Board of
Directors

Fred is a retired partner of Ernst & Young Canada, having retired in 2014 after 37 years with the Firm.His various roles prior to retirement were as Chief Development Officer for Canada (2011 to 2014), Managing Partner Western Canada (2005 to 2011), Managing Partner British Columbia (2001 to 2005) and Program Director for the Ernst & Young Pacific Region Entrepreneur of the Year Program (2001 to 2010).

Fred has been active at the University as a member of the Sauder School of Business Faculty Advisory Board (2004 to 2014) and served as Vice Chair of the Board from 2007 to 2014. He chaired the Opening Worlds Campaign, a campaign for the major redevelopment of the business school facilities.

Fred is a member of the Thunderbird Big Block Club (rowing) and represented Canada at the 1977 Rowing World Championships and the 1979 Pan American Games (silver medal).

In the community, Fred serves as Vice-Chair of the Vancouver Symphony Foundation and is a board member of Junior Achievement of British Columbia and the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation. He is a past chair of the Vancouver Symphony Society, the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame & Museum, and Boys’ & Girls’ Clubs of Greater Vancouver, and a past vice chair of the Vancouver Board of Trade. Fred is married to Dr. Kathy Jones (BSc’80) and together they are the proud parents of 4 daughters.

Mauro Manzi is Coast Capital’s Chief Commercial, Retail and Wealth Officer who provides strategic leadership to mobilize member-facing teams to deliver upon the credit union’s purpose of building better futures for its members and communities.

He has over 29 years of experience in financial services holding a number of senior leadership roles throughout his career. As the former Senior Vice President at TD Bank, Mauro developed and mobilized over 3,000 employees across BC and Yukon. He was also TD Bank’s Vice President for the Greater Toronto Area Region; District Vice President for their commercial banking division in BC and Yukon; Assistant Vice President for TD’s business banking sales and service teams and District Vice President for TD Canada Trust.

Mauro actively contributes to a number of charity and non-profit organizations through community board positions. He recently served as secretary and treasurer for the United Way of the Lower Mainland having led the Campaign Cabinet, a group of influential executive leaders from a diversity of industries and sectors, who lend their expertise and knowledge to help the United Way reach their annual fundraising goals.

He currently serves as a director of the Famiglia Bagnolese Society, an organization that promotes Italian culture and develops strong relationships in the Bagnolese community through education, social activity, youth engagement, sports and fine arts. Mauro has also been a board member for the Merrymount Children’s Centre, the Surrey Board of Trade, and the Vancouver Society of Children’s Centres.

Mauro holds a District Soccer Referee License and serves as referee for the Fraser Valley Men’s Soccer league. He resides in Surrey, BC, with his wife Luisa, and their two children aged 20 and 18 years.

Connie Fair has a BCom and MBA from UBC. She also obtained the designation of CPA, CMA and was named a Fellow of the BC CPA. Connie is a member of the Real Estate Institute of British Columbia and was awarded an honorary designation with the Appraisal Institute of Canada to recognize her work within the professional appraisal community. In 2012, she earned her designation as an Institute-Certified Director through the Institute of Corporate Directors. Connie was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women by the WXN, awarded Top CEO in the Public Services category by Business in Vancouver and a Woman of Distinction in Business and Professions by the YWCA.

At the end of 2020, Connie Fair retired after working almost 40 years in various executive roles in real estate and the public sector. Her most recent position was five years as the President and CEO of the Land Title and Survey Authority of BC (LTSA), a world leader in land-related registries offering online services. Prior to the LTSA, Connie spent eight years as the President and CEO of BC Assessment, where she helped that organization earn a reputation as one of the world’s leaders in property assessment. Earlier in her career, Connie worked as a real estate consultant, and was the Associate Director of the Real Estate Division within the UBC’s Sauder School of Business Administration.

An accomplished author and speaker, Connie is recognized internationally as an expert in leadership and the innovative application of technology in property valuation, registries and customer service.

