Warren Smith, LL.B. - Chair
Warren Smith recently left the practice of law to join the Vancouver offices of the Counsel Network, Canada 's premier legal recruiting agency, where he works as a recruitment consultant. Warren specializes in the recruitment and placement of industry leading practitioners in all fields of law, especially at the associate and junior partner levels. His background is predominantly in legal and government affairs, where he has published in the areas of constitutional and administrative law. He is also highly involved in political matters at both the provincial and federal levels, where he has served as political counsel to various members of parliament and of the provincial legislative assembly.
Warren is a member of Law Society of British Columbia and holds an LL.B. from the University of British Columbia.
Allen Manser
Allen Manser is a part of the Management Consulting group at Accenture, which he joined after graduating from the Sauder School of Business in 2006. Significantly involved while in school, Allen served as the Chair of the Sauder Graduation Committee, was a member of the Vancouver Board of Trade’s Leaders of Tomorrow Program, and served as Vice-Chair Operations for Enterprize 2005; Canada’s largest undergraduate business plan competition. In April of 2006, he was recognized by Strategy Magazine as one of eight Canadian marketing graduates to watch. He currently serves as the Director of Business Development for motionball’s 6 Degrees of Separation in support of Special Olympics Canada, and maintains an active role at his alma mater working with undergraduate business case competition teams.
Claudio Arato B.Sc., B.A.Sc., P.Eng
Claudio is a double graduate from UBC, holding degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. Since graduation, Claudio has worked on developing and commercializing a series of clean technologies throughout North America in fields ranging from forestry and food processing to nanotechnology, fuel cells, biofuels, catalysts, water and contaminated soil treatment. He is currently Manager, Project Engineering at the TSX-traded Sonic Environmental Solutions Inc.
Mr. Arato is extensively involved in the community as a past Board member of the Consulting Engineers of BC (CEBC) and a two-term Councillor of the Association of Professional Engineers & Geoscientists of BC (APEGBC). He is also active within the Make A Wish Foundation of BC and was a volunteer leader on major community efforts including the 2010 Olympic Bid, the 2004 World Weightlifting Championships, the Vancouver Whitecaps soccer club and the 2006 World Junior Hockey Championships. He is fluent is Hungarian and English with a working knowledge of Spanish and enjoys reading, travel, music, sports, food and drink. He is married with one glorious little boy.
George Kondopulos, CA
George is a tax manager in KPMG LLP’s Greater Vancouver real estate group. He articled with KPMG LLP in the financial institution, real estate and not-for-profit assurance practice starting in May 2000. He specializes in providing tax advice and services to a wide range of domestic and cross-border clients in the real estate sector including investments in corporate, trust and partnership arrangements. His clients include both public and private real estate owners and developers.
He is actively involved in KPMG’s university and college recruiting program. He lectures at various training programs aimed at assisting students preparing for the Chartered Accountant final examination and volunteers his time to mentor these students and mark their practice examinations.
Nicola Fairweather
Nicola hails from London, England where she completed her BA (Hons) in Law and Business Studies and Legal Practitioners Course both from Staffordshire University. Her career in law was cut short due to an opportunity to immigrate to Canada. On her arrival in Canada Nicola founded and managed an event production company whose clients included Cysco Systems, the CFL (Grey Cup) and the City of Vancouver before moving to join NaiKun Wind Development Inc. Nicola is involved in a number of political, community and charitable organization groups.
Tara Knight
Tara Knight is a Senior Consultant with Hill & Knowlton, a national public relations and public affairs agency in Vancouver. Her expertise lies in stakeholder relations, fundraising, marketing and communications. Prior to joining Hill & Knowlton, Tara lived and worked in Australia.
An alumnus of Simon Fraser University, Tara Knight has enjoyed the opportunity to work for a wide variety of organizations. She managed the Leaders of Tomorrow (LOT) Program at The Vancouver Board of Trade, a pioneering charity, inspiring the next generation of leaders through a program of mentorship, networking, leadership and volunteerism. She has also held past positions with 2010 Legacies Now, Health Canada, ActiveState software, the Vancouver Maritime Museum, and The Pace Group public relations agency. Tara also volunteers for a number of organizations in the city.
Michael Welters
Michael Welters is a tax lawyer at Bull, Housser & Tupper LLP. Michael’s practice encompasses primarily income tax, GST, and provincial sales tax matters, but also employment insurance and pension matters. Michael advises clients on the income tax and sales tax implications of complex business transactions, including public share and debt offerings, corporate reorganizations, and mergers and acquisitions. Michael also represents clients in tax disputes at all levels, including at the audit, administrative appeal, and court (including Tax Court, Federal Court, and the BC Supreme Court) levels.
Karima Penman
Andrea Smith
Keith Roy
Eunice Lai
Brady Dahmer