Our second annual list of the women who are shaking things up in B.C. business and beyond
Last year when we did a feature on women having an outsized influence in the province, we took a rather expansive view of the topic: 50 women, in six categories, who by virtue of their deeds or office are having a big impact on their industry or our world. This year, we sharpened the focus: Who are the women who are having a disruptive impact on those spheres? Who are the women who are not only leaders among men but shaking up the status quo—women using their positions to effect change?
To help us come up with this year’s nominees, we once again enlisted a panel of experts from various sectors—meeting at the Vancouver Club in early December to hash through the possibilities. As with last year’s feature, this is far from a definitive list; there are many more names that were considered or could be considered. Rather, it is a snapshot of 35 women who are making a difference in 2016—in very specific and meaningful ways. As one panelist framed it: “A disrupter is someone who is in a position to wield influence over popular opinion, a person who is doing things differently than their predecessor or contrary to convention, or a person who is working on the ground to make meaningful societal and institutional change to solve problems.”
Bev Briscoe | President, Briscoe Management Ltd.
Indira Samarasekara | Professor, UBC’s Liu Institute for Global Issues
Janice Abbott | CEO, Atira Women’s Resource Society
Marlie Oden | Managing partner, Bridge Communications
Tzeporah Berman | Environmental activist
Shahrzad Rafati | Founder and CEO, BroadbandTV Corp
Karen Ogen | Chief of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation
Lori Ackerman | Mayor, Fort St. John
Carolyn Cross | CEO, Ondine Biomedical Inc.
Queenie Choo | CEO, S.U.C.C.E.S.S.
Jill Krop | Station manager and news director, Global BC
Karen Burgess | Executive producer for news, CBC Vancouver
Meredith Powell | Creator, The Collective, and founder, The Next Big Thing
Jill Earthy | Chief growth officer, FrontFundr
Lara Dauphinee | Managing director, Fiore Group of Companies
Susan Yurkovich | President and CEO, Council of Forest Industries
Natalie Dakers | CEO, Accel-rx Health Sciences Accelerator
Fiona Macfarlane | Managing partner for B.C., EY
Kristine Steuart and Katherine Berry | CEO/co-founder and chief product officer/co-founder, Allocadia
Crystal Kwon | Life editor, Vancity Buzz
Diane McSherry | Site C project director
Gwen Johansson | Mayor of Hudson’s Hope
Janet and Katherine McCartney | Directors, Procreation Design Works Inc.
Christy Clark | Premier, British Columbia
Martha Piper | Interim president, UBC
Jody Wilson Raybould | Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Nanon de Gaspé Beaubien-Mattrick | Founder and president, Beehive Holdings
Kathleen Bartels | Director, Vancouver Art Gallery
Irene Lanzinger | President of the BC Federation of Labour
Jessica McDonald | CEO, BC Hydro
Shannon Wilson | Co-founder, Kit + Ace
Janet Landucci | Chair of the board of the Vancouver Aquarium
Michele Cadario | Deputy chief of staff, Premier’s Vancouver Office
The full list
Christy Clark
Martha Piper
Interim president, UBC
Jody Wilson Raybould
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Nanon de Gaspé Beaubien-Mattrick
Kathleen Bartels
Director, Vancouver Art Gallery
Irene Lanzinger
President of the BC Federation of Labour
Jessica McDonald
CEO, BC Hydro
Shannon Wilson
Co-founder, Kit + Ace
Janet Landucci
Chair of the board of the Vancouver Aquarium
Michele Cadario
Deputy chief of staff, Premier’s Vancouver Office
Bev Briscoe
President, Briscoe Management Ltd.
Indira Samarasekara
Professor, UBC’s Liu Institute for Global Issues
Janice Abbott
CEO, Atira Women’s Resource Society
Marlie Oden
Managing partner, Bridge Communications
Tzeporah Berman
Environmental activist
Shahrzad Rafati
Founder and CEO, Broadband TV Corp
Karen Ogen
Chief of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation
Lori Ackerman
Mayor, Fort St. John
Carolyn Cross
CEO, Ondine Biomedical Inc.
Queenie Choo
CEO, S.U.C.C.E.S.S.
Jill Krop
Station manager and news director, Global BC
Karen Burgess
Executive producer for news, CBC Vancouver
Meredith Powell
Creator, The Collective, and founder, The Next Big Thing
Jill Earthy
Chief growth officer, FrontFundr
Lara Dauphinee
Managing director, Fiore Group of Companies
Susan Yurkovich
President and CEO, Council of Forest Industries
Natalie Dakers
CEO, Accel-rx Health Sciences Accelerator
Fiona Macfarlane
Managing partner for B.C., EY
Kristine Steuart and Katherine Berry
CEO/co-founder and chief product officer/co-founder, Allocadia
Crystal Kwon
Managing editor, Vancity Buzz
Diane McSherry
Site C project director
Gwen Johansson
Mayor of Hudson’s Hope
Janet and Katherine McCartney
Directors, Procreation Design Works Inc.
The panel of experts
Fiona Douglas-Crampton, president and CEO, Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education; chair, Vancouver Board of Trade’s Women’s Leadership Circle
Carol Lee, co-founder and CEO, Linacare Cosmetherapy Inc.
Tracey McVicar, managing partner, CAI Capital Management Co.
Matt O'Grady, editor-in-chief, BCBusiness
Susannah Pierce, general manager, LNG Canada Ltd.
Rebecca Scott, director of public affairs, Global Public Affairs
Kelly Thomas, director of membership sales, The Vancouver Club
Sharon White, partner, Richards Buell Sutton LLP
