locations providing front-line support services to some of the Lower Mainland's most vulnerable citizens. Karin has served as CEO and Registrar of the Private Career Training Institutions Agency of BC, of the Real Estate Foundation of BC, and as Assistant Dean of UBC's Sauder School of Business.
DAVID GALBRAITH
David is Deputy Minister, Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction. David has worked for the provincial government for many years and started in his current position in 2018. He moved into that role from previous work as Secretary to the Treasury Board. Prior to that, he held a number of progressively more responsible ADM portfolios including: Strategic Policy and Initiatives in Tourism; ActNow BC; Executive Financial Officer; and Arts, Gaming Grants and Sport. David is part of the Social Services Sector Roundtable chaired by Social Development and Poverty Reduction Minister Nicholas Simons.
SHAWN BAYES
Shawn's career in the social services and justice fields spans more than 30 years, virtually all of which has been served at the Elizabeth Fry Society. Since becoming executive director in 1997, she has led the organization in creating initiatives that address the issues leading to justice system involvement. Shawn participated in McGill University’s Masters of Management program in 2000 and noted a strong correlation between parental incarceration and justice system involvement. This led to the creation of JustKids, Canada’s only dedicated initiative that brings together research and programming designed to help break this legacy.
SONIA FURSTENAU
Sonia was elected as the member for Cowichan Valley in 2017 and 2020 and is the Leader of the BC Green Party and their House Leader.
Prior to her election, Sonia served as Area B Director for the Cowichan Valley Regional District (CVRD) for three years. She has long been involved in grassroots advocacy. She was National Administrator for Results Canada, a non-profit that works to end extreme poverty, and served on the Board of Directors for Oikocredit, an international microcredit organization. Sonia was a volunteer with Citizens Climate Lobby, which is committed to finding solutions to the challenge of climate change.
DOUG SCOTT
Doug was appointed in January 2022 as Deputy Solicitor General, Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General. Following an extensive career with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Doug joined the BC Public Service in 2011 and has undertaken six Assistant Deputy or Deputy Minister roles since that time. His responsibilities have included liquor and gaming regulation, provincial reconciliation negotiations with First Nations, and government oversight of crown corporations including the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC), Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB), BC Lottery Corporation (BCLC) and BC Housing.
CLIFF GRANT
Cliff joined the Aboriginal Housing Management Association in early 2019 as Director, Strategic Relations. Cliff's role includes building and sustaining relationships with various stakeholders to help provide healthy, safe and affordable housing for Indigenous people, housing providers and the Indigenous communities they serve. Cliff is a candidate in the EMBA program in Aboriginal Business and Leadership from Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University. Throughout his career, Cliff has worked at various levels of government in policy analysis, capacity development and Indigenous relations, and has worked in housing-related roles for over 18 years.
Originally from Kitimat, BC, Cliff is a proud citizen of the Haisla Nation and currently resides in Vancouver.
KEVIN MCCORT
Kevin has been President and CEO of the Vancouver Foundation since 2013. As the scale of the Foundation has grown, Kevin has also worked to expand its impact, pioneering new initiatives and innovations that create meaningful change at a community level. In 2020, Kevin led a historic effort that granted $20M to more than 500 charities across BC as they pivoted to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. He is working to explore ways the Foundation can shift and share power in service to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
BREAKOUT SESSION PRESENTERS
LOUELLA MATHIAS
Louella Mathias has more than 25 years of experience in the public, not-for-profit and post-secondary sectors. Currently Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of Options Community Services and a director with Board Voice, Louella is a strategic leader with a proven track record of building and leading effective cross-functional, multi-business teams, managing change while driving and implementing strategic and operational initiatives. Louella now owns her own consulting practice offering a wide range of services from strengthening board governance, to building risk management capability and conducting program and project evaluations.
TONY KIRSCHNER
Tony brings a range of business, executive management, human resource and consulting
experience to FSGV. He is a Partner with Leaders International Executive Search, focusing on
retained executive recruitment assignments for public, private, and not-for-profit clients across
Canada. Prior to joining Leaders in 2011, Tony held senior HR management positions with
several BC health authorities, as well as with a North American environmental assessment
company.
Tony was raised in Vancouver but received his university education in the U.S. where he
completed a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at DePaul University and a Master’s and Ph.D.
in Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has participated in the
cycling fundraiser Ride to Conquer Cancer five times and is dedicated to raising funds for cancer
research.
MICHAEL DAVIS
Michael is a Principle at PublicAffair, a communication, government relations and stakeholder engagement firm in Vancouver. He has been on boards since 1996, holding a variety of positions including president, finance chair, governance chair and a contracted executive director. Michael has been doing governance training for boards since 1999. Michael provides research assistance regarding our energy transition to a low-carbon economy at the Behaviour Energy Environment Research Lab at Royal Roads University.
KAREN MASON-BENNETT
Karen has been with the Northern Environmental Action Team in Fort St. John for more than 12 years, and since 2018 has been the organization's Executive Director. NEAT's goal is to help residents live more sustainably by leading by example. Staff at NEAT spend "a lot of time with our feet on the ground, actively working towards environmental sustainability as part of overall community sustainability." Karen is a facilitator for the North region for Board Voice's Building Better Boards workshop series.
ADAM RICHARDS
Adam Richards is the CEO of The Cridge Centre for the Family, the oldest non-profit organization in BC, about to celebrate 150 years. He was born in England, raised in Israel, and spent his later teenage years and onward in Victoria. He brings forward 18 years experience in municipal community development and a number of years in non-profit social services. Adam loves working alongside his board to translate the priorities set by his directors into action, advocacy and increased stakeholder engagement.
VAL FULLER
Val is Board Vice-President at The Cridge Centre for the Family, and a facilitator for the Vancouver Island region for Board Voice's Building Better Boards project. She works in Victoria and on Vancouver Island as a Business to Business Representative with a local company. She is privileged to have called Victoria home her whole life and came to know about the work of The Cridge Centre while attending a neighbouring church. She just had to be a part of it! Val continues to serve because of the vital role The Cridge Centre fills in the lives of people both physically and spiritually.
CATHERINE LEACH
Since the age of 12, Catherine has been involved with the community-based not for profit sector, starting as a volunteer in a co-op childcare centre at the age of 12. Catherine always knew she wanted to work with people and after completing her BSc Psychology from the University of Toronto in 1988 she began her life long non-profit professional career as a crisis counsellor in a Transition House. She is a creative and innovative individual who loves bringing people together to learn and take action. Catherine cares deeply about social justice issues and has a passion for community development. Currently Catherine is the Executive Director of Sunshine Coast Community Services. You can learn more about Catherine or connect with her through her LinkedIn site.