Board Members
Sandra Horvath – President
Sandra is the Sr. Director of Business Development for Sage Software, a leading global provider of accounting, ERP and other business management applications and services for small and medium sized business. She is dedicated to supporting the growth of small business in Canada through Sage and helps foster innovation through strategic alliances.
Sandra is passionate about encouraging diversity and engagement in the tech sector and serves as president of Vancouver Women in Tech, a volunteer based group providing networking, education and career development opportunities to support this goal. In its first year, VanWIT is already making impact in the local community and it is apparent there is a desire for women working in or interested in tech to connect, learn and be inspired about a career in the industry.
Sandra actively participates in numerous boards and committees, including SFU’s Business Technology Management advisory board, in addition to mentoring graduating students and new entrepreneurs. Sandra has an MBA in Management of Technology from SFU, an undergraduate degree in marketing and a Diploma of Technology (Operations & Supply Chain Management) from BCIT. She’s a world traveler, avid hiker, outdoor sports enthusiast and is proud to call the west coast home.
Catherine Boivie
Catherine is the Managing Director, Principal at Strategic Technology Leadership Corporation. She is best known for presenting the strategic use of technology in terms that Board members and Senior Executives can quickly understand to assess risks and strategic advantages. Catherine has extensive Board experience, focusing on governance and risk management. She has led large organizations, managed over 200 staff and consultants, with a capital and operating budget of over $100M. She is a results focused business leader, board member, executive advisor/coach, speaker with diverse experience that has been further enhanced by strategic board and senior leadership connections. She has a high degree of experience and personal comfort interacting with organizations at the executive level within industry and government (Provincial, Federal and Municipal).
Her accomplishments have been recognized by the CIO Association of Canada, WXN (top 100 most powerful women), University of Waterloo and the Queens Jubilee medal. She is a sought after speaker, some recent topics: Board Governance: Part of Get on Boards educational program; Managing the People Side of Change; Working Together for Transformation, Measuring Business Value of IT Applications, The Board and the CIO.
Jennifer Charters
Jennifer joined VanWIT as a Project Manager through pm-volunteers.org in September of 2015 to project manage the start-up of VanWIT as a non-profit society. Passionate about equity, creating equal opportunity in the workplace and helping others to realize their full potential, she knew VanWIT would be fulfilling a strong need in the Vancouver tech sector. At the conclusion of the formation of the society, Jennifer joined the board at VanWIT and works closely with the marketing and promotional team to organize VanWIT’s events. As a woman working in technology, she has a firsthand appreciation of the unique opportunities and challenges facing Vancouver.
Professionally, Jennifer works in the evolving sector of eHealth and is a project manager working on integration of technology into clinical care to enhance and support the health and wellness of British Columbians. Health is an important value to Jennifer personally as well, and in her spare time she loves to cook, cycle, kayak, and enjoy Vancouver’s many nearby beautiful outdoor attractions. Jennifer can be reached on LinkedIn and is happy to chat about VanWIT, leadership, healthcare, working in Vancouver and providing opportunities for women.
Joanne Hausch
Joanne is a tax partner with Deloitte LLP specializing in tax advisory for technology companies. Joanne is the author of many papers, articles and reports which have been published by the Canadian Tax Foundation, the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, and CPA,BC.
In the community, Joanne brings her financial skills and passion for building community to leadership positions in organizations that help connect people. In 2009 she was a founding director and co-chair of CanWIT BC. In 2016 a new organization was founded to serve the Lower Mainland providing networking and career development opportunities for women in technology. VanWIT (Vancouver Women in Technology) is heading into its first year of operations and is already making an impact for women in the community.
Joanne also devotes countless hours working on behalf of at-risk youth. She founded StreetMeals and established the StreetMeals Scholarship Fund, raising over $250,000 which has been directed entirely into programs and bursaries for post-secondary education and training. Joanne’s work on behalf of at-risk and homeless youth led to a connection with Directions Youth Services, a youth resource centre operated by Family Services of Greater Vancouver. She joined the board in 2009, served as Board Chair from 2012 to 2014 and continues to serve as a director.
