After graduating from Burnaby Senior Secondary, Christy studied at Simon Fraser University, the University of Edinburgh, and at the UniversitÃe de la Sorbonne in Paris.

In 1996, she was elected to the British Columbia legislature where she distinguished herself as a passionate champion for families. This commitment continued when the BC Liberals formed government and she was appointed Minister of Education and Deputy Premier in 2001.

Christy took a break from politics in 2005 to spend more time with her family. She quickly established herself as a columnist with the Vancouver Province newspaper and commentator on CTV Newsnet. In 2007, she began the "Christy Clark Show" on CKNW radio.

Christy has earned a number of awards, including the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award for her work in politics, and for creating the anti-bullying campaign "Pink Shirt Day", she was named the 2009 Woman of the Year in BC by the Consumer Choice Awards.

In September 2011, Audrey retired after a career marked by success and integrity, to focus her priorities on family, travel and community service.Audrey has had an interesting and varied career in law. Prior to joining TELUS, she practised corporate law for many years as a partner of the Vancouver law firm of Bull, Housser & Tupper. From 1994 to 1995, Audrey took a sabbatical to accept a Cabinet appointment to the Immigration & Refugee Board (Appeal Division), and acted as the Assistant Deputy Chair for the Division in the Western Region.

Audrey is passionate about volunteerism and has sat on the boards and advisory committees of various community organizations, including the Better Business Bureau, UNICEF and S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Currently, Audrey is a member of the Advisory Committee to the Dean of the UBC Law School, on the National Centre for Business Law. She was also TELUS' representative on the Canadian Board Diversity Council, whose goal is to improve diversity on corporate and public sector boards in Canada.

In 2007, 2009 and 2010, Audrey was named one of Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women by the Women's Executive Network (WXN).

Janet Holder
EVP, Western Access
Enbridge Inc.

Janet Holder was promoted to Executive Vice President, Western Access at Enbridge Inc. in September 2011.

Ms. Holder is responsible for the overall leadership of the Northern Gateway Pipelines Project, providing oversight in advancing this project through the public and government review process.

Ms. Holder is also a member of Calgary-based Enbridge Inc.'s Executive Leadership Team.

Previously, Ms. Holder was President, Gas Distribution, Enbridge Inc., and President of Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc., - the first woman to hold the position in the utility's more than 160-year history.

She first joined Enbridge in 1992, holding progressively more strategic roles in areas including gas supply and as Vice President of Energy Services, Market Development and Operations at Enbridge Gas Distribution. She also held senior positions in Corporate and Liquids Pipelines.

Ms. Holder serves on the Board of Directors of Hydro One Inc. She also serves on the Boards of Saint Elizabeth Health Care and Saint Elizabeth Health Care Foundation (Chair). She is also the 2011 United Way Toronto Campaign Chair.

Born in Prince George, British Columbia, Ms. Holder holds a Bachelor of Science degree (Chemical Engineering) from the University of New Brunswick where she now serves on the Board of Governors.

She has a Master of Business Administration degree from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and was a member of the first graduating class of the Directors College at the University where she also received her Chartered Director's designation.

Ms. Holder was named the 2011 Ontario Energy Association Leader of the Year, and in 2009 she was named one of Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 by the Women's Executive Network.

Enbridge Inc. is a leader in energy transportation and distribution in North America and internationally. The company operates, in Canada and the U.S., the world's longest crude oil and liquids pipeline system.

Through her consulting firm, Insight Creative Communications, established in 1999, she builds businesses that matter by helping others integrate and align social, environmental and economic performance.

Now, Connie has embarked on creating her own startups. She is a co-founder of Vancouver-based Polymer Research Technologies Ltd., a pioneer in the chemical recycling of polyurethanes that recently won the prestigious BCIC-New Ventures Competition for 2011, taking the top prize from a field of 178. She's also launching a web-based search engine/directory designed to make sustainable products, services and information more widely accessible.

A passionate and inspiring speaker, Connie specializes in revealing how business and social responsibility can co-exist in creating and maintaining a successful venture. Most recently, she was a keynote speaker at the September 2011 UBC Ignite Conference.

Her experience ranges from policy-making, board governance, First Nations negotiation, government relations, corporate structure, and the development and implementation of all forms of business and communications strategy and documentation.

