Changes made at Victoria Foundation Board

Victoria, B.C. – A new year brings new changes at the Victoria Foundation, including some new board, staff and committee members for 2020.

The Victoria Foundation has a new Board Chair, with Grace Wong Sneddon having completed her term. Stepping into the role is Zaman Velji, who has been on the board since 2018. Zaman is a senior portfolio manager at the BC Investment Management Corporation and brings a background in asset management, oversight and governance to the role.

New to the board in 2020 are Rob Gareau, Marilyn Sing, Brad Clark and Rajiv (Ray) Gandhi, all appointed this January. Wency Lum was also appointed to the board in June of 2019.

The incoming group joins our continuing board members: Treasurer Kyman Chan, Carey Newman, Lori Elder, Michael Cridge, and John van Cuylenborg. In addition, Rasool Rayani continues on as Honorary Governors President and Patrick Kelly remains in his role as Indigenous Cultural Advisor.

Stepping down from the Board are Grace Wong Sneddon, James Darke, Ian Wong and Mary Mouat. The Victoria Foundation thanks each of them for their contributions.

The Victoria Foundation’s volunteer board of directors serve for a three-year term for a maximum of two terms. The Victoria Foundation was created through an Act of the BC Legislature, and all new board members are appointed by a majority of the appointers as stipulated by the Act. These appointers include a judge of the Supreme Court sitting in Victoria, the Mayor of the City of Victoria, the President of the Board of Directors of the United Way of Greater Victoria, the President of the Victoria Medical Society, and the President of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce.

At the staff level, there have been several new hires. Zahura Ahmed has come aboard as the new Grants and Youth Programs Associate, Cindy Dunphy joins the Foundation as Financial Analyst and Jessica Bell started in 2019 as the Manager of Strategic Partnerships.

The Victoria Foundation also welcomes three new members to our Impact Investing Committee: Basma Majerbi, Lucy Edwards and Rob Gareau, each as of September 2019.

Read the full press release.

More information on all of our Board members can be found here.