Maryam Zargar
Maryam is the principal at Zargar Lawyers + Business Strategists. She is a corporate lawyer with focus on technology contract drafting and negotiation, and corporate finance. Her specialties include corporate transactions, asset purchase and share purchase, proprietary rights assignment, service and license agreements, original equipment manufacturer agreements, non-competition agreements, consulting agreements and option agreements, VCC and Eligible Business Corporations and corporate governance.
Founding Members
Sheila Eddin
Sheila is a highly motivated and strategically-oriented executive leader with a proven track-record in leading successful organizational transformation efforts. She has both operational and Consulting experience, having held executive positions at companies such as Bell, EY, Cap Gemini and ICBC. She is also a corporate board Director on public and public institutions, such as BC Assessment, UBC Sauder School and Guidewire Software. She is currently the President of Tranmotion Services, a BC based boutique Consulting firm specializing in Information Technology, Change Management and Business Transformation, offering services from strategy to implementation.
In 2015, she co-founded VanWIT given her passion for this sector and as way to contribute back to the community. Sheila is a Professional Engineer, member of APEGBC. She also holds the ICD (Institute of Corporate Directors) designation. She is a frequent speaker at Technology related events.
Shelley Gilberg
Shelley leads IBM’s healthcare and public sector technology transformation initiatives in BC, Canada and globally. She helps clients turnaround and implement large projects with diplomacy –providing governance and strategic insights at every stage.
Sought after for her experience working with the public sector and complex deal negotiations, Shelley is responsible for delivery and growth across a large portfolio of enterprise infrastructure and technology in the healthcare industry.
Prior to joining IBM, Shelley was a senior executive in the BC Government holding a variety of strategic, financial and operational portfolios including Transformation, Human Services, Crown Corporations, Shared Services, and Economic Development and Trade.
Shelley holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Queen’s University and is a Certified Professional Accountant. She sits on the Board of Directors for the BC Assessment Authority, a Crown Corporation, and on the BC Chapter Board for Canadian Women in Technology. She is also a mentor to the business students at UBC’s Sauder School of Business and SFU’s Beedie School of Business.
Marketing Committee
Farrah Smith
Specializing in marketing within the technology industry, Farrah is an active member of Vancouver’s tech community. She enjoys planning events that connect and inspire women in tech. Joining the marketing committee during VanWIT’s launch, her volunteer work for VanWIT also included creating VanWIT’s logo and website.
Farrah is a Marketing Campaign Manager at Sage Software, where she is responsible for customer marketing campaigns and programs across Sage’s mid-market customer base in Canada. She can relate to the experience of working for a large, global software company, as well as working for a local tech startup. Previously, Farrah was the Marketing Manager at IPS, a fast-growing Canadian cyber security company, which was successfully acquired by Deloitte.
Farrah also serves on the volunteer marketing committee for Kids Help Phone, where she assists with marketing for fundraising events including the Walk So Kids Can Talk and Homes for the Holidays. Farrah graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelors of Commerce (BCom) – Marketing Option.
Jennifer Carreiro
Jennifer is VanWIT’s Social Media Coordinator. She supports marketing as well as social media efforts as a member of VanWIT’s marketing committee. Jennifer is a Senior Project Analyst at ICBC. She works in the adrenaline-inducing world of projects as a PMO resource; providing project management services and on-point for workstream deliveries within enterprise-scale programs. She has experience in fast-paced, high pressure, large scale and ever changing IT application development lifecycles as well as business process change environments through Transformation Program initiatives. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Vancouver’s Downtown Networking Association.
Kimberley Jang
Kimberly’s marketing career spans advertising, design, corporate marketing, education, and social media. Before joining Douglas College as a marketing instructor in 2016 with the Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration, Kimberly worked in the technology sector (Hootsuite) specializing in social media, digital marketing, and education. She also has experience in financial and corporate marketing (Credit Unions of BC, Central 1 Credit Union), advertising (Cossette), and graphic design.
