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36 BCBUSINESS MARCH 2019 P R OF E S S IONA L S E R V IC E S Lana Kirk PARTNER, PWC CANADA Growing up in Lavington, a small commu- nity near Vernon in the North Okanagan, Lana Kirk was good at math and science, so she expected to study science in university. But when she headed to SFU on a $20,000 entrance scholarship in 1995, fresh out of high school, she changed her mind. "I was like, I don't know what I'm going to do with a science degree," Kirk remem- bers. "The typical thing would be a teacher, which my [two older] sisters are, but that's just not me." A basic accounting course in Grade 11 and a couple of cousins who were becoming accountants planted a seed. "I like practical things, and going into busi- ness seemed like a good idea to me as a practical solution," Kirk explains. She com- pleted a bachelor of business administra- tion in 2000, joined PwC as an associate in the assurance group the same year and became a chartered professiona l accou nt a nt in 2003. Kirk's very "rst client was a mine in central B.C. She was exposed to a lot of di•erent industries when she started but began to specialize in mining around 2007. It's big throughout the province, and PwC has a large mining prac- tice, she points out. "I really liked working with the group and also really liked the cli- ents and some of the techni- cal accounting challenges and all the transaction work that comes along typically with mining companies." Her work with clients is mostly ™inancial statement audit, but it sometimes also involves areas like auditing their internal controls, assist- ing with technical accounting analysis or moving to new accounting standards.š In 2012, Kirk became the ™irst female partner in the PwC BC Region mining assur- ance group.š PwC Canada, which has several programs to promote diversity and inclusion, is aiming for gender parity on admission of new partners by 2020.š In min- ing, however, women are sig- ni"cantly underrepresented, Kirk notes, adding that as of last September, Canada's top 100 mining companies by market capitalization had just one CEO and 16 CFOs who were women, according to data provider S&P Capital IQ. Kirk supports women in the industry by coaching sta• coming up through the mining group at PwC, hosting diversity events for clients and contacts, being a mentor and/or role model and connecting with female mining directors.š "It's really important to have men involved," she says. "When we have our diversity events, we do encourage and really want to have more men come because I don't think we can make change just as a group of women, as powerful as we may be." —F.S. B . C .' S MO S T I N F LU E N T I A L WOM E N