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BC Women in Business Luncheon

BC Women in Business Luncheon Fairmont Pacific Rim May 2, 2012 A sold-out crowd of over 270 people gathered at the Fairmont Pacific Rim for the 7th annual BC Women in Business Luncheon. Speakers shared some of their most-valued words and philosophies around the event's theme, "The best advice I ever got."

By Lisa Nakamura Nguyen /

Panel speakers (from left): Jane Russell, senior vice-president of Pacific Region at TD Canada Trust; Jill Earthy, former CEO of Forum for Women Entrepreneurs; and Rebecca Bollwitt, owner of Miss604.com and co-founder of Sixty4Media.



Keynote speaker Wendy Lisogar-Cocchia (l), with Maninder Dhaliwal, chair of the Vancouver chapter of the Women in Leadership Foundation. Wendy is chair of the Vancouver Board of Trade and CEO of Century Plaza Hotel and Absolute Spa Group.



Global TV’s Jill Krop (l), with Tim Manning, regional vice-president of commercial financial services at RBC.



From left: Camelia Cirjoi, senior manager of IT application services at SAP; Freda Cheung, CEO of World Duty Free Group; and Jennifer Johnstone, president and CEO of Central City Foundation.



Bo Zhang (l) of Ernst and Young, with Maya Kanigan, president and founder of the Women in Leadership Foundation.



From left: Sasha Krasnov of RBC, Amy Delva of Folli Follie, Caitlin Young of Vision 7 International and Meaghan Fraser of RBC.



From left: Gillian Behnke of Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation BC/Yukon Region, Carol Robinson of Harbour West Consulting Inc. and Jake Hassel-Gren of CIBC.



DDB Canada’s Shannon Cherry (l) and operations manager, Nicole Moore.



Connie Spiers (l), owner of Howe Sound Trading Co. Ltd., with Christine Klar, manager of mentoring at the Canadian Youth Business Foundation.



Vancouver Convention Centre’s marketing manager, Kim Grecia (l), and vice-president of sales and marketing, Claire Smith.



Ray Williams (l), president of Ray Williams Associates, with Reena Lazar, executive director of Peace it Together.



TD Waterhouse Financial Planning’s Patricia Aul (l) and Doris Cheng.


BC Women in Business Luncheon
Fairmont Pacific Rim
May 2, 2012

A sold-out crowd of over 270 people gathered at the Fairmont Pacific Rim for the 7th annual BC Women in Business Luncheon. Speakers shared some of their most-valued words and philosophies around the event’s theme, “The best advice I ever got.”

Keynote speaker Wendy Lisogar-Cocchia, chair of the Vancouver Board of Trade and CEO of Century Plaza Hotel and Absolute Spa Group, quoted Canada Wide Media CEO Peter Legge, stating the significance of “passion, persistence and philanthropy” in anything you decide to pursue. Following Wendy was a diverse panel of three speakers: Vancouver blogger Rebecca Bollwitt (a.k.a. Miss604), co-founder of Sixty4Media; Jill Earthy, former CEO of Forum for Women Entrepreneurs; and Jane Russell, senior vice-president at TD Canada Trust. All three women spoke candidly about the lessons they’ve learned from their blogging, entrepreneurial and corporate journeys.

In a heartfelt and honest speech, Jill Earthy talked about the importance of “recognizing when to leave, to make way for the new,” to segue into her resignation announcement from her position as CEO of Forum for Women Entrepreneurs (FWE). Shortly after, FWE announced long-time board member and chief of staff at Nurse Next Door, Judy Brooks, as the interim CEO.

Congratulations to the Vancouver chapter of the Women in Leadership Foundation for hosting a very successful and inspirational luncheon.