At WGOB Summit Vancouver, boardroom experts and thought leaders will explore what boards should consider in their four lines of sight: oversight, hindsight, insight and foresight.
Attendees will be invited to unpack the critical boardroom issues of 2024 and beyond, examining the board's role and what it means to be a steward of the future.
Board members and executives in over 55 countries hold the Global Competent Boards Designation (GCB.D) and Certification in Sustainability, ESG, Climate and Biodiversity thanks to Helle’s visionary online and bespoke education programs. Her vision is that board members, investors, and those advising them need to be informed about sustainability and other material issues that shape the business of today and tomorrow - How can you make informed business decisions if you aren’t informed? Helle founded Competent Boards with the support of a handful of business leaders, including Paul Polman, Jim Snabe, Annette Vershuren and Torben Möger Pedersen.
Helle is an internationally recognized expert on sustainable business practices, with a 30-year record of turning environmental, social, and governance risks into innovative and profitable business opportunities. She works with many global Fortune 500 board members and executives, as well as smaller companies and investors.
In addition to Competent Boards, Helle has a few other brainchildren, including the world's first green account, the first integrated report, the first holistic supply chain program and many innovative business solutions, and latest The Future Boardroom.
Helle is a business lawyer and accountant by training. She was a partner at PwC for many years based in Europe and later the US. She serves at the Nasdaq Center for Board Excellence, the World Economic Forum (WEF) Expert Network, and Accounting for Sustainability (A4S) established by HM King Charles III, among other roles.
Originally from Denmark, she now lives in Canada, where she was recognized in 2023 as a Global Changemaker by The Globe and Mail and one of the Top 50 Influencers to Follow by Onalytica. In 2022 she was named one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women by the Women’s Executive Network and received the SustainabilityX® Magazine’s Global 50 Women in Sustainability Award, among other recognitions.
Her Amazon bestseller, Stewards of the Future: A Guide for Competent Boards, was published in 2022, and she’s currently working on her next book.
https://twitter.com/HelleBankJorgen
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hellebank/
https://competentboards.com/
Tuesday Oct. 29 - 12:45pm - 01:30pm (45 min)
Coro Strandberg, President of Strandberg Consulting, is an influential social purpose and sustainability / ESG strategist and thought leader. Coro is a Canadian trailblazer and visionary in marketplace innovation to advance social, environmental, and financial progress and has contributed to the evolving field of social purpose and sustainability for more than 35 years. She works with boards, businesses, governments, and industry associations to create strategies and pursue business models to solve society’s problems and address social and environmental risks and opportunities that propel society towards a sustainable future. She is a Cofounder and current Chair of the Canadian Purpose Economy Project, and a Cofounder of the United Way BC Social Purpose Institute.
Coro has a tri-sector background in business, government and non-profit leadership working in social, environmental, and financial roles. She has 25 years of experience as a Corporate Director and six years of industry association experience. Coro was a director of Vancity Credit Union - three as Board Chair - where during the 1990s she helped position the credit union as an international leader in sustainable banking. She is a Director of BC Lottery Corporation, a provincial crown corporation that has a social purpose as the reason it exists. She is a faculty member for Governance Professionals of Canada and Director’s College, training governance professionals and directors on purpose and sustainability governance oversight respectively. She is a member of the Canadian Standards Association’s sustainability advisory committee and a member of the Canadian Office of the Auditor General’s Commissioner of Environment and Sustainability’s advisory committee.
Coro specializes in helping organizations become leaders in transformational sustainability. This includes advising on social purpose, sustainability and ESG leadership and innovation strategies, social purpose business models and social purpose and sustainability governance, management, implementation, and integration. She works with industry associations to help their members and sector become purpose-driven and sustainable. Coro supports governments to harness the power of business to advance sustainability solutions. She is an expert in integrating social purpose and sustainability in finance, human resources, risk management and procurement.
She publishes her thought leadership at www.corostrandberg.com. Coro was named the top sustainability consultant by the 2015 Clean50 for her leadership and impact in sustainability consulting in Canada.
Coro works with organizations that aspire to accelerate, lead, and transform to a sustainable world.
Alyssa Barry, CPIR, is a seasoned capital markets and communications professional specializing in investor relations strategy, shareholder engagement, corporate communications, media relations, and corporate governance. As the President of Alliance Advisors Investor Relations, and a founding partner of irlabs (acquired by Alliance in June 2024), Alyssa leads innovative approaches to enhance visibility, foster investor engagement, and create meaningful impact. Her previous leadership roles include Head of Strategy at Artis REIT and Vice President of Capital Markets and Communications at the Sandpiper Group, a real estate private equity firm.
