Maria Gyongyossy-Issa studied microbiology at UBC then did a PhD in immunology in London, UK where she described T cell receptors. To supplement her starving student status, she edited for Pergamon Press and still reviews and edits for scientific journals. As postdoc, Maria skied in Switzerland and France, did biochemistry (complement) and blood (apoptosis), then in Saskatchewan worked on the biological warfare agent: T2 toxin. Finally at UBC Pathology, Maria raised a family while working on platelets and developing patents. She is the CSO of a small biotech company, BioMolecular Design LTD. Throughout, she taught Med school, supervised innumerable students, mounted biology and biochemistry courses for Douglas College and CIDA in Indonesia. For 8 years, she served on the SCWIST Board, created SCWIST’s XX-Evening, Science World’s “Opening the Doors” and the new makepossible.ca mentorship program. For science outreach, she was nominated for the YWCA Women of Distinction award, and was awarded Volunteer of the Year by the predecessor of LifeSciences BC. She still teaches UBC Med students and is the Director of the Pathology Education Centre. Maria umpires for Rowing Canada and as Black Belt instructor, teaches TaeKwonDo. Her motto is Emmanuel Kant’s dictum, “Dare to find out!”

Michelle Blake has over 20 years of experience in strategic planning, engineering and capital projects in the public transportation, municipal, and maintenance facility sectors. She joined Stantec in 2010 and is responsible for managing the development and implementation of Stantec’s Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Facilities Sector business development strategy for North America. As part of P3 teams, Michelle led the design team for the Ottawa Light Rail Transit Line Maintenance and Storage Facility and the Sheppard Maintenance and Storage Facility project proposals. She also led the conceptual design for the Surrey Central Works Yard and Maintenance Facility and the master plan for BC Transit Victoria Facilities. Prior to joining Stantec, Michelle was the Director of Engineering and Project Services with TransLink, where she was responsible for developing and implementing the $1.2B transit infrastructure and fleet capital programs, frequently using alternative project delivery methods such as Design-Build, Construction Management, and Design-Build-Operate-Maintain. Michelle is an effective leader with a proven ability to build and motivate teams, achieve stakeholder support, work with government partners, and develop policies and business plans. Michelle obtained her Bachelor and Master’s degrees from UBC in Civil Engineering, and holds a Diploma in Dialogue and Negotiation from SFU.

Dr. Claire Cupples is a Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at Simon Fraser University and Dean of the SFU Faculty of Science. She received her BSc at the University of Victoria, her MSc at the University of Calgary and her PhD at York University.  She pursued post-doctoral studies at UCLA and has held academic and administrative positions at Concordia University, in Montreal and at the University of Victoria. Her research focuses on the causes, consequences and prevention of mutations in microbes and in humans and she has taught university courses in microbial molecular biology for 20 years.

Tarah Ferguson is the Operations Manager at the BC Innovation Council (BCIC) in Vancouver and the Founder and Creator of the interview series, Tarah Talking Tech. Capitalizing on the incredible entrepreneurs and events she was privy to working at BCIC, she founded Tarah Talking Tech, an interview series featuring entrepreneurs, CEOs and VCs working in tech. In September 2014, she launched her Women In Tech interview series to empower and inspire the next generation of women to pursue careers in technology and become future founders themselves. In this series, Tarah focuses on celebrating the achievements and abilities of women, by providing role models for the next generation of career driven women.  As a result of this initiative, Tarah was nominated for the 2015 YWCA Women of Distinction Award in the category of Community Champion. Tarah holds a BA, Honours in Psychology from Carleton University, sits on the Programs Committee for the Science World Equity Giving Committee, and is an Advisor for Business in Heels Vancouver, a networking group for female entrepreneurs.

Jeff Kuypers is Creation Technologies’ Regional Leader—West, and combines his 25+ years of experience in engineering, sales, manufacturing and leadership development with his passion for building community and environmental sustainability.

Jeff gets great satisfaction in working with others in developing strategy and together taking action towards a common goal. Jeff championed and set the direction for Creation’s Quality program, Environmental Policy and After-Market Services offerings.

Jeff holds a Bachelor of Science degree (Chemical Engineering) from McMaster University.