Ian is Chief Information Officer at Metrie (formerly Moulding & Millwork / Sauder Industries Ltd.). Established in 1926 as a family owned and operated company, Metrie has helped transform spaces with exquisitely crafted architectural trim. Today, Metrie is North America’s leading manufacturer and distributor of solid wood and MDF interior finishing products, with 30 distribution centers and 8 manufacturing facilities in the US and Canada.

Ian has 20-years diverse business experience in Operations, Finance, Sales, Marketing and Information Technology. Prior to joining the Metrie Team in 2013, Ian worked with Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (RBA) to develop and launch new solutions that doubled RBA’s total addressable market. Ian was President of an Internet-based startup company based in Vancouver and, from 2006-2010, as Vice President of Global IT at PMC-Sierra (a leading provider of broadband communications and storage semiconductors), Ian led an IT Team responsible for global networks, infrastructure, applications and security in North America, Europe, Israel and Asia.

Ian also led the Western Canadian IT services and software solutions team at an $8B telecommunications company, the BC-based Management Consulting Practice at Fujitsu (formerly DMR) Consulting, and was CIO at a major transportation services Crown Corporation. He also served as Visiting Professor in Simon Fraser University’s Masters in Business Administration Program.

Ian received a Bachelor in Economics degree from University of British Columbia in 1992, and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Western Ontario in 1999. His Board experience includes for-profit and not-for-profit Boards including the BC Safety Authority, the CIO Association of Canada, and the Saint James Community Service Society – a large Vancouver-based charitable organization.

Michelle Cook is the assistant director of planning and events for the Government of Alberta. In a career spanning more than 20 years, Michelle has gained broad experience in the government, post-secondary education, and journalism sectors. She previously worked for Global Affairs Canada as well as the U.S. Department of State as the public affairs specialist at the U.S. Consulate General in Calgary. She also worked in UBC’s public affairs office for several years, where she specialized in promoting UBC’s research and teaching success stories to media worldwide. Her additional experience includes reporting for both of Vancouver’s daily newspapers, the Sun and the Province, and a stint at CTV Television in Calgary during the 1988 Winter Olympics.

She has a Master of Journalism from the University of British Columbia and a BA in English from McGill University in Montreal. She has lived and worked across Canada as well as in Okinawa, Japan, and Singapore, and spent a year at Hokkai Gakuen University in Sapporo, Japan, as a visiting research fellow, examining current issues in Japanese society, economy and culture.

For over 20 years, Miranda Huron, a member of the Mattawa North Bay Algonquins, has worked in Indigenous education with a specialization in language revitalization. Miranda is the Director of Indigenous Education and Affairs at Capilano University in North Vancouver. She came to this role fresh from her time as the Director of Indigenous Languages and Affairs at the Assembly of First Nations, where she led the team representing First Nations’ interests in the co-development and negotiation of the Indigenous Languages Act, which received Royal Assent under her tenure on June 21, 2019.  Miranda received both her BA and her MEd at UBC, and is currently working on her UBC doctoral research exploring the concept of co-development and its relation to self-determination.

Miranda sits on the BC Arts Council, and has sat on the Premiers’ Advisory Committee on Aboriginal Training, the UBC Vice-President’s Strategic Implementation Committee for Equity and Diversity, the UBC Senate (past) and the Capilano University Senate (current).

In her spare time, she likes to cycle across continents and spend time in the ocean or in the mountains.

Fred is a retired partner of Ernst & Young Canada, having retired in 2014 after 37 years with the Firm.His various roles prior to retirement were as Chief Development Officer for Canada (2011 to 2014), Managing Partner Western Canada (2005 to 2011), Managing Partner British Columbia (2001 to 2005) and Program Director for the Ernst & Young Pacific Region Entrepreneur of the Year Program (2001 to 2010).

Fred has been active at the University as a member of the Sauder School of Business Faculty Advisory Board (2004 to 2014) and served as Vice Chair of the Board from 2007 to 2014. He chaired the Opening Worlds Campaign, a campaign for the major redevelopment of the business school facilities.

