Nadja Piatka
President, Nadja Foods

Nadja Piatka is the founder and President of Nadja Foods and the author of two Canadian Best Selling Books. In 1992 Nadja found herself as an unemployable single mother of two in Edmonton, Alberta. Plagued by creditors and no income she began baking muffins at home and testing them on her two teenage children. She was soon selling her muffins to local coffee shops, and when her customer base grew, she commissioned a local bakery to “out source” and deliver her products.
 

With a one hundred dollar investment in 1993 she grew her next business, Three Blondes & a Brownie, from her kitchen to becoming a national supplier to McDonald’s Canada. Today Nadja Foods supplies her great tasting Healthy Brownies to Subway Restaurants, Schools and Foodservice customers across the United States, Canada and in Mexico. Nadja Foods first entered the U.S. market in 2002 testing their Healthy Brownies in the Western New York Area.
 

Nadja has written two best selling cookbooks. While touring Canada to promote her muffins for McDonalds, and her second book, Nadja donated all of the proceeds to the McDonald’s Children’s Charities. She was the recipient of the Regional Award for the Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year and recognized as one of the ITV News Women of Vision, and has been a guest on national television shows including a 2005 guest appearance on the Opray Winfrey show.
 

Nadja was a member of the Small and Medium Enterprise Task Force, an Advisory Board for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. She contributed to developing a report on “Canadian Business and Exporting.”
 

Proudly Sponsored by:

Gail Stephens
CEO, BC Pension Corporation

Gail Stephens is the Chief Executive Officer for the BC Pension Corporation, having accepted the role in May 2003.  The BC Pension Corporation is one of the largest pension benefit administrators in Canada, providing services to six pension plans with over 90,000 retirees, 240,000 active contributors and 650 employers. 

Ms. Stephens received the Manitoba Gold Medal for the highest level of excellence in the CGA Program in 1990 and graduated on the Dean’s Honour List from the Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba in 1973. Prior to enrolling in the CGA program, Ms. Stephens held a number of teaching positions, both in Winnipeg and in rural and northern Manitoba. 

Upon receiving her CGA designation, she worked in both public and private sector including her role as Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer of the Economic Innovation and Technology Council. While with the Council she played a leadership role by developing a framework for introducing performance measures and business planning into all provincial departments and programs, called "Manitoba Measures.” 

In 1997, Ms. Stephens was appointed City Auditor, and in 1998 became the first Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) at the City of Winnipeg, replacing the former Board of Commissioners.  As CAO she helped lead a diverse team of departments (including Police, Fire/Paramedics, and Transit) to become the most cost effective City Governments in Canada with a citizen satisfaction rating of over 92%.  She has initiated corporate planning, departmental business planning and a call for alternative service delivery.   

In 1998, Ms. Stephens received the inaugural Public Sector Award from CGA Manitoba, recognizing her outstanding contribution to furthering the accounting profession in the public sector.  In 1999, she was named a Fellow of the CGA Association of Canada.  Most recently she was named as one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada.

Mary-Lynn Bellamy-Willms
Founder and CEO, Suburbia Advertising
and FunctionFox Systems

Daphne Good (Panel Moderator, Victoria)

Daphne Goode has enjoyed a life long career in communications, working in the radio, television and tourism industries, as a producer, writer, camera operator, on air host and trainer.  She has lived and worked in Vancouver, Calgary and Victoria. She was awarded a scholarship and graduated from the Electronic and Film Media Program at the Banff School of Fine Arts. Her outstanding work, both personally and professionally, has been recognized with the following awards: CCTA Best Promotional Programming; YM-YWCA Women of Distinction Award; Honorary Citizen of Victoria.

Daphne has a keen interest in arts and culture and has volunteered for over 25 years in many capacities with Boards and Committees including: Board Member of The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria; The Land Conservancy of British Columbia; The Multiple Sclerosis Society ; The Victoria Conservatory of Music; YM-YWCA Women of Distinction Program Chair. Additionally she was appointed as Founding Commissioner with the Greater Victoria Arts Commission (grant funding body for the Capital Region).

She has emceed numerous arts presentations and gala evenings including events for The McPherson Playhouse, UVIC School of Music, The Greater Victoria Music Festival, Pearson College of the Pacific, The Intercultural Association of Greater Victoria, Volunteer Victoria, The Victoria Conservatory of Music, Ballet Victoria, Langham Court Theatre, Bastion Theatre, Saanich Parks and Recreation and The Royal Theatre.   

Daphne has enjoyed a rich family background full of artistic inspiration which included lessons in ballet and Highland dancing, piano, flute, violin and literature.  Currently she enjoys boating, gardening, gym workouts and traveling to foreign lands.

