Proudly Supporting Leadership and Development Programs for Women

Minerva BC is changing the face of leadership with a movement of values-based leadership, and we are starting our work with women. We are a registered, non-profit charitable organization that supports women and girls throughout the province to gain the confidence and skills they need to reach their leadership potential.

From leadership programs to education awards, and culturally-relevant programming developed in partnership with Indigenous women, Minerva BC elevates the visibility, influence and contribution of women to change the face of leadership in BC through the following activities:

• Deliver unique programs that develop women’s leadership capacities
• Provide education awards to women facing barriers
• Provide culturally-relevant programs in partnership with Indigenous women in their communities throughout British Columbia
• Develop benchmarks and best practices to support companies in reaching gender parity

Since 2001, Minerva BC has directed more than $10,000,000 towards leadership and career exploration programming for women and girls.

RSVP to attend the Fifth Annual Auction for Action. Tickets are $50.00 and include (2) beverages and refreshments. Proceeds from the event will support "The Minerva Foundation" leadership programs for women in British Columbia.

Meet our 2018 Executive Mentors!

David Garofalo, President and CEO

David Garofalo was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Goldcorp in February 2016. Prior to joining Goldcorp, David was President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Hudbay since July 2010.

Before joining Hudbay, David served as Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer with Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited (1998–2010). Earlier in his career, he served as Treasurer and held various finance roles with Inmet Mining Corporation (1990–1998). David was named Canada’s CFO of the Year by Financial Executives International Canada (2009) and Top Gun CFO by Brendan Wood International (2009 and 2010) and was recognized by IR Magazine with awards for Best Investor Relations by a CFO (2009 and 2010) and Best Investor Relations by a CEO (2011). He was also The Northern Miner’s Mining Person of the Year for 2012.

A graduate of the University of Toronto (B.Comm.), David is a Chartered Public Accountant and a Certified Director of the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD.D). He also serves on the boards of directors of the Vancouver Board of Trade and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

Joanne C. Freeze, P.Geo. President & CEO

Joanne (Joey) has over 30 years experience guiding exploration for both junior and major mining companies internationally.

Ms. Freeze co-founded, Candente Resource Corp. while living in Peru in 1997 (and raising two children). As President and CEO, she took Candente public in 2001 and oversaw significant acquisitions in Peru and Mexico as well as the split of Candente Resource Corp into, Candente Copper Corp. and Candente Gold Corp. in 2009. Ms. Freeze oversaw the listing of the companies on the TSXV, TSX and a co-listing on the Lima Stock Exchange (BVL).

Joey currently directs corporate strategies with respect to exploration, project evaluations, finance, government and institutional relations, social responsibility and resource allocation. To date she has raised over $100 million in equity financings for mineral exploration.

Ms. Freeze guided the acquisition, delineation and development of the Cañariaco project and developed Cañariaco Norte into a large scale advanced copper project with robust economics at US$2.50 Cu for Candente Copper Corp. To date the Company has spent US$65M developing Cañariaco and the Peruvian government has committed US$22M to community infrastructure near the Cañariaco project.

Joanne also guided the acquisition and current exploration at one of Mexico’s highest grade historic gold and silver past producers, the El Oro Project. At El Oro, 8 million ounces gold equivalent of gold and silver were mined historically from four mines.

Since 2011, Ms Freeze has been on the Advisory Board of the Institute of International Development at McGill University and has taken several Executive courses there to understand better the history of International Development and how mining projects can best participate in Shared Value benefits for all stakeholders especially local communities and investors, starting from the exploration stage.

She is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia, Canada (APEGBC). She holds a B.A. in Geography from the University of Western Ontario (1978) and a B.Sc. in Geology from the University of British Columbia (1981). Ms Freeze also previously served as a Trustee to the Society of Economic Geologists.

Joanne has recently been invited to participate in the Shared Value Initiative Leadership Summit (New York, April-May 2018) as part of the Peruvian delegation.

Quote from Women in Mining Recognized Inspirational women: “More than her credentials and high-profile career, it is her down-to-earth personality and passion that make her stand out as an inspiration in the minerals industry. Joey’s love for rocks has sent her around the world, enduring spider venom and sleeping with a 44 Magnum under her pillow for protection from grizzly bears and two legged creatures, she recalls these adventures with excitement and laughter. Joey focuses on her abilities rather than her gender and her advice to other women is the same: “let your passion lead you, not your gender”.

Kendra Johnston, President and Director.

Ms. Johnston is the President and a Director of Independence Gold Corp., an exploration company searching for gold in British Columbia and Yukon. During her time at Independence she has managed many of the Company’s exploration programs, built relationships with the company’s various stakeholders, and managed the land, environment and health and safety programs. Prior to joining Independence, Ms. Johnston was the Investor Relations Manager and Geologist with Atna Resources and a Geological Assistant with the BC Geological Survey.

Ms. Johnston is also an active member and volunteer in the mineral exploration community. She is the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Association for Mineral Exploration BC and an active member on many of their committees, including acting as the past Chair of Roundup. She is also Director for the Yukon Chamber of Mines and a Co-Founder and Director of Below BC. In recent years, Ms. Johnston has also acted as a mentor to university students in many capacities, notably as the industry representative for the UBC-SEG chapter and as a guest lecturer on various industry related topics. She can also often be found sitting rink side acting as a Figure Skating Judge at local competitions for Skate Canada.

Ms. Johnston is a registered Professional Geologist in BC, having completed her BSc at the University of Victoria in both Earth Science and Geography. She also has a master’s degree in Business Administration from the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University, a certificate in Corporate Social Responsibility and is a graduate of Queen’s International Executive Program in Mining Leadership.

