Our trusted team is made up of decades of experience, industry knowledge and expertise. We recognize that sometimes additional bench strength is needed to help you fulfill your needs. That is why we leverage a select group of qualified contractors with diverse areas of subject-matter expertise to assist us in our support of B.C. credit unions. Our contractors go through a rigorous evaluation process before they are approved to be added to our roster of “pinch hitters”.
Our Team
Bill Corbett
Chief Executive Officer
Frank Chong
SVP, Risk and Finance
Sam Lundy
AVP, Credit Union Services
Paola Wilford
Corporate Secretary & Governance
Josh McKnight
Manager, Bonding & Fraud Risk
Jordan LeDonne
Risk & Financial Analyst
Mariam Grigoryan
Project Manager
Marlen Gonzalez Bonilla
Administrative Coordinator
Contractors
S-A Blackadder
Shirley-Anne is a seasoned professional with extensive experience in commercial lending and risk management. Shirley-Anne retired from Vancity Community Investment Bank (VCIB), a wholly owned subsidiary of Vancity, where she held executive positions as Strategic Advisor to the CEO and Chief Risk Officer. Before VCIB, she held senior positions at Vancity as VP Regulatory Reporting and VP Credit and Operations, providing her with a breadth of operating and risk experience. In addition to understanding both the provincial and federal regulatory environments, Shirley-Anne spent 30 years in lending and began her career at CIBC, where she held a variety of roles in commercial lending and credit risk.
Chiara Borrelii
Chiara is a successful financial services senior executive with an extensive career at Scotiabank where she held global SVP roles in Enterprise Risk Management, Operational Risk, Compliance, Corporate Lending, Risk Policy and led a turnaround P&L role as a subsidiary CEO. She is a driven trusted advisor who brings a business and client-focused approach to executing transformational initiatives addressing evolving risk management guidance and resolving complex regulatory and governance issues. Her deep domain knowledge allows her to contribute effectively in areas core to the board agenda, including risk management, data and technology strategy, governance, transformational change and sustainability/ESG. Her experience as the CEO of an international subsidiary brings a breadth of experience, stakeholder engagement, commercial acumen and an international perspective. Chiara recently completed the ICD.D Rotman Directors Education Program, University of Toronto. Chiara holds a MBA, CFA and completed the AMP at Harvard Business School.
Lynda Brent
Originally from Santiago, Chile, Lynda moved to Vancouver, Canada at the age of 6 and was raised and educated there. With over 25 years of experience in project management, Lynda has worked in various sectors including financial banking, government, private, and crown corporations. Lynda has spent 6 years living and working in Hong Kong, joining a bond trading dot.com and HSBC Bank Hong Kong just before Y2k. Currently, Lynda enjoys working on a part-time basis, providing project management consulting services within business operational environments in the financial banking sectors.
Angela Champ
Angela Champ brings 20+ years of executive leadership and consulting experience in diverse industries to help organizations prosper and excel. Specializing in Human Resources, Operational Performance, and M&A Due Diligence, she holds designations as a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) and as a Chartered Professional in Human Resources (CPHR). A lifelong learner, Angela has an MBA degree from Royal Roads University and a BA degree from the University of British Columbia, as well as various diplomas and certificates in Adult Education, Strategy, and Labour Law. Angela is the published author of two books and has been named one of Canada’s Top 20 HR Leaders by HRD Canada. She is frequently featured on TV, on radio, and in print media as a Career and Leadership expert.
Geordie Cree
Geordie is a Senior Information Technology professional with over 30 years of practical expert subject matter knowledge and experience in information technology and information security. For over twenty-five of those years, he has been involved in the Credit Union system where he has held several key senior roles spanning all three lines of defence of the risk management framework. Geordie has assessed and evaluated IT/information security risks, vulnerabilities, threats, and their potential impact on organizations, and for the past five years has been working alongside credit unions, to develop and mature their IT and information security programs and assisted Stabilization Central with the development of the Information Security Toolkit. Geordie excels at effectively collaborating and communicating across all levels of an organization from the board of directors to front line staff. One of his key strengths lies in quickly understanding the business risks and requirements and translating them into practical solutions, which meet each of his clients’ unique and evolving needs.
Chris Dobrzanski
A seasoned and enthusiastic observer of the North American financial scene and community impact, Chris Dobrzanski, retired November 2015 from his position as Citizens Bank of Canada (CB) CEO and Chief Economist at CB’s parent, Vancity Credit Union. Chris remains active with impact investing and with Global Social Economic Forum. Chris joined Vancity in 1984 and had built a risk management system that combines local member behaviour with international economic trends. He has adapted innovative financial strategies to improve service, advance employees, maintain capital adequacy and regulatory compliance, and contribute to community prosperity.