Dr. Vivien Corwin received her PHD doctorate in organizational behaviour from the University of British Columbia, where she studied part-time professionals and the changing nature of organizational commitment.  Today, employees at all organizational levels are being asked to contribute more in the way of initiative and creativity than they ever have before.  At the same time, changes in the composition of the workforce mean that today’s employees have different needs, values and expectations about work than did the employee of the past.  The implications of this shift for organizational culture, organizational commitment and non-traditional working arrangements have been the focus of Vivien’s research, which has been published in Harvard Business Review and Journal of Organizational Behavior.

Vivien is also the director of Royal Roads’ MBA Program, and teaches as a core faculty member in the areas of Human Resources and Management.  

Brenda Eaton
Chair, BC Housing

Prior to this appointment, Eaton held a variety of senior positions in the B.C. Public Service, most recently as Deputy Minister to Premier Gordon Campbell and prior to that as Deputy Minister in Finance and Treasury Board; Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources; and Social Services.
For four years she was VP of Operations at the Capital Health Region.

Eaton is currently on the BC Hydro Board of Directors.  She has also served on a variety of other Boards including the International Financial Centre, International Maritime Centre, B.C. Real Estate Foundation, B.C. Health Benefits Trust and the Municipal Pension Advisory Board.

Eaton has a Bachelors and Masters degree in Economics.  She has been awarded the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal and has twice been named in the 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada.

Nancy Greer
Academic Lead, MA and MBA Leadership Programs
Royal Roads University

Dr. Nancy Greer joined Royal Roads University in 2003 as Professor and Faculty Coordinator of Electronic Learning and Major Projects within the Leadership programs.  Nancy began her career as a high school teacher and, after five years in the classroom, returned to complete her graduate work at Carleton University and UBC.  Upon earning her doctorate in Education Psychology, she spent 7 years in the provincial government as director of learning assessment and then executive director of information and technology within the Ministry of Education. In 1984 she joined BC Systems Corporation as Vice President and over the next 11 years her responsibilities included a wide range of executive portfolios including client services, human resources & labour relations, professional/consulting services, strategic planning and change management, and employee training and development with this 1100-person organization. In 1995 Nancy left BC Systems to launched a successful management consulting business focused on strategic change and organizational development.  Community volunteerism has always been an important part of Nancy’s life, most recently servicing as local chair of the United Way of Greater Victoria and as a member of the national board of the United Way of Canada. She lives in Victoria with husband Galen of 38 years and son Chris who is in his 4th year at the University of Victoria.

A keen interest in encouraging women to run for political office or seek board appointments has been a constant in Vicki Kohl’s professional and personal life. She has organized forums that bring women of all political parties together with women interested being “agents of change” through elected office, as board directors or on tribunals and commissions. Vicki has served on several non-profit and corporate boards here and in Vancouver and in elected office for two terms each as a Victoria School Trustee and a Saanich Councillor. Her experience ranges from that of a Governor of the 1994 Commonwealth Games to serving as an adjudicator appointed to the Canada Pension Review Tribunal. 

She is the Principal of the The Kuhl Consulting Group, Victoria, BC, specializing on communication and local government relations. Her extensive list of clients have benefited from her elected experience, six years as a founding member and Vice-Chair of the former BC Gaming Commission as well as her previous private sector experience. She is a former registered nurse and the mother of adult twin daughters. 

Active in the community she is currently a Director of the Victoria Airport Authority, nominated by the CRD, Victoria Foundation Board of Governors, the Saanich Police Board as Saanich Council nominee and is the lay Governor on the Certified General Accounts of BC Board of Governors representing the public interest. Past experience includes, Physical Medicine Research Foundation (Vancouver), United Way of Greater Victoria, the BC Festival of the Arts Board, Chairing the Victoria Art Gallery Building Steering Committee and more.

Coro Strandberg

From early days Strandberg’s actions were inspired by a belief in the power of social and environmental enterprise and venture philanthropy. She was a founding trustee of Ethical Funds Inc., the first family of socially-screened mutual funds in Canada. Later she championed VanCity’s regional economic development efforts which spawned the VanCity Capital Corporation, a $25 million company that invests in economic development, green economy, non-profit enterprise and co-operatives. In addition, Strandberg's vision inspired the creation of the VanCity Community Foundation, now an $8 million foundation providing grants, loans and technical assistance to support community economic development. As the Chair and long-time board member of Canada’s largest credit union, VanCity Savings Credit Union, Strandberg was instrumental in the organization becoming a world leader in corporate social responsibility. She also spearheaded the creation of the International Community Investment Deposit, where the investments are channeled to support micro businesses in third world countries, helping families escape from poverty.

As Social Policy Director and Green Economy Policy Advisor for the BC Government from 1995 to 2000, Strandberg designed government-wide sustainable development and green economy strategies, and led the creation of a $10 million community economic development program.

Charlayne Thornton-Joe
City of Victoria

Charlayne has a "passion for serving people" and has been active in the community by volunteering as an Board Member for the Victoria Women's Transition House, Interim Executive Director in 2001 for the B.C. Lion's Society for Children with Disabilities, and as well, with her husband Phil, is co-chairing the Vancouver Island's 24 Hour Relay.