Our Annual General Meeting was held April 14th at the Roundhouse.

Thank you to all the members who attended, especially new members who were joining us for the first time.

The AGM bid farewell to retiring board members Alison Cretney, Shayla Hall, Diane Simpson and Ally Huang, while electing and welcoming five very dynamic and talented new members:

Christina Cook:

Christina is pursuing her PhD at UBC’s Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability.   Her dissertation examines the intersection of water governance and property rights.   She has taken several courses at the graduate level that contemplate the various definitions, application, and implications of sustainability.   Christina’s professional experience is primarily as a corporate lawyer working in both Canada and the Middle East.  She has previous experience as an active board and committee member with the UBC Vancouver Graduate Students’ Society as well as being a GSS representative on the Steering Committee and Communications Committee for UBC’s new Strategic Plan.

Hilary Mandel:

After moving to Vancouver from Los Angeles in 2007, Hilary served for two years as  Director of Development for Smart Growth BC. Hilary has an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, where she focused on sustainable business.  Her previous experience includes working with Paul Hawken at the Natural Capital Institute, conducting research on socially responsible investments and analyzing companies excelling in sustainability for a new investment fund.

Nicole Gordon:

Nicole has 8 years experience of providing environmental leadership and driving sustainability improvements within a large company, including 3 years managing a team of environmental professionals.  She has worked as an Environmental Affairs Manager for Yorkshire Water and managed a team of six environmental advisers leading on sustainability issues including greenhouse gases, energy, climate change, biodiversity and waste.  Nicole was involved in setting up and running a Green Transport Working Group within Yorkshire Water, to review current transport use and implement improvements.  She was also an active member of the Water Aid charity in the UK and part of the Yorkshire Committee for 8 years, which annually raised $450,000 to fund sustainable water projects in Africa and Asia.

Kaman Ng:

Kaman has worked with many not-for-profit organizations including, Quest Food Exchange, Kids Help Phone and Ride to Conquer Cancer.  Kaman is currently employed as the Director of Development & Communications at the BC Crisis Centre, and is responsible for developing and implementing a comprehensive and integrated development program to secure $1 million+ in funds on an annual basis.  Kaman has over 12 years of professional marketing communications experience and has volunteered with the Georgia Straight Alliance Board of Directors.

Jodie Sui

Jodie has over 10 years experience in the Urban Planning field, with a focus on sustainable land use.   Following five years as a planning consultant, Jodie developed and managed the Smart Growth on the Ground project at Smart Growth BC.  Most recently, Jodie served on the transportation group of the LEED-ND committee for the Canada Green Building Council.  Jodie has degrees in Commerce, and Urban Planning and Policy.

New board members join the continuing team of Jason Smith, Board Chair, Jennifer Black, Vice-Chair, Kirthi Roberts, Treasurer, Kent Hawkins, Secretary and members at large Amy Robinson and Andrew Devlin. After an orientation for new board members in May, the new team will undertake a strategic planning session in June to map the course for BEST for the next three years.