Fred is a member of the Thunderbird Big Block Club (rowing) and represented Canada at the 1977 Rowing World Championships and the 1979 Pan American Games (silver medal).

In the community, Fred serves as Vice-Chair of the Vancouver Symphony Foundation and is a board member of Junior Achievement of British Columbia and the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation. He is a past chair of the Vancouver Symphony Society, the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame & Museum, and Boys’ & Girls’ Clubs of Greater Vancouver, and a past vice chair of the Vancouver Board of Trade. Fred is married to Dr. Kathy Jones (BSc’80) and together they are the proud parents of 4 daughters.

Anna Fung has practiced law in British Columbia for more than 37 years, 21 of which she served as corporate counsel at three large Canadian corporations.

Anna was appointed as a British Columbia Utilities Commissioner in 2018 and as Deputy Chair in 2019, after serving as Vice President, Legal & General Counsel for TimberWest Forest Corp., where she also served as its inaugural Chief Ethics Officer. From 2009-2011, Anna was Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer at Intrawest ULC and, prior to Intrawest, served as Senior Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer at Terasen Inc., for 15 years.

She is the Chair of the BC Unclaimed Property Society and has served as President of the British Columbia Law Society, Canadian Corporate Counsel Association, People’s Law School, Association of Chinese Canadian Professionals and BC Autism Association. She is a past director for Vancouver Airport Authority, the Vancouver Foundation, the BC Law Foundation, the Continuing Legal Education Society, Westcoast LEAF, the Canadian Bar Association and Arts Club Theatre Society.

In 2012, she received the UBC Allard School of Law Alumni Association Award of Distinction. She was an inaugural member of the Dean’s Advisory Committee for the Centre for Business Law at the Allard School of Law and also served on the alumni UBC Advisory Council from 2013-2018.

Diego Mandelbaum is the Senior Vice President of Development at Creative Energy where he spearheads company growth and the development of new renewable district energy infrastructure to create alternative assets that enrich the communities they serve and help accelerate the energy transition. Prior to his tenure at Creative Energy, Diego held the position of Managing Principal at Stantec’s Buildings Engineering and Architecture business unit, co-leading a team of over 300 professionals to design an array of world-class commercial, educational, healthcare, and industrial buildings.

Diego is an active participant in several industry and community organizations, previously serving on the Board of the BC Construction Roundtable, as the inaugural President of the Okanagan Section of ASHRAE, and as a committee member for 5 years on the UBC Alumni Advisory Council. Outside of the professional sphere, Diego finds balance on the mats, coaching and competing in submission wrestling as a jiu-jitsu blackbelt.

Grant Munro is a serial entrepreneur based in Vancouver.  He is the founder of LeapMotiv, a B2B venture studio that launches three to four new software businesses a year and the founder of Getware, an AI company that helps large enterprises understand and action customer feedback.

Previously, he was founder and CEO of Flashstock Technology Inc., a leading provider of on-demand visual content for the world’s leading brands. In 2017, Flashstock was acquired by Shutterstock for $75 million Canadian. To date, Grant has helped more than 250 enterprise marketing teams, including AB InBev, L’Oréal, Nestlé, and McDonald’s, amongst many others, change the way they think, develop, and source creative content at scale.

Grant holds an MBA from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and a BSc in Computer Science from the University of British Columbia. He has served as an Associate at the Creative Destruction Lab at the University of British Columbia since 2017.

Laura Silvester is currently Chief Operating Officer and Head of Product at Anthill, the only HR software solution to retain and engage the deskless workforce built by people scientists. Previously, Laura has held product management, partnership, strategy, and operational leadership roles at Hootsuite, the world’s first social media management platform, at Lululemon Athletica, the global athletic product innovator, retailer and brand, and at McKinsey & Company, the global management consulting firm.

Laura graduated from the Sauder School of Business in 2011 and received the Dorothy Anne Dilworth Memorial Shield for the most outstanding female graduate in the B.Comm program based on academics and volunteer contributions. As President of the Sauder Commerce Undergraduate Society (CUS), she introduced major constitutional reform including the establishment of the CUS Board of Directors.