Connie's early career in the financial markets and as co-founder of an award-winning business paved the way for executive positions at many high growth companies and start-up enterprises involving alternative and renewable energy, clean-tech and sustainable real estate development.

Connie is dedicated to youth and the arts and served as chair of the Vancouver International Children's Festival, and developed an African Education Initiative associated with Rotary International. She also believes in giving back and mentors future entrepreneurs at the University of British Columbia, Minerva Foundation for BC Women and the Women's Enterprise Centre.

Connie was recognized as a leader in sustainability by the University of British Columbia (2008), was a finalist in the Action Canada program (2005), and winner of the Royal Bank's Top New Service Supplier Award (1995) as a founding director of Churchill Armoured Car.

She has been involved in transactions for private and public companies including mergers and acquisitions, financings and corporate reorganizations as well as licensing, strategic alliances and joint ventures. Valerie's practice includes acting for large private as well as public companies in their corporate and acquisition activities, as well as for private equity firms. Valerie also acts for entrepreneurs and start-up technology ventures and the angel and venture capital companies that invest in those ventures. As part of her mergers and acquisitions practice Valerie has significant expertise in competition law matters, particularly with respect to pre-merger requirements, including negotiations and agreements with regulatory authorities.

Valerie has been actively involved in management roles at Lawson Lundell over the course of her career. She was the working group manager for the business services group of the firm from 2004-2007 and currently sits on the firm's Executive Committee. Outside the firm, Valerie has been actively involved on boards and committees in the technology sector and business community, with a particular interest in advancing the opportunities for women in technology. Valerie has chaired and been a speaker at numerous conferences and courses on corporate and technology law.

Prior to her current role Fiona was the Canadian Managing Partner, People and Ernst & Young's Americas Chief Operating Officer, Tax.

Fiona has previously held the role of Ernst & Young's Tax Managing Partner for the Canadian Tax practice, a team of over 800 tax practitioners. Fiona is the first woman among the Big Four firms to have held such a position.

Before joining Ernst & Young's South African firm in 1983, Fiona trained as a lawyer in Cape Town, where she was admitted to the bar. She joined the Canadian firm's Calgary Tax practice in 1987 and relocated to Vancouver two years later to build a commodity tax practice in Western Canada. She was admitted to the partnership in 1991 and became the Tax leader for the western region of Canada in 2001.

Before relocating to Vancouver Fiona was on the cabinet of Pathways to Education, an organization that assists youth in disadvantaged areas to complete high school. Fiona is on the Canadian Board of the International Women's Forum (IWF) an organization dedicated to advancing women's leadership across careers, cultures and continents by connecting the world's most pre-eminent women. She is Chair of the Toronto Chapter.

Fiona's efforts in the immigrant community have been recognized with two awards, the TRIEC CBC Business Leader Award in 2008 and York University's makeMORE Ontario Connections Award for Immigrants in 2010.

Fiona was appointed to the Executive Committee and is a member of the Board of Governors with the Business Council of British Columbia.

Fiona holds bachelors of arts, commerce and law degrees from the University of Cape Town. She also earned a masters of law degree from Cambridge University.

* Fiona Macfarlane is a limited partner of Ernst & Young L.P. which provides services to Ernst & Young LLP.

Catherine McLeod-Seltzer
Chairman/Corporate Director
Bear Creek Mining, Pacific Rim Mining/Kinross Gold Corp, Troon Resources

Catherine McLeod-Seltzer is the Chairman of Bear Creek Mining Corporation and a recognized leader in the minerals industry for her ability to create growth-focused companies that generate significant shareholder value.

Catherine partners with successful geological teams and has been instrumental in helping build a number of successful mineral companies in the past 20 years, including Arequipa Resources, Francisco Gold, Miramar Mining, Bear Creek Mining, Stornoway Diamonds and Peru Copper Inc. Catherine was named Mining Man of the Year by The Northern Miner in 1999 and in 1997 she was given the "Award for Performance" by the Association of Women in Finance. She has also held a position on the Financial Post's "Power 50".

After spending the early years of her career working in mining Corporate Finance, both in North America and internationally, particularly in Latin America, Catherine went on to co-found Arequipa Resources in 1993 with renowned mine finder J. David Lowell. Three years later, following the discovery of the Pierina gold deposit in Peru, Arequipa was taken over by Barrick Gold in one of the largest mining industry buyouts of the 1990s. As President and CEO, Catherine was responsible for Arequipa's financing and public relations, growing the company from a capitalization of C$5 million to more than C$1.1 billion when it was taken over by Barrick in 1996.

