Board of Directors

Maurine Karagianis

Chair

Appointed for a term ending December 31, 2022.

Maurine Karagianis served three terms in elected office as an MLA from 2005 to 2017, taking on a variety of Opposition portfolios including Transportation and Children and Families. In January 2011, Ms. Karagianis was elected as Opposition Caucus Whip and served in that role until 2017. She retired from provincial politics in May 2017 and is currently keeping bees and working with the non-profit sector. She is presently a Board member of the Victoria Women’s Transition House.

Prior to serving as an MLA, Ms. Karagianis was elected as a municipal councillor in Esquimalt in 1996, and re-elected in 1999 and again in 2002. During that time, she also served for five years as the CRD Arts Chair. Starting in 1998, Ms. Karagianis served three years with the provincial government as assistant to three NDP cabinet ministers – in the Social Services ministry and then in Transportation and Highways. From 2001 to 2005, she ran a consulting company working with non-profit organizations and First Nations to create seniors housing in BC. Prior to 2001, Ms. Karagianis was an entrepreneur, opening her own retail fashion store, operating a wholesale venture and a successful import/export business. She was also a co-founder of the Sunshine Folkfest in Powell River, BC.

Chamkaur Cheema

Vice Chair

Appointed for a two-year term ending December 31, 2021

Chamkaur Cheema has a broad range of experience in both the private and public sectors. Until his retirement in 2019, Mr. Cheema spent 20 years as an Instructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in the Entrepreneurial Leadership degree. Besides his teaching duties, Mr. Cheema served in a variety of other capacities including the University Senate, Departmental Chair and several administrative and faculty committees. His current and past board experience also includes the Insurance Council of BC, B.C. Original Minds Association, the governing body of Destination Imagination B.C, KPU Foundation Board, CMABC, Leadership Vancouver, and the Langara College Foundation Board.

Besides post-secondary education, Mr. Cheema has substantial experience in several industries including; finance, real estate, technology, retail marketing, and consulting. He is currently the Principle of Chip Properties, a holding company that specializes in small multi-family apartments. In the past, Mr. Cheema was the Principal of HeadStart Business Solutions, a Senior Manager with HSBC Bank Canada, President of Great Ideas Marketing, and a marketing representative with IBM Canada. Many of these roles overlapped which gives Mr. Cheema tremendous insight into simultaneously managing multiple projects with diverse stakeholders.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Victoria and a Master of Business Administration from Queen's University.

Sarf Ahmed

Appointed for a two-year term ending December 31, 2021

Sarf Ahmed brings extensive experience of leading large and diverse public sector organizations where he has been involved in strategic planning, financial and corporate management, procurement, facilities management and strategic human resources.

He is a Queen’s Golden Jubilee medal recipient with a distinguished career in the BC Public Service spanning 26 years, including five years as an Associate Deputy Minister. A position from which he retired in 2018. Prior to joining the BC Public Service, Sarf worked in the accounting profession and private industry for 15 years.

Currently, he is also an independent management consultant and a member of the Board of Land Title & Survey Authority of BC (LTSA), a crown corporation responsible for delivering reliable land-related registries, survey systems and information.

Sarf is a chartered accountant and lives in Victoria, BC.

Sukhvinder Chouhan

Appointed for a term ending December 31, 2021.

Sukhvinder (Sukhi) Chouhan, CPA, CA, CAFM, President of Chouhan Accounting Ltd., with an office in Kamloops, BC, was designated a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA) in 2008 with KPMG. In 2015, he became a Certified Aboriginal Financial Manager (CAFM).

Currently, appointed as a Board of Director with AFOA BC and Upper Nicola Indian Band Development Corp and appointed as Finance and Audit Committee member for Shackan Indian Band and Penticton Indian Band. He provides capacity development services as a Financial Controller & Chief Financial Officer for hire for First Nations Bands and band owned for-profit entities. He is responsible for organization, management and training to facilitate effective financial function of the Band Administration through his involvement in policy & procedure creation and implementation, workshop training, compliance with ISC and other funding bodies

He provides accounting and tax and business consulting services to corporate and personal clients such as capital financing, accounts payable, taxation issues, revenue sharing, and negotiations. His broad areas of expertise include financial analysis, management, risk, and strategy; growth, operations management; business planning and development; corporate tax; and auditing. He also taught a Management and Leadership Skills course at Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, BC.

Doreen Manuel

Appointed for a two-year term ending December 31, 2021

Doreen Manuel (Secwepemc/Ktunaxa), MFA is the sixth child of Grand Chief Dr. George Manuel and spiritual leader Marceline Manuel. Doreen is a residential school survivor. She has a Master of Fine Arts degree in Film Production from UBC. She is an award-winning filmmaker. She is one of the developers of the esteemed Capilano University Indigenous Digital Filmmaking Program and sole owner of Running Wolf Productions.

