Governance

Carol Anne Lee is chair and co-founder of the Vancouver Chinatown Foundation. With long standing family ties to the history of Chinatown, she is strongly committed to the revitalization of the area. She serves on several other boards and organizations including the BC Achievement Foundation, National Coalition Against Anti-Asian Racism, and Harvard Business School Canadian Advisory Board. In 2022, she was the recipient of the YWCA Icon Award and the VPD Jim and Vicky Chu Community Safety Leader Award. In 2023 she was appointed to the Order of Canada, and the Independent Advisory Board Supreme Court of Canada Judicial Appointments. She is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Laws degree from the University of British Columbia and an Honorary Doctorate of Technology from BCIT and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal. She has been on Vancouver Magazine’s Power 50 list for the past 10 years.

Gage Averill is the Provost and VP Academic at UBC. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Averill served as the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at UBC, 2010-2022. Dr. Averill, a renowned ethnomusicologist whose research in Haitian popular music has earned him several awards, joined UBC in 2010 after holding positions as Vice-Principal, Academic, and Dean for the University of Toronto, Mississauga campus, and also Dean of Music at UofT. Prior to that, he served as Chair of the Department of Music at New York University.  He received his B.A and Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from the University of Washington.

Avtar is the President of Premise Properties, a real estate investment and services company based in Vancouver. Prior to establishing Premise Properties, Avtar spent over thirty years with Colliers International, most recently as Executive Vice President, National Investment Team. In addition to his Board position with UBC Properties Trust, Avtar currently holds three other Board and advisory positions with British Pacific Properties, Morguard North American Residential REIT and Aspen Properties respectively.

Dr. Benoit-Antoine Bacon started a five-year term as the 17^th President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of British Columbia in 2023.

Before joining UBC, Dr. Bacon served in several academic leadership roles, including as President and Vice-Chancellor of Carleton University in Ottawa, Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic) at Queen’s University in Kingston, and as Provost and Vice-President (Academic Affairs) at Concordia University in his hometown of Montreal.  Dr. Bacon holds a PhD in neuropsychology from the University of Montreal, after which he undertook a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Glasgow, Scotland.

Andrew Bibby was appointed to the Grosvenor Americas Board in 2009. He joined Grosvenor in 1984 and became Chief Executive of Grosvenor Americas in 2009. During this time, he has been involved with the acquisition, development and management of all property types and has worked in Vancouver, Calgary and San Francisco. He is currently a Director of Canadian Western Bank, Rugby Canada and UBC Properties Trust. He has served as a past Director of the Real Property Association of Canada and is a former member of the Sauder Business School Advisory Board.

Sandra has been a real estate appraiser and development consultant since 1981. She was a principal at Burgess Cawley Sullivan & Associates and is now a Regional Leader at Ryan ULC. Ms. Cawley specializes in real estate valuation, marketing studies, and development consultancy in the residential, office, shopping centre, industrial park, land subdivision, and hotel markets.

Robin Ciceri is Vice-President, External Relations at The University of British Columbia.  In her role, Robin leads UBC’s communications, campus and community planning, government relations and broad-based engagement with communities.  Before joining UBC, Robin was the President of The Research Universities’ Council of British Columbia.  Previous to this, Robin held a number of BC Government leadership positions including Deputy Minister of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development, Deputy Minister of Human Resources, Deputy Minister of Small Business and Revenue and CEO of the Public Sector Employers’ Council Secretariat.

Professor Cormack is the Principal and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at UBC Okanagan. Professor Cormack joined UBC in July 2020 from the University of Alberta where she served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts from 2010 to 2020.  Previously, Professor Cormack was Dean of Arts and Social Sciences at Simon Fraser University from 2007 to 2010 and, earlier, taught at the University of Alberta in the Department of History and Classics for 17 years.

Robert Fung has been active in Vancouver’s real estate development since 1990. Mr. Fung began his career as a Development Manager with Concord Pacific Developments, and was responsible for rezoning and development of the former “Expo 86” site in Vancouver. After seven years with Concord Pacific, Mr. Fung became Director of Development with the Narland Group where he was responsible for all aspects of the residential development process. He is the founder and President of the Salient Group, which focuses on the creation and restoration vibrant communities in urban environments. His recent projects include the restoration of the historic Flack Block adjacent to Vancouver’s Victory Square, and the former Grand and Terminus hotels on Water Street.

Miranda Lam is the Chief Legal Officer & Vice President, Business Development at a biotechnology company: Acuitas Therapeutics, Inc.   Miranda is currently the co-Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of the University of British Columbia, and a member of the boards of directors of UBC Properties Trust, the BC Cancer Foundation, and the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade.  She has previously chaired the boards of the Vancouver Foundation, the largest community foundation in Canada, the UBC Alumni Association and Vantage Point, and has served as a director of the boards of the United Way of the Lower Mainland and Imagine Canada. She was appointed King’s Counsel in December 2023.

Frank Laezza is the Vice President, Finance & Operations for UBC where he leads a team of over 1400 individuals in the core financial, facilities, and safety functions of the university across both the Vancouver and Okanagan campuses.

Frank joined UBC in March 2023 from Murdoch University, Australia, where he was Chief Financial Officer with responsibility for leading the university’s business and finance functions, as well as management of its financial and capital resources.

Anne McMullin is the President and CEO of the Urban Development Institute (UDI). Previously she was the President and General Manager of the North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce. Before that, Ms. McMullin was Director of Communications at Port Metro Vancouver. Anne is a Board Member with BC’s Knowledge Network, a Trustee with the Jack Webster Foundation Excellence in Journalism, Vice Chair of Field Hockey Canada, President of West Vancouver Field Hockey Club, and is a volunteer with many other community organizations.

Al Poettcker is a lifetime resident of Vancouver. He graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1969 with a degree in Urban Land from the Faculty of Commerce. Since then, Al has been very active in real estate development, investment and property management. He started his career with Marathon Realty and over the last 45 years has been responsible for a variety of large scale residential, commercial and land development projects including the land assembly for Expo ’86. He is also a Past President of the UBC Alumni Association and a founding director of UBC Properties Trust.