In 2009, he served as the interim senior vice president of Vancity’s new Social Finance division (now Community Investment), which aims to create a greater community impact through the credit union’s lending and treasury activities. In addition to setting up the division and its strategy, Chris also ensured a greater fiduciary accountability in these activities.
Prior to joining Vancity, Chris was a founding director of the University Community Credit Union, which became a branch of the B.C. Teachers Credit Union and later merged with Vancity. He also worked for the Credit Union Reserve Board. Chris served on the board of the self-governing Stabilization Central Credit Union in British Columbia for six years ending in 2007. He spent more than four years with the Bank of British Columbia in international lending in the mid 1980s.
Chris’s international work has taken him to Argentina, China, Mexico, Poland, Russia and most recently Korea. In 2002 he completed the co-op studies program at the University of Bologna in Italy.
Chris holds investment management certification, a MA in Economics and a MBA in Finance from the University of British Columbia. He is fluent in four languages.
Buffy Duke
Buffy has 20 years of experience in payments across large corporations, financial institutions, and start-ups. She has held senior roles at MasterCard, C-SAM, Carta Worldwide, NETS, and Central 1 Credit Union. Leveraging knowledge built from postings in Asia, Europe and the Americas, Buffy brings an insightful approach to her projects related to mobile wallets, digital banking, AI, Banking-as-a-Service, payments modernization and open banking. Buffy has received the award for Thought Leadership from Woman In Payments, Canada and was named one of the Top 25 Women Leaders in Financial Technology of Asia by the Financial Technology Report.
Chris Galloway
Chris is a passionate co-operator who is currently an independent consultant who specializes in working with credit unions and cooperatives. Chris has a background in finance and worked in the financial cooperative sector in Canada for over ten years. He believes that growing the cooperative movement is one of the keys to the sustainability of communities and has been actively involved in providing cooperative development services for almost four years.
Sylvia Groves
Sylvia Groves is the President of Governance Studio. She is the author of AAA+ Minutes™, THE guide to writing minutes that protect directors and companies. Sylvia’s consulting company, Governance Studio, focuses on Fiercely Practical Governance. Her advice has helped thousands of governance professionals, directors and organizations across North America and the Caribbean. Sylvia is a recipient of the national Excellence in Governance Award for Distinguished Contribution from Governance Professionals of Canada (GPC). She is a former Board Chair and founding faculty member of the GPC.D program. She is also a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute of Canada and an Accredited Director.
Monica Mashal
With a deep background in strategic planning and finance, Monica supports organizations to define and clarify their direction, purpose, goals and operational strategies and plans to reach their goals. Monica has over 35 years’ business experience in strategic planning, customer relationship management and finance. In many of her roles she utilized her strength in building cross functional teams and supporting collaborative efforts to develop robust models, frameworks and plans to support organizations in moving forward. Her educational background is in economics and finance. Monica has volunteered for over 45 years, primarily with organizations focused on poverty relief and youth services.
Karen McDonald
Karen has been part of the credit union system for 14 years, working with Coast Capital Savings, Central 1, and now as a consultant. She leverages her 30+ years of experience in communications and government relations to help clients share their concern or knowledge with a range of stakeholders – including Boards of Directors, employees, governments, members and the broader public.
Erin McGregor
Erin McGregor is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in the financial services sector, where she has honed her expertise in commercial lending up to the VP level. As a consultant to the financial services industry, Erin continues to leverage her deep knowledge to provide valuable insights and guidance. Additionally, her role as an appraisal consultant, coupled with an MBA specializing in real estate, underscores her comprehensive understanding of the intricacies of the financial and real estate markets. She also serves as a board member and chair of the Investment and Lending committee for Community Futures of the Sunshine Coast.
Ted Pahl
Ted Pahl is the former CEO of North Peace Savings in Northeastern BC. He has over 25 years working in the credit union system from coast to coast. During his time with North Peace he successfully guided the credit union through a merger with Interior Savings. Prior to joining North Peace Mr. Pahl was the CEO of credit unions in Atlantic Canada and Saskatchewan. He is an experienced board members having served on boards such as Regional District, Hospital Foundation, League Data, Ficanex, Ronald MacDonald House in Halifax and CDF Canada.
He is the former chair of the CEO Atlantic Credit Union CEO advisory board and served as Mayor of the town of Warfield BC in the Kootenay region of BC.
