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People on the Move

•Associations/Societies Sarah Marsh has been appointed to the board of the Pacific Parklands Foundation. Marsh is a senior manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP’s Vancouver assurance practice. She worked in the U.K.

•Associations/Societies

Sarah Marsh has been appointed to the board of the Pacific Parklands Foundation. Marsh is a senior manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP’s Vancouver assurance practice. She worked in the U.K. public-sector practice for six years and now continues that specialization in the government and not-for-profit practice in B.C.

•Communications/PR

Kurt Heinrich and Joy Weland have joined Peak Communicators Ltd. Jenn Currie has been promoted to account co-ordinator. Heinrich has been hired as a consultant. He previously worked as a staffer for Vision Vancouver. After working briefly with Peak as a contractor, Weland was hired on as a research co-ordinator. She previously interned at Nature’s Path Organic Foods. Currie has worked with Peak since last August and holds a diploma in public relations from Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

•Education

John MacDonald has been named chancellor of the University of Northern British Columbia. In 1969, he co-founded MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, which he headed until his retirement in 1998, first as president and CEO and then as chair. He is currently the chair and CEO of Day4 Energy Inc.

•Finance

Afshin Ardalan has been named managing director of Meridan Canada’s Vancouver and Lower Mainland office. As a senior manager with Metro International, a Swedish-based publishing company, Ardalan was responsible for establishing the company’s presence and operations in more than a dozen countries including France and Italy where he also acted as general manager. Ardalan’s experience also includes management responsibilities at Nestlé’s international headquarters in Switzerland. Recently, Afshin owned and operated a local business in Vancouver.

•General

Sherwin John Y. Lim has resigned from the board of Taiga Building Products Ltd. effective March 31. Jim Bradshaw has been appointed to the board effective April 1. Bradshaw will be retiring as Taiga’s president and CEO on March 31.

Rod Baker has been appointed president of Great Canadian Gaming Corp. Baker, who has a background in corporate restructuring, has assisted Great Canadian in a senior advisory role for the past 18 months. Peter Goudron has been appointed vice-president, River Rock Casino Resort. Goudron was previously both vice-president, casino operations, and vice-president, planning and development. Terrance Doyle has been appointed vice-president, property development and procurement. Doyle was previously executive director, planning and development.

•Energy

John Icke has resigned from the board of Finavera Renewables Inc.

•HR

Alishia Rajabali, Josh Kanto, Kathleen Debusschere and Moshin Manji have joined Mercer Bradley. Rajabali has been named as an accounting and recruitment manager. She previously worked for Robert Half in Edmonton. Kanto joins as an assessment sales specialist. Debusschere has been appointed as a recruiting co-ordinator. She worked for Design Group Staffing in Vancouver and Edmonton previously. Manji joins as a business development manager. He is a founding partner of HR in Motion/EmployPrep.

•Legal

Alistair Taylor, Erica Weiss and Ryan Gallagher have joined Lang Michener LLP. Taylor was president of Abode Mortgage Corp. before joining as associate counsel. Weiss articled with Lang Michener last year and was called to the B.C. bar in 2009. She joins the securities practice group as an associate. Gallagher moved from Forrest C. Hume Law Corp. to join Lang Michener’s transportation group as an associate.

Dan Parlow, James McRae and Shane Coblin have been promoted to partners at Kornfeld Mackoff Silber LLP.

•Marine

John Shaw has been named chair of the Pacific Coast Shipbuilders Association. He is a vice-president with the Washington Marine Group.

•Real Estate

Anthio Yuen has joined DTZ Barnicke Vancouver as director of research. Prior to joining the compnay, Yuen was completing his M.Sc in Urban Planning at the University of Toronto where he specialized in commercial real estate and land development. During his time in Toronto, Yuen also worked with the Real Property Association of Canada as well as with the Ontario Realty Corp.

•Resources

Shawn Ryan has joined the advisory board of Aldrin Resource Corp. Ryan currently operates Ryanwood Exploration Inc. with his wife Cathy Wood.

Joseph Cornacchia has resigned as CFO of Acadian Timber Corp. to join its manager Brookfield Asset Management. Brian Banfill will replace Cornacchia as Acadian’s senior vice-president and CFO. Banfill has been intimately involved with Acadian since its inception.

