Board of Directors

Laura Nashman – Chair

Laura Nashman has served as Chief Executive Officer of the British Columbia Pension Corporation since December 2008. Laura is recognized as a high-performing senior executive who brings a fresh leadership style to her role. Her focus on, and dedication to, customer service, clear vision and strategic leadership gives her the ability to deliver results. Laura emphasizes the importance of maintaining strong relationships with staff and all key stakeholders.

Since joining the Pension Corporation, Laura’s focus has been on developing, strengthening and improving the corporation. She has paid particular attention to business processes, use of technology and building the foundational elements of a high performing organization to ensure the Pension Corporation continues to provide service excellence to plan boards and plan members.  Above all Laura is reshaping the culture at the Pension Corporation to set the foundation needed to bring the strategic plan to life.

Laura has spearheaded the creation of the strategic plan for the Pension Corporation called 12|21 Our Way Forward. This nine-year strategy is an ambitious plan for business transformation that ensures the Pension Corporation will meet the changing needs and expectations of plan members, employers, trustees and staff.

Recently the Pension Corporation, under Laura’s leadership received “Gold” recognition from Excellence Canada. Excellence Canada recognizes organizations that embody the highest standards in leadership and governance, strategy and planning, customer experience, people engagement, process and project management and in relationships with partners and suppliers.

In 2017 Laura was recognized by Business in Vancouver magazine as one of their 2017 Influential Women in Business.  She was also named as one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women by the Women’s Executive Network and recognized on Vancouver Magazine’s Power 50 list; Laura also has the designation of Director with the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD.D); serves on Excellence Canada’s Board of Directors; and also serves on the Conference Board of Canada Board of Directors. Laura is an active mentor for women leaders and emerging leaders who look to Laura for guidance and direction on their leadership practice and career development.

Frank Fowlie – Vice Chair

Frank holds a Doctor of Conflict Resolution (DCR) from La Trobe University, Melbourne. He was previously employed with the United Nations, where he was on Mission Staff in East Timor for two years. He was appointed as the UN’s Olympic Games Officer, taking the world’s newest country to the Sydney Olympics as the team’s Chef de Mission. He was recently awarded the Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal in recognition of his contribution to world peace while serving with the United Nations in East Timor.

Frank currently serves as the Deputy Chair of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) Ethics Commission. He previously served on the Board of Directors of the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada for six years, and also served as a Mediator with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Frank is the Commissioner with Athletics Canada. Frank holds Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do, and is an avid swimmer and scuba diver.

Chris Ireland – Treasurer

Chris Ireland is Senior Vice-President, Planning Services at PPI Advisory, where he leads the national planning services team to provide advanced professional expertise and support in financial, estate and succession planning. He joined PPI in 2003 with over 20 years of experience in tax, estate and trust planning including several years as a Tax Partner in the Vancouver office of an international accounting firm.

He received his Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia and is a Chartered Accountant (CA) and Trust and Estate Practitioner (TEP). Chris has taught and coordinated the CICA specialized tax course, “Advanced Tax Issues for the Owner Managed Business” and has written extensively in the area of tax planning and wealth preservation. Chris is a member of a number of industry associations including CALU and the Canadian Tax Foundation and is a frequent speaker at tax conferences and professional industry meetings.

Roger Lee – Secretary

Roger is a partner with the law firm of DLA Piper (Canada) LLP. Since his call to the bar, Roger has developed an extensive practice in trust and estate litigation, often representing various national and local charities and not-for-profits in defending the gifts made to them. He also provides advice to other clients about general commercial litigation and product liability. He has served on numerous boards, including time as the Chair of the national board of the Canadian Association of Gift Planners.

Roger has been very active in numerous sports through the years, having achieved a mediocre level of ability in many them. He currently races road bikes at various events in the Pacific Northwest, and has endured enough lab testing to gain some insight into the lives of real athletes.

Dean Crawford – Director

Dean is the current Director of Shared Services and Technology at BCNET, a seasoned IT professional with over two decades of experience in higher education and technology, and a certified project management professional. Dean was an Olympic gold medalist in the men’s 8+ (rowing) in 1984, and has been heavily involved in amateur sport as an athlete, coach, and/or administrator in the years since. He was a founding director for Pacific Coast Swimming and was a director and President at SwimBC before joining the Swimming Canada Board as Vice President and Chair of the Policy & Governance Committee. He also has extensive experience on other community boards and committees

Gina Iandiorio – Director

In 2017, Gina founded g2 Services Ltd., a business consulting firm, providing high-level strategic advice to a variety of clients across the province. She has over 25 years of experience in the gaming industry with the British Columbia Lottery Corporation, and enjoyed roles spanning Business Development, Sales Management, Advertising, Marketing and Regional Operations Management.

