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Meet the Judges
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Cathy Delaney - Director for BC, Canadian Youth Business Foundation
Cathy Delaney draws on her vast business and volunteer experiences in her role as Director for British Columbia with CYBF. She is a seasoned entrepreneur who has launched to successful businesses and franchised one of them.
She has been a Director of Marketing and Administration for URS Canada, a facilitator on business development, Director of Marketing and Practice Development with Thorne Little Chartered Accountants-BC & Yukon, and Vice President and Treasurer of the Canadian Society for Marketing Professional Services. Cathy also developed and produced the financial radio talk show ‘More Than Numbers’.
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Laurel Douglas - CEO, Women's Enterprise Centre
Laurel is the CEO of the Women’s Enterprise Centre, the leading business resource in BC for women who are starting, purchasing or growing their business.
Passionate about empowering women to their business success, Laurel has a background in economic development and spent fourteen years in the tech sector, in Canada and Europe. Her international experience includes eight years in the telecom and investment banking industries in France, Germany and the U.K., with Alcatel, Nortel and J.P. Morgan.
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Bill Erichson - Educator, Pacific Training Innovations
Bill is one of British Columbia's leading small business and entrepreneurship trainers. For the past twenty years, Bill has presented seminars, workshops and courses in every corner of the province. Not only a trainer, Bill is also a writer, speaker and business consultant.
Bill is a graduate of Simon Fraser University in Commerce and Mathematics. Bill has written curricula in Business Planning and financial forecasting and His recent work includes working on a book entitled The Dynamics of Business Growth - How Growth can kill your business and how you can prevent it!
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Bridget Field - Seminar Coordinator, Small Biz Education
Bridget has over ten years experience as a business research analyst. She is involved in all aspects of business startup and business plan consulting. Bridget is well connected to the business community and shares her expertise with clients at Small Business BC as well as teaching business courses for local community colleges.
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Aly Karmali - Small Business Markets B.C., RBC Royal Bank
Aly Karmali is currently the British Columbia Regional Manager & Advisor, Small Business Markets for the RBC Financial Group located in Vancouver. Prior to this role, Aly was affiliated with another major Canadian Financial Institution in several Progressive Management positions with the proven ability to leverage teams to build brand loyalty, implement business development & marketing strategy, create positive change and add value in challenging & diverse environments.
Aly is an entrepreneurial, innovative, resourceful and skilled Management Professional with over 20 years of varied Business and Financial Services experience in addition to direct experience in owning & operating Small Businesses in Canada and the USA.
Aly is also very active in the local business community and various charities focused on developing self-sustainability amongst underprivileged citizens both locally and in the third world.
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Rab Kooner - Business Plan Advisor, Small Business BC
Rab Kooner as the lead of the Small Business BC business plan review team holds a Masters Degree in Economic Development & Policy with a BA is Business and Economics. Having worked in various economic development agencies in the UK, Rab has extensive experience in writing business plans, conducting research, assisting entrepreneurs with their inquiries and creating business documents. He is currently a member of the Economic Development Association of BC.
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Cecilia Mkondiwa - Manager of Loans & Operations, Women's Enterprise Centre
Cecilia is the Manager, Loans & Operations for Women’s Enterprise Centre, the leading business resource in BC for women who are starting, purchasing or growing their business.
Cecilia’s passion about empowering women to their business success started in Malawi when she worked for a non-governmental micro credit organization. She then moved to Canada to pursue further studies and received a BBA from Mount Saint Vincent University in 1995 and an MBA from the Simon Fraser University in 1998. In 1999, Cecilia joined the Women’s Enterprise Centre and has been involved in providing clients with business analysis, counselling, coaching and information path finding. In addition, she assisted clients with business plan development, assessing the plans for viability and financing.
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Cybele Negris - Founding partner and COO, Webnames.ca
Cybele Negris is a founding partner and Chief Operating Officer of Webnames.ca, Canada’s original domain registrar and a growing Internet Services provider.
Cybele has diverse management and operations experience; prior to Webnames.ca, she ran her own consultancy business working closely with crown and private corporations. A former recipient of Business in Vancouver’s Top 40 Under 40 Award, Cybele has served as President of Wired Woman Vancouver, a national organization providing education and mentorship to women in the technology sector and currently sits on the board of BC’s Forum for Women Entrepreneurs.
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Joy Playford - Regional Director, Special Markets for Western Canada, Business Development Bank of Canada
Joy joined the Business Development Bank as an account manager in 1979, following a five-year career in public accounting. Growing up in a family manufacturing business she developed a passion for entrepreneurs. Her main objective at the BDC continues to be “to help entrepreneurs successfully transform their vision into business success”.
Joy is a proactive leader in building strong relationships with and delivering services to Women in business.
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Mike Slipec - Small Business Manager, RBC Royal Bank
Mike has worked at RBC for over 20 years. His has extensive knowledge in the banking industry stems from his roles as a Customer Service Representative (CSR), Loans Officer, Account Manager and Branch Manager. With 6 years working in Commercial Banking as an Account Manager and Senior Account Manager, he has been the Manager of Small Business for the past 3 years. Mike has obtained his FICB (Fellow of the Institute of Canadian Bankers) designation, completed the Canadian Securities Course and the PFP (Personal Financial Planning) program.
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