Speakers

ANITA M. BURKE

Until recently, Anita worked for Shell International as the advisor to the Shell International Committee of Managing Directors on the operationalisation of sustainable development and the energy portfolio implications of a carbon constrained future. During her 18 years of working in all aspects of the upstream and downstream portions of the oil business, she has delivered profitable technologies and organizational processes that have delivered on the sustainable development and climate change strategic vision.

Anita is internationally recognized as a thought leader in the area of sustainable development. She has helped to co-create visionary strategies for the future and practical, tactical actions to deliver on our need to go beyond organic and disentangle us from the hydrocarbon energy system. She is practical and passionate about local living economies and the processes that will contribute to the evolution of our relationship with the planet and each other.

Her deep belief in the mystery, commitment to seeking the Divine and the sometimes messy manifestation of the awakening soul, is the magic that underpins her work. She weaves the poet, healer, seeker and deep connection to the earth into the business pragmatics to resonate in a way that tantalizes the heart into right action.

She is currently writing, speaking internationally and advising governments and green businesses on social responsibility, operationalizing sustainable development and practical actions for delivering on socioeconomic change. She is also a partner in several innovative green businesses in both North America and China.
 

CHRISTY INTIHAR - BC Hydro 

Christy Intihar is the BC Hydro Power Smart program manager responsible for the development of conservation initiatives for small and medium businesses. She specializes in the creation and marketing of programs to assist businesses to identify and take action on energy conservation opportunities. Before joining BC Hydro Christy spent a number of years as a marketing and product manager in the high tech industry.

GREGOR ROBERTSON - Vancouver Fairview MLA and Co-founder of Happy Planet

Gregor brings a broad range of experience and a fresh perspective to BC politics. He is living proof that business success can happen while acting responsibly toward people and the environment.

Elected as the MLA for Vancouver Fairview on May 17, 2005, Gregor is committed to bringing this same successful balance to government. Gregor is the Opposition Critic for Small Business, Revenue and Deregulation, and the Co-Chair of the NDP Caucus Climate Change Task Force. He also sat on the Special Committee on Sustainable Aquaculture.

In 1994, Gregor co-founded Happy Planet, and grew the Vancouver-based socially responsible company up to 50 employees in 10 years. Happy Planet strives to produce exceptional juices, promote health and nutrition, support family farms and communities, and “grow a progressive business from which happiness flows.” Happy Planet has received the Ethics in Action Award in 2004, and was awarded the Vancouver Mayor’s Environmental Award for exemplary achievement in 2003.

DR JAMES TANSEY

James joined UBC in 2006 and is jointly appointed between the Sauder School of Business and the W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics. James’ research activities cover a number of areas including the social impacts and acceptability of new technologies including stem cells and biobanks. He has written extensively on the role of public consultation in the governance of industrial societies, industrial ecology, scenario methods and climate change. His current research focuses on emerging international markets for carbon exchange, social determinants of health in developed countries and the governance of biotechnology and genomics in Canada.

James Tansey received his PhD from the University of East Anglia in 1999. After a number of years in the Faculty of Graduate Studies at UBC in Canada, he spent two years in the UK as a lecturer in Science and Technology Studies with the Said Business School in Oxford, where he was also deputy director of the James Martin Institute for Science and Civilization.

James is Managing Editor of the journal Integrated Assessment and co-founder of a Canadian carbon offset entity called offsetters.com. He has taught on MBA, EMBA, Executive Education, MSc and Undergraduate programmes in the UK and Canada. He currently contributes to the MBA core and to graduate teaching in the Faculty of Graduate Studies. James has recently worked as an advisor and contributor to the World Economic Forum, the UK National Audit Office, Oxford Analytica, Cisco, Isis Innovation (Oxford), Environment Canada, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and the Asymmetric Threats Contingency Alliance.

MARY STURGEON-Consultant, Junxion Strategy Inc.

With 17 years of agency experience working with dozens of non-profit, government and commercial clients, Mary brings a wide breadth of strategic communications counsel and consulting capabilities to Junxion Strategy.
 
She has a singular focus on client service, and is of the firm belief that to be effective, communications strategies must be driven by and support an organization’s primary operational objectives. Curious and analytical, Mary digs deeply with her clients to fully understand both the internal and external landscapes in which they operate. She is a keen strategist and strong writer, skilled at filtering complex data into information that helps people and organizations to understand new ideas and embrace change.
 
Mary comes to Junxion after more than 12 years at Porter Novelli Canada, where she helped to establish its roots as a small independent public relations firm, and as part of the executive team, grow it into one of Canada’s leading full-service communications agencies. During that period, she conceived and led the spin-off of a complementary agency, Alchemy PR, and as President, steered its growth for more than three years. 
 
She is a member of the board of directors of the BC Sustainable Energy Association, and is an executive of SHIFT, a Vancouver-based community-building initiative that seeks to inspire local, citizen-created action on climate change.

TOBY BARAZZUOL

Toby Barazzuol is the founder of Eclipse Awards, a local company that specializes in creating personalized recognition awards and counts organizations such as NASA, Microsoft, Oracle, and the United Nations amongst its clients.  In 2002, Toby moved his company to Strathcona with the goal of making a positive contribution to the Dowtown Eastside.  Two years later Toby was honored as one of BC's top 40 under 40 by Business in Vancouver.   Over the past few years, Eclipse Awards has introduced sustainability to its operations while still maintaining a growth rate of 20-30% each year.
 
Toby currently serves as the Vice Chair of both the Strathcona BIA and the Strathcona Revitalization Committee. 
He believes that the next generation of businesses must take on a greater role of social responsiblity and operate more sustainably, but that doesn't mean they won't be profitable, healthy, inspiring and fun.