Lara Dauphinee

Chair of the Board | Managing Director - Fiore Group

Ms. Dauphinee is managing director of the Fiore Group, a private firm managing a broad portfolio of private equity investments and companies, focusing on food and lifestyle, art and entertainment, real estate, and natural resources. She serves as a board director of the Young Presidents’ Organization, YYOGA, The Giustra Foundation, VGH + UBC Hospital Foundation, StreetoHome Foundation, The Great Ontario Food Company, and CKNW Kids’ Fund.  She is also actively involved in the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs and the International Crisis Group. From 2001 to 2011 she served as Deputy Chief of Staff to the Premier of the Province of British Columbia.

Wally Oppal

Honorary Chair | Senior Counsel – Boughton Law

Wally is an experienced counsel and strategic advisor. His practice focuses on alternative and traditional dispute resolution as well as Aboriginal law.

After graduation from the University of British Columbia Law School, Wally went into private practice for a number of years. During this time, he was appointed as a Special Prosecutor on many high-profile criminal and commercial cases.

In 2005, he was appointed as Attorney General of British Columbia and served as Minister Responsible for Multiculturalism until 2009. Wally was involved in many significant reforms of the justice system, including the establishment of Canada’s first community court to deal with chronic offenders, developing new Rules of Court in order to promote quicker resolution of disputes and developing new initiatives in dealing with violence against women.

A lifetime resident of British Columbia, Wally has dedicated his entire working life to the pursuit of social justice and community safety. His landmark report on policing in British Columbia led to many policing reforms after its publication in 1994. Wally’s service to the public of this province, most recently as Commissioner of the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry, is of special significance.

Chris Gailus

Vice-Chair | Anchor – Global BC

Chris Gailus is a Canadian television news anchor and is currently the host of Global BC’s News Hour. With more than 25 years of experience in broadcast journalism, Chris is the recipient of many prestigious awards, such as the Emmy Award for Best Single Morning News Program, multiple Canadian Screen Awards for Best Newscast Large, and his most recent Canadian Screen Award for Best Local News Anchor in 2015. Outside the newsroom, Chris supports many non-profit organizations like BC Children’s Hospital, Canuck Place Children’s Hospice, Room to Read, and organizations that support research and treatment for Diabetes and Arthritis.

Chris Tsoromocos

Chair (Treasurer/Finance) | Senior Vice President - Onni Group

Chris has an extensive 20-year background in real estate, private equity, and public markets investing. Prior to joining the senior leadership at the Onni Group, Chris held senior executive positions in private equity including Kingswood Capital, Stern Partners and Maxam Capital as well as investment banking including CIBC World Markets and Citigroup Global Markets (M&A) in London. Chris serves on numerous boards and is an active supporter of not-for-profit and community initiatives.

Jessica Bouchard

Interim Secretary | Associate Director — The Polygon Gallery

Jessica Bouchard has enjoyed two decades of fundraising success in both the public and private sectors. She has led fundraising teams at the Vancouver Art Gallery, the largest visual arts organization in Western Canada; Hungerford Properties, raising a real estate private equity fund of $120 million; and The Polygon Gallery, leading the campaign for its new home, which opened on Vancouver’s north shore waterfront at the end of 2017. She is currently The Polygon’s Associate Director.

Jessica is passionate about raising money. She has created fundraising strategies for Hollyhock, Foundations for Social Change, and the BC Centre for Ability, and has been a board member of the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, Electric Company Theatre, and the CKNW Kids Fund. Jessica has been a YWCA Women of Distinction nominee, a Canadian Arts Summit Leadership Fellow, and was awarded the Profession Culture Residency in Paris by the French Cultural Ministry.

Jessica currently lives and works in dialogue with members of the Squamish Nation, the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, and the Musqueam Band, on whose unceded lands her family makes their home. 

Jennifer Twiner-McCarron

CEO - Thunderbird Entertainment Group and Atomic Cartoons

Jennifer Twiner-McCarron is the CEO of Thunderbird Entertainment Group, and its Kids and Family Division, Atomic Cartoons. She joined Atomic Cartoons as the Head of Production in 2011 and under her leadership, the studio has grown from 25 artists to more than 900 today. She has lead production on multiple titles including the Emmy-winning Beat Bugs for Netflix, Cupcake & Dino for eOne and 101 Dalmatian Street for Disney+.  Jennifer was promoted to Chief Executive Officer of Atomic Cartoons in 2016, then CEO of all Thunderbird companies in June 2018. She continues to hold both roles, overseeing the $85 million business (FY2020) as well as a team of more than 1,200 people, in Vancouver, Los Angeles, Toronto, and Ottawa. This summer Jennifer & her team won the Peabody award for Molly of Denali with a focus on Diversity and Inclusivity and recently, BC Business voted Jennifer woman of the year for Diversity and Inclusivity.

