the mentors

As their mentees can attest, these 23 leaders are staunch friends and allies. In fields ranging from finance and law to science and visual art, they mentor formally, informally–and selflessly

CHRISTINA ANTHONY

VICE-PRESIDENT, DIRECTOR AND PORTFOLIO MANAGER, Odlum Brown Ltd., Vancouver MENTORSHIP ROLES: Founder and chair, Forum for Women Entrepreneurs SHOUT OUT: “I've learned so much from her about seeing challenges. It's not, `Oh, we can't do this because there's a challenge,' it's, `Oh, there's a challenge! What needs to happen for us to overcome this?'” – Lisa Niemetscheck, general manager, Forum for Women Entrepreneurs

ERIN ATHENE

MANAGING PARTNER, Purposesocial, Victoria MENTORSHIP ROLES: Chapter lead, Ladies Learning Code, Victoria; entrepreneur in residence, Coast Capital Savings Innovation Centre, Uvic SHOUT OUT: “She never tried to pull me out of my context. She would constantly pull me out of the mechanics and my approach, but she never asked me to sidestep my values.” – Jason Guille, producer, Stream of Consciousness, Victoria

JANET AUSTIN

CEO, YWCA Metro Vancouver MENTORSHIP ROLES: Women's Executive Network; former chair, Women's Leadership Circle, Greater Vancouver Board of Trade; Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland SHOUT OUT: “Her generosity with her time and her willingness to always be there for me, when you consider...how busy she is, encourages me to make time for people and try not to say no to anybody when they want to meet.” – Fiona DouglasCrampton, president and CEO, Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education, Vancouver

YVONNE COADY

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, Department of Computer Science, Uvic MENTORSHIP ROLES: Teaching and advising; Ladies Learning Code, Victoria chapter SHOUT OUT: “After having her as a professor, it was like, ` What else can I do to be around this person who is so inspiring and makes everything so fun?'” –Rebeca Dunn-krahn, developer, Semaphore Solutions Inc., Victoria

ELIZABETH CROFT

PROFESSOR, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UBC; ASSOCIATE DEAN, Faculty of Applied Science, UBC MENTORSHIP ROLES:

Teaching and advising; in 2003, launched a mentoring program for women in engineering SHOUT OUT: “As a professor advising students myself, I strive to be as good at advising them as she was to me. Even though she was much more experienced and knowledge- able, she always treated me as an equal.” – Dana Kulic,' associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, University of Waterloo

BRENDA EATON

DIRECTOR, Fortisbc, Translink; FORMER B.C. DEPUTY MINISTER MENTORSHIP ROLES: Women's Executive Network; helping set up a mentoring program at Uvic for women in economics SHOUT OUT: “Brenda will answer whatever question you have. She's not blunt in a harsh way, but she's very to the point, and she's very open to giving her time back to other women who are coming up behind her.” –Parveen Khtaria, project manager, B.C. Ministry of Children and Family Development

BONNIE FOLEY-WONG

FOUNDER, Pique Ventures; FOUNDING INVESTOR, Pique Fund, Vancouver MENTORSHIP ROLES:

Advising and mentoring companies; Women in Leadership Foundation; Forum for Women Entrepreneurs SHOUT OUT: “She's an investor personally in Musefind, the company I run, and we've grown so close….[she taught us] financial modelling, financial projecting, basic business 101….The second thing she provided was a lot of connections and networks.” – Jennifer Li, co-founder and CEO, Musefind, Vancouver

ANNE GIARDINI

CHANCELLOR, SFU; LAWYER AND CORPORATE DIRECTOR MENTORSHIP ROLES: Canadian Bar Association's Women Lawyers Forum SHOUT OUT: “The area where she was of great influence for me was later in my time at Weyerhaeuser….i saw how she balanced her life with her

kids and her very demanding job, and she did it all….when I had children, there was great support in having her be my boss.” – Wendy King, vice-president, legal, risk and governance, Capstone Mining Corp., Vancouver

REBECCA GRANT

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS, Peter B. Gustavson School of Business, Uvic MENTORSHIP ROLES: Teaching and advising; Junior Achievement; connecting students to potential employers SHOUT OUT: “Rebecca agreed to take me on as a directed studies student in my fourth year, which is rare for a professor to do for an undergraduate…. After graduating she even helped me refine [my] research and submit it for publication.”– Jordyn Hrenyk, producer, Animikii Inc., Victoria

BARBARA GRANTHAM

PRESIDENT AND CEO, VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation MENTORSHIP ROLES: Co-workers; Women's Executive Network; Loran Scholars Foundation SHOUT OUT: “Her taking the time to explain things to me was how the mentorship began….she was always very open to exploring what kind of avenues I'd ultimately want to pursue within the business. It was clear to me that when the time was right, if I wanted to try something else, I could absolutely do that.” –Teija Beck, major gifts officer, VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation

SHAUNA HARPER

PARTNER AND DIGITAL STRATEGIST, Live Work Communications, Prince George MENTORSHIP ROLES: Co-founder, Startup Prince George SHOUT OUT: “When I was thinking about starting my own business, I thought of her right away as someone to approach….she actually shared a lot of her strategies with me and also helped connect me with a couple of my first clients. I was shocked at how encouraging she was.” – Camille Macdonald, owner, Pop Media, Prince George

