Jacquie Forbes-Roberts, Dr. Sid Katz, Nitya Iyer, and Dr. Carol Matusicky were elected at the society’s annual general meeting on September 26, 2011.

 

“This is an incredibly strong set of candidates who will add great knowledge, experience, and strategic vision to our society,” said Jonathan Oldman, St. James executive director. “It’s a marker of the organization’s reputation and standing in the community, that we are able to attract such great talent to the board.”

 

Jacquie Forbes-Roberts is a retired general manager of community services for the City of Vancouver. She was responsible for overseeing a wide range of planning, development, housing, social and cultural services. She is a former co-director of planning and has served as the City of Vancouver’s heritage planner. She also led the city’s initiative to create the StreetToHome Foundation and is currently a director of the Building Community Society, a group that focuses on supporting communities that make up the Downtown Eastside.

 

Nitya Iyer recently joined Lovett Westmacott, after practicing law with Heenan Blaikie for 10 years.  Previously she was a member of the UBC Faculty of Law, and also served as a full-time member of the BC Human Rights Tribunal. Nitya focuses her practice in the area of public law, more specifically, administrative and constitutional law, human rights and pay equity. She sits on the board of directors of the Canadian Human Rights Reporter and on the board of West Coast LEAF.  Previous board memberships include the Elizabeth Bagshaw Society and the Canadian Journal of Women and the Law.

 

Dr. Sid Katz served as executive director for UBC’s Office of Community Engagement and as managing director of the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts from 2002-2010.  Sid is also a professor of pharmacology and toxicology in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UBC.  Sid has served as Executive director of Science World in British Columbia and director general and CEO of the Ontario Science Centre. In 2003, Sid was awarded the Order of Canada for his contributions to science awareness and education in Canada. Sid was also a leading member of the team that organized the original capital campaign to renovate and open St. James’s Cottage Hospice.

 

Dr. Carol Matusicky was for 25 years the executive director of the BC Council for Families – a provincial, non-profit organization committed to increasing public knowledge and promoting public concern about the well-being children and families.  Carol has served on numerous provincial ministry task forces and advisory committees as well as national and international advisory committees and boards. She is past president of the Vanier Institute of the Family; currently she is Chair of the United Way of the Lower Mainland’s Success by 6 and Middle Childhood Matters Advisory Committee. Carol is also a founding member of Board Voice – a new provincial organization developed to give voice to the views of boards of directors overseeing the work of community social service agencies across the province.