Dear CMC-BC Colleagues,
I hope you’re enjoying a restful summer! Here are a few highlights and announcements as we move through July and prepare for the fall season:
Join us for the 2025 CMC-BC Awards Night!
We are excited to be gearing up for the 2025 CMC-BC Awards Night, happening October 24, 2025, at Neighourly Cafe at KWENCH in Victoria, BC.
Join us for an in-person evening featuring TED Talk-style CMC Talks focused on the power of personal stories, a reception, and a celebration of new CMCs, FCMCs, and award recipients.
We’re thrilled to announce our speakers:
- Hannah Clark – MNP
- Richard Eaton – Berlineaton
- Ehren Lee – Urban Systems Ltd.
- Chris Legler – Axios Growth Consultants
- Dawn Ringrose – Organizational Excellence Specialists
- Dr. Dawn-Marie Turner – Turner Change Management Inc.
Event Details:
Ticket: $65
Date: October 24, 2025
Time: 4:00 PM – 6:30 PM (PT)
Location: Neighbourly Cafe @KWENCH, 2031 Store St Suite A, Victoria, BC V8T 5L9
Please note: Tickets are limited due to venue capacity – we encourage you to reserve yours early!
If you’re travelling for this event and are looking for accommodation, we’ve secured a discounted rate at the Chateau Victoria Hotel & Suites. To book, please call the hotel at 250-382-4221 and reference the Certified Management Consultants BC booking to access the preferred rate.
CMC-BC is seeking nominations for the 2025 Fellow Certified Management Consultant (FCMC) designation.
The FCMC is a special recognition for those who have made significant contributions to clients, to their Institutes, to the profession, and to society.
Their achievements in their careers or in the community have earned them distinction and brought honour to the profession.
Please nominate a deserving CMC using the link below.
Nominations close September 3, 2025.
Introducing the New CMC-BC Council
Thank you to everyone who participated in our Annual General Meeting, back in May. We’re pleased to introduce your new CMC-BC Council for 2025–2026, who will continue to guide our professional community forward. We’re grateful for their leadership and your engagement.
Welcome to our new Treasurer and Councillors-at-large…
Eileen Lian is a seasoned strategic consultant with over 20 years of international experience in management consulting, corporate development, and business transformation. She has advised senior leadership teams across industries and geographies, providing strategic insight on growth, operations, and global expansion.
Eileen has worked closely with executive boards and senior stakeholders on high-impact initiatives related to strategy development and business transformation. Her leadership roles at IBM, Nokia, Capgemini and several finance and tech firms reflect her ability to drive change and deliver results in complex, multicultural environments.
In addition to her professional work, she has been a board director for a local minor hockey association and a multi-year director and volunteer with a school parent council. She holds an MBA from Fordham University and is a Certified Management Consultant (CMC). Fluent in English and Mandarin, she brings a strong cross-cultural perspective to her work.
Sarah Palmer, Councillor-at-Large
Sarah Palmer is a Certified Management Consultant (CMC), Project Management Professional (PMP), and Prosci-certified Change Practitioner with over 25 years of experience leading enterprise-wide transformation across public and private sector organizations. As principal of Aspect Business Solutions Ltd., she provides executive-level advisory and hands-on project leadership, with a focus on digital modernization, and enterprise change initiatives.
Sarah has guided municipalities, manufacturers, and fintech firms through complex, high-impact projects involving governance design, risk mitigation, stakeholder engagement, and long-term technology investment planning. She is known for her ability to navigate competing priorities, foster alignment across diverse teams, and deliver measurable results in challenging environments.
With cross-sector insight and strong executive communication skills, Sarah brings strengths in strategic oversight, organizational transformation, and enterprise risk management. She is passionate about contributing to purpose-driven organizations that value disciplined governance, sustainable growth, and innovation in the face of change.
Brendan Smith, Councillor-at-Large
Brendan Smith is a Vancouver-based management consultant specializing in growth strategy for startups. He has contributed to over 60 consulting engagements across a range of industries, leading ventures from early traction to scalable, investor-backed systems. His work has driven more than $45M in revenue growth and $15M+ in capital raised.
Typically, organizations engage Brendan at key inflection points to shape strategy, align teams, and navigate high-stakes transitions. His consulting approach is grounded in structure, clarity, and collaboration, with a focus on delivering actionable strategy in high-ambiguity environments.
He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from the UBC Sauder School of Business and is excited to contribute to the CMC-BC community and support peers in building trusted, purpose-driven practices
Thanks to continuing Council members..
Ashka Wirk is the Principal of Wirk Consulting. She is a seasoned private sector leader. She began her career as head of Business Development with an Okanagan biotechnology firm. She was then the CEO of the healthcare association management arm of Vancouver’s StemCell Technologies, the largest biotechnology company in Canada.
As a management consultant and executive coach for the last ten years, Ashka has provided strategy support to small and medium-sized private sector businesses, to numerous BC ministries; and to not-for-profit organizations across Canada – to help them improve their organization’s performance
She has a particular focus on helping founders and their teams create tailored succession plans to ensure their businesses thrive beyond the founding generation, through a co-created approach (with fellow CMC and CMC-BC Registrar, James Grieve!) called SuccessionReady.