Building learning community is a joy for Laura. She is a co-founder and Alumni Leader of Sauder: In Real Life, a life strategy program for students at the Sauder School of Business. She also served as a Board Director for the non-profit organization, JDC West. As a strategic thinker, operational problem-solver, and purpose-driven leader, Laura’s purpose is to elevate the world by solving big problems together with other lifelong learners. Laura’s biggest learnings to date come from parenting two energetic children.

Warren graduated from UBC in 1989 (BA – Political Science) and was a member of the Men’s Varsity Rowing Team throughout his time at UBC.

After graduating from UBC, Warren went on to earn his CA designation with Ernst and Young in Vancouver. His career has spanned a number of industries and he has served as CFO of Sierra Systems Group, TimberWest and at Aritzia. He then went on to serve as CEO of Hold It All Inc., the holding company of Chip Wilson (founder of Lululemon) and as the President & CEO of Augusta Capital Corporation. He is currently the Chief Strategy and Business Development Officer at Odlum Brown.

Warren has completed executive education at Harvard University and has obtained the ICD.D designation for Corporate Board Governance at the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management.

Warren serves on the board of the BC Parks Foundation (Chair of the Finance & Audit Committee), he is a member of the alumni UBC Advisory Council and serves on both the Finance & Audit and Alumni Achievement Awards Selection Committee of alumni UBC. He is a member of the UBC Gold For Life Committee, supporting rowing at UBC, is a member of the Cabinet of the Business Laureates of BC Hall of Fame, and is a mentor/coach with the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs.

Previously, Warren served for six years as Vice-Chair of the Board of the BC Women’s Health Foundation, served as a Foundation Director of the Boys and Girls Clubs Foundation of South Coast BC for over 10 years, and served seven years on the Cabinet of the United Way, including acting as Cabinet Co-Chair in 2011/12.

In 2022, Warren was awarded the Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCPA, FCA) designation by his peers in recognition of his professional and community contributions. In 2024, he was inducted into the UBC Sports Hall of Fame in the “Builder” category along with his peers on the UBC Gold For Life Committee.

An avid cyclist, Warren is a member of the Lotus Cycling Team based in Vancouver.

Connie Fair has a BCom and MBA from UBC. She also obtained the designation of CPA, CMA and was named a Fellow of the BC CPA. Connie is a member of the Real Estate Institute of British Columbia and was awarded an honorary designation with the Appraisal Institute of Canada to recognize her work within the professional appraisal community. In 2012, she earned her designation as an Institute-Certified Director through the Institute of Corporate Directors. Connie was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women by the WXN, awarded Top CEO in the Public Services category by Business in Vancouver and a Woman of Distinction in Business and Professions by the YWCA.

At the end of 2020, Connie Fair retired after working almost 40 years in various executive roles in real estate and the public sector. Her most recent position was five years as the President and CEO of the Land Title and Survey Authority of BC (LTSA), a world leader in land-related registries offering online services. Prior to the LTSA, Connie spent eight years as the President and CEO of BC Assessment, where she helped that organization earn a reputation as one of the world’s leaders in property assessment. Earlier in her career, Connie worked as a real estate consultant, and was the Associate Director of the Real Estate Division within the UBC’s Sauder School of Business Administration.

An accomplished author and speaker, Connie is recognized internationally as an expert in leadership and the innovative application of technology in property valuation, registries and customer service.

Robin Gill has spent nearly three decades as a journalist at both the national and local level. In her role as Global National correspondent and anchor, she served Canadians across the country in delivering major stories including the pandemic, the BC floods and fires, countless federal elections, and the aftermath of the tsunami and earthquake in Japan.

Her journalism career has taken her to reporting stints in Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. In 2022, Robin switched careers and took on a role as Vice President of Talk Shop Media where she consulted and media trained executives at major Canadian companies and non-profits. Robin now spends her time as a communications consultant and freelance radio talk show host.