Leslie Goodman will replace Robert Gardner as acting CEO of Genco Resources Ltd. Goodman is currently a director of Rambler Metals & Mining PLC. He was a director of Genco from 2006 to 2008, and rejoined the board last year.

Dana Roets has joined Great Basin Gold Ltd. as vice-president, corporate development. He was managing director of Kloof Mines before spending four years as managing director of Gold Fields’ Free State Mines and vice-president and head of operations at Beatrix Gold Mine. Subsequently, he spent a further three years as the vice-president, technical services and a year as vice-president and head of operations at Kloof Gold Mine.

Michael Scholz has been appointed CFO of Acero-Martin Exploration Inc. He replaces Wan Jung. Martin Wood has also joined the board. Wood is the managing director of Vicarage Capital Ltd. He spent 12 years in the London banking and financial community, working for N.M. Rothschild, Standard Bank London Ltd. and the Benfield Group. Martin left in January 2003 to row the Atlantic solo and established Vicarage Capital upon his return.

Catherine Hickson has been promoted to vice-president, exploration and chief geologist for Magma Energy Corp. Andrea Zaradic has been promoted to vice-president, operations and development. The president of Magma’s U.S. subsidiary Frank Monastero will retire effective February 28 and continue in an advisory role. Dick Benoit has joined Magma’s U.S. subsidiary as exploration manager. Benoit is past president of the Geothermal Resources Council. Magma has opened a new office in Iceland. The office will be headed by Asgeir Margeirsson, who spent three years as CEO of Geysir Green Energy, seven years as COO of Reykjavik Energy and five years as technical director of Iceland Drilling.

Mark Gelmon has been appointed CFO of Oriental Minerals Inc. He has been an auditor, director, CFO, corporate controller and accountant for several public and private companies.

Steve Mintz has been named president and CEO of Waymar Resources Ltd. Gerry Feldman has been appointed Waymar’s CFO. Mintz is president of St. Germain Capital Corp. and Carex Capital Corp. Mintz is currently a director of Brownstone Ventures Inc. and Carlisle Goldfields Ltd. He was previously a director and/or officer of Bridgeport Ventures Inc., Fareport Capital Inc., Carma Financial Services Corp. and E21 Group Inc. Feldman has been a partner of a number of public accounting firms since 1991 specializing in audits of public companies and brokerage firms. He is currently CFO of Brownstone Ventures Inc. and a director of Pinetree Capital Inc. David Schmidt, Howard Hanick and Gerry Feldman have been appointed as directors as a result of the resignations of Rowland Perkins, Kurt Bordian and J. Stephen Barley from the board. Schmidt has been working as a self-employed consultant to mineral exploration companies since 2000. He is also a director and president of Newmac Resources Inc., a director and CEO of GFE Capital Corp. and a director of Tova Ventures Inc. and Sieger Capital Management Ltd. Hanick was most recently a consultant to St. Joseph Content. From 2003 to 2008 Hanick was the president and owner of CMI Canada Inc.

Gabriel Ollivier has been appointed CEO and Curtis Evert has been appointed vice-president, exploration and new ventures, for Universal Power Corp. Barry Swanson, until recently the CEO, remains as CFO. Mauro Baessato wasnamed corporate secretary. Mark Frewin joins the board. Over the past 12 years, Evert has held various senior management roles with companies such as Marathon Canada, Sherritt International Corp. and Husky Energy Corp. Frewin is a partner at McCarthy Tetrault and was on the board of Forsys Metals Corp.

William Grable has joined the advisory board of the North American Gem Inc. He is the former commissioner of the Department for Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, under Governor Wilkinson in Kentucky. He also spent eight years as an adviser on energy to Governor Patton during his appointment as executive director of the Kentucky Coal Council.

Ray Lawson has stepped down from the board of Strathmore Minerals Corp. for personal reasons. He has accepted an appointment to Strathmore’s advisory board and remains a consultant. Company president Steven Khan replaces Larson on the board.

Jacob Willoughby has been named as a director and vice-president of corporate development for Aldridge Minerals Inc. Willoughby is an independent business consultant who is also on the board of Nebu Resources and Foxpoint Capital Corp. He was most recently a mining analyst for Paradigm Capital Corp. in Toronto until March 2009. Willoughby replaces Alexander Holtermann who has resigned to provide IR/PR services to Aldridge chiefly in the European and Hong Kong markets.

