Benjamin Perrin is a law professor at the University of British Columbia Peter A. Allard School of Law, specializing in criminal law and criminal justice. He is author of the national bestselling book Overdose: Heartbreak and Hope in Canada’s Opioid Crisis. He has served as lead criminal justice advisor and in-house legal counsel to the Prime Minister of Canada and a former law clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada.
Stephanie Allen is a professional who specializes in strategic business operations and affordable housing with a focus on equitable city-building. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s in urban studies and has worked in the private, non-profit, and public sectors of real estate since 2002. Stephanie is currently the Associate Vice President of Strategic Business Operations & Performance for BC Housing and a founding board member of Hogan’s Alley Society. She serves on the City of Vancouver’s Development Permit Advisory Panel and Poverty Action Advisory Committee and is on the Board of the Federation of Black Canadians.
Eric has worked for IBM Canada for over 30 years and is the Lead Executive Partner in IBM Consulting for the Western Canada Public Sector practice. He manages diverse programs across many Provincial Ministries and Federal Government departments both in Canada and abroad. In addition, he has extensive subject matter expertise in Public Health and has global responsibility for the IBM Public Health Solution for Disease Surveillance and Management.
Thomas Homer-Dixon is Founder and Executive Director of the Cascade Institute at Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia. He received his BA in political science from Carleton University and, in 1989, his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in international relations, defense policy, and conflict theory. For nearly two decades, he directed the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto; in 2008 he joined the faculty at the University of Waterloo, where he founded the Waterloo Institute for complexity and Innovation. His current research focuses on threats to global security in the twenty-first century, including economic instability, climate change, and nationalist authoritarianism and on how people, organizations, and societies can better solve complex problems.
David is from Matachewan First Nation, an Ojibway band that is signatory to Treaty 9 area in northeast Ontario or the height-of-land. He has over 30 years' experience in Forestry and Land Management combined with roles in First Nation advocacy, policy and in leading business development. Currently he serves as the General Manager for Wahkohtowin Development which is a social enterprise held by three First Nations to design pathways to full participation Forests and Land Management across their respective Territories. The desire is to fulfill inherent land stewardship responsibilities, community well-being and diversification into climate change and action activities that seek to maintain a sustainable environment in their homelands. David is passionate about cultural revival and investing in the youth – elder intergenerational relationship this is fundamental for emerging Guardian Programs to keep the circle intact for the individual youth but also their interconnectedness and place in this world – Wahkohtowin.
In his role as President, Luke works with communities and partners to design, build, fund and operate homes by securing innovative funding sources, partnerships with private and public organizations and by designing and implementing policies for the long-term success of the Community Housing sector. He brings a passion for innovation, entrepreneurship and problem solving to Catalyst and his varied capabilities have seen him manage mixed-use developments to building modular housing and tech start-ups.
Luke has 20 years of development, finance and leadership experience where he has created and led organizations undertaking large investment and infrastructure projects with a particular focus on urban development and housing. Prior to Catalyst, Luke was part of the executive leadership team of Canada’s largest modular home builder and was the CEO of the Vancouver Affordable Housing Agency.
Wendy Cox has been The Globe and Mail’s B.C. Bureau Chief since November 2013. Prior to The Globe, Wendy was the B.C. and Yukon bureau chief for the Canadian Press. She has also worked as a reporter in Toronto and Winnipeg, and as a politics reporter in the Ontario and B.C. legislatures and on Parliament Hill.
Marla Zucht is the General Manager of the Whistler Housing Authority where she is involved with innovative housing solutions and facilitating the project management, financing and development of purpose-built affordable ownership and rental housing for Whistler’s workforce. Marla holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies and Community Planning from York University and has a depth of experience as a Registered Professional Planner in housing policies, growth management strategies, and sustainable planning. Marla sits on several advisory planning and housing committees and Board of Directors as a strong advocate for the provision and protection of affordable housing.
Dr. Kayande is Dean of Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University. He was previously an associate dean and professor of marketing at the Melbourne Business School in Australia, where he taught marketing strategy, business analytics and was the founding director of the school’s Centre for Business Analytics. Dr. Kayande was also co-director of the Delivering Value Through Digital Executive Education program, jointly delivered with the University of Oxford.
