Cybele Negris, ICD.D

President, CEO & Co-Founder, Webnames.ca
Vice-Chair, Board of Directors, Science World British Columbia

Cybele Negris is a serial entrepreneur, seasoned board member, speaker, mentor, and columnist. Cybele is CEO & Co-Founder of  Webnames.ca, Canada’s original .CA Registrar and provider of hundreds of domain extensions, webhosting, email, security products, and other online solutions. Webnames’ clients include some of the country’s largest corporations, government, law-firms, and global Fortune 500 brands.

Cybele is on the board, audit, and HR committees of the Royal Canadian Mint, the board of BCAA, and the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. She is Vice-Chair of the Small Business Roundtable of BC, and is appointed by the Minister of Job, Trade, and Technology to the three-member Small Business Task Force of BC. She also serves on the Technical Advisory Board for the Riverview Lands Redevelopment in Coquitlam, the advisory council of Science World, SFU Innovates, and other organizations.

A Hall of Fame Inductee of Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women and nine time winner of PROFIT W100, some of Cybele’s other recognitions include BC Business Most Influential Women in Business 2018, 2017, 2015, and Business In Vancouver’s Influential Women in Business 2010 and Top 40 Under 40 for 2003. 

Launi Skinner

CEO, First West Credit Union 
Past Chair, Board of Directors, Science World British Columbia

Launi is the Chief Executive Officer of First West Credit Union, one of Canada’s leading credit unions with $10 billion in assets under administration, 240,000 members and 1,700 employees. Launi leads visioning and strategic direction for First West.

Before joining First West, Launi served as president of Starbucks U.S., where she oversaw 7,000 company-owned stores and 3,400 licensed stores, and managed an extensive management team with operational responsibility for 130,000 employees.

Known for inspiring change and achieving results, Launi has been recognized as one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women and as one of Fortune Magazine’s 50 Most Powerful Women’s feature “Four Women to Watch”.

Launi is currently a board member for Qtrade Financial Group, Rocky Mountaineer and Science World.

In the community she serves as a leader for the Minerva Foundation for BC Women as well as past event chair for the Vancouver YWCA Women of Distinction Awards.

Jade Bourelle

Entrepreneur; founder, The Bourelle Family Giving Fund
Secretary, Board of Directors, Science World British Columbia

Jade Bourelle has a passion for entrepreneurship and building the next generation of leaders and has focused on building organizations and talent for over 30 years.  Jade lives in Surrey, British Columbia with his wife Tammy and their children, Cole and Morgan. 

Jade has recently joined the Board at Science World to support igniting the youth of British Columbia to follow careers in Science and Technology.

Jade and Tammy support youth related programs with their time and through The Bourelle Family Giving Fund including Camp Grafton, Options Community Services, La Jornada and various student scholarship programs. 

Prior, Jade served as the Chair of the YPO Edison Innovation Awards, Co-Founder of the Simon Fraser University Venture Connection program, Chair of the EO Global Student Entrepreneur awards, Co-Founder of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Awards and Executive Director of ACE (now Enactus), a national organization focused on encouraging student entrepreneurship.  

Jade is the founder of Inception Ventures, a private equity company focused on creating and operating original ventures.  He is currently the Co-Founder and Chairman of Visual CV an online career resource service that works with over three million members.  In addition, Jade is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Mindfield Group, a recruiting company that has placed over 100,000 job seekers with hourly employers throughout Canada.

In 1999 Jade founded Talemetry, a software company focused on marketing job opportunities for global companies. Over 20 years Talemetry has enabled leading companies attract and hire millions of employees.   In 2018, Talementry was sold to K1, a private equity company and Jade continues to serve as an advisor.

Jade is a long-standing member of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) and the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO).

Ivor Luk, ACA (UK)

Partner, Deloitte LLP
Treasurer, Board of Directors, Science World British Columbia

Ivor is a Senior Partner at Deloitte responsible for some of the firm's most important client relationships. He also currently serves as a Director on the firm's Board of Directors repsonsible for the governance of Deloitte Canada and Chile.

Ivor's global experience includes 8 years with Deloitte's UK London practice (from 1997 to 2005), focusing on providing assurance, M&A and IPO advisory services to high growth private and listed companies in the UK, Europe, and the Americas. Since 2005, Ivor has resided in Canada, initially leading Deloitte's Toronto M&A practice as national leader of our UK IPO Services team. While in Toronto, he provided service to entrepreneurs and high growth through acquisitions, and completing public financings for companies focused on resources, manufacturing and technology. 

Working directly with C-Suite and Boards of Directors in Vancouver and Western Canada, Ivor provides business advisory, financial due diligence, financial oversight and control assessment and counsel to our most complex high growth clients.

