Greater Vancouver Board of Trade announces the new Advisory Committee of the Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Council.

VANCOUVER, B.C. — Today, the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade (GVBOT) announced the Advisory Committee of the Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Council (DLC) which is an evolution of the Women's Leadership Council (WLC).

The DLC will focus on addressing issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion to encourage allyship and enhance business innovation while continuing its efforts in supporting the advancement of women in business.

As part of its initial priorities, the council will hold programs and workshops that help to educate GVBOT members on these issues. It will also offer resources to help businesses improve diversity and inclusion in the workplace, as well as actively championing BIPOC representation on panels at Board events.

In addition, the GVBOT will be hosting seminars for its members called: Diversity and Inclusion Certificate Series. This will be a series of virtual instructor-led training on diversity and inclusion.

DLC 2020-21 Executive Committee include:

1. Chair, Melissa Polak, Senior Director, Enterprise Risk and Assurance, Aurora
2. Vice-Chair, Rob Chiarello, Senior Vice President, People & Culture, Pacific Blue Cross
3. Vice-Chair, Kory Wilson, Executive Director, Indigenous Initiatives and Partnerships, BCIT

DLC 2020-21 Advisory Committee Members include:

1. Wyle Baoween, CEO & Senior Consultant, HRx Technologies
2. Barinder S. Bhullar, Principal, Mainland Strategies Inc.
3. Shalyma Cambridge, Associate, The Humphrey Group
4. Dr. Ainsley Carry, Vice President, Students, UBC
5. Prem Gill, CEO, Creative BC
6. Raghwa Gopal, CEO, Innovate BC
7. Jennifer Ingham, Vice President, University Relations, Capilano University
8. Natasha Jung, Founder & Executive Producer, Cold Tea Collective
9. Synthia Kloot, Senior Vice President, Operations, Colliers International
10. Ruby Ng, Executive Director, Disability Foundation
11. Gabrielle Price, Senior Advisor, Government Relations, TransLink
12. Shaheen Rehmat, Manager, Records and Information Management, Technology, BC Hydro
13. Sandra Suh, Partner, Financial Advisory, Deloitte
14. Martin Thibodeau, Regional President, BC, RBC Royal Bank

This committee will champion the GVBOT's diversity and inclusion efforts which are outlined in the following statement:

Stronger Together
The GVBOT is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment that embraces, encourages, supports and celebrates our employees, volunteers and our board of directors' dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, spiritual beliefs, political beliefs, and other ideologies. Diverse perspectives draw on different concepts, ideas and experience and enriches decision making and our effectiveness.

The health and wellbeing of our organization is our number one priority and we have zero tolerance for discrimination.

Diversity and Inclusion is at the heart of our Purpose: To lead, unite and champion business to ensure Greater Vancouver is thriving and our region is the best place to live and work. By embracing, including and celebrating our differences, we are stronger.

We are committed to championing diversity and ensuring inclusion in all that we do to better represent the Greater Vancouver business community.

Read the full release https://bit.ly/33dJnHR