Catherine was a founding Director of Francisco Gold prior to it being acquired by Glamis Gold in 2002 for $390 million. Glamis and the former Francisco Gold projects were subsequently acquired by Goldcorp Inc. in 2006. Catherine also spearheaded and chaired the Special Committee that reviewed the fairness of the acquisition of the Marlin project in 2000.

In 2003, Catherine and David joined forces once again to found Peru Copper Inc. to acquire the Toromocho Copper deposit in Peru. The team took the company public the next year and Peru Copper was acquired by Chinalco for $840 million in July 2007. Catherine served on the board of Peru Copper.

Catherine serves as Chair of Bear Creek Mining which is focused on exploring and developing precious metals projects situated in emerging mineral districts of Peru. The Company has an exceptional track record of creating shareholder value through generative exploration programs, and is led by a management and technical team with extensive industry experience in South America. As a founder and Chairman Catherine has helped raise close to $250 million to advance exploration and development of the world-class Corani and Santa Ana projects. The Corani Project hosts an open-pittable deposits that contains 365 million ounces of silver, 4 billion pounds of lead and 2 billion pounds of zinc. In addition, exploration of the Santa Ana Project has defined 100 million ounces of near-surface silver resources in a bulk-tonnage deposit amenable to low-cost heap-leaching and open-pit mining. These deposits will take Bear Creek to a production level of close to 30 million ounce of silver equivalent per annum.

Catherine was a co-founder of Stornoway Diamond Corporation, one of Canada's most successful diamond exploration companies, with 15 diamondiferous kimberlites discovered since 2003. Catherine co-led the transformation of Stornoway as the company made simultaneous acquisitions of Contact Diamonds and Ashton Mining. Following the completion of the $200 million acquisitions, Stornoway is positioned as the premier mid-tier Canadian diamond exploration and development company with its 100 per cent interest in the feasibility stage Renard project – which has the potential to become Quebec's first diamond mine.

Citing "world class resource" potential of Miramar Mining Corp's Hope Bay project, Newmont Mining Corp. made an offer in October 2007 to purchase all shares of Miramar in a transaction valued at approximately C$1.5 billion Catherine was a Director of Miramar through its acquisition of Hope Bay Gold and the ensuing rapid growth of Hope Bay's mineral inventory from 3 million ounces to more than 10 million ounces of gold. During her tenure at Miramar Catherine sat on the Independent Committee that reviewed the Company's merger with Hope Bay Gold as well as serving as an active member of the Compensation and Governance Committees.

Catherine has been a Director of Kinross Gold since 2005 during a time of unprecedented revenue and production growth and played a key role during the November 2006 acquisition of Bema Gold for US$3.1 billion. Kinross is now the third largest primary gold producer in North America by reserves. She also is an active member of the Company's Compensation and Environment, Health and Safety Committees.

Catherine has raised close to $600 million in working capital for mining exploration in the past 25 years, and been directly involved in more than $4 billion in corporate transactions in the mining industry. Her leadership and financial expertise, access to capital and respect from the exploration and mining community have been invaluable assets to the companies she is involved in and have created significant wealth for shareholders.

Cybele is Vice-Chair of the Board of Small Business BC (www.smallbusinessbc.ca). She also serves on the Board of the Small Business Roundtable of British Columbia chaired by Pat Bell, Minister of Jobs Tourism and Innovation (www.smallbusinessroundtable.ca). She is also on the Board of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs (www.fwe.ca), and served as Chair of the FWE e-series Program (entrepreneurial training for high growth businesses) for the past few years. She was also on the Board of the Vancouver Economic Development Commission (www.vancouvereconomic.com) until the end of 2010. Cybele chairs the Vancouver Canary Derby (www.canaryderby.com) and acts as a judge for the Small Business BC Successful You Awards (www.successfulyou.ca), Profit Magazine's Innovations@Work Contest (www.innovationsatwork.ca) and Business in Vancouver's Influential Women in Business Awards (www.biv.com/iwib/index.asp). She was past President of Wired Woman Vancouver (www.wiredwoman.com), a not-for-profit organization providing education, networking and mentorship to women in the technology sector. Cybele speaks at over a dozen entrepreneurship and technology conferences or events each year.