Meet the Team
Sarah Lubik - Executive Director (Sabbatical)
Dr. Sarah Lubik is the Executive Director of the Charles Chang Institute for Entrepreneurship. She builds platforms, programming, relationships and shared vision to unleash entrepreneurial mindset at SFU and across the country. Sarah’s favourite construct within the entrepreneurial mindset is resilience because it allows us to feel confident and thrive in the midst of the constant changes the world throws at us.
Simon Ford - Academic Director
Dr Simon Ford’s mission is to create memorable learning experiences for students. Teaching within the innovation and entrepreneurship concentration, his courses are highly experiential and project-based, and involve students developing solutions to real-world problems. He brings the business world into the classroom and his consulting-oriented courses have involved the participation of Affinity, Deloitte, EA, EY Advisory, KPMG, Pearson, Slalom, and Smash + Tess, as well as tech-based ventures including Advisor Flow, Flash Forest, Nourish Labs, Sarcomere Dynamics, Silver Homes, Spexi Geospatial, Visier and Voltsafe.
Janice OBriain - (Acting) Executive Director & Director, Programs
Janice OBriain has been at the forefront of engaged entrepreneurship at SFU for almost two decades. In her role as Programs Director for the Chang Institute she develops, resources and leads programs that support early-stage ventures, founders, and entrepreneurial mindset development. She is particularly proud of her work establishing the Institute’s signature incubator program (formerly Venture Connection), which has provided incubation services to 300+ startup teams since 2008 and has helped to launch such impactful ventures as Buyatab, Moment Energy, Employ to Empower and Ionomr.
Janice holds both an MBA in Arts & Media Management and a Diploma in Non-Profit Management from the Schulich School of Business (York University), a Bachelor of Music (Honours) from UVic and was the recipient of the 2020 SFU Staff Achievement Award for Innovation.
Ben Chow - Director, Operations
Ben Chow is the Operations Director with the Charles Chang Institute for Entrepreneurship. His experience ranges from engineering and technology product development to business development. He led corporate functions such as asset divestitures, strategic relationships, and R&D partnership programs as well as providing consulting services to companies in the areas of investor relations, strategic planning, corporate valuation and international market entry.
Ben has a B.A.Sc. in Chemical Engineering-Chemistry Honours from the University of British Columbia and an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business, Western University and is a licensed Professional Engineer (P.Eng.) in British Columbia.
Thomas Partridge - Associate Director, Incubator Programs
Thomas Partridge is the Associate Director of Incubator Programs within the Charles Chang Institute for Entrepreneurship. He manages the mentorship network, early stage Incubator, Science Entrepreneur Accelerator stream, and the Entrepreneurship Co-op, Entrepreneurship Grad, and Post-doctoral curriculum tester programs. He loves working with driven entrepreneurs and mentors and is proud to see the thriving businesses that result.
Thomas has a PMP designation and a BBA with a specialization in Marketing from Capilano University. His background is program and project management in the energy, tech, incubator, and accelerator space. He has worked for BC Hydro, FortisBC, Innovate BC, and Foresight (Canada’s Cleantech Accelerator) among others, and utilizes this diversity of experience to advise, position, and support ventures on their journeys of scaling and growth.
Krysta Pallone Helm - Coordinator, Events and Community Engagement
Krysta Pallone Helm is the Events and Engagement Coordinator at the Chang Institute. Where there is detailed information and complex ideas needing to be simplified, you’ll find her right at home developing it into messages that resonate and connect our community together.
Krysta’s passion for bringing people together extends to event planning where she thrives off of seeing her plans result in positive, engaging human connections. Previously, Krysta worked in events at nonprofit organizations and different golf courses in the area. She also has experience in sales and public relations during her time at a biotech company. Krysta is also an SFU alumna.
Fiona Li - Coordinator, Incubator Programs
Fiona Li is the Incubator Programs Coordinator at the Chang Institute. She works with pre-incubation programs (Spark, Mentor Meet), incubation programs (Venture Connection incubator, SEA stream, eCoop), and supports general day-to-day operations.
Being a recent SFU alumna, she brings to the role a student perspective as well as a wide range of skillsets, including communications, graphic design, digital marketing, event management, data analytics, and project planning.
Michelle Yu - Coordinator, Project (Opportunity Fest)
Michelle will be a fifth year business student at SFU, pursuing concentrations in Marketing and Management Information Systems. She applies her event planning, problem-solving, communication, and creativity skills to her role. She enjoys the journey of making ideas and plans come to fruition, especially when it leaves a positive impact on others. Aside from project management, Michelle also has experience in sales, customer service, and market research.
Alicia Kim - Coordinator, Communications & Events
As a SFU Beedie student, Alicia is dedicated to supporting transformative visions and helping her peers and future business leaders succeed. With a background in sales and marketing, she is passionate about connecting deeply with people and bringing inspired visions to life through planning and communication. She thrives on creating experiences that resonate with others, using her skillset to craft messages and events that foster genuine connections.