Speakers

Christina Clarke

Executive Director, Songhees Nation

Presentation Panelist

Christina has been serving the Nation for four years in her current position, and a further 22 years in other professional capacities.Her experience includes First Nations governance, negotiations, law development and community engagement.

Christina's work guides the Songhees Nation in areas of finance and future economic development. She has been instrumental in developing a new philosophy toward business, reinvesting in youth, and how their innovative Wellness Centre has ushered in a new era of economic growth. She regularly consults on implementation of the First Nations Fiscal Management Act and economics.

Christina is a board member of the South Island Prosperity Partnership and Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce.

Councillor Sharmarke Dubow

Victoria City Councillor

Keynote Speaker 

Sharmarke Dubow cast his first vote in an election October 20, 2018. In that same election he ran for office and was elected a City Councillor in Victoria, BC the first Somali-Canadian elected to City Council in Canada and the first Black City Councillor to be elected in Victoria in 152 years.

Sharmarke fled his country when he was 8 years old. He was a refugee for more than two decades before he resettled in Canada and worked with migrants in North Africa as a dedicated human rights defender.

These are just some of the experiences that convinced Sharmarke to dedicate his life to social and environmental justice. He is tireless in his efforts to build relationships, collaborate, and bring people together to improve the wellbeing of communities.

In less than a year on Victoria City Council, Sharmarke, has taken great steps to make life more equitable, inclusive, and affordable for people in Victoria. He supported and pushed for motions to make public transit free, started a renters advisory committee to give tenants a voice, worked to bring an equity lens to decision-making at the City, fought for the addition of affordable housing in Victoria, and more.

William Holmes, DBA

Dean, Faculty of Management, Royal Roads University

Royal Roads Welcome, Opening Dinner

Prior to moving to Victoria in 2015, Holmes served at the Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning in Toronto, first as dean, Faculty of Business and more recently, as the vice provost. Holmes' areas of interest include strategy, business ethics, corporate social responsibility and corporate citizenship.  He is co-author of the Canadian edition of Business Ethics (Oxford University Press) and lectures extensively on the role of business in society.

Holmes has previously served as adjunct professor and executive director of the undergraduate program in the Faculty of Business Administration at Simon Fraser University and as the instructional manager (dean) of business for the Higher Colleges of Technology, a network of colleges in the United Arab Emirates. His career has spanned the corporate and educational sector and has included assignments in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He has served on the Board of Governors of the Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning and as treasurer and chair of the Finance and Audit Committee on the Board of Directors for NAFSA: The Association of International Educators. Holmes has taught at the Copenhagen Business School, Simon Fraser University, the University of Northern British Columbia and the Higher Colleges of Technology.

Holmes holds a Doctor of Business Administration from the University of Southern Queensland, a Masters in Business Administration from the University of British Columbia, a Master of Arts in Philosophy (Ethics) from the University of Waterloo and undergraduate degrees in Economics and Philosophy, also from the University of Waterloo. He holds the Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), Certified Management Accountant (CMA), Certified General Accountant (CGA) and Certified Human Resource Professional (CHRP) and Leader (CHRL) designations.

D.N. Kobayashi, CD, PCSC, B.Eng., M.Sc.

Councillor, City of Colwood

Presentation Panelist

Doug Kobayashi is an experienced aerospace engineer, military veteran and management consultant.

He has held senior and executive positions within business, aerospace engineering and management consulting sectors, as well as 20 years of service in the Canadian military. He is the recipient of the Canadian Merit Award, Canadian Decoration and the Canada 125 medal.

Kobayashi currently leads Think Strategy, a management consulting firm, and was previously an aerospace engineer for the Royal Canadian Air Force, working in the aerospace industry for nearly 30 years.

Guy Nasmyth, PhD

Principal, Guy Nasmyth Consulting Services

Module Presenter

As a former senior leader with the federal government, Guy Nasmyth, PhD., has a longstanding interest in leadership and leadership development. After launching his own consulting practice, Nasmyth started consulting full time with the government as well as with for-profit and non-profit organizations. Nasmyth teaches at the graduate level in the schools of Leadership Studies and Professional and Continuing Studies at Royal Roads University. He also teaches in the Master of Arts in Community Development at the University of Victoria.

Nasmyth holds a Master of Arts in Leadership and Training from Royal Roads University, a Master of Arts in Human and Organizational Systems and a PhD in Organizational Development and Change from Fielding Graduate University.

The Honourable Mary Collins, PC

President, BC Association of Police Boards

Welcome Address for Emerging Leader's Dialogues Canada

Hon. Mary Collins, PC, grew up in Vancouver and then spent her early career in Toronto and Calgary working in both the public and private sectors. She later returned to BC and was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1984 federal election as the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament for Capilano-Howe Sound, British Columbia.

In 1988 Mary was appointed to the Cabinet of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney as Associate Minister of National Defence from 1989 to 1993. She also served as Minister responsible for the Status of Women from 1990 to 1993. In January 1993, she became Minister of Western Economic Diversification and Minister of State for the Environment and finally in June 1993 as Minister of Health and Welfare.

