Dan Sera is the Senior Field Adjuster with the BCAA Small Business Insurance team. Before coming to BCAA in 2019, he handled claims across various commercial and habitational lines of coverage for several years, and prior to the launch of SBI, was a field adjuster with BCAA Home Insurance.

Dan Sutton is the Founder and CEO of Tantalus Labs, British Columbia’s largest licensed producer of regulated cannabis. Tantalus Labs believes in sun-grown cannabis, and are wholly owned and operated in British Columbia.

Dan’s 2015 TedXVancouver presentation furthered awareness around the environmental advantages of sun-grown cannabis. He was placed on the “40 Under 40 list” by Marijuana Ventures Magazine in 2016. Dan was also nominated for the Innovator of the Year Award at the Canadian Cannabis Awards in 2017.

His career in business development and finance spans innovative industries from nuclear fuel to high field magnetics. In 2012 he founded Tantalus Labs, a company focused on applying advanced agricultural techniques to cannabis production. He and his team of biologists, agricultural scientists, and engineers designed and built North America’s first cannabis-tailored closed-system greenhouse.

The Tantalus Labs prototype facility, SunLab, enables federally licensed sun-grown cannabis cultivation while maintaining the environmental control of a laboratory. SunLab reduces the energy demand for cannabis production by up to 90%, substantially lowering both production costs and environmental footprint.

Dan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Victoria.

Dana was called to the British Columbia bar in 2005, and began practicing litigation in a boutique firm, handling cases for commercial clients from varying industries. She then worked in-house at the British Columbia Medical Association, where she was responsible for negotiating and drafting contracts with the provincial government.

Dana was inspired to establish Benchmark Law after several friends and colleagues with small businesses came to her for advice. Knowing that many small businesses lack the ability to afford the typical high cost of retaining a lawyer, she set out to create a firm that provides high quality legal advice without excessive costs.

When not in the office, Dana spends time with her three children and…well, there’s not much time for anything else!

Dana is committed to ensuring that the firm provides exceptional service, and she works closely with clients to develop long-standing relationships.

Residing in West Vancouver, BC, Darryl Davis is a senior business advisor with Cultivate Advisors, a company focused on supporting the growth and scale of small and medium sized businesses. Before Cultivate, Darryl led strategy and operations as a Chief Operating Officer for 3 large organizations, and before that built 5 successful businesses with 3 successful exits over a period of 20+ years. He graduated with a commerce degree from the University of Alberta.

Dave's diverse background as an international business consultant and educator inspired him to cofound Vancouver Consultants.

David provides practical and client-focused service. David's patent practice includes biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, green technology, oil and gas, chemicals, mechanical devices, manufacturing processes, and garments.

David Xie holds MBA/Law degrees and has more than ten years of MNC corporate working experience with diverse responsibilities throughout general management, risk management, legal management, intellectual property, human resource and trade marketing across Consulting, Finance, Automobile, IT, Logistics and FMCG industries in North America and Asia. He also has hands-on entrepreneur experience by founding and running his own businesses.

David has a passion to leverage his expertise to help small or medium-sized enterprise owners or entrepreneurs to create and realize their value by providing a professional business intermediary consultancy. David serves as seminar presenter with Small Business BC, mentor with Business Immigrant Integration Support of S.U.C.C.E.S.S. and as facilitator with Self Employment Entrepreneur Development Society. David regularly writes at special column on Global Chinese Press and westca.com on business transaction.

David holds Certified Business Intermediary designation of the International Business Brokers Association to keep abreast with the leading knowledge and expertise of the industry and the Commercial Real Estate Trading Service License in British Columbia. Holding MBA (with concentration in Finance) from HEC-Montreal and PhD in International Law from China, David is bilingual in English and Mandarin.

Derya is a seasoned Marketing Expert with over twenty years of experience in a diverse range of B2B and B2C industries, including Cybersecurity, Cloud Technology, SaaS, Telecom, FMCG, and E-Learning. As a former software developer with a solid technical background, Derya excels in crafting go-to-market strategies and executing data-driven marketing campaigns with profound expertise in SEM, PPC, SEO, Email Marketing, Content Management Systems, and CRM Management.

Derya's collaborative approach with cross-functional teams enhances inbound-outbound lead generation and campaign effectiveness, and incorporating Gen AI into marketing strategies showcases a forward-thinking methodology that delivers impactful results. Derya spearheaded countless digital projects and campaigns some of which have been lauded with industrial awards with a deep-seated ability to merge technical prowess with creative vision, establishing authority in aligning sales and marketing strategies.

Derya holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics Engineering.

