Board Chair, Suzanne Trottier is the vice-president of Indigenous trust services with First Nations Bank Trust. Trottier is a proud Métis who grew up in Manitoba with maternal roots to the Lake Manitoba First Nation. Previously, she was the director of capacity development and intervention with the First Nations Financial Management Board and vice-president of Ernst & Young Corporate Finance Inc. Active in her community, Trottier is a board member and member of the Risk Committee and the Audit Committee for the Business Development Bank of Canada. Previously, she was treasurer for North Fraser Métis Association and Actions Enfrance. Trottier was also a board member of Aboriginal Finance Officers Association of Quebec and a committee member for the National Financial Literacy Committee and the National Indigenous Financial Literacy Committee. She is a chartered financial analyst and an ICD.D with the Institute of Corporate Directors. Trottier holds a master of business administration in finance from the University of Western Ontario and a bachelor of arts in sociology from the University of Manitoba.

Heather Conradi was the Director of Impact Investing at Vancity where she led private market fund investing initiatives. Heather has a deep background sourcing, structuring and managing complex financings across a wide variety of industry sectors. She has worked with start-up technology and life science companies, social enterprises, environmentally focused firms and multi-sectoral venture capital funds, through the provision of capital and as a Board Director and member of Limited Partner Advisory Committees. Heather has also been involved with many community organizations including serving as the Director and Investment Committee Member of the Co-operators Community Funds, Treasurer and Director of Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland, Director of the Vancouver Enterprise Forum and mentor to the McConnell Solutions Finance Accelerator. Heather holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Queens University, an MBA from the University of British Columbia and the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Iglika Ivanova is an economist and policy analyst with a decade of experience in analyzing Canadian labour markets and public policy. Ivanova is a senior economist and public interest researcher at the BC Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, where she has produced high-impact research on key social and economic challenges facing Canada and developed evidence-based policy proposals to build a more just, inclusive and sustainable economy. She is an active member of academic and professional economist networks, Canadian Association for Business Economics and the Canadian Economics Association. Ivanova’s areas of expertise include B.C. and Canadian labour market issues, job quality, low-wage work and living wages, poverty, income inequality, gender inequality, government finance, economic and social policy, and applying a gender and intersectional lens to public policy decisions.

Carole James served as minister of finance and deputy premier of British Columbia from 2017 to 2020. She has been recognized for her work and leadership through her many elected appointments, locally, provincially and nationally, serving in elected roles for over 25 years. Her public service has included National Democratic Institute Elections Missions in Morocco, Algeria and Georgia. James was a director for child and family services at Carrier Sekani Family Services and co-ordinator for Northern Aboriginal Authority for Families. Active in her community, she was chair of the Greater Victoria School Board, president of the BC School Trustees Association, and first and second vice-president of the Canadian School Boards Association. James is an honourary life member of the Vancouver Island Cooperative Preschool Association and the B.C. School Trustees Association, and she served as a foster parent for over 20 years for children and adults with developmental disabilities.

Natascha Kiernan is a lawyer, independent director and strategic advisor. She currently serves as the Vice Chair of the BC Energy Regulator and as an independent director of Soma Gold Corp. (TSXV: Soma), Empress Royalty Corp. (TSXV: EMPR) and Green Impact Partners. She also serves on the Project Selection Committee for Cycle 6 of Canada’s Digital Supercluster. Natascha has extensive experience with chairing public company committees, including governance, compensation and ESG committees, and with serving on audit committees. Her legal background includes advising on some of the world’s largest and most complex infrastructure and energy projects, including renewable energy and cleantech projects. She also has experience serving on the boards of several non-profit charitable and educational organizations and she currently serves as a Regional Ambassador for Women Get on Board, an organization whose purpose is to promote women in leadership positions.

Dr. Carol Liao is Associate Professor at the UBC Allard School of Law and the UBC Sauder Distinguished Fellow of the Dhillon Centre for Business Ethics at the UBC Sauder School of Business. She is Chair and Principal Co-Investigator of the Canada Climate Law Initiative, a national research centre advancing director knowledge on the latest in climate science, climate risk disclosures and fiduciary obligations. She is internationally recognized for her expertise in corporate law and sustainability, climate governance, ESG and EDI, and has widely published in these fields. Dr. Liao is a director of the Canadian Foundation for Governance Research at the Institute of Corporate Directors, YWCA Metro Vancouver and the Pacific Canada Heritage Centre – Museum of Migration Society. She also sits on the Advisory Committee of the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers BC, the Advisory Council of BCBusiness, and the Solicitors’ Legal Opinions Committee of BC. Prior to academia, Dr. Liao was a senior lawyer in the New York Mergers & Acquisitions Group of an international law firm, where she represented private and public multinational corporations in a variety of transactional and governance matters.

Fazil Mihlar was appointed effective December 7, 2022, as Deputy Minister, Ministry of Jobs Economic Development and Innovation. Prior to this role, Fazil was Deputy Minister, Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation; Deputy Minister, Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development and Competitiveness; Deputy Minister, Climate Leadership; Assistant Deputy Minister, Institutions and Programs Division, Ministry of Advanced Education; and Assistant Deputy Minister, Oil and Strategic Initiatives Division, Ministry of Natural Gas Development. Before joining government in 2013, Fazil was Associate Editor of The Vancouver Sun newspaper. Fazil holds a B.A. in Economics from Simon Fraser University, an M.A. in Public Administration from Carleton University and a Marketing Diploma from the Chartered Institute of Marketing in London, England. He has also completed a Certificate Course on Risk Management at Harvard University and the ICD-Rotman Directors’ Education Program with the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Dr. Daniel Muzyka is Dean Emeritus of the UBC Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia. He has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of The Conference Board of Canada and as Vice-President and Chair of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). He was previously the Dean and the RBC Financial Group Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Sauder School of Business at UBC, as well as the Dean of the Faculty of Management at UBC Okanagan. Dr. Muzyka has been a board member and consultant to several other business and not-for-profit organizations, including as Vice Chair and a public director of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC), the Vancouver Board of Trade (Past Chair), Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC), New Ventures BC and the European Venture Capital Association. Dr. Muzyka also chaired the NSERC Expert Advisory Committee on Partnerships and Innovation. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Astrophysics from Williams College, a Master of Business Administration in Corporate Strategy from the Wharton School and a Doctor of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.

Heather Wood is British Columbia’s deputy minister of finance and secretary to Treasury Board. She has also held the roles of deputy minister and secretary to Treasury Board, associate deputy minister Treasury Board staff and assistant deputy minister Policy and Legislation Division. Prior to joining the BC Public Service in 2011, Wood was an assistant deputy minister within the Department of Finance for the Province of Manitoba, a position she held for more than three years.