Pietra Basilij

Sustainable Community Development

The Vancouver Economic Commission

Pietra is the Vancouver Economic Commission’s lead on sustainable community development. She works primarily with industrial businesses to spur the shift to a more circular economy, support the development of smarter logistics systems, and create a stronger business ecosystem for innovative, creative, and sustainable industrial operations.

Keith Ippel

Founder at Spring University

LinkedIn

I’m passionate about helping entrepreneurs change the world by connecting their ideas with the right tools, resources, technology, and funding. I’m also passionate about Vancouver finding it’s unique and important place in the global startup stage. I co-founded Spring to focus on early stage entrepreneurs with high growth potential who want to make the world a better place. Whether you call it social good, impact, conscious capitalism, do good, or social entrepreneurship – Spring is the place to transform your ideas into impact.

In April 2016 we launched Spring University (SpringU), a comprehensive set of entrepreneur, incubator, and funding programs for aspiring and early stage entrepreneurs. It’s the only global entrepreneurship program based in Vancouver (and Canada) – our programs run in over 30 cities on 5 continents, with over 140 entrepreneurs launching 110+ businesses and creating 70 jobs in Vancouver alone.

Want to make the world a better place? I’d love to talk.

Donovan Woollard

Managing Director, RADIUS Ventures

LinkedIn

Donovan Woollard is the managing director of RADIUS Ventures, an impact venture accelerator at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business, funded by Vancity Credit Union. In this role, Donovan helps a cluster of local food and sustainable transportation ventures become market- and investor-ready. Donovan previously established Transom Enterprises to help launch and grow responsible business initiatives. Prior to Transom, Donovan spent four years as founding COO with Offsetters, Canada’s leading carbon management firm. He joined as Offsetters’ first employee and built it into a 24-person team with a blue-chip list of clients and partners. He has also worked for Vancity, BC Hydro, and Ecotrust, and worked the graveyard shift at a half-way house. Donovan has a Master of Business Administration, a Post-Baccalaureate Diploma in Community Economic Development, and an undergraduate degree (Hon.) in philosophy.

Tom Williams

Founder at BetterCompany

Twitter

Born and raised in Victoria, BC, Tom now lives in San Francisco, where he is the Founder of BetterCompany, an anonymous career advice community for every career and is an angel investor in more than 30 companies. He is one of the most active investors in funding early-stage Canadian startups.

A serial innovator whose proudest professional accomplishments include helping pioneer modern-day crowdfunding, Tom has a legacy of investing in and creating world changing ideas and organizations.

Now a father of two young children, he has coined the term the “Survival Economy,” to describe his thesis for the companies he looks to invest in. Tom and his family return to their home on Vancouver Island as often as they can, especially in the summer.

Annika Reinhardt

Co-Founder at Talent Collective Co.

LinkedIn

After a fulfilling career in project management, employee engagement, communications, and community investment in the corporate world, I’ve been making my mark as a social impact consultant and co-founder of a career development company.

I focus on helping primarily technology driven companies develop programs to elevate & measure their social impact while enhancing the employee experience. I have organized community initiatives raising thousands of dollars, facilitated dozens of stakeholder engagement sessions, and have spoken about social value creation at various events.

My passion for connecting people and helping them align their values with companies that aspire to be socially responsible has led to co-founding the Talent Collective, where I put my operations and negotiation skills to work.

Connecting people is in my DNA. Get in touch if I can help you with your social impact strategy or if you are looking to start a new chapter in your career: annika@socialbites.ca

Crystal Henrickson

Co-Founder at Talent Collective Co.

LinkedIn

Known for launching Yelp into Canada and implementing the community and marketing expansion across the country, I’ve had an eclectic career background that has included business development, communications and small business marketing, to people and project management and recruitment. With a focus on technology driven startups, social impact companies, non profit organizations and lifestyle brands, I have helped level up 25+ early stage startups and small businesses in online community and local marketing, facilitated hundreds of workshops and spoken at dozens of conferences on topics ranging from marketing, social media, community trends, to recruitment, workplace culture and career.

Perhaps you could tell — I thrive while wearing many hats! ♕

I’m a constant connector. Get in touch if I can help you with your community strategy or if you are (ad)venturing into a new career chapter: crystal@talentcollective.co

Michelle Bonner

Director of Training at Climate Smart

LinkedIn

Michelle is the primary lead trainer at Climate Smart and has trained more than 300 businesses in greenhouse gas management. Michelle has almost two decades’ experience in the environmental field — non-profit and for-profit — and has worked extensively in Canada and the U.S. with organizations such as Ecojustice, Earthjustice, Evergreen, Outward Bound and the Hollyhock Leadership Institute.

Michelle brings her passion and experience in environmental issues, adult education, and research to Climate Smart. Michelle has completed courses with the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute in organizational GHG accounting and offset project accounting, and holds a BA in English Literature and Environmental Studies from McGill University.

Theodora Lamb

Principal at Cicada Community Consulting Inc.

LinkedIn

Theodora is devoted to building networks and inspiring young leaders. She is an executive producer with Hollyhock’s Leadership Institute, where she brings together social change and social venture leaders for annual gatherings on Cortes Island. She has worked in online community strategy alongside many organizations, including the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation, Mountain Equipment Co-op’s TheBigWild.org, Family Services of Greater Vancouver, and BC Mental Health and Addictions Services.

Theodora holds a bachelor of fine arts in theatre from the University of Victoria and a diploma of technology in broadcast journalism from the British Columbia Institute of Technology. She has worked as an instructor at Simon Fraser University, teaching public relations in the continued studies program.

Greg Fitzgerald

Entrepreneur & Advisor at Carbon Analytics, Future of Fish, and PayBrisk

LinkedIn

Greg is an entrepreneur who is passionate about using technology for good to solve the world’s most complex problems. He is currently the Chief Product Officer at Carbon Analytics, making it as easy as possible for companies to measure and reduce their environmental impacts.

Greg has previously worked as a management consultant in Deloitte’s Information Management & Analytics Technology practice, advising clients across a breadth of industries including insurance, energy, hi-tech, retail, government, life sciences, and health care. His work largely involved helping clients to get greater insights from their data.

Greg holds a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Oxford, and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Mechatronics Engineering from the University of Waterloo.

Jessica Pautsch

Sustainable Business Developer at Social Impact Technology Accelerator

LinkedIn

Jessica is a social venture strategist for leaders in business innovation. She has 8 + years of experience advising and consulting Fortune 500 corporations, non profits, small businesses, and all four levels of government in areas of community development and social innovation. Jessica has successfully forged strategic partnerships and facilitated high-level dialogue between governments, communities, First Nations, international organizations and businesses.

As a social entrepreneur, Jessica has co-founded and directed various community initiatives and businesses. Working with Start ups to $80 billion dollar multi-national corporations, she has collaborated with some of the brightest minds, and has managed complex multi-million dollar portfolios in over 8 different industries.

Suzanne Ma

Co-Founder at Routific

LinkedIn

Suzanne Ma is co-founder of Routific, a market-leading route optimization solution that saves local delivery businesses up to 40% on driving time and fuel.

Routific is a smart logistics platform that optimizes routes for last-mile delivery fleets, saving businesses up to 40% on time and fuel.  Routific investors include Pallasite Ventures, Firestarter Fund, Techstars and Axiom Zen.