After leaving politics, Mary was President of the BC Health Association and later was the Executive Director of the BC Alliance for Healthy Living,

She has served as an honorary co-chair of the women's campaign school of the Canadian Women Voters Congress, and as a consultant in promoting women's political development in Vietnam and Ukraine. She  spent five years in Russia initially working on a health reform project in Chuvashia and then for the World Health Organization in Moscow.

Mary currently lives in Victoria BC where she serves as a member of the Saanich Police Board and is the President of the BC Association of Police Boards. She is also a member of the Pacific Opera Victoria Board and the Boards of Goward House and the Canadian International Council Victoria Chapter. Mary is a former Director of the Emerging Leaders' Dialogues Canada. 

She holds honorary doctorate degrees from Royal Roads University and Royal Roads Military College and is a recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from Queen's University. She also has received the Queen's Jubilee Award.

Teara Fraser, MA, CEC

CEO, Raven Institute | CEO, Iskwew Air

Module Presenter

Teara is a commercial pilot and former CEO of Kîsik Aerial Survey, an air operation she built from the ground up. Becoming a pilot was transformational, truly giving this young Indigenous woman wings and  she loves to see others fall in love with flight. She established the Aviation Leadership Foundation, recently launched Give them Wings (Indigenous Youth Taking Flight), and she serves as Board Director for the British Columbia Aviation Council. With the launch of Iskwew Air, Teara's entrepreneurial spirit takes her into a new arena as the first Indigenous woman to launch an airline in Canada.

As the visionary of the Raven Institute, she sees connected hearts, minds, and hands in a united and thriving nation.  A new initiative RavenSPEAK (Indigenous changemakers visible, masterful, amplified, and connected) is where stories are told, truths are unearthed, voices are heard, and a new narrative begins elevating the important messages and remarkable profiles of Indigenous peoples.

Teara holds a Master of Arts in Leadership degree from Royal Roads University, and she is a Certified Executive Coach. The journey of learning now takes her back to Royal Roads as Associate Faculty and to Fielding University where she is studying in the Human Development Ph.D. program.

Teara is a proud Métis bridge builder.

Joanne Hughes

Executive Director, Duke of Edinburgh's Emerging Leaders' Dialogues Canada

Opening Remarks, Orientation

Joanne Hughes is the Executive Director for Emerging Leaders' Dialogues Canada and develops world class experiential leadership programs that focus on sustainable development and dialogue between industry, labour, civil society and government sectors. This includes programs to specifically address reconciliation and to forge trusting relationships among Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders.

Joanne is an Advisory Committee Member for The Gender Summit 18, an official event of the Next Einstein Forum, the AIMS Women in STEM and Portia Ltd, the Gender Summit 18 is creating regional and global multi-stakeholder communities committed to enhancing scientific excellence. She is also a former Director for the Association of Emerging Leaders' Dialogues Canada.

She has managed an international secretariat, The Commonwealth Association of Public Administration and Management, liaising between foreign national ministries, the private sector, civil service organizations and donor agencies at senior levels in the planning and implementation of conferences and projects on public administration across the Commonwealth.

Joanne has been active in community development through arts, culture and heritage, where her passion was ensuring those in the creative sector had access to funding, and that communities had access to cultural opportunities. Hughes was the Festival Producer for Ottawa Capital Pride, where she repositioned the festival to gain access to new funding to provide programming for marginalized communities, and is the founder of two festivals; Fernfest in Victoria, B.C., and the Ottawa Lumière Festival, which was voted one of the summers best festivals by the National Post.

Zoe MacLeod, PhD, CEC, ACC

Director, Professional and Continuing Studies at Royal Roads University

Module Presenter 

Zoë Macleod is a certified executive coach, change agent, and Director for Professional and Continuing Studies at Royal Roads University. As an educational consultant she works mainly in the fields of leadership, executive coaching, change management, and effective organization design and development. Through her extensive experience, including design and delivery of award-winning transformative leadership development programs for organizations across the globe, numerous graduate level certificate programs and the co-creation of a health leadership capabilities framework (LEADS) adopted across Canada, Zoë has come to believe that strong relationships and partnerships based on trust and collaboration are integral elements in the success of an organization.

Zoë is passionate about helping people and organizations cultivate creative intelligence and awaken to the possibility of happier, healthier, more productive and sustainable work environments. Zoë holds a Master of Arts in Leadership and Training from Royal Roads University, a Master of Arts in Human Development and a PhD in Organization Development and Change from Fielding Graduate University.

Adam Olsen

Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for Saanich North and the Islands

Guest Speaker

Adam Olsen was first elected as MLA for Saanich North and the Islands in 2017.

Adam is a former two-term Central Saanich Councilor and small business owner. He was born and raised on Tsartlip First Nation in Brentwood Bay and is a member of the Tsartlip First Nation.

He served as the Chair of Planning & Development and Water & Wastewater and represented the community on a number of boards and commissions including solid and liquid waste, Greater Victoria Public Library and the Regional Housing Trust Fund.

Adam and his wife Emily have two children, Silas and Ella. He routinely coaches his son's community soccer team and has led community efforts to protect and improve the Salish Sea and the Saanich Inlet.