Resource Works is a not-for-profit society based in Vancouver, BC, that seeks to be relevant to a broad range of British Columbians and Canadians. One of the most important ways we can do this is by tapping into the expertise of local community interests across the province. The role of the advisory council is to provide strategic guidance to the Resource Works Society as it formulates research, advocacy and communications programs.
Do you know someone who would make a good addition to this group? Email us their contact information.
Lisa Mueller
Lisa is an Aboriginal business consultant, certified life coach, community builder, and workshop facilitator. She is passionate about creating a platform for First Nations leaders to share their perspectives on economic development and major projects. To this end, she and All Nations Consulting & Coaching launched the inaugural Nation2Nation Forum in November 2015 in Terrace and since then have launched more N2N Events, including luncheons, roundtables, and the 2nd annual forum.
Born in Bella Coola BC and raised in the Cariboo-Chilcotin, she is a storyteller from the Tl’etinqox First Nation (west of Williams Lake) with many years of experience in business ownership, personal development, coaching, relationship building and living a spiritual path.
Mona Forster
Mona M. Forster is a strong advocate of the mining and mineral exploration sector with over 25 years of experience in the industry. She possesses a broad understanding of issues facing the mining industry, gained through experience in mine operations, mineral exploration and engineering, and environmental consulting, domestically and internationally. Ms. Forster has accumulated a background in strategy development and implementation, mergers and acquisitions, corporate and organizational development, corporate due diligence, and project valuation. She is versed in corporate governance matters and securities regulations, particularly in relation to dual-listed companies with international concerns in multiple jurisdictions. She has served on the board or advisory council for several industry related organizations, including seven years as an elected director and a term as Chair of the Board for the Association for Mineral Exploration. She was a founding member of the BC HR Task Force Exploration, Mining, Sand, Stone & Gravel. Ms. Forster currently volunteers as Vice-Chair of the Advisory Council for the Centre of Training Excellence in Mining and as Chair of SheTalks Resources. She is also a member of the Sector Advisory Group - Mining for the Industry Training Association.
Dr. Roger Gibbins
Dr. Roger Gibbins is a Senior Fellow at the Canada West Foundation. He held the position of President and CEO from 1998-2012. Prior to assuming the leadership of the Canada West Foundation in 1998, Roger was a professor of political science at the University of Calgary, where he started his academic career in 1973 and served as department head from 1987 to 1996. An ongoing appointment as a Faculty Professor of Political Science he continues his association with the University of Calgary. Roger has authored, co-authored, or edited 22 books and more than 140 articles and book chapters, most dealing with western Canadian themes and issues.
In 1998 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and was the President of the Canadian Political Science Association from 1999 to 2000. In 2007, Roger was presented with the Alberta Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration by the Institute of Public Administration of Canada. Dr. Gibbins was presented with the Peter Lougheed Award for Public Policy Leadership on September 22, 2010, by the Public Policy Forum. Roger was born in Prince George, British Columbia, and received his undergraduate degree from UBC and his doctorate in political science from Stanford University in California.
Kerry A. Jothen
Kerry has over 40 years of experience in various human capital roles, including the last 17+ years as CEO of Human Capital Strategies (HCS), one of the longest-standing independent workforce research and strategy development consultancies in BC. Prior to HCS, Kerry spent 4 1/2 years as CEO of the BC Industry Training & Apprenticeship Commission (ITAC) and held several senior management positions within the BC government as well as positions at four BC post-secondary institutions.
Kerry has advised several resource-based companies including two global LNG proponents, a global leader in aluminum production, mining companies, and several resource sector organizations on strategic workforce planning and workforce strategy in forestry, mining and mineral exploration, and oil and gas. He has led workforce planning and capacity-building projects involving 40 First Nations and Indigenous organizations in BC, many involving partnerships with resource organizations.
Kerry has also planned and developed workforce strategies for organizations in several other industries in BC, and his policy work includes major human capital policy papers for the Business Council of BC, major reviews of the BC government’s Aboriginal post-secondary education policy and contributions to the Council of Ministers of Education Canada and the OECD papers on vocational and technical education policy.
Kerry has a B.A. in Psychology from Simon Fraser University and an M.A. in Adult Education from the University of British Columbia; after which he was a contract research associate at the UBC Centre for Higher Education and Training.