ELIZABETH (BETTY) HARRISON

PARTNER, Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy LLP, Vancouver MENTORSHIP ROLES: Encouraging young associates at Farris SHOUT OUT: “Betty has been a fantastic role model for me in terms of my business development…. And she's been

very encouraging to me and other women at the firm that your first priority should always be your family and your health.” – Denise Nawata, partner, Farris

MARIA ISSA

CLINICAL ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UBC MENTORSHIP ROLES: Former president of the Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology (SWIST) SHOUT OUT: “Maria has a wealth of experience. She's been in research her whole life and worked in male-dominated environments. She's gone through things that have been tough, and she's made mistakes as well, and she's very open in talking about it.” – Christin Wiedemann, current president, SWIST

CATRIONA JEFFRIES

OWNER AND DIRECTOR, Catriona Jeffries Gallery, Vancouver MENTORSHIP ROLES: Advising artists on their international careers SHOUT OUT: “When she's talking about work with me in the studio, it's always the potential work; it's not the actual work. We're not talking as curators– we're talking as a pair of inventors.” – Liz Magor, artist, Vancouver

FIONA MACFARLANE

MANAGING PARTNER, B.C., AND CHIEF INCLUSIVENESS OFFICER, EY Canada, Vancouver MENTORSHIP ROLES: EY mentor

ing program SHOUT OUT: “Fiona is genuine, open and candid in her coaching….she often provides context and perspective that are important to considering different angles of a problem and coming to a really good solution.” – Louisa Lun, senior manager, assurance practice, EY, Vancouver

SARAH LUBIK DIRECTOR OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP, SFU MENTORSHIP ROLES: Teaching and advising; Venture Connection; Invention to Innovation graduate certificate program SHOUT OUT: “Sarah is a straight shooter. If she thinks that you're thinking about things all wrong, she'll get you going in the right direction without telling you exactly what to do.” – Lauren Watkins, marketing manager, Pinshape Inc., Boston

LOIS NAHIRNEY

PRESIDENT AND CEO, dnapower Inc. and SKINDNA Canada Inc., North Vancouver MENTORSHIP ROLES: We for She: Championing the Next Generation; Women's Enterprise Network; Junior Achievement SHOUT OUT: “She's really been a coach and a problem solver with me. We'll talk several different scenarios through from beginning to end– how she sees things shaping up from the different decisions I can make.” – Stephanie Bruckner, director of market research, Scientific Games Corp., Las Vegas

CYBELE NEGRIS

CO-FOUNDER, PRESIDENT AND CEO, Webnames.ca, Vancouver MENTORSHIP ROLES: Women's Executive Network; former president, Wired Woman Society SHOUT OUT: “[She was] very helpful in providing real-life experience, not just from a career perspective….through conversation and sharing experiences, she provided me with guidance in regard to life in general.” –Shannon Cole, national account manager, Telus Corp., Toronto

NANCY MCKINSTRY

FORMER EXECUTIVE VICEPRESIDENT, Odlum Brown; director, HSBC Bank Canada, Vancouver MENTORSHIP ROLES:

Founding member and chair of the Minerva Foundation, which delivers leadership and mentorship programs for women SHOUT OUT: “Nancy is someone that I can call at any time, day or night, wherever she is in the world, and ask her anything, and I'm going to get an honest–sometimes too honest–answer.” – Shelly Appleton-benko, financial adviser, Odlum Brown

MICHELLE OSRY

PARTNER, FAMILY BUSINESS ADVISORY, Deloitte LLP, Vancouver MENTORSHIP ROLES: Perimeter Institute's Emmy Noether Council, which aims to boost the number of women in physics SHOUT OUT: “She was phenomenal in terms of helping me reposition myself in order to end up where I am right now. And it wasn't just encouragement, it was really practical advice–` Take this experience, that experience,' and those experiences snowballed into something I could ultimately leverage.” – Moses Richu, business analyst, Mckinsey & Co., Calgary

BARBARA PHILIP

PORTFOLIO MANAGER, British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch; Canada's only female Master of Wine, Vancouver MENTORSHIP ROLES: Teacher, Wine and Spirit Education Trust courses; mentor through Institute of Masters of Wine SHOUT OUT: “She has an ability to listen to people, to hear their opinions and to encourage them….she has a very downto-earth approach to wine in a field that can be pretentious.” – Michaela Morris, wine journalist and educator, Vancouver ELIZABETH (LIZ) WATSON PRESIDENT AND CEO, Watson Inc., Vancouver MENTORSHIP ROLES: Known as the Board Whisperer for her governance counsel SHOUT OUT: “When you work for her, you see that there's so much care in the workplace environment that she's created. She's kind of like Mama Bear. She knows when her employees need her, and she makes the time.” –Teresa Budd, governance lawyer and consultant, Watson

CARLA WOOD

FOUNDER, All Strategy, Vancouver MENTORSHIP ROLES: Forum for Women Entrepreneurs SHOUT OUT: “I had just started out in my new job, and she would say things like, `Someday I'd love to hire you,' and she just saw something in me that I didn't see myself. As I've grown into the role that I have now, leading a team, she's nurtured that in me, in ways that she probably doesn't even realize.” – Stephanie Ratcliff, director of accounts, Sitedocs, Abbotsford •