Robin serves on the board of the Jack Webster Foundation and has served as a Gala Committee Volunteer with the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation, Canuck Place Children’s Hospice, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada, and the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs BC.

Robin has a BA in International Relations from UBC and a diploma in Broadcast Journalism from BCIT.

Christian Hansen is the Regional Director General (Pacific Region) with Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada. Prior to this position, he was a Canadian Foreign Service officer for 24 years, working in Japan, Norway, Belgium, Ottawa and Vancouver. His most recent assignment was as Regional Director and Senior Trade Commissioner for Global Affairs Canada. He also serves as a Board Observer of Genome BC.

Christian has remained actively connected to UBC, speaking at Sauder School of Business events and mentoring students. He served on the External Advisory Council of the Sauder International Business Conference and has been involved with the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs (SPPGA) since its inception, mentoring successive classes of MPPGA students and advising on Corporate Social Responsibility. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) from UBC and a Master of Public Policy (International Relations) from Princeton.

Mauro Manzi is Coast Capital’s Chief Commercial, Retail and Wealth Officer who provides strategic leadership to mobilize member-facing teams to deliver upon the credit union’s purpose of building better futures for its members and communities.

He has over 29 years of experience in financial services holding a number of senior leadership roles throughout his career. As the former Senior Vice President at TD Bank, Mauro developed and mobilized over 3,000 employees across BC and Yukon. He was also TD Bank’s Vice President for the Greater Toronto Area Region; District Vice President for their commercial banking division in BC and Yukon; Assistant Vice President for TD’s business banking sales and service teams and District Vice President for TD Canada Trust.

Mauro actively contributes to a number of charity and non-profit organizations through community board positions. He recently served as secretary and treasurer for the United Way of the Lower Mainland having led the Campaign Cabinet, a group of influential executive leaders from a diversity of industries and sectors, who lend their expertise and knowledge to help the United Way reach their annual fundraising goals.

He currently serves as a director of the Famiglia Bagnolese Society, an organization that promotes Italian culture and develops strong relationships in the Bagnolese community through education, social activity, youth engagement, sports and fine arts. Mauro has also been a board member for the Merrymount Children’s Centre, the Surrey Board of Trade, and the Vancouver Society of Children’s Centres.

Mauro holds a District Soccer Referee License and serves as referee for the Fraser Valley Men’s Soccer league. He resides in Surrey, BC, with his wife Luisa, and their two children aged 20 and 18 years.

Dr. Amin Shivji graduated from UBC in 1988 with a BSc in Biology and entered the Faculty of Dentistry at UBC, graduating in 1993. Upon graduation, he opened his first dental clinic with two partners in Vancouver, BC. In July 2017, Dr. Shivji co-founded the 123Dentist national platform, creating Canada’s oldest and largest majority-dentist owned network of over 450 dental practices and 9,000 team members. As the CEO of 123Dentist, he believes putting patients above all else is the most essential component to any successful dental practice.

Dr. Shivji is an advocate for the industry and generously contributes his time and resources to dental institutions and other worthy causes. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Vancouver Police Foundation. He’s an experienced operator, an active mentor, a respected clinician, and still enjoys practicing dentistry today.

Howard Soon has spent most of his career as a winemaker and is well known for sharing his expertise as a collaborator, mentor, and wine educator.

A graduate of the Faculty of Science in biochemistry, Howard spent five years in the brewing industry before steering his creativity in a new direction. For the next 37 years – from 1980 to 2017 – he was involved in winemaking at Calona Vineyards of Kelowna, including as the founding winemaker of the award‑winning Sandhill Wines.

His commitment to the industry is highlighted by his volunteer work on various industry and government boards including the Scientific Advisory Board for Grape and Wine Genomics, a research project involving Genome BC and Genome Canada. He is a recipient of numerous wine industry awards and was honoured as a Member of the Order of Canada in 2019.