Wayne Dunn
Wayne Dunn has over 25 years of senior-level global experience with Corporate Social Responsibility projects, including both strategic consulting and direct on-the-ground implementation, with industry experience in a diverse range of sectors. His projects have won major international awards, and been made into a Stanford Business School Case Study. He has worked in over 35 countries and on every continent with extensive experience in Africa, North and South America. He is a frequent keynote speaker and lecturer at major events worldwide and is a resident of Mill Bay, BC.
David Emerson
The Honourable David Emerson, P.C., OBC was the former Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs as well as having held the portfolios of Industry, International Trade, the Asia Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics during his tenure as Member of Parliament for Vancouver - Kingsway from 2004 to 2008.
Prior to his political career, Mr. Emerson earned a Ph.D. in economics from Queen's University and worked in the public service as well as the private sector -- most notably as Deputy Minister of the BC Ministry of Finance, CEO of Canadian Western Bank and Canfor.
Yong Jae Kim
Yong-Jae Kim was a partner in Gowlings’ Vancouver office. His practice focuses on corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, share and asset acquisitions, and takeover bids in the mining and energy industry.
Yong-Jae has advised boards of directors, independent committees of boards of directors, and dissident shareholders on acquisitions, proxy battles, and other strategic matters for both reporting issuers and private companies. His clients include public companies, governments and public agencies. Having significant international experience, Yong-Jae has advised on a number of international transactions involving clients based in South Korea.
Gerry Martin
Gerry Martin was the owner of Northern Drugs Ltd. a chain of independent drug stores operating in Northwestern BC. Gerry is a graduate of the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy and has professionally served on the board of the B.C. Pharmacy Association and is a Past President of the Chain Drug Association of BC. 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 endeavours both at the local and provincial levels. 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 BC Agenda for Shared Prosperity, is the former Chair of the British Columbia Progress Board and is a member and Past Chair of KTIDS Northwest.
Dan Miller
Dan Miller was the Premier of British Columbia from 1999 to 2000 and brings over 35 years of experience in both the private and public sectors first as an industrial millwright and most recently as a senior advisor on numerous provincial boards.
Premier Miller brings a wealth of experience and knowledge from Northwestern British Columbia, having served as MLA for Prince Rupert and the North Coast for 15 years as well as his tenures as Minister for Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, Skills Training and Labour, and Forests.
Karen Ogen-Toews
Karen is of Wet’suwet’en ancestry and belongs to the Git’dim’den clan house of Spo’x. She comes from the Wet’suwet’en community outside of Burns Lake. Her background is predominantly in the social work field as a frontline worker, life skills coach, and program director.
Karen has 25 years of experience in the social work field. She has taught at UNBC as an Instructor for the Social Work & First Nations course at the Terrace, Fort St. John and Prince George campuses. She has a masters degree in social work. She is passionate about doing community development within her community.
Angus Reid
Richmond-born Angus Reid was an All-American football player at Simon Fraser University before going on to become an offensive lineman for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League. His many accomplishments on the field include appearing in 142 consecutive Lions games.
When Angus retired in 2014, sportswriter Cam Cole called him “hands-down the most articulate, thoughtful, generous giver of time and football wisdom” that Cole had seen in 40 years of reporting. Today Angus is an entrepreneur and motivational speaker.
David Smiley
David Smiley is a Master Mariner with early seagoing time spent on reefers, bulk-carriers and tankers. He later became a marine pilot, load master, and safety officer of very large crude oil tankers and tanker terminals in the Middle East. Today he is a maritime consultant advising on projects including ferries, cruise ship terminals, defense, and aerospace. He lives in Victoria, British Columbia.
Bud Smith
Bud Smith, Q.C. is an active Kamloops-based businessman with ownership interests in engineering, construction, lending, and travel companies operating in BC and Alberta.
A former Attorney General, Mr. Smith brings experience as Kamloops Member of the Legislative Assembly (1986 - 1991) and Cabinet Minister (Regional Economic Development, 1988 - 1991). Mr. Smith has served on a number of Crown Corporation boards including Canada Post Corporation (1991 -1994), BC Development Corporation (1979 - 1983), Prince Rupert Port Authority (2007-2009/ Chair, April 2012), and Ridley Terminals Inc. (2009 - 2012).
