Founder and CEO of Miyoko’s, Miyoko Schinner sparked the rise of the multi-million dollar plant-based cheese revolution by pioneering a proprietary technology for making dairy from plants. Miyoko has redefined the categories of “cheese” and “butter” with complex flavors that have garnered multiple awards and the attention of The New York Times, Forbes, Food and Wine, Good Morning America, and many more. The bestselling author, chef, entrepreneur, and animal sanctuary founder has dedicated 30+ years to affecting social change and sustainability.

Vanessa Richards, born in Vancouver, is an artist and community engagement facilitator. Her work focuses on participatory culture and what happens when we turn toward each other. Some of the organizations she’s devised and delivered projects with include PHS Community Services, Broadway Youth Resource Centre, The Arts Club Theatre Company, Vancouver International Children’s Festival, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Simon Fraser University and and Vancouver Park Board. She is the founder and song leader for the drop-in choir, Woodward’s Community Singers, and director of Creative Together, a song based facilitation process bringing song to conferences and gatherings including SVI and SCI with the Hollyhock Leadership Institute. Vanessa volunteers with the Hogan’s Alley Working Group to reinvigorate citizen driven city building. As Director of Community Engagement at 312 Main, she is bridging  and renewing local relationships for a collecative transformation of the former VPD Headquarters into a coworking community people palace. In Feb 2018, she received the Mayors Achievement Award for her work in community engagement.

Emira is the Founder of Raised Eyebrow, a values based digital strategy consultancy that she ran for 19 years, she is now the Associate Director of the BC Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. She is also the author of The Boss of You: Everything A Woman Needs to Know to Start, Run and Maintain Her Own Business, a business book for women in small business and a regular speaker, writer and commentator on the topic of women and small business. She has been an SVI producer since 2011.

Joel Solomon is Chair of Renewal Funds, Canada’s largest mission venture capital firm. With $98m assets under management, Renewal Funds invests in organic food, green products, and environmental innovations. Joel is a Senior Advisor with RSF Social Finance, a 2012 TEDxVancouver speaker, founding member of Social Venture Network, Business for Social Responsibility, the Tides Canada Foundation, and is Board Chair of Hollyhock. Joel founded Social Venture Institute at Hollyhock and has been producing it for 20 years. Thank you Joel!

Lorie Corcuera is the Co-Founder and CEO at SPARK Creations & Company Inc., a training and development organization that inspires people and companies to create meaningful cultures and workplaces. Over the past 20 years, Lorie has cultivated her people and culture development, community relations, and leadership coaching experience as both a strategic and progressive senior human resources leader and business consultant in the technology, interactive entertainment, retail, hospitality, manufacturing, professional services, and non-profit space. Lorie is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC) with The Coaches Training Institute (CTI) and an active mentor for Futurpreneur Canada, Dress for Success Vancouver, HR Tech Group, BC Tech HyperGrowth, Young Women in Business and Forum for Women Entrepreneurs. She is also the Co-Founder of the social enterprise Enspire Foundation. Lorie is passionate about elevating the life experience at work and cultivating a community that is igniting and enriching our human spirit.

Nicole is CEO and Founder of Beacon HR, an all-female team of purpose-driven people & culture pros who get to help impact-driven companies attract, hire, and engage great people for their teams. Beacon is working to break the traditional HR and Recruitment mold and piece it back together again for what companies need in 2019. What lights her up most is helping businesses grow through connecting them with amazing talent, and helping job seekers find opportunities that align with their values. Nicole believes in connection, curiosity, and inspiring lives worth loving. She and her team enjoy flexible work hours, location independence and are often traveling for international HR conferences and to enjoy remote work!

Shannon Ward has been a successful entrepreneur for over 13 years. She built her company, OnTrack, from 0 to 7 figures in just 3 short years. Since then, Shannon has transformed her deep knowledge of marketing and exceptional sales skills into a thriving sales training and coaching business where she helps entrepreneurs and their teams overcome their dysfunctional relationships with sales so that they can confidently grow their business.

Véronik co-produces Feeding Growth, an initiative that supports and builds a resilient, socially just, and globally significant community of progressive food businesses. She is also the Community & Partnerships Manager at the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm, where she creates and manages community-engaged education programs that increase the environmental, economic, and social sustainability of food systems. Her entrepreneurial and business analysis approaches ensure agri-food system solutions lead to thriving and robust economies, environments, and communities.