Board of Directors

Troy Barnes

Troy is from the Klahoose First Nation in the Coast Salish territory. He holds a Bachelor’s degree with a major in First Nation Studies and a minor in history from Vancouver Island University. Prior to starting with Island Health, Troy worked with North Island College as an Indigenous Educational Advisor. During his tenure at NIC he helped students develop education plans, explore career paths, and assisted Indigenous students with their transition to college. He’s currently a grateful visitor on the unceded territory of the Snuneymuxw people working as part of the Indigenous Recruitment and Retention team at Island Health.

Monica Cox

Although the majority of Monica’s family live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Monica was privileged to grow up in Victoria on the beautiful traditional territory of the Lekwungen speaking peoples of the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations. After spending several years at the University of Calgary completing graduate work, Monica returned to Victoria where she worked with local First Nations and urban Indigenous organizations to develop and deliver community driven projects.  For the past twelve years Monica has worked for the provincial government and held positions at the ministries of Children & Family Development, Municipal Affairs and Housing, Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation and Public Safety and Solicitor General.   In her most current role, Monica is the Executive Director of Indigenous Policy & Engagement at the Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills and Training.

Kendra Underwood

ÍY SȻÁĆEL HÁLE. Kendra Underwood is a First Nations adult educator from Tsawout First Nation. She holds a Master of Adult Education from St. Francis Xavier University and an undergraduate degree from the University of Victoria. For the past eleven years, Kendra has worked as Director of the Saanich Adult Education Centre (SAEC), which is part of a larger organization, the W̱SÁNEĆ School Board, located on Tsartlip territory in Brentwood Bay, BC. The SAEC offers numerous courses and programs to serve the local community including early literacy, adult upgrading, post secondary programming, onsite childcare services and a hot lunch program.

Prior to being the SAEC’s Director, Kendra worked as the W̱SÁNEĆ School Board’s Post Secondary Adviser. In addition to her role with the SAEC, she sits on the Board of Directors for British Columbia’s First Nations Education Steering Committee (FNESC), and has served a term on their Executive as Vice President. Currently, Kendra is Chair of FNESC’s Post Secondary Sub Committee. She has also served on the Board of Directors for Literacy Victoria. Kendra finds the opportunity to focus on First Nations education at both the local and provincial level to be invaluable. HÍSW̱KE HALE.

Lindsay LeBlanc

Lindsay is a partner with the law firm of Cox Taylor, located in Victoria, B.C. Lindsay obtained a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons.) from U.N.B.C. and her Law Degree from the University of Victoria.
Lindsay maintains both a solicitors and litigation practice focused on property development, municipal and administrative law and corporate structuring.
Lindsay is appointed to the Attorney General’s Supreme Court Rules Committee, a committee formed to provide advice on Rules reform; the Law Foundation of British Columbia which funds projects and programs throughout British Columbia in the areas of legal education & research, legal aid, law reform and law libraries; and is appointed as a member of the Law Society of British Columbia’s Hearing Panel which adjudicates on disciplinary matters, application for enrolment in articles, call and admission and reinstatement as a member of the Law Society.
Lindsay was appointed as a Governor to the University of Victoria and completed the maximum term of 6 years in July, 2017. Lindsay continues to sit on the University of Victoria’s Property Board. Lindsay has also served on other boards in British Columbia, including the Canadian Bar Association Aboriginal Law Student Scholarship Trust Committee and the Vancouver Island Sexual Health Association. Professionally, Lindsay is a member of the Law Society of British Columbia, the Canadian Bar Association and the Victoria Bar Association.