Over the past 20 years, Jennifer has produced or executive produced dozens of animated series, video game cinematics, and direct to DVD features, including the popular Barbie Princess franchise with Mattel Filmed Entertainment. Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, and a degree in film studies from the Vancouver Film School. She is an award-winning producer having received multiple Leo awards, an ELAN, and a DTV award. She was voted one of the “Top 25 Women in Animation” by Animation Magazine in 2010, and named Executive of the Year by Playback Magazine in 2018. In 2019, she was also named by the Women’s Executive Network (WXN) as one of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women. Jennifer’s greatest achievement, however, is her family and she cherishes spending time with her husband and three children.

Mike Searson

Group Vice President, Revenue — Corus Entertainment

Having started his career as a golf professional at the Vancouver Golf Club in 1994, Mike transitioned to radio sales in 1999 and has not looked back. During his career, Mike has held many leadership positions within Corus and is currently Group Vice President, overseeing Local Sales, Client Marketing, Creative Services & Corus’ social/digital agency…So.da.  Mike leads Sales, Marketing and Creative teams across the country who support many of Canada’s top brands on all platforms such as Global News, Global TV, STACK TV, HGTV, Food Network, CFOX FM, Rock 101, CKNW AM980 and the Global Go App to name but a few. He has worked tirelessly to help transform Corus into Canada’s leading multiplatform sales organization. For the past 20+ years, Mike and his team have played an integral role in supporting the CKNW Kids' Fund during Pledge Day, the Picnic at Playland, the Take-a-Swing Golf Tournament and the Pink Shirt Day campaigns. 

As a long term Board member and newly appointed Chair of the Governance Committee, Mike believes “It is truly a privilege to support the CKNW Kids’ Fund, as you see firsthand how the generosity of the donors goes to support children in need.”

Sharon Singh

Partner — Bennett Jones LLP

As a partner at Bennett Jones, Sharon Singh provides practical, strategic, and innovative legal solutions to clients for their priority and complex projects. She specializes in providing advice on regulatory, governance, environmental, and Aboriginal law to infrastructure, mining, energy, construction, technology, agribusiness, and transportation sectors. Sharon has been providing practical advice on implementing Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) principles, practices, and reporting, and Indigenous and community relations for decades. She has a reputation for her ability to progress issues through creating trusting relationships between industry groups, associations, governments, Indigenous and local communities, and the not-for-profit sector.

Sharon is a member of the Canadian Bar Association and is on the executive of the Aboriginal Law section of the British Columbia chapter. She is recognized as a leading lawyer in The Legal 500: Canada and Chambers Canada and is a Business in Vancouver's 40 under 40 recipient. In March 2016, Sharon was awarded a Wendy McDonald Award, in the category of Women of Promise by the Leadership Circle of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade.

Kathryn Stewart

Director of Talk & Talent — 980 CKNW

Kathryn Stewart is a program director and radio leader with deep roots in Greater Vancouver.

She is the Director of Talk & Talent for 980 CKNW, one of Canada’s leading stations for local news coverage & relevant conversation. Previously, Kathryn managed network programming for Corus Entertainment’s AM radio network, leading the growth of nationwide radio coverage through the country’s biggest stories: federal elections, terror attacks, and the COVID-19 pandemic, to name a few.

She serves as the West Region co-chair for RTDNA Canada, and from 2014-2019 she was the lead producer of the CKNW Kids’ Fund annual Pledge Day on CKNW. It was through Pledge Day that Kathryn first connected with the impact the Kids’ Fund has on children and families in BC, and she is grateful to support their mission today.

Charlie Lamb

Financial Associate — ZLC Financial

Charlie Lamb is a Financial Associate as ZLC Financial where helps his clients establish, implement and maintain a financial strategy that will help to build and preserve capital, business and investment assets, for a lifetime and for the next generation.

Charlie was born and raised in Vancouver but spent over ten years in New York City practicing corporate and securities law.

He is very proud to call Vancouver his home and, on most evenings, can be found trying to grill the perfect NY strip steak on his Big Green Egg barbeque. When he’s not working, Charlie can typically be found playing sports, watching sports, spending time with his 2 kids, wife and dog or walking the trails of North Vancouver.

Charlie is actively involved in the Tom Lamb Foundation and is a supporter of various not-for-profit and community initiatives.