Having spent part of his childhood in Edmonton, Dr. Kayande returned to complete his PhD at the University of Alberta in 1998. He subsequently held faculty positions at Pennsylvania State University and Australian National University, among others.
Dr. Kayande has received numerous accolades for teaching excellence and his research has been recognized by the American Marketing Association (Lehmann Award), European Marketing Academy (IJRM Best Paper) and the Australia-NZ Marketing Academy (Distinguished Researcher). He has also held a number of honorary and visiting positions at universities around the world including Malaysia, India, China, France, Germany and the U.S.
Dr. Patricia Daly is the Vice President, Public Health and Chief Medical Health Officer for Vancouver Coastal Health. She is also a Clinical Professor in the School of Population and Public Health in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia.
As a public health physician, her primary mandate is to improve the health of the population that Vancouver Coastal Health serves through prevention and health promotion. She is responsible for communicable disease control including management of outbreaks, health protection and environmental health, community care facilities licensing, population health and public health surveillance within Vancouver Coastal Health.
Dr. Daly obtained her medical degree from the University of Toronto in 1985. She worked as a family and emergency physician in Ontario before undertaking further specialty training at McGill University and the University of Toronto. She obtained a fellowship in Community Medicine from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 1992.
Andini is a 24 year old Filipina-Polish Canadian inventor, writer and popular
in-demand speaker. An all round 21st century Renaissance woman, Andini is best known for
her invention of the Hollow Flashlight, a flashlight that runs off the heat of the human hand,
and the eDrink, a coffee mug that harvests the excess heat of your hot drink and converts it
into electricity to charge your phone. She is currently writing her first book, focused on the
Inventing Mindset, which is set to be released by a major publisher in Spring 2024.
Andini has given 5 TEDx talks, is a brand ambassador for Maybelline’s new Green
Edition sustainable makeup line, one of Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30, Time Magazine’s 30
Under 30 World Changers, Entrepreneur Magazine’s Young Millionaires, and Glamour
Magazine’s College Women of the Year, and Popular Science’s Young Inventor of the Year.
Jessica is a professional planner with over 12 years of experience working as a planner, project manager, and facilitator of actions that reduce climate and natural hazard risk and build resilience in Southwest BC. She has worked across all orders of government, the private and nonprofit sectors to connect the dots between best available climate projections, natural hazard science and open risk models and the proactive actions and finance required to reduce such risks at local, regional, provincial and national scales.
Before establishing her consultancy, Jessica led the development of the City of Vancouver Earthquake Strategy, where she advocated for and worked towards open, integrated, multi-hazard risk modelling and holistic policies for existing buildings to inform a city-wide approach to enhancing resilience.
She has continued and expanded on this work by serving for over 8 years on the Board of Directors for the only Canadian chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI BC) and by leading on the Understanding Risk BC (URBC.ca) symposiums since 2016.
She has worked with communities and on projects that have been recognized as leading edge by the United Nations (District of North Vancouver Sasakawa award), the federal government (Natural Resources Canada Award for Collaboration – DNV Community-wide Earthquake Risk Analysis), the Planning Institute of British Columbia (New Directions in Planning- Lower Mainland Flood Management Strategy) and the World Bank's Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (Understanding Risk BC).
Jessica is familiar with global best practices in assessing climate and natural hazard risk, reducing it and preparing to respond, recover and build back better. She uses this knowledge of global best practice to inform solutions that are locally-owned and is passionate about building resilience in Southwest BC, the Cascadia bio-region and beyond.
Chief Marilyn Slett is a citizen of the Heiltsuk Nation and the elected chief councillor of the Heiltsuk Tribal Council. She is currently serving her third consecutive term as chief councillor, beginning in 2008 and following previous positions as tribal councillor and executive director of the Heiltsuk Tribal Council.
She is also currently the president of Coastal First Nations, on the board of directors of the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations, the co-chair of the Wild Salmon Advisory Council to British Columbia, and she has served as the B.C. women's representative on the Assembly of First Nations Women's Council.