Dianne is a Certified Professional Bookkeeper (CPB), Advisory Business Consultant and Accounting Software Trainer. Over the past 25 years she has earned a reputation for helping entrepreneurs keep their financial position up-front and central to their business. Dianne and her company Soma Small Business Solutions is the glue that sticks entrepreneurs to their growth strategies. Through regular seminars at Small Business BC she helps new entrepreneurs during their start-up stage.

Digital Main Street is a program and service that helps main street businesses achieve digital transformation. The program is built around an online learning platform, structured training programs, and their Digital Service Squad, a team of highly trained recent graduates who help main street businesses grow and manage their business through the adoption of digital tools and technology.

Eddie Abbey is a Business Development Representative at Uniserve Communications.  He works with a number of Uniserve's accounts, across a broad range of industries and specialties’, to provide support, consultation, and management of their I.T. services.  He specializes in providing Unified Communication solutions which give businesses access to essential communication needs such as phones, video conferencing, online chat, and remote capabilities. Eddie also consults and provides tailored solutions for businesses looking for I.T. managed services, hosted solutions, network/infrastructure gear, business-grade internet/connectivity, and office devices and hardware.

Elise Kobylanski is a Registered Nurse and certified Occupational Health Nurse with 20 years' experience specializing in public and private sector disability management. Starting her WorkSafeBC career in 2006, Elise has progressed through several areas of the organization including Special Care Services, Claims, and the new Employer Return to Work Programs. Over the last five years, she has collaborated with employers throughout the province to improve their return to work outcomes by implementing disability management and prevention best practices. Elise has shared her expertise on Return to Work best practices and programs at conferences and other engagements for the BC Municipal Safety Association, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, the BC Maritime Employers Association, and the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering.

 

Elva has a decade of experience as a food scientist, specializing in research and development within the nutraceutical and food industries. She has successfully formulated over 50 products and brought them to the market. She brings a wide range of knowledge in product development, regulatory compliance and quality assurance to the cannabis industry.

Currently, Elva is the CEO and co-founder of Nibbler Technology, a successful licensing consultancy that aids clients in the procurement of federal and provincial licenses to operate within the cannabis space, regulatory compliance, and health and hazard prevention planning. Nibbler is also a holder of a cannabis research license, primarily focused on the product development of edibles.

Erika Doehring belongs to the Gwichya Gwich'in from Tsiigehtchic. She is currently living in the Northwest Territories. She has always danced to her own drum and resisted conformity by following her heart. This is something that she brings to her style of coaching and facilitation, using authentic curiosity to foster meaningful connections in a variety of spaces.

Throughout her entrepreneurial endeavors, Erika has worked over 10 years as a freelance salesperson, writer, marketer, and artist. She has been practicing Reiki and meditation for over twenty years. She has studied Fine Art, philosophy and recently graduated with her MBA from SFU.

Ernest has grown up on the West Coast of Canada ever since he was ten when he arrived in Canada from Austria where he lived for a number of years after being born in Poland. Ernest is Chartered Business Valuator, speaks two languages, and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Royal Roads University in Entrepreneurial Management.

Ernest has a passion for business and entrepreneurship, doing deals, has always driven Ernest to get involved in early-stage business ventures during his early career.  With a diverse and vast business background and demands of a young family, Ernest now works with established business owners, aspiring entrepreneurs, and their professional advisors in the field of Business Valuation and litigation support.  Ernest values companies of all shapes and sizes across all industries, whether it is for tax planning, a sale or purchase, or a legal matter, Ernest’s valuation reports have been used to support business values with the Canada Revenue Agency, the Courts, and the major lenders.

Ernest loves the great outdoors of BC and the sandy beaches of the Caribbean; surfing, skiing, and boating are among the top of the leisure list.  Ernest is always looking forward to meeting new business owners, discover their stories, and help with determining and growing the value of their businesses.

Faraz joined Amazon in 2021 and is currently the Business Development Manager for British Columbia. Faraz collaborates with Trade Associations throughout BC, while also working closely with small and medium-sized businesses to provide  guidance with Selling on Amazon Canada. Previously, Faraz worked with one of the top management consulting companies to launch and improve ecommerce adoption for clients in US and Canada

Gina Vahlas has been a human factors and ergonomics professional for more than twenty years, as a consultant, working in-house at the University of British Columbia and in the Prevention division of WorkSafeBC. She is also a board member for the College of Canadian Certification of Professional Ergonomists and a part-time instructor for Ergonomics in the BCIT Occupational Health and Safety Certificate program. Recently, she moved into an Occupational Hygiene Officer role at WorkSafeBC.

As a Canadian Certified Professional Ergonomist and Certified Health and Safety Consultant, she has shared her knowledge at conferences across North America, including the National Ergonomics Conference in Las Vegas, USA, the Canadian Society of Safety Engineers Professional Development Conference and the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Symposium- Puget Sound Chapter.