Lyn Anglin, PhD, PGeo. Chief Scientific Officer & VP Environmental Affairs

Dr. Anglin is Chief Scientific Officer and VP Environmental Affairs at Imperial Metals Corporation of Vancouver. She oversees the scientific research functions of the Company, and the environmental impact assessment and remediation work at the Mount Polley Mine in central BC and the Company's other operations. She also represents the Company on the Boards of the Mining Association of Canada and the Mining Association of BC.

Prior to joining Imperial Metals, Dr. Anglin was President and CEO of Geoscience BC, a highly successful and influential non-profit geoscience research organization created in 2005 with funding of $25 million from the Province of British Columbia. She was appointed in January 2006 as the organization’s inaugural President and CEO and retired in September 2013. Under her leadership Geoscience BC produced a wealth of new geoscience data sets and knowledge that generated significant new mineral exploration investment in the Province, led to a number of new mineral discoveries, and contributed to the extension of the mine life of an important copper-molybdenum producer. She also led the development of collaborative research programs with industry, government, First Nations and communities focused on responsible water use and natural gas development in northeast BC. During her tenure, Geoscience BC attracted additional government, industry and non-profit funding of well over 25 million dollars and partnered with a number of community-based organizations to develop geoscience research programs in support of regional economic development.

Dr. Anglin presently serves as a volunteer on a number of non-profit boards and advisory councils, including: Chair of the Board of AME BC; Vice President of the Board of Trustees of the Society of Economic Geologists Foundation; the Executive of the Board of Science World, the Board of the Mineral Deposits Research Unit at UBC, and the Advisory Committee on University-Industry Grants at NSERC. She is also a former President of the Geological Association of Canada.

Michael Steinmann, President & CEO

Mr. Steinmann joined Pan American Silver in 2004, and held progressively senior roles before being promoted to President & CEO in January 2016. Mr. Steinmann has over 20 years of experience in the base and precious metals industries, having worked throughout South America in mine operations and project development.

He has participated in numerous mine construction projects, from exploration and feasibility studies, through to start-up and into continuous operation. He also has a strong background in M&A, corporate development and capital markets.

Prior to joining Pan American, he was the Manager of Geology and Business Development for Glencore in South America. Mr. Steinmann holds a Ph.D in Natural Science (Geology) from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ), an M.Sc. in Geology from the University of Zurich and a Degree in Corporate Finance from Escuela Superior de Administración y Negocios, Lima.

Brady Fletcher, Managing Director, TSX Venture Exchange at TMX Group

A Computer Engineer by background, Brady spent almost a decade in investment banking, primarily focused on financing and advising technology and diversified issuers through strategic transactions, before leaving to found Coastr.

With Coastr, Brady successfully took a concept through ideation, building a development team, and launching the platform. We successfully sold a network of almost 30 venues locally while using customer feedback to drive iterative revisions to the app and backend platform.

Throughout his investment banking career, Brady has advised hundreds of companies on business strategy, capital raising, public and private markets, and exit strategies – having successfully executed over $500million in growth equity financings, secondary transactions, and sell side advisory mandates.

Brady has always been passionate about growth stage businesses, helping with strategy, business planning, executing financings, and ultimately exits.

Randy Smallwood, President.

Mr. Smallwood holds a geological engineering degree from the University of British Columbia. Mr. Smallwood was involved in the founding of Wheaton Precious Metals, formerly Silver Wheaton. In 2007, he joined Silver Wheaton full time as Executive Vice President of Corporate Development, primarily focusing on growing the Company through the evaluation and acquisition of silver stream opportunities.

In January 2010, he was appointed President, and in April 2011, he was appointed Silver Wheaton’s Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Smallwood originally started as an exploration geologist with Wheaton River Minerals Ltd., and in 2001 was promoted to Director of Project Development, a role he held through the 2005 merger with Goldcorp.

Before joining the original Wheaton River group in 1993, Mr. Smallwood also worked with Homestake Mining Company, Teck Corp. and Westmin Resources. Mr. Smallwood was an instrumental part of the team that built Wheaton River / Goldcorp into one of the largest, and more importantly, most profitable gold companies in the world, and he is now focused on continuing to add to the impressive growth profile of Wheaton Precious Metals.

In 2015, Mr. Smallwood received the British Columbia Institute of Technology Distinguished Alumni Award.

Stephen de Jong, Chairman

Stephen de Jong holds 10 years’ experience in the mining industry and is currently the Chairman of Integra Resources, Director of GFG Resources and CEO of VRify, a Vancouver based tech start-up focused on connecting mining companies to the modern-day investor.

Prior to VRify, in 2012 Stephen was appointed CEO of Integra Gold, a Quebec-focused junior exploration company, and proved to be instrumental in raising over $150M while growing the business from a $10M exploration company through to its $590M sale to Eldorado Gold in July 2017.

Stephen's influence and passion for helping shape the next generation of exploration and mining was demonstrated with Integra’s $1 Million Gold Rush Challenge held in 2016, and with #DisruptMining 2017 which was co-hosted with Integra and Goldcorp, two events focused on accelerating innovation and the adoption of technology across the mining industry.

Stephen was born and raised in BC, has a commerce degree from Royal Roads University and currently lives in Vancouver with his wife and 2 young daughters.

Edie Thome is the President & CEO at the Association for Mineral Exploration (AME).

Prior to joining AME, she was the Director for environment, permitting and compliance, Indigenous relations and public affairs for the Site C Clean Energy Project at BC Hydro. Her earlier experience includes regulatory affairs, risk management, environment, operations and customer service for BC Hydro, among other regulated industries such as the airline industry.

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