Board of Directors

Rajiv Gandhi

Rajiv is originally from the east coast of Canada, having been born and raised in Nova Scotia. He obtained his Bachelor of Science from Dalhousie University in 1993 and his law degree from the University of Victoria in 1997. He was called to the Bar of British Columbia in 1998. Rajiv currently lives in Victoria with his wife and young children. He represents clients throughout British Columbia and beyond, with a focus on corporate and commercial financing, wealth planning, high technology transactions and land development. Rajiv also advises a number of institutional, commercial and academic organizations in the areas of intellectual property (including copyright and trademark registration and enforcement, technology acquisitions, cooperation agreements and technology transfers), employment law, restructuring, governance, financing and cross border transactions.

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 is currently serving as President and Chief Executive Officer for North Island College (NIC, www.nic.bc.ca). Appointed to his current role effective August 1, 2013, John  previously served as President, College of New Caledonia (CNC), headquartered in Prince George, for the seven years.

John is passionate about the important role public community colleges play in enabling people to access advanced education close to home. He has worked in the BC post‐secondary system in several other capacities since 1990.   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.

Pauline Waterfall

Pauline Waterfall was born into the Heiltsuk Nation and holds the ancestral name, Hilistis, inherited from 4 generations of grandmothers. As a residential school survivor, she understood the need to provide continued educational opportunities for Aboriginal people so formed Heiltsuk College in her home community of Bella Bella.  She was an instructor/administrator for 40 years and during this time 700 alumni completed their programs of study and transitioned to other post-secondary institutions or employment training. She was chosen as one of UBC’s 100 Alumni in celebration of their 100^th anniversary and is an Order of British Columbia recipient.   She has a diverse and wide range of experiences with various boards and committees and is currently an elected tribal councillor with the Heiltsuk Nation.  She is a traditional knowledge keeper who offers cultural awareness orientation training and is an adjunct professor of Vancouver Island University, teaching the First Nations Culture & History course to First Nation Stewardship Techical students.  She is a proud mother of 3 adult children and has 6 grandchildren.

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.

Barbara Crocker

Throughout her career, Barbara has engaged with students at both the secondary and post- secondary level at institutions across Canada. Barbara served as Head of an independent school; Director, Athletes Village for The Canada Summer Games; Associate Director Student Financial Assistance, Director Housing and Financial Assistance; and at UBC, Manager of Green College, Director Student Financial Assistance and Awards and currently Director of The Student Financial Support Project. Barbara has served as President of the Association of Administrative and Professional Staff at UBC, Vice Chair of the Association of Student Aid Professionals and as a member of the Board of the Canadian Association of Student Aid Administrators. She currently serves as Chair of the Ike Barber Transfer Scholarship Adjudication Committee. Barbara is active in her community; including serving on the executive of the Board of the Family Support Institute and volunteering currently with Dress for Success, an organization helping low and no income women transition into the workforce. Barbara holds a B.A. from St Francis Xavier University and a BEd and MEd from Saint Mary’s University.

Deborah Hull

Deborah received a law degree from the University of Victoria in 1995. Following her Call to the Bar in 1996, she did consulting work for various government ministries and agencies, including the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, Ministry of Forests, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Deborah joined the Ministry of Advanced Education in 1998 as Senior Legislative Analyst. She has worked in a management role since 2000, first as Manager, Legislation for the Ministry of Advanced Education, and then as Acting Director, Child Care Policy, for the Ministry of Community, Aboriginal and Women’s Services. She was appointed Director, Private Institutions and Sector Initiatives for the Ministry of Advanced Education in December 2002, and as Director, Post Secondary and Industry Training for the Ministry in July 2004. In July 2006, she was appointed Executive Director, Universities and Institutes Branch. She is currently Executive Director, Universities and Aboriginal Programs Branch in the Ministry of Science and Universities.

Shirley Kamerling-Roberts

Shirley completed a career with Human Development Resources Canada, funding community development and managing retraining initiatives. She accepted several secondments to the Government of BC, including to the inistry of Jobs, Tourism, and Skills Training, and to the BCMinistry of Forests. In 2000 Shirley joined Langara College as Manager of Student Financial Assistance, including student awards, and subsequently Student Development. Shirley has adjudicated awards for The Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation, the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, the Garfield Weston Foundation, and the Irving K. Barber British Columbia Scholarship Society. She served as Board member for the BC Association of Student Aid Professionals and as Vice-Chair on the Board of the Canadian Association of Student Aid Administrators, providing field input to the Government of Canada on student borrowing and grants. She also served on the Board of Directors of the United Way of the Lower Mainland, and on Vancouver Foundation funding committees. Recently retired from the post secondary sector, Shirley remains active in the scholarship community, adjudicating Transfer and Aboriginal awards for the Irving K. Barber Scholarship Society, and serving as Board member for the bursary awarding Stepping-stone Foundation. Shirley completed her BA(Hons) at Simon Fraser University, and MEd at the University of British Columbia.

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.