Mr. Smith has given his time to a number of community services and programs including the Diocese of Cariboo (Chancellor), the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce, and the Western Canada Theatre Company (Trustee). Mr. Smith, QC, is a University of Victoria graduate who obtained his law degree from the University of British Columbia in 1974.
Bill Streeper
Bill Streeper is the former Mayor of the Northern Rockies Municipality. Born and raised in Dawson Creek, Bill was often in Fort Nelson working along with his Dad and brothers, and for many years; Fort Nelson has provided employment for the majority of his family, including his sisters, aunts, and uncles. In 1975 Bill started Bill Steeper Contracting (later becoming Streeper Contracting), his first oil field company. After the sale of Streeper Contracting in 2006, Bill semi-retired but remains active in the community. Today, Bill is focused on giving back to Fort Nelson and Northern Rockies in a variety of ways for the betterment of the community. Bill has served in public office since 2002 and is proud to be serving as the Mayor of BC’s first Regional Municipality. In 2012, Bill was elected to represent the Northeast Regional Advisory Committee on the Northern Development Initiative Trust board of directors.
Kathryn Teneese
Kathryn Teneese is the chair of the Ktunaxa Nation Council. She is a member of the Akisqnuk (formerly Columbia Lake Band) of the Ktunaxa Nation and served as the Chief Negotiator for the Ktunaxa Nation in their ongoing negotiations with Canada and British Columbia since 1996. She is also a former elected member of the First Nations Summit Task Group (2000-02) which is mandated and authorized by Summit Chiefs in Assembly to carry out tasks on issues related to treaty negotiations and other issues of common concern to First Nations.
Jennifer Turner
Jennifer has over a decade of experience performing geological drilling supervision on rigs through Western Canada. She is passionate about energy democratization. She has helped organize cross-cultural training and solar installation with Louis Bull Tribe in Alberta. As the first woman who worked on some of her projects, she is committed to doing work to better address gender-based impacts of resource development.
Jennifer is currently the Director of Communications for Project Reconciliation, an Indigenous-owned group that intends to buy a majority share of the Trans Mountain pipeline and establish a new model for more sustainable resource development. She currently serves on the board of the Canadian Heavy Oil Association. She holds degrees in geology and biology from Memorial University.
Dr. Keith Beckett
Dr. Keith Beckett is the Chief Scientist at UrtheCast – Canada’s newest and fastest-growing space-based remote sensing company. Keith’s role at UrtheCast (pronounced Earth Cast) is to maintain a long-term technical and scientific strategic vision and focus on the future needs of users. He is actively leading multiple Earth Observation advanced images and video products and services R&D projects, working in close concert with users, business development, academia, researchers, industry, and engineering.
Leveraging an engineering and research career spanning nearly 30 years of experience in remote sensing gained while working on many international projects, Keith is also responsible for nurturing UrtheCast’s growing base of intellectual property through multiple patents, publications, and conference presentations.
His approach is collaborative, passionate, and thoughtful when it comes to the value achieved by combining science-backed independent and auditable knowledge acquired through Remote Sensing data with the capabilities offered by global and local communities, industries, and authorities alike.
Dennis Chan
Dennis Chan is the Principal of Pathway Advisory Services where he helps pharmaceutical and medical technology companies gain public funding, often through the structuring of creative agreements with governments and healthcare organizations.
Dennis is a lawyer licensed in New York with a background in business. Before becoming a consultant, Dennis led a branch of the Pharmaceutical Services Division of the BC Ministry of Health. Dennis is also an active member of his community including serving as a current director of the Canada Korea Business Association and as the past Chairman of S.U.C.C.E.S.S. In 2013, Dennis received the Queen Elizabeth II, Diamond Jubilee Medal, in recognition of his contributions to building the province through business.
Tai Cheng
Tai Cheng was General Counsel for the Fulida Group, the largest viscose fiber textile manufacturer in China. In 2011, the Fulida Group acquired Neucel Specialty Cellulose Ltd. and its Port Alice dissolving pulp mill representing one of the largest resource acquisitions in British Columbia by a private Chinese company.
Previously, Tai practiced law at the Vancouver offices of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP and the London offices of Linklaters LLP. Tai received his law degree and MBA from the University of Calgary and an LLM from Peking University. Tai is an active participant in the South Asian and Chinese communities.