Doreen holds positions on the: Motion Picture Production Association of BC Equity and Inclusion Committee; Women in Film & TV Equity and Inclusion Lobby Group; Telefilm Indigenous Working Group; Moving Images Distribution Board of Directors; TELUS Storyhive Indigenous Advisory; and IM4 Virtual & Augmented Reality Training Program Matriarch Advisory. She is a Telefilm Talent to Watch partner and a founder and instructor of the esteemed WIFTV Tricksters and Writers feature film screenwriting program for Indigenous women.

Ms. Manuel has an extensive background as a leader working in First Nations education and community development in both rural and urban centres. She has specialized in life skills programming, anti-gang violence, and youth at risk. As an educator, she has developed and led cultural and specialty programs for sexual abuse intervention and prevention, and First Nations recovery from violence and substance abuse. As a program manager she has assisted in the development of training programs for residential school survivor counsellors.

Ms. Manuel has served on the Indian advisory boards of the University of Washington and Idaho State University, Okanagan University College First Nations Advisory, Urban Images for Native Indian Women Board of Directors, the North Western United States Language Preservation Council and is the President of the George Manuel Institute.

Gerry Martin

Appointed for a term ending December 31, 2022.

For 36 years Gerry Martin and his partner owned Northern Drugs Ltd. a chain of independent drug stores operating in Northwestern B.C. Gerry is a graduate of the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy and has served on the Board of the B.C. Pharmacy Association and is a Past President of the Chain Drug Association of B.C. He was awarded Pharmacy’s Bowl of Hygeia Award for outstanding service to his community. Throughout his business career Gerry has been active in a number of community endeavors both at the local and provincial level. He received a Paul Harris Fellowship for his service in Rotary and is a Governor and Fellow of the British Columbia Chamber of Commerce. Gerry is a past member of the Premier’s Technology Council, was a member of the B.C. Jobs and Investment Board, on the Advisory Council to the B.C. Agenda for Shared Prosperity, is the former Chair of the British Columbia Progress Board, and presently serves on the Resource Works Advisory Council.

Marie Della Mattia

Appointed for a term ending December 31, 2021.

Marie Della Mattia has a passion for life-long learning gifted to her from her parents. She's studied everything from early childhood development to bartending to psychology to design. It doesn't take much for her to deep dive into anything she's curious about and she's curious about a lot of things. Ms. Della Mattia has worked for elected people, on issue campaigns, for non-profits and for governments. She's a strategist, a writer, a creative director, a caring coach, an energizing people manager, a sought-after facilitator and a dedicated mentor. For 10 years she ran one of BC's biggest advertising agencies, specializing in issue advertising and behavior change marketing for clients across Canada. She is now semi-retired with her husband in Victoria. They've had a lot of luck and success in their 35-year communications careers but their proudest accomplishment is their daughter, Emily. Thanks to the wonderful educational programming on the Knowledge Network, Emily has a higher emotional intelligence than both her parents, combined.

Eve Munro

Appointed for a term ending December 31, 2021.

Eve Munro retired from the practice of law in 2017 after 34 years as a practising lawyer. Most recently her practice focus was in the areas of intellectual property, privacy law, licensing and technology. As a former partner in the national firm Miller Thomson LLP, and prior to that in the Vancouver firm Ferguson Gifford, she also has an extensive background in business and commercial law more generally. She has particular experience in the education and entertainment industries, First Nations schools and educational organizations, and in relation to intellectual property issues as they apply to charities and the not-for-profit sector. She earned her Bachelor of Laws degree at the University of British Columbia.

During her years of practice Ms.Munro volunteered in leadership roles and service positions. For many years she volunteered with the Canadian Bar Association Women Lawyers Forum Mentoring Program for young lawyers and with the YWCA mentorship program for high school students. For more than a decade she acted as leader of the Intellectual Property and Information Technology Practice Group of an international association of lawyers, Multilaw. She currently serves as director of the Jericho Tennis Club and serves on its Governance and Facilities Committees.

Anne O'Shea

Appointed for a term ending December 31, 2020.

Anne O'Shea is the Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer at Vancouver Island Regional Library, where she leads strategic and operational planning, IT and library collections for 39 branch libraries across Vancouver Island, Haida Gwaii, the Gulf Islands and on the Central Coast in Bella Coola. Prior to joining VIRL, she spent 10 years at the Vancouver Public Library in a variety of leadership roles. During her tenure there, Ms. O'Shea managed services in the Inspiration Lab -- a free community digital media centre supporting video production, podcasting and self-publishing -- and oversaw creative residencies in writing, Indigenous storytelling, documentary film-making and audio production.

Ms. O'Shea is a Director at Large with the BC Library Association and previously served as a student representative on the Board of Governors at Langara College, where she completed a Diploma in Arts and Sciences. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Simon Fraser University and her Master of Library and Information Studies from the University of British Columbia. In 2018 she earned a Certificate in Social Impact Strategy from the University of Pennsylvania.

Board of Directors

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