In addition to her Board role with LIFT, Alyssa is Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for ALS Canada and previously served as the Director of Corporate Engagement for the World Partnership Walk, a global initiative of the Aga Khan Foundation Canada. Alyssa is also an advisor to Women Get On Board and Women Funding Women.
Tuesday Oct. 29 - 04:35pm - 05:20pm (45 min)
Joanna is a partner in the Corporate Group of Osler’s Vancouver office. She practices corporate and securities law with a focus primarily on capital market transactions and business law matters, including equity and debt financings, reverse take overs, initial public offerings as well as public and private mergers and acquisitions.
Joanna also provides ongoing advice to public and private companies regarding corporate governance, continuous disclosure obligations, Canadian stock exchange issues and various other corporate and securities law compliance matters. Joanna has particular expertise and experience in the resource sector having previously been Vice-President Legal and General Counsel for a pre-development stage mining issuer listed on both the TSX and NYSE, but has also been involved in transactions for clients of all stages in the technology, cannabis, retail, forestry and shipping industries.
Joanna is a member of the Canadian Securities Administrators’ Mining Technical Advisory and Monitoring Committee, which provides guidance to the provincial securities commissions on technical mining matters.
Joanna was named in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, achieved the Martindale-Hubbell, BV Distinguished rating, named in Best Lawyers in Canada, and was a finalist in the Lexpert “Top 40 Under 40” and the Western Canada General Counsel Awards for Dealmaking and named as a “Stand-out Lawyer” by Thomson Reuters.
Joanna was granted the GCB.D designation in March 2022, upon successful completion of the Competent Boards ESG Designation Program. Joanna is a director of District Metals Corp.(TSXV) and Cause We Care Foundation, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of single mothers.
Joanna holds a B.A. (Honours) from Queen’s University, an L.L.B. from the University of Saskatchewan and an MBA from the University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management.
Kevin Joy is a Partner in the Strategy consulting practice at MNP and is based in Toronto. A trilingual executive leader with over 30 years of experience in Marketing, Business Development, and General Management roles. He has extensive international experience, having worked and lived in North, Central, and South America, as well as in Europe. Kevin more recently made the move to management consulting where he helps clients create and deliver strategies to manage major disruptive and organizational change, develop more cohesive leadership teams and foster organizational cultures to better align with business direction. He has worked with a wide range of sizes of organizations within a variety of industries, including Consumer Goods, Technology, Real Estate, Construction, Hospitality, Performing Arts Institutions, Manufacturing, Crown Corporations and Professional Services. He has a particular passion for identifying trends and technologies that advance societal good, and to that end has been a founder and mentor to a number of Life Science and Circular Economy startups.
Tuesday Oct. 29 - 01:45pm - 02:30pm (45 min)
Natascha Kiernan, J.D.; ICD.D, is a corporate director, lawyer, and strategic advisor. She received her J.D. from Columbia University and has held senior positions with several prominent international law firms. Ms. Kiernan has 20 years experience advising governments, financial institutions, and corporations on complex, multibillion dollar M&A and finance transactions and was previously selected as a "Top 40 Under 40" rising legal star by the UK's Financial News. Ms. Kiernan serves as Vice Chair of the BC Energy Regulator and as an independent director of InBC Investment Corp and several public companies. Ms Kiernan is a frequent panel speaker and ‹ presenter on Popics including M&A, corporate governance, and the energy transition.
Tuesday Oct. 29 - 04:35pm - 05:20pm (45 min)
Anna Ladd-Kruger is a successful mining executive with over 25 years of leadership experience with proven achievements in leading small to mid-tier mining organizations. She is a well respected leader with demonstrated success in building multiple junior mining start ups. Prior to retiring in 2022, Anna was the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of McEwen Mining Inc. as well as serving as the CFO and director of their McEwen Copper spin-out. Anna previously served as the CFO and VP Corporate Development for several junior to mi-tier mining companies and began her career working at Vale S.A.’s Thompson and Sudbury Canadian operations before joining Kinross Gold Corporation as their North American Group Controller. Anna currently serves on the boards of publicly traded mining companies: SilverCrest Metals Inc (Audit Chair), Integra Resources Corp.(Audit Chair), and 1911 Gold Corporation.