Wendi Campbell

Managing Director, Clients & Markets Strategy, KPMG Canada

Wendi is the Managing Director, Clients & Markets Strategy for KPMG Canada. At KPMG Wendi develops and leads strategic market initiatives and formulates the operational plans to execute them.

Wendi has enjoyed a +30-year career working in a wide variety of leadership roles. As a Chartered Professional Accountant, she served Audit and Tax clients, led internal teams in Human Resources and Marketing, before turning to a national Strategy and Markets focus over the last 10 years with KPMG.

Wendi is recognized as a strong relationship builder connecting people and ideas across the organization and for her ability to turn strategic imperatives into actions that drive value.

Wendi’s community outreach includes being a past board member of the BC/Yukon Region of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and the Vancouver International Marathon Society. As a mother of two, she is enthusiastic about STEAM education and cultivating the next generation of innovators. In her spare time, she enjoys combining her love of running and biking with travel, made even better when joined by family and friends.

Nolan Charles

Councillor, Musqueam Indian Band

Mr. Charles is privileged to serve as a Council Member for the Musqueam Indian Band for the last 22 years and has played an active role on council committees dealing with substantive treaty, lands and finance issues. He is currently employed with BC Hydro and also serves as a director for the Musqueam Capital Corporation, the Fraser River Discovery Center and previously the Fraser Basin Council. He has been involved in policy analysis and negotiations for the private sector that has resulted in joint venture projects with first nation communities. Mr. Charles also rounds out his expertise as a member of the Board of Trustees for the $20.M – Musqueam 2010 Olympic Legacy Trust, on behalf of the Musqueam Indian Band. He has accumulated enough credits at The Justice Institute of British Columbia in Conflict Resolution Specializing in Negotiation to qualify for Certification and will continue his pursuit of Professional Development at JIBC; Nolan has also placed 3rd out of 50 contestants at Yuk Yuk’s Vancouver’s Search for New Talent in Stand-Up Comedy.

Jesse Houston

CEO & Co-Founder, Phoenix Labs

Jesse Houston is the CEO & Co-Founder of Phoenix Labs, a leading video game studio in Vancouver, BC, and developer behind the popular free-to-play title, Dauntless. Since its founding in 2014, Jesse has grown Phoenix Labs from a three-person startup to an international powerhouse with studios in Vancouver, Montreal, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Prior to founding Phoenix Labs, he held key leadership roles at both Riot Games and BioWare.

A lifetime proponent of science, technology, and education, Jesse is a regular guest speaker at the USC Annenberg School of Communications, where he talks to students about game development. He is also a former Secretary of the Royal Astronomy Society of Canada.

Jesse lived and worked in Montreal, Edmonton, and Los Angeles before returning home to British Columbia in 2014. He now resides in Vancouver with his wife, Erica, and their two daughters.

Andrea Johnston

SVP and CFO, Pinnacle Renewable Energy

Andrea is the SVP and CFO of Pinnacle Renewable Energy with responsibility for leading Pinnacle’s overall operations.  Pinnacle is part of Drax Group, the world’s leading sustainable bioenergy generation and supply business. Pinnacle’s products are made from sustainable forests’ residuals and are the green solution to baseload energy generation in the U.K., Europe, Japan, and South Korea.  Andrea enjoys developing teams to advance the use of renewable and sustainable energy sources and technology to help us better manage energy and precious resources.

Prior to joining the Pinnacle team to drive the 2018 initial public offering, Andrea was CFO for the Natural Resources industry group for Dassault Systemes, Europe’s second largest software company.  She was previously CEO of an energy technology start-up that she sold to Areva T&D.

After graduation from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Commerce, Andrea went on to obtain professional designations as a Chartered Professional Accountant (CA), Chartered Business Valuator, and Certified Public Accountant (Delaware).  In 2016 she graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Arts (Literature). 

Andrea is a Board member of the Bloom Group, a not-for-profit with a vision for strong and resilient communities where all persons have adequate housing and health care, and where everyone is supported to live with a sense of self-worth and self-determination. Andrea currently sits on the CPA Canada Advisory Board for Sustainable Business.  She was named B.C. CFO of the Year for Large Public Companies in 2020.   Andrea’s passion for innovation and sustainable energy are shared with skiing, tennis, and time with her husband and two daughters pursuing careers in engineering.

Dr. Shimi Kang

Clinical Associate Professor, University of British Columbia; CEO, Spark Mindset

Dr. Shimi K Kang, MD, is an award-winning, Harvard-trained psychiatrist, researcher, media expert, and international keynote speaker. She is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia and #1 best-selling author of The Dolphin Parent and The Tech Solution: Creating Healthy Habits for Growing up in A Digital World. Dr. Kang is passionate about providing science-based tools that optimize the power of the human mind. She is the founder of Dolphin Kids: Future-Ready Leaders, CEO of Spark Mindset, and host of the YouTube show Mental Wealth with Dr. Shimi Kang. She has received numerous honours including the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry and YWCA Woman of Distinction Awards. Dr. Kang is most proud of receiving the Diamond Jubilee Medal for her years of outstanding community service and of being the mother of three awesome but exhausting children.

