BCBUSINESS.CA MARCH 2019 BCBUSINESS 35
■
Jennifer
Coulson
VP, ESG integration,
British Columbia
Investment Manage-
ment Corp. (BCI)
■
Gayle Gorrill
VP finance and opera-
tions, UVic; director,
BCI
■
Amanda
Hobson
CFO and VP of finance
and corporate services,
British Columbia
Lottery Corp.
■
Carole James
Minister of finance,
Government of B.C.
■
Mia Maki
Academic director,
undergraduate
programs, and entre-
preneurship professor,
Peter B. Gustavson
School of Business,
UVic; principal, Quimper
Consulting
■
Trish Pekeles
VP finance, UBC
■
Christy Pham
Senior principal, infra-
structure and renewable
resources,
BCI
■
Lori
Wanamaker
Deputy minister of
finance, Government
of B.C.
•
has a ways to go. She's encouraged by the
number of women in her daughter's busi-
ness class at McGill University (Leong says
it's split 50/50 between genders), and hope-
ful that many of those students will go on to
choose a financial career. "But it's a compli-
cated matter, and if it was an easy fix, we'd
be there," she explains. "My personal view
is that there's a lot of ingrained systemic
biases, or what some writers have referred
to as unconscious bias, which makes it chal-
lenging for women to succeed."
At the
BCSC, Leong is proud that about
half of its 243 employees are women. As for
the rest of her legacy, she points to things
like keeping pace with fintech innovation,
as well as promoting education in avoiding
fraud, as touchstones from her 10 years as
CEO of a body that prioritizes protecting
investors in B.C. The securities commis-
sion just got a $7.6-million revenue increase
from higher fees to beef up enforcement.
"We strive to implement effective,
smart regulation to have a vibrant capital
market," Leong maintains. "At the same
time, we work to protect investors through
our enforcement efforts and public educa-
tion campaigns." —N.C.