Anna holds both a CPA and CMA designation and the Canadian Institute of Corporate Directors designation (ICD.D). She has a Master of Economics from Queen’s University and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia (UBC).
Anna is passionate about people, education and the environment. Anna and her family donate to organizations focused on the environment and education. She also volunteers at the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, and is a mentor for the Women in Mining BC association. She is currently completing a horticulture trade certification at the UBC's Botanical Garden & Centre for Plant Research.
Cybele’s an award-winning tech CEO, serial entrepreneur, sought-after speaker, mentor, columnist.
She’s co-founder & CEO of Webnames.ca, Canada’s original .CA Registrar and Webnamescorporate.com, steering its evolution into a security driven, brand-protection focused industry leader.
She’s an ICD.D and GCB.D accredited director on an extensive portfolio of corporate, crown and government boards: AGF Management (TSX:AGF.B), BCAA, and as Vice-Chair of the Royal Canadian Mint and BC’s Permanent Small Business Roundtable. She is also a director of Science World. As a Founding Visionary of the Prosperity Project, she co-chairs their Rosie the Riveter Mentorship Program and serves on the Telus Vancouver & Coastal Community Board.
A Hall of Fame Inductee and four-time winner of Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women and nine-time winner of PROFIT W100, other recognitions include WXN Canadian Equity Diversity & Inclusion Award-Corporate Directors category, BMO Celebrating Women on Boards Award, 3X winner of BIV500-BC’s top business leaders-Tech Innovators category, Canada’s Marketing, Advertising, PR and Communications Hall of Fame Inductee, 3X winner BC Business Most Influential Women in Business, Business In Vancouver’s Influential Women in Business and Top 40 Under 40.
She has spoken at TEDx and keynoted numerous events including at Level Up Conference along with former Prime Ministers Harper & Chretien.
Tuesday Oct. 29 - 01:45pm - 02:30pm (45 min)
Sue, CEO of DIGITAL, leads an innovation portfolio that leveraged $255 million to achieve $630 million in Canadian-led investments. This effort has generated to-date over 630 IP assets, $1.2 billion in follow-on investments, and over 11,000 talent development placements. DIGITAL drives transformation in health, natural resources, and skilling through digital and AI technologies.
Previously, Sue was CEO of LifeLabs and Pharmasave and the first female Managing Partner at Fasken. She consistently drives innovation and public policy. Sue sits on various corporate boards and has received numerous accolades, including the Order of British Columbia. She enjoys outdoor activities with her family
Christie Stephenson is the Executive Director of the Peter P. Dhillon Centre for Business Ethics at UBC Sauder School of Business.
Before joining UBC Sauder in 2016, Christie spent 15 years at socially responsible and impact investing firms Sustainalytics (then Jantzi Research Associates), NEI Investments (Ethical Funds) and Rally Assets (then Purpose Capital).
Christie also has more than two decades of diverse board experience. She is currently a director of Vancity financial cooperative, where she chairs the governance committee and serves on its audit committee. She also serves on the board, and environmental, social and governance committee, of the University of British Columbia Staff Pension Plan, as well as the board, governance and risk committees, of the Central 1, one of Canada’s domestic systemically important financial institutions.
She is a frequent speaker to industry and academic audiences and a regular media commentator on topics related to responsible business, governance and investing.
Tuesday Oct. 29 - 01:45pm - 02:30pm (45 min)
Rogayeh Tabrizi, PhD is a tech leader helping Fortune 500 companies connect with their customers to create delight and value. Rogayeh studied her Master’s in Experimental Particle Physics and worked on the ATLAS Detector at CERN. She earned her Ph.D. in Economics, focusing on social and economic networks and game theory as a more effective way to engender positive change in the world. Rogayeh saw the need for large enterprises to understand their data to connect with their customers as individuals and do so meaningfully. So she founded Theory+Practice, a data product company uniquely pairing behavioural economics with state-of-the-art AI to enable enterprises to put their data to work.
Rogayeh is Director of Advancing Women’s Leadership at the International Women’s Forum Canada and a Director at AInBC. Rogayeh is an AI thought leader and is currently writing a strategic AI book with Wiley Publishers. Rogayeh was recently recognized as AI Leader of the Year by WLDA.
Tuesday Oct. 29 - 01:45pm - 02:30pm (45 min)
Sponsorship Opportunities are still available! Contact us at connect@womengetonboard.ca to learn more
West Hastings Street 915
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
If you have any questions please contact WGOB at connect@womengetonboard.ca.