Rob ran his own marketing agency for 15 years before merging with NowMedia Group/Csek Creative in 2017. He brings his extensive experience in strategic marketing to every project he works on, including marketing strategies, advertising campaigns and brand developments. Born and raised in Kamloops and currently based out of both Kamloops and Kelowna, Rob’s local knowledge and love of the region is an asset to the thousands of businesses and organizations he has worked with over the years.
James is a CMC with a can-do approach to life and business. He is passionate about strategy and works with clients in a variety of industries to systemize their businesses from ideas to implementation. He also has extensive experience in working with First Nations communities on economic development and empowerment initiatives.
James is also a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP), a Certified Sales Professional (CSP), Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA), and a Professional Farm Advisor (CAFA), and brings a creative and customer-first approach to working with clients. He also holds an ISO 20700:2017 certification for management consultancy services.
Gilbert Tai has over 25 years of experience managing Programs and Projects in the following industries – PUBLIC: Workers’ Compensation Insurance, Legal and Justice, Health Services, Science and Technology R&D. PRIVATE: Banking, Professional Services, Aviation, Information Technology, Telecommunication, Venture Creation/Start-Up.
His expertise has been leading Digital / Business Transformation programs and he is passionate about Business Process Optimization / Improvement and Re-engineering Management initiatives.
Gilbert holds the following professional certifications: CMC, CSM, CSPO, PMP & SAFE5 SP and has a Bachelor of Business Administration majoring in Management Information Systems and Marketing from Simon Fraser University.
Michael Rosen, Councillor-at-Large
Michael Rosen began consulting as an internal process consultant for organizations 2015, first with Industrial Alliance, followed Coast Capital Savings and Beem Credit Union. Michael specializes in financial services, having worked in the industry since 2011. In 2022 he opened his consultancy, A3 Initiatives. Michael completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto, and master’s at Royal Roads University. In addition to being a CMC, Michael is a project management professional, and business process management professional. Michael loves the satisfaction that comes with helping business leaders rethink their processes, capitalize on opportunities, and improve both the employee and customer experience.
Finally, we express our gratitude to Lawrence Yuen and Natasha Singh as they rotate off of Council – your service is greatly appreciated!
Welcome to New CMCs
We’re thrilled to welcome our 6 newest designated CMCs to the CMC-BC community . CMC-BC has conferred 14 CMCs so far in 2025 (and we’re only at the half-way mark of the year). This marks the highest number of CMCs conferred in a single year by CMC-BC, surpassing the previous high of 13 in 2022, and representing a significant increase over 6 in both 2023 and 2024. This upward trend reflects the strength and consistency of our candidate pipeline and the rigour of our assessment and mentoring processes.
Simon Daley is a Partner in Digital Advisory at MNP with more than 18 years of experience in IT strategy, ERP implementation, and digital transformation. He leads high-impact initiatives for public sector clients in BC, Alberta, and Yukon, and is PMP, Prosci, and ITIL certified.
Heman Joshi is a Senior Business Consultant with over 17 years of experience in IT and electronic products and service design. He has consulted with clients across the public and private sectors in Canada and the EMEA . Heman currently serves as a management consultant for the BC Ministry of Citizens’ Services, where he advises on business process and service delivery optimization through change management.
Silver McLaughlin is a Senior Consultant in Indigenous Services at MNP. She is a specialist in Indigenous governance, health, and education strategy, with experience in strategic planning, policy development, and complex stakeholder engagement. She holds an MPP from SFU and a BA from Queen’s University.
Kevin Salesse is a Manager in Public Sector Consulting at MNP. He is a strategic consultant with expertise in evaluation and organizational reviews, with a strong focus on Indigenous governments, program delivery, and data-informed decision-making. He currently serves as Vice President of the Yukon Chapter of the Canadian Evaluation Society.
Brendan Smith is a Vancouver-based management consultant specializing in growth strategy for startups. He has contributed to 60+ engagements, driving $45M+ in revenue growth and $15M+ in capital raised. He supports ventures from early traction to scalable, investor-backed systems and is typically engaged to shape strategy, align teams, and navigate transitions. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from the UBC Sauder School of Business.
Karan Suri is a Manager in Consulting Services at MNP. He is an experienced leader in public funding, program management, and government relations. Formerly the sector head for agritech and investment readiness for the BC Government, he holds a Graduate Diploma in Business from SFU and a BA from UBC, and is fluent in English, Hindi, and Punjabi.
Thanks for Celebrating International Consultants Day
Thank you to all who joined us on June 5th for our “Ask an FCMC” roundtable in honour of International Consultants Day. Moderated by Jame Healy, FCMC, this conversation marked the launch of an exciting new initiative to help CMCs connect with senior FCMCs for advice and insight.
This new initiative allows CMCs to connect with FCMCs in BC (for now) on an as-needed basis for insight and guidance.
Please see the link below to a table that outlines BC FCMCs, their contact information, and area(s) of specialty. Feel free to reach out to them directly with your questions!
Remember to connect with the CMC-BC LinkedIn feed as that is a channel we regularly use.
As always, please reach out to me at Ashka.Wirk@cmc-bc.ca with questions, ideas, or just to connect!
Sincerely,
Ashka Wirk
President and Council Chair, CMC-BC