Jeanne Sedun

Jeanne Sedun has served with the Government of British Columbia in various executive and management positions for 20+ years. She is currently the Executive Director of the Sector Business Innovation Branch with the Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills and Training. Her team works in partnership with the province’s 25 public post-secondary institutions to increase the supply of affordable student housing, foster sector-wide collaboration and shared services, and support emergency preparedness planning.
Jeanne is also an author, and the President of Heart in Hand Books. She has partnered with local hospice and palliative care organizations in order to help patients and their families navigate the end of life journey. She also serves on the Community Outreach Committee of the Union Club.
She is fluent in French, and enjoys studying the harp with the Victoria Conservatory of Music. She holds degrees in arts and education from the University of Winnipeg, and a Master of Divinity Degree from the Canadian Southern Baptist Seminary.

John Bowman

John Bowman retired from his position as President and Chief Executive Officer for North Island College in February of 2021.  John  also previously served as President of The College of New Caledonia (CNC).

John is passionate about the important role public community colleges play in enabling people to access advanced education close to home.  He holds a Master of Arts in Leadership and Training from Royal Roads University, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Manitoba.

Melvin Berg

Mel Berg CPA, CA had a 41-year career in public accounting with Andersen and Deloitte and he has followed that as a practice reviewer with the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia. As an auditor, he had significant experience leading audits of public and private companies, with particular emphasis on Canadian
subsidiaries of international entities.

Mel always had a strong interest in training and post-secondary education. His experience includes one year on the faculty of the College of Commerce at the University of Saskatchewan, director of the Canadian Scholarship Trust Foundation, leading Canadian accounting and audit training at both Andersen and Deloitte Canada and spending three years at the Andersen Centre for Professional Development in St. Charles, Il, where he was responsible for audit methodology and training development.

Mel’s interests include travel and photography, both of which were satisfied with roles with the International Accounting Education Standards Board of IFAC (International Federation of Accountants) and several projects with the World Bank Centre for Financial Reporting Reform.

Kelly McConnan

Kelly McConnan is an Executive Director with the BC Ministry of Advanced Education with responsibility for corporate planning, international education and intergovernmental relations.   Kelly joined the BC public service in February 2008 after six years working in Ottawa in a number of federal departments, including Human Resources and Social Development and Privy Council Office.   After three years and two provincial budgets at Treasury Board Staff in the Ministry of Finance, Kelly accepted a position in the Ministry of Advanced Education where she has led international education and intergovernmental relations files for the past five years.  Prior to accepting her current position, Kelly completed a temporary assignment as the acting Executive Director of child and youth mental health policy at the Ministry of Children and Family Development.  Born and raised in Victoria, Kelly holds a Bachelor Arts (Political Science Major) and a Masters of Public Administration from the University of Victoria.

Dawn Tipton

Dawn has over 17 years of experience assisting clients in meeting their personal and corporate objectives while minimizing their overall tax burden. She primarily works with owner-manager businesses and their shareholders in the areas of succession and estate planning, corporate acquisition and tax issues in relation to the sale of a business.

Dawn contributes to the National Technical Committee for Grant Thornton LLP’s Succession and Estate planning practice and has tutored In-Depth level II and level III In-Residence sessions as well as the 2015 Advanced Tax issued for the Owner-Managed Business course through CPA Canada. Dawn has presented on Cross Border Gifting at the Canadian Association of Gift Planner’s National Conference and currently presents to local accountants on various tax issues of interest.

Dawn has volunteered on the programming committees for the Canadian Association of Gift Planners Vancouver Island Chapter, Canadian Association of Family Enterprises Vancouver Island Chapter and the BC Canadian Tax Foundation.

Stuart Walton

After graduating from McGill University with his MBA degree in 1983, Stuart moved to the U.S. where he spent the next twenty-seven years of his career in the U.S. securities industry. He was employed as a proprietary fixed income and equity trader for Wood Gundy in New York City and later moved to San Francisco where he worked for several investment banking boutiques that participated in the financings of many Silicon Valley growth companies. Stuart received his CFA designation in 1992. In 1995, he launched his first hedge fund, Reindeer Capital LP, with the sole focus of investing in growth companies in the technology, health, retail and financial sectors. In 2011, Stuart and his family moved to Victoria where he continues to actively manage U.S. focused investment funds with his firm CSW Investment Services Inc.