Gina’s volunteer involvement includes Director for the BC Sports Hall of Fame, Director for the BC Gaming Industry Association, member of the HOC for the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship, past Director for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank and NABS BC. In 2019 she received the Sport BC President’s award for her volunteerism.

Greg Last – Director

Greg has enjoyed over 25 years of diverse experience in the Real Estate industry, primarily in Vancouver and Toronto. His background ranges from agency and development, acquisitions and dispositions through to property and asset management. The last 15 years have been devoted to overseeing the property management and performance of investment portfolios on behalf of institutional and private investors together with organizational leadership and development.

Greg’s volunteer activities have centered on supporting the Building Owners and Managers Association of BC currently as Chair, and lengthy involvement with alpine ski racing in North Vancouver and as a volunteer during the 2010 Olympics in Whistler.

Stephanie Sloan – Director

Stephanie is a former World Freestyle Skiing Champion and a resident of Whistler for the past 33 years. She has been extensively involved in the Whistler Community as a Real Estate Professional for the past 10 years, a municipal Councillor for 6 years, a founding member of the Public Art Committee, a Whistler Community Art Council Director, a founder of the Stephanie Sloan Women Only Ski Programs, a past President of Dave Murray Enterprises, and a proud mother of 2nd generation Olympian Julia Murray.

Dan Stefanson – Director

Dan, current Vice President at Consumer Protection BC and former Executive Director for the Tourism Abbotsford Society, is a professional who uses his expertise in risk management, stakeholder relations, corporate communications, marketing and financial services to contribute to efficient organizational management and strategic direction. During his tenure at Tourism Abbotsford, Dan developed and implemented Sport Town Canada, an award winning community sport hosting program.

Over his 23 year career as a senior executive, Dan has also volunteered as Chairperson for the B.C. Destination Management Organization Association, Treasurer for the Council of Tourism Associations of B.C. and is currently a part-time Associate Faculty member at Royal Roads University, teaching strategic management and marketing courses for the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management.

Wendy Stephen, Q.C. – Director

Wendy is a barrister employed by the B.C. Prosecution Service. She was called to the Bar of British Columbia in 1983. Prior to joining the Prosecution Service, she practiced as an employment and labour lawyer. She obtained her Masters degree in Law from the University of Cambridge, England in 1986.

Wendy has long been active in professional and community work including as President and Vice President of the British Columbia, Canadian and International Associations of Prosecutors and as President of the Boys’ and Girls’ Club of Greater Vancouver. Recently, Wendy assisted ViaSport BC in developing a Universal Code of Conduct for sports in British Columbia. She regularly teaches lawyers, police officers and other justice officials on a wide variety of topics including ethics.

Wendy’s expertise as a barrister and her dedication to the legal profession was recognized in 2001 when she was honoured with an appointment as Queen’s Counsel.

While at Cambridge, Wendy coxed for the Gonville and Caius Rowing Club. She grew up on horse back and thoroughly enjoys golf but has long recognized that she does not possess athletic ability. She loves to watch most sports and admires the skill and commitment true athletes bring to their endeavours.

Shannon Susko – Director

Shannon has more than twenty years of experience building and leading high-growth technology companies in the financial services industry. She co-founded, served as CEO, and led the sale of two companies in less than six years: Subserveo, Inc. and Paradata Systems Inc. She was recognized as one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40 in 2000, and was awarded the Sarah Kirke Award for Canada’s Leading Women Entrepreneurs in 2006. She currently serves as a corporate director, as well as a leadership coach, helping CEOs and top executives in a variety of industries keep their companies on the path to growth and predictable profit. Shannon’s passion for sport, athletics and competition comes from her own experience as a high performance athlete on the National Development Field Hockey team. She serves on the Board of the BC Luge Association and is a former member of the PacificSport Board.

Sherry Tryssenaar – Director

Sherry has over 25 years of finance and executive management experience working in diverse industries from the capital markets to biotechnology, clean tech and most recently, the coffee industry. Sherry currently serves as a corporate director and is a member of the board and Chair of the Audit Committee for Unit Electrical Engineering. Previously, she was a director, Chair of the Audit Committee and member of the Special Committee for Pure Multi-family REIT, which was sold in 2019 for over US$1 billion. From 2009 to 2018, she was the Chief Financial Officer of Ten Peaks Coffee Company (now Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc.), and was responsible for overseeing the corporate finance, accounting, investor relations, corporate governance, tax compliance, human resources and IT functions. In 2011, Sherry was recognized as BC’s CFO of the Year in the Small Public Company Category. Previously, she was recognized as one of BC’s Top 40 Under 40 by Business in Vancouver.

 

Sherry is passionate about giving back to her communities, and has volunteered her time supporting organizations that empower people to enhance their lives and their leadership. She has served as director and past Chair of YWCA Metro Vancouver, Dress for Success Vancouver Society, and Women in Capital Markets, and is a co-founder of the Association of Women in Finance.