Taking Steps in B.C

Kris Archie is a Secwepemc and Seme7 woman from Ts’qescen, a mother, an aunty and an engaged community member. She is also the Chief Executive Officer for The Circle on Philanthropy (The Circle). Kris is a long time practitioner of hosting conversations that matter and currently works to transform philanthropy and contribute lasting systemic change by creating spaces for shared learning and centering Indigenous wisdom. Her biggest joy is working alongside a creative and engaged group of humans surrounding The Circle, from the staff team to Governing Circle directors and members.  She has worked to create a workplace and a member network who truly think and do their work differently – and do that good work together for the purpose of redistributing wealth. 

She is a PLACES Fellow Alum of 2016 with The Funders Network, a board member with Environment Funders Canada and a Dialogue Fellow with Simon Fraser University focused on Indigenous ways of knowing and Philanthropy. She loves live music, her puppy Pepper and swimming at any pésellkwe in Secwepemc territories.

Heather Tanaka is an Investment Principal at InBC Investment Corp., a strategic investment fund with $500 million to invest in companies and funds to generate financial returns and achieve economic, social and environmental impact for British Columbia. As Investment Principal, she is responsible for sourcing and qualifying investment opportunities that align with the fund’s impact investing mandate, leading due diligence processes and executing investments.

Prior to InBC, Heather was Impact Investment Manager at Vancity, Canada’s largest community credit union, where she managed its impact fund of funds. Heather previously worked to provide social finance solutions at Vancity, including co-founding Knives & Forks Community Investment Co-operative, and managed the microfinance program where she provided microloans to new businesses and newcomers to Canada. Prior to Vancity, she provided asset-backed lending solutions to businesses while at GE Capital.

Heather is passionate about providing wraparound support to underserved businesses and individuals including coaching, financial literacy and bridging capital gaps through patient funds, and the development of tools, resources and alternative finance mechanisms. Heather has an MBA in Community Economic Development from Cape Breton University and a BComm. from the University of Victoria. She sits on the Board of the Common Approach to Impact Measurement and the Vancouver Entrepreneurs’ Forum and has participated in numerous private sector and community boards and advisory committees.

Charlene SanJenko is an Indigenous Storyteller, Impact Producer, and Media Visionary. Born in Splatsin [pronounced SPLAT-seen] Tribe in the Shuswap Nation, Charlene is a two-time founder and a veteran in the social impact space.

Charlene’s 20-year+ commitment to the expansion of human potential can be summarized as: “Our imagination expands our greatness; as we SEE possibility, we BELIEVE more deeply.”

Through her second company, reGEN impact media, Charlene is exploring where the vehicles of media-tech and inclusive innovation intersect to lift society and shift our future’s narrative through the return to the sacred art of storytelling fuelled by the power of media and highest use of technology’s tools.

You can meet Charlene and learn more about reGEN here.

Michael is proudly Gwich’in (Northwest Territories and Yukon and Alaska) and is passionate about Indigenous and economic development initiatives focusing on the well being of indigenous people. Hungerford Properties is a second generation family business focused on Real Estate investment, management and development with over $1.6B of assets under management.  He has 20 years of experience overseeing the management and development of over $2 billion in real estate. Under Michael’s leadership, Hungerford Properties has received many local and national awards for development and refurbishment projects which have spanned a wide range of asset classes and geographies. Hungerford has embraced ESG principles throughout its organization and is passionately committed to investing in impact initiatives on indigenous lands.   

Michael has served on the Board of Directors of the BC Cancer Foundation and Vancouver Heritage Foundation. In 2009 Michael was named to Business in Vancouver’s Top 40 Under 40. Michael is currently a member of Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) and has the honour of being the Chair of the Vancouver Real Estate Forum for 2019. Michael holds a Bachelor of Political Science from Queen’s University, and a Masters of Business Administration from Stanford University.

Michael lives in Vancouver and raises his hands to the the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations for caring for these local lands since time immemorial.

Julie is Ojibway from Rama/Mnjikaning First Nation and is a member of the Muskellunge clan. As an enthusiastic lifelong learner she has enjoyed a balance of formal institutional learning and traditional learning on the land and in storytelling. After years of studying and working abroad, she returned to Turtle Island to take up work in service to Indigenous peoples.

Wholistic health and well-being for communities has been a driving factor in Julie’s career. Her work in Indigenous wholistic healthcare and national First Nations educational policy change has led her to focus on the nature of true transformation and Indigenous self-determination.

In recent years Julie has worked with the Centre for First Nations Governance and the Rebuilding First Nations Governance Project in developing supports for First Nations to self-determine through inherent rights self-governance. That community and culturally centred work inspired her to take on and write a historical research project on the traditional governance of her own home territories of the Chippewa Tri-Council, known today as Simcoe County and Muskoka in Ontario.

As the new Director of the Indigenous Innovation Initiative (I3), her work is focused on supporting the continued development of the I3 platform to best support Indigenous Innovators by creating access to capital, building capacity, cultivating networks and driving interest.