People

Thakur S Powdyel is an educator by choice, conviction and passion. As the country’s first democratically elected Minister of Education, he moved Bhutan towards fulfilling the MDGs and the country’s constitutional mandate for education. His major interests include institutional integrity, national self-respect, moral literacy and gross national happiness. Powdyel’s vision of holistic education as expressed…

Dr. Joan Clos is the former Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), at the level of Under Secretary General by the United Nations General Assembly. He held this office from October 2010-December 2017. During his mandate, Dr. Clos led the process of elaboration of the New Urban Agenda, and he was…

Dr. Saul Klein has had a broad-ranging career spanning developing, developed and transition countries. He specializes in the areas of marketing strategy, global business and international marketing. His research focuses on the global competitiveness of emerging market firms and he has provided consulting assistance to over 50 different organizations in these areas in Canada, the…

Shauna Johnson is Coast Salish from the Tsawout First Nation on her mother’s side and Tsimshian from Laxkwala’ams on her father’s side. She has a Master of Science degree in Indigenous Community Planning (ICP) and has specialized expertise in providing planning support for indigenous communities to revitalize and promote indigenous community planning research, methods and…

Prior to joining the Victoria Foundation as CEO in 2001, Sandra enjoyed a successful career in fund development in both Canada and the USA. Most recently, she worked for five years as Director of Development and Planned Giving with the Victoria Hospice & Palliative Care Foundation and prior to that as Director of Development for…

Paul Lacerte is a member of the Nadleh Whuten Band and belongs to the Carrier First Nation in northern BC. He served as the Provincial CEO for the BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres for 20 years. In 2011, Paul and his daughter Raven co-founded the Moose Hide Campaign, a grassroots movement of Indigenous and…

Rébar is an expert in sustainable development program design, policy analysis, and humanitarian aid. His international experience stems from working with NGOs, the OECD headquarters in Paris, the United Nations Secretariat in New York, as well as other UN Agencies and Offices in the Middle East and the Caribbean. He has led and overseen humanitarian…

First elected in 2005, Jonathan X. Coté served three terms on New Westminster City Council before being elected as Mayor in 2014. In 2018, he was elected for a second term as Mayor. Jonathan resides in the city with his wife Alix and their three daughters Renee, Leah and Violet. As the Mayor of New…

David A. Bennett is Director, Communications and External Relations for FortisBC. He is responsible for all corporate and customer communications, public affairs including government, municipal and indigenous relations. His role includes managing FortisBC consultation on its major infrastructure projects. David has been involved in the energy industry for over 30 years, holding positions with Shell…

Dana Wong has been working on energy and climate issues for the past 15 years in the private and non-profit sectors both in Canada and the U.S. In her current role, she engages FortisBC’s customers, Indigenous communities and stakeholders in developing and implementing sustainable energy solutions to support cleaner, efficient and resilient energy systems across…

Dr. George Veletsianos is originally from Cyprus, but now lives in Victoria BC Canada, where he is a full Professor in the School of Education and Technology at Royal Roads University. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Innovative Learning and Technology and the Commonwealth of Learning Chair in Flexible Learning. Dr. Veletsianos has been…

Alexa is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Deetken Impact, which manages and distributes impact investment products to Canadian and global investors. Prior to joining Deetken, Alexa was an executive with African Alliance, a pan-African financial services group and an associate with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Macquarie Group in Toronto. Recently recognized…