He is an industry advisor at the UBC Wine Research Centre and is a former Faculty of Land & Food Systems Advisory Board member. Howard is a regular speaker and a panelist at UBC events on both UBC campuses and also leads local and international wine tours through the alumni UBC Travel Club program.

In 2020, UBC awarded Howard with an honorary Doctor of Science degree.

A UBC alum, Chancellor Rogers’ extensive career is marked by significant leadership roles and contributions to public administration, community development, and governance. Most recently, she was a member of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority’s Board of Directors from December 2017 to July 2023, assuming the position of chair from August 2018.

Chancellor Rogers held the role of city manager of the City of Vancouver from 1999 to 2008, and also served on the board for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. She is largely credited with drafting the inclusivity statement that was central to Vancouver’s bid for the 2010 Olympics.

Chancellor Rogers’ contributions have been recognized with numerous awards and honours. She received the Order of Canada in 2017 and has won two United Nations public service awards for her leadership role in the Downtown Eastside Community Development Project.

In addition to her extensive career in public service and governance, Chancellor Rogers operated her own consulting firm, in which she advised private, public, and Crown corporations in government affairs and communications. She has also served as past chair of the B.C. Assessment Authority, the B.C. Housing Commission, and the UBC Alumni Association.

Chancellor Rogers holds a Bachelor of Recreation Education degree from UBC, a Master’s degree in public administration from the University of Victoria, and an honorary doctorate from Capilano University.

Heather McCaw rejoined her alma mater in 2018 to lead its Development and Alumni Relations (DAE) portfolio, having served previously as the Vice-President of Advancement at the University of Alberta. As UBC’s Vice-President, DAE, Heather leads the development and alumni engagement activities across the university’s two campuses. Over the course of her career, she has been involved in several major campaigns and co-directed UBC’s historic “start an evolution” fundraising and alumni engagement campaign which raised over $1.6 billion from 2008 through 2015 and actively engaged more than 130,000 alumni in the life of the university.

In addition to 25 years of experience in the post-secondary sector, Heather was vice-president of two associated consulting companies, Give Canada Fundraising Corporation and Spectrum Marketing Corporation. These organizations specialize in securing strategic business partnerships and multimillion- dollar donations on behalf of non-profit clients that have included the United Way of the Lower Mainland, the Rick Hansen Foundation, the universities of Calgary and Victoria, and the Toronto Rehab Foundation. Heather’s volunteer activities have focused on social services, education, and disability resources.

Heather has a BCom from UBC and has worked at UBC for more than 20 years in total throughout her career.

Natalie Cook Zywicki is a member of the University of British Columbia’s development and alumni engagement leadership team. As the Executive Director/AVP for alumni UBC, Natalie plays a key role in leading efforts towards establishing a strong, sustainable and growing culture of alumni engagement at UBC and building a robust, strategic partnership between the alumni association and the university.

Natalie served as the Associate Executive Director at alumni UBC during UBC’s highly successful start an evolution alumni engagement and fundraising campaign, which concluded in September 2015. This dual-goal campaign was unique in Canada and exceeded expectations by raising $1.624 billion and engaging 130,005 alumni (more than doubling the annual rate of engagement since its launch).

In 2009, Natalie was appointed the Director of University Partnerships at alumni UBC and was tasked with the unique challenge of establishing a cohesive campus-wide alumni engagement program. Today, as the result of Natalie’s leadership, UBC has a highly effective cross-campus alumni engagement program that works collaboratively.

Over the past 30 years, Natalie has enjoyed successful careers in student recruitment, alumni engagement and fundraising in the post-secondary sector. Prior to joining UBC, Natalie launched her career in student recruitment at Brock University and then served six years at McMaster University successfully leading the DeGroote School of Business alumni and development program. In 2004, Natalie joined UBC as the Manager of Development and went on to lead the Faculty of Medicine’s alumni and development program, as well as the annual giving program.

Natalie, holds a BA and an MBA and has presented at several Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education (CCAE) national conferences and is currently serving on the CCAE National Board.