Mr Pahl currently is a contractor with Stabilization Central with extensive experience in mergers, shared services, board governance, operations and working with provincial regulators.
Mandy Paphitis
As an Enterprise Risk, Capital and Treasury Consultant with +18 years of global banking experience I lead organizations, teams and projects in solving strategic questions, identifying and implementing customized frameworks to manage complex risk challenges. I provide Capital, Treasury and Enterprise-wide risk solutions for both provincial and federally regulated entities. Having a passion for people and processes, I empower Boards and executives with insight and skill sets to identify, measure and manage realized and unrealized risks.
Publications: “The Application of Data Envelopment Analysis of Credit Risk Measurement” published under Mandy Caldis
Bill Snell
Bill Snell is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA), senior executive and board director with over 38 years’ financial services, risk and financial management experience. Bill has also obtained the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.
Currently, Bill is serving on the following Corporate Boards:
- British Columbia Automobile Association (BCAA) where he is Chair of the Governance Committee and is a member of the Risk Committee. Bill has also chaired and been a member of the Finance and Investment Committee. In addition, he has been a member of the Human Resources and Compensation Committee and the Audit Committee.
- Consumer Protection, BC where he is chair of the Board. Bill is a member of the Human Resources and Compensation Committee, the Finance and Audit Committee and the Governance and Nominating Committee. Bill was previously the Chair of the Audit and Finance Committee and the Human Resources and Compensation Committee.
- Xperigo (formerly Club Auto) where he is chair of the Board. Bill has also served as chair of the Audit Committee and currently serves as an ex-officio member of the Audit and Governance Committees.
- Santander Consumer Bank where he is chair of the Risk Committee and is a member of the Audit Committee.
Bill previously served on the Board of the Shaw Family Foundation and was a member of the Investment Committee. In addition, Bill previously served on the Board of Children’s Health Foundation of Vancouver Island where he was Past Board Chair, Board Chair, Vice Board Chair and Chair of the Finance Audit Investment and Risk Committee.
Bill has a consulting and management consulting practice providing leadership, strategy development, risk advisory, enterprise risk management, financial and treasury management and regulatory compliance services.
Previously, Bill was Interim President and Chief Executive Officer for North Peace Savings and Credit Union and for Northern Savings Credit Union. Prior to joining North Peace Savings and Northern Savings, Bill was Chief Risk Officer of First West Credit Union. Bill was also Chief Financial Officer of Island Savings Credit Union. Previous to Island Savings, Bill spent 16 years with Bank of Montreal in a variety of senior management roles and 5 years with Thorne Ernst and Whinney Chartered Accountants.
Dave Stene
Dave Stene has over 27 years experience in the credit union system. Most recently, he was the CEO of Bulkley Valley Credit Union (BVCU) for over 19 years. During that time, the credit union grew from $160M in total assets to over $440M. He was responsible for overseeing both of Bulkley Valley’s financial planning and general insurance subsidiaries. Prior to his time at BVCU, Dave worked as Operations Manager at Sunshine Coast Credit Union for 9 years.
Dave has served on several Boards of Directors including Stabilization Central for over 8 years serving as Chair of the Investment and Lending Committee and Master Bond Committee during that time. He served on Central 1’s Ad-Hoc Governance Committee and holds his Accredited Canadian Credit Union Director (ACCUD) designation from the Canadian Credit Union Association. Dave has also served on several voluntary society Boards in his local community and was a Mentor as part of Stabilization Central’s CEO Peer-to-Peer Mentorship Program.
Dave holds a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Finance from the University of British Columbia. He has also completed his Canadian Securities Course (CSC) with Honours.
Floyd Yamamoto
With over 25 years of experience in the credit union industry, Floyd has held key leadership roles, including Chair and Director of Gulf and Fraser Credit Union, where he successfully guided the merger with Interior Savings.
Floyd has worked with various credit unions, Stabilization Central, and various credit union suppliers. Floyd also brings valuable ESG experience, having served on the Environmental Advisory Committees for the Vancouver Airport Authority (YVR) and the City of Richmond, underscoring his commitment to sustainability and governance excellence.
Rhys Spencer
Rhys Spencer is a thought leader and subject matter expert in Human Resource Management, Change Management, Retail Banking, and Sales Effectiveness Rhys’ financial services career spans 25 years with the past 8 in the cooperative. A diverse financial services background Rhys has delivered many formative change initiatives and held senior HR Management positions of national scope. The past 8 years in the BC Credit Union system Rhys has led retail banking teams, COVID 19 response initiatives, and large scale integration projects.
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