•Technology

Eric Palmer has been named CFO of Gemcom Software International Inc. Ben Farquharson has been appointed director of the company’s Minex business unit. Most recently, Palmer was the CFO with Nu Flow. Immediately prior to this he was the senior vice-president of corporate development – mergers and acquisitions with Subex Azure Ltd. Palmer began his career as a lecturer at Wilfred Laurier University, later moving on to work with KPMG and KPMG Management Consulting, before becoming CFO and vice-president of finance with Mortice Kern System. Farquharson, who has been with Gemcom since 2006, has been promoted to director of the Minex business unit, transitioning from his position as sales manager of the company’s Asia Pacific territory.

David Manuel, vice-president and general manager, device development solutions, and Souheil Gallouzi, vice-president and general manager, mobile product development, for Intrinsyc Software International Inc. have been released as a result of a corporate restructuring. Direct replacement for these positions will not be made.

Paul Grégoire has joined IPS as the PCI compliance lead and senior security architect. He originally was a senior networking/security specialist with Bell Canada.

Robin Abrams has joined the board of Sierra Wireless. She was previously CEO of Firefly Mobile and president and CEO of BlueKite. She was also president and CEO of Palm Computing Inc., leading the launches of the Palm V and Palm VII handheld devices. Prior to Palm, Abrams was president and CEO of VeriFone. Abrams has also held internationally focused executive positions at Apple and Unisys. She is on the boards of HCL Technologies, Openwave Systems Inc. and ZiLOG.

•Exchange change

Pacific Imperial Mines Inc. (TSX-V:PPM) had its TSX Venture Exchange listing transferred to NEX effective February 1. It is working with the B.C. Securities Commission and expects to soon meet the requirements for lifting the cease trade order issued against it.


Hats Off

Business in Vancouver welcomes submissions from local small businesses and large corporations alike that demonstrate examples of corporate philanthropy and community involvement in the Vancouver area. High-resolution images are also welcome.

Vancouver Island-based grocery retailer Thrifty Foods is making a $75,000 donation to the Peace Arch Hospital and Community Health Foundation’s partners in caring campaign to help fund a new maternity ward fto celebrate the opening of its Morgan Creek store.

Lawyers and staff from Lawson Lundell LLP raised $17,608 in support of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s sixth annual ride for diabetes research and was awarded the Leaps and Bounds Recognition Award for the greatest increase in fundraising and participation.

HSBC Bank Canada has donated $10,000 to the Pacific Salmon Foundation. This marks the second year the bank has supported salmon conservation through its HSBC River Stewardship Program.

Shoppers at Shoppers Drug Mart stores Nos. 2283, 2250, 246 and 253 have donated $5,594 to the Burnaby Hospital Foundation through the Shoppers Drug Mart Tree of Life campaign. The donation will help purchase an ultrasound endocavity probe at Burnaby Hospital.

The Van/Tel Safeway Credit Union Legacy Fund has donated $5,000 to the Eagle Ridge Hospital Foundation to purchase a much needed medication cart for Eagle Ridge Hospital.

The third annual Cossette pink martini party raised $3,000 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, BC/Yukon Region.

The Cornerstone Cafe in Coquitlam and Caffe Divano in Port Moody donated $1,700 to the Eagle Ridge Hospital Foundation through the Cup of Kindness campaign coupon book sales.

Graham Fraser has been awarded the Baldwin-Lafontaine Award by the Canadian Club of Vancouver for taking initiative and demonstrating excellence in fostering the flourishing development of French in the community. Fraser is the Canadian commissioner of official languages. The Canadian Club of Vancouver is highlighting the significant contribution the commissioner has made to ensure French is adequately represented at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games.

Maryanne Mathias, owner of Osei-Duro Clothing and a fulltime MBA student at UBC, has been named the 2010 Student Entrepreneur British Columbia Champion by Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship and CIBC.

Teldon Print Media won 77 awards from the International Association of Printing House Craftsmen (IAPHC) at its 2009 IAPHC Gallery of Superb Printing Awards including 22 gold, 30 silver, 21 bronze and four honourable mentions. •


This article from Business in Vancouver February 23-March 1, 2010; issue 1061

Business in Vancouver (www.biv.com) has been publishing in-depth local business news, analysis and commentary since 1989. The newspaper also produces a weekly ranked list of the biggest companies and players in a wide range of B.C. industries and commercial sectors, monthly features and industry-focused sections that arm its subscribers with a complete package of local business intelligence each week.