Kenndal McArdle

Principal, Pender Ventures

Kenndal McArdle is currently a Principal at Pender Ventures, a brand of PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. In this role, Kenndal has over 6 years of professional investing experience, with a predominate focus on early-stage technology companies. In addition to his work as an investor, Kenndal aides in operationalizing systems and processes for PenderFund Capital Ltd.

Kenndal is a board observer for Clarius Mobile Health and Checkfront Technologies, and is a strategic advisor to numerous start-up companies providing guidance on capital raising and governance. Other private market transactions include Jane Software and Librestream Technologies. Previously, he was a professional athlete and enjoyed a successful career in the NHL, most notably on the left wing for the Winnipeg Jets and Florida Panthers. He earned his CFA Charter in 2018 and is actively involved with the CFA Vancouver Society.

Gail Murphy

Vice President, Research and Innovation, University of British Columbia

Gail C. Murphy is a Professor of Computer Science and Vice-President Research and Innovation at the University of British Columbia. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), as well as co-founder, board member and former Chief Scientist at Tasktop Technologies Incorporated.

After completing her B.Sc. at the University of Alberta in 1987, she worked for five years as a software engineer in the Lower Mainland. She later pursued graduate studies in computer science at the University of Washington, earning first a M.Sc. (1994) and then a Ph.D. (1996) before joining UBC.

Dr. Murphy’s research focuses on improving the productivity of software developers and knowledge workers by providing the necessary tools to identify, manage and coordinate the information that matters most for their work. She also maintains an active research group with post-doctoral and graduate students.

Manny Padda

Founder & Managing Director, New Avenue Capital
Founder, PM Search Partners

Manny is an entrepreneur, educator, angel investor, and philanthropist in Vancouver, BC. A self-made entrepreneur who built his first multi-million-dollar company at age 26, Manny is dedicated to providing education and mentorship to today’s youth. Currently Founder and Managing Director of New Avenue Capital and PM Search Partners. New Avenue Capital is an early-stage investment firm dedicated to generating both strong financial returns and social impact. PM Search Partners is a division of New Avenue Capital, PM Search specializes in recruitment of Board, C-Suite, and Executive teams Resources & Technology

Manny sits on a number of advisory boards in the education and not-for-profit sectors, and is an active advisor and angel investor in Vancouver’s tech community and around the globe. He has invested in local start-ups including Picatic, MyBestHelper, G-Kup, ShareShed and NovaBind.

Manny is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Private Equity & Venture Capital program. Manny also completed his MBA from Queen’s University and his BBA (Honours) from SFU.

Doug Sheppard

Superintendent of Schools, Delta School District No. 37

Doug Sheppard is currently the Superintendent of Schools for the Delta School District.  With a BSc in Zoology from UBC and a Masters of Educational Leadership from SFU, Doug has over 25 years in public education beginning as a Secondary School teacher of Math and Science followed by various school and district administrative positions in the Richmond, Coquitlam and the Delta School District.  Doug was named one of Canada’s Outstanding Principals by the Learning Partnership in 2009. 

As Superintendent in Delta, Doug is focused on achieving the District’s vision of becoming a “Leading District in Innovative Teaching and Learner Success”.  The district’s focus on questioning and inquiry as methods of investigating both student learning and educator practice is central to the achievement of this work. 

Doug lives in Delta with his wife and three children and remains deeply curious about the natural world close to home and globally.  

Rich Simons

Business/Marketing Advisor, Archerra Leadership Team

Rich Simons is a proven business leader. His background includes building companies in Vancouver, Toronto and Seattle. His diverse experience, with the full range of marketing and business building skills, provides a unique perspective, strength and depth.

His background includes manufacturing, advertising and the high tech industry. He started his career in 1968 when he founded the Simons, Palmer & Lecky Advertising Agency. As the senior partner from 1968-1975, Rich developed the agency’s business into a firm with billings in excess of $1,500,000.

He then established his own full-service advertising agency, Simons Advertising. There, he generated billings in excess of $35 million and an impressive client base including Kentucky Fried Chicken, Canada Safeway, Federal Government of Canada, and the Province of British Columbia. In 1988, Simons Advertising merged with Palmer Jarvis Advertising.

Rich also founded PJS Communications, which he built into a leading public relations firm in British Columbia, with client billings in excess of $1.5 million. He also served as Executive Vice-President of Babykins International from 1990-1992. During this time Babykins became a $6 million per year public company, manufacturing “environmentally friendly” baby products.

