JILL BODKIN

Director & Chair, Human Resources and Compensation Committee

WESTPORT

Jill Bodkin’s 40-year career includes becoming British Columbia’s first woman deputy minister and founding chair of the Securities Commission and corporate finance partner with EY. An experienced corporate director, she has focused her efforts on the tech space. She has been honoured with the Governor General’s Canada 125 medal, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Association of Women in Finance, and Woman of Influence in Business and YWCA Woman of Distinction awards.

“Building partnerships with finance as the underpinning, partnerships which have resulted in successful technology companies that are improving our world.”

“Frances Barkley, an 18th-century woman who circumnavigated the world with her sea captain husband. She was an adventurer who helped to explore the west coast of Canada and launch trans-Pacific trade, which has been a driving force in my working life.”

“Take it one day at a time and rely on people I trust.”

“Say yes to opportunities that speak to your heart, no matter how unanticipated they seem.”

A lawyer by training, Julia Deans joined Futurpreneur (formerly CYBF) — which has helped 6,000 young Canadians launch startups — in 2013, with a track record of success in the corporate, non-profit and public sectors and as an entrepreneur. In 2012, she chaired Ontario’s Expert Roundtable on Immigration, helping develop the province’s first-ever immigration strategy.

“Building CivicAction from a startup and, through the loss of its founder, David Pecaut, to ensure its enduring role as one of Canada’s most exciting and high-impact civic leadership organizations.”

“Martin Luther King Jr., for his courage and great eloquence in speaking against injustice for those who couldn’t or wouldn’t. David Pecaut: he taught me how to fully engage others in building and bringing life to bold new ideas.”

“While working in Asia I attended a company event where the senior, non-Asian male leaders put on a lewd performance for their young and mainly Asian reports. I spoke out, which led to sanctions, apologies and needed conversations.”

“Be open to change and new ideas, and choose opportunities that will give you even more choices going forward.”