Dr. Kayande is Dean of Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University. He was previously an associate dean and professor of marketing at the Melbourne Business School in Australia, where he taught marketing strategy, business analytics and was the founding director of the school’s Centre for Business Analytics. Dr. Kayande was also co-director of the Delivering Value Through Digital Executive Education program, jointly delivered with the University of Oxford.
Having spent part of his childhood in Edmonton, Dr. Kayande returned to complete his PhD at the University of Alberta in 1998. He subsequently held faculty positions at Pennsylvania State University and Australian National University, among others.
Dr. Kayande has received numerous accolades for teaching excellence and his research has been recognized by the American Marketing Association (Lehmann Award), European Marketing Academy (IJRM Best Paper) and the Australia-NZ Marketing Academy (Distinguished Researcher). He has also held a number of honorary and visiting positions at universities around the world including Malaysia, India, China, France, Germany and the U.S.
Iona leads and manages IEC-BC’s Facilitating Access to Skilled Talent (FAST), an online platform supporting immigrants in launching their careers in Canada. Piloted as pre-arrival program, FAST has demonstrated promising results — 67% of its participants have landed jobs in their field faster.
With over a decade of work in communications, government, tourism, IT, academia, non-profits in the Philippines, and social media agencies in Singapore and the US, Iona brings to her role not only extensive experience in program development, project leadership, and partner & community relations, but also a strong advocacy for social justice, diversity, and inclusion.
In her program development work at IEC-BC, she engages with industry stakeholders, community partners, and employers, and connects skilled immigrants to tools and resources that can help them succeed in Canada’s dynamic labour market. From initially being a trades-focused program, FAST has expanded and scaled to in-demand industries like Accounting, Information and Communications Technology, Biotechnology & Life Sciences, Culinary Arts, and this year to Seniors’ Care.
Believing in putting her values to work, Iona is also a social entrepreneur advocating for sustainable coffee livelihoods in partnership with Philippine Indigenous and women coffee farmers and is completing a Social Innovation Certificate from Simon Fraser University.
Elizabeth Thorsen is the Vice President Operations with Foresight, Canada’s cleantech ecosystem accelerator. In this role, she oversees strategic planning, partnerships, HR, finance and accounting, marketing, communications and events. Throughout her time at Foresight, Elizabeth has worked alongside companies in the cleantech sector, and supported the growth of Foresight operations, and she is a passionate champion of a just and inclusive green transition.
Elizabeth has extensive experience with innovation and ecosystem building. Prior to working at Foresight, she was part of the Regional Innovation Centre network in Ontario, providing support to entrepreneurs directly, as well as a founding contributor to a Life Science Consortium in the Hamilton region.
Elizabeth has served as a judge at several hackathons, a mentor to startup businesses and founders as well as young women stepping into leadership roles, and is a frequent speaker and moderator at business events, industry conferences, and innovation days. She has a passion for supporting the growth of women in STEM fields and enabling a sustainable future for all.
Alicia is a Vice President at Chrysalix based in Vancouver. She works on investment thesis development, deal sourcing, due diligence, and portfolio management.
A long-time industrial technology enthusiast, Alicia has over 15 years of experience working with industrial companies in both technical and management roles. Since her early career days, Alicia has been interested in our world’s energy challenge and the need for an energy transition.
Before joining Chrysalix, Alicia worked as a Case Team Leader for Bain & Company in London, UK, leading teams to help companies with their toughest business problems including strategy, organisation, go-to-market/sales excellence, merger integrations and transformations. She started her career at one of Canada’s largest marine shipping company, across operational and technical roles, including environmental technology strategy. Alicia has worked in North America, Europe, and China. She holds an MBA and a MS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, where she was a Leaders of Global Operations Fellow, focused on Energy and Environment, and served a 6-month internship with ABB. She is also a Professional Engineer and holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering with Distinction from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
She serves as a Board Director with Chrysalix portfolio companies Rithmik and MineSense and as Board Observer with Chrysalix portfolio companies Novamera and VerAI. She represents Chrysalix on the National Renewable Energy Lab’s (NREL) Investor Advisory Board. Alicia is a Kauffman Fellow, a global network for venture capital leaders.