In late 1992, Rich accepted an offer to move to the U.S. where he had great success with the Raymond Group, doubling its size in three years. In June of 2001, he returned to Vancouver. One year later, he accepted the position of President and CEO of RewardStream Inc., a software development company providing innovative Customer Lifestyle marketing solutions worldwide. From July of 2004 until the present, Rich has been actively involved with several hi-tech companies in the Vancouver market. He advises on board composition, business structures, and commercial transaction formulation. He also provides entrepreneurial guidance for new CEOs and plays an advisory role in business building.

Rich was elected to the Science World Board of Directors in 2006, served for seven years, and appointed for an additional year in 2013.  Rich participated on a number of Committees and Task Forces:  Governance & Nominating, Government Relations, Strategic Marketing, Chair's Council, Champions Circle (Chair), Capital Campaign Cabinet, Equity (Chair), and Strategic Fund Development.  Currently Rich is on the Chair’s Council, the Equity Giving Committee and is the Chair of the Champions Circle & Chairs Club. Rich was named a Patron of Science World in 2015.

Rich and his wife, Linda Kathleen, have two children who are now married and residing in the United States.

Keith Spencer

Partner, Fasken

Keith Spencer is a leading information technology lawyer in British Columbia. As Co-Leader of the firm’s Start-Up & Emerging Company Services group, he provides expert advice to start-up and mature private technology companies. Keith is the recipient of the BC Technology Industry Association’s Bill Thompson Lifetime Achievement Award for his exemplary efforts and his passion for entrepreneurs.

Keith’s passion for the technology sector was cultivated early in his legal career, having worked as in-house counsel for the Vancouver-based Wireless Data Group of Motorola, and to D-Wave Systems.

A member of various boards and advisory committees, Keith plays a significant role in number of early stage and emerging technology companies and technology industry associations.

Lecturing on technology and intellectual property law is another passion of Keith’s and he can be found at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia, and at various CLE BC and IT industry conferences. He also authors articles in the areas of computer and information technology, outsourcing, e-commerce and intellectual property law.

Kirsten Sutton, ICD.D

Chief Technology & Information Officer, Vancity

Kirsten Sutton is an unconventional tech leader. With a background as a professionally trained chef, she navigated a significant career pivot to become one of Vancouver’s most celebrated tech execs. As Chief Technology & Information Officer at Vancity, Kirsten drives the organization’s digital strategy, linking community members through technology.

Her experience in the tech sector spans 25 years, previously at SAP across a variety of roles and most recently the Managing Director for SAP Labs Canada, the 3000-strong development organization across the country. But that only tells part of Kirsten’s story. 

Regarded as an energetic and authentic leader, Kirsten is a highly engaged in the community. Holding roles of leadership as: member of the Government of BC’s Presidents Group which champions accessible and inclusive workplaces, Senior Vice-Chair of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, and board director of BC Tech and Science World.

Kirsten has been recognized as a YWCA Woman of Distinction and received a Business in Vancouver Influential Women In Business award. She is also an in-demand speaker with more than 35 engagements a year.

Before pursuing a career in technology Kirsten explored 24 different jobs early in her career. The most interesting? You’ll have to ask her, but private investigator is up there.

Martin Thibodeau

Regional President, British Columbia, RBC Royal Bank

As Regional President, British Columbia, RBC Royal Bank, Martin Thibodeau leads a team of over 4,000 employees in BC; dedicated to providing financial advice and services to over 1.5 million personal, small business and commercial clients.

Martin joined RBC 30 years ago, and has held a number of senior management positions that led him to travel across the country, notably as Regional President, Quebec; Regional Vice-President, Eastern New Brunswick and P.E.I.; Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer, Quebec Headquarters; Regional Vice-President, Commercial Financial Services, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and North Ontario; and Vice-President, Canadian Banking, Toronto.

An energetic, inspiring and authentic leader, Martin is very committed to his community and has dedicated his time and skills in service of a number of organizations. Martin is a Governor of the BC Business Council, a Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Cancer Research Society, he sits on the Board of Directors for BC Children’s Hospital and is part of the CABGU Board for BC & Alberta. At RBC, Martin is the CoChair for the Diversity Leadership Council and he has head the Centraide/United Way campaign for financial institutions for many years.

During his career, Martin has received several distinctions and recognition from his peers, including the Alter-Ego Award presented by the Association des femmes en finance du Québec, Global Citizen’s Award, presented by RBC, Pytagore Award from Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Performance Award from ESG-UQAM, and Personality of the Year, Financial Institutions from Finance & Investment.

In his spare time, Martin can be found golfing and skiing the local mountains with his wife, Caroline, with whom he has three children. A graduate of the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières; Martin holds an MBA from the School of Management at the Université du Québec à Montréal (ESG-UQAM)