We hear stories from people everyday about why Chinatown is important to them. Whether it was a place you visited everyday or a destination reserved for special occasions, we know countless families in Vancouver have fond memories of this neighbourhood. We would love to hear yours.
Davis Yung, CPA, CMA, MBA
Davis Yung was born and raised in Hong Kong and came to Canada as an international student when he was 17 years old. Davis has been involved in agriculture and the food industry for 30 years. Davis co-founded Fresh Direct Produce in 2003 and served as the president & CEO, leading the team’s growth from 11 to 450 staff across B.C., Alberta, and Ontario until his retirement in 2022. Fresh Direct Produce has been named Canada’s Best Managed Companies since 2011. Headquartered in Vancouver, Fresh Direct Produce has been an active community supporter of the Strathcona Community Centre, Greater Vancouver Food Bank, BC Children’s Hospital Foundation and Food Stash. Davis is the Past Chair of the Canadian Produce Marketing Association and Past Audit Chair for the Produce Marketing Association. He has also served on the board of BC Food Processing Association and currently sits on the Board of Fresh Direct Produce Group of companies. Davis holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Simon Fraser University, an MBA from Queen’s University, and the CPA, CMA designation.
Grace Wong
Grace Wong is Senior Advisor to the Provost, International, at the University of British Columbia. She was a key player in positioning UBC as a global leader in post-secondary education and formed collaborations across academia, government, and business and helped establish executive education and training in China in the early 1980s. Grace has previously served as the Chair to the Board of Directors at SUCCESS. Under her thought leadership SUCCESS was further able to build bridges, harvest diversity and foster integration.
Robert (Bob) Rolls
Mr. Robert (Bob) Rolls was a member of the Vancouver Police Department from 1977 to 2010. He held various positions including Deputy Chief Constable, District Two Commander, District One Inspector, Director of Human Resources, and Sergeant in charge of the Recruiting Unit. His career included more than 10 years of experience in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, where he led a number of innovative projects and initiatives to handle the many significant issues of this area. Active in his community, he is currently on the Board of Directors of E-Comm 911 Corporation and is Chair of the Board of Directors of EasyPark. He was a member of the Judicial Council of British Columbia for 2015 and 2016 and on the advisory boards of Langara College and Kwantlen University. His memberships on professional associations have included the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, the BC Association of Municipal Chiefs of Police, and the Vancouver Police Officers Association. In 2009, he was awarded Member of the Order of Merit of the Police Forces by the Governor General of Canada for exceptional service to the community. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of British Columbia.
Evi Mustel, CMRP
Evi Mustel is the co-founder and one of the principals of Mustel Group, a Vancouver-based market and opinion research company. She has over 30 years of experience in the research industry. With extensive experience conducting research in virtually every sector of business, she has specialized expertise in communications, public affairs and customer satisfaction research. Her clients include provincial, regional and municipal governments, federal government agencies, corporations, not-for-profit organizations and business and professional associations. She has designed and conducted studies on many of today’s most important economic, environmental and social issues. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree from McMaster University and is Vice-Chair of the Vancouver Board of Trade, director of the International Women’s Forum (IWF), and past director of Easy Park, and the YMCA of Greater Vancouver.
Joy MacPhail
Ms. Joy MacPhail is a long time member of the BC New Democratic Party. She served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Vancouver-Hastings from 1991-2005. She served in the caucus of 3 BC Premiers – Premiers Mike Harcourt, Glen Clark, and Ujjal Dosanjh – and served as Minister of Labour, Minister of Finance, Minister of Health, and Minister of Senior Services. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2001-2005. Currently she serves on the boards of Adler University, Face the World Foundation, and OUTtv, a Canadian cable television station owned by she and her husband James Shavick. It is focused on the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities. She studied economics at the University of Western Ontario, and later earned a degree in labour studies at the London School of Economics.
Dr. Sherri Magee
Dr. Sherri Magee has worked for the past nineteen years as an oncology researcher in the area of Cancer Survivorship. She is the co-author of the highly acclaimed book “Picking up the Pieces: Moving Forward after Surviving Cancer,” which guides cancer survivors and their families through the transition of recovery when treatment for cancer has finished. Dr. Magee facilitates workshops across Canada for cancer survivors, their families and health care professionals, and is a frequent speaker at cancer conferences. She has served on numerous cancer advisory boards and committees and she co-developed the first private practice cancer rehabilitation program, ‘Back on Track’. She was also the media spokesperson for the Dr. Roger’s Prize, the world’s largest Complementary cancer treatment prize. Dr. Magee has also served on the following boards: World’s President Organization executive board, Perceptronix biotech company, and is currently the Vice Chair of the Vancouver Police Board.
Doug Halverson
Mr. Doug Halverson has been an active community relations consultant and community impact manager for many years. After working as a part of the City of Vancouver’s Vancouver Urban Renewal Study team, he managed a national study of not-for-profit seniors housing for the Canadian Council on Social Development. In 1981, he joined Westcoast Transmission Company (now Spectra Energy) when the company became a partner in the Alaska Highway Gas Pipeline project. He was responsible for the company’s relationships with the surrounding communities and landowners. Throughout his work, he was an advocate for building meaningful public consultation into both the development and operation of the resource-based industry. He left Spectra in 2003 as Vice President, Community and Regional Affairs. Doug has served as Vice President of the Planning Institute of BC, Chair of the Business Council of BC’s First Nations Economic Development Sub-Committee, and a founding member of the Industry Council for Aboriginal Business. He has served as a Trustee and as President of the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden Society and is a long-time member of the Vancouver Chinatown Revitalization Committee.
Barbara Grantham
Ms. Barbara Grantham has served as President & CEO of VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation since 2013. A long-time Vancouver resident, Barbara has more than 20 years of experience as a senior executive and consultant in the non-profit and philanthropic sectors across BC and nationally. She previously served as the Acting President and CEO of the Streetohome Foundation, and as Vice President, Community Leadership at the Vancouver Foundation, overseeing all funding, convening, partnership, community engagement, and leadership programs. She has also held executive positions with BC Children’s Hospital Foundation and the Canadian Mental Health Association. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Vantage Point, YMCA of Greater Vancouver, and the BC Centre for Non-Profit Management and Sustainability. She serves as a member of the National Advisory Council of Imagine Canada. She also volunteers her time and talents in numerous ways to support her children’s activities. She holds a BA degree in Political Studies from Queen’s University, and a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Public Administration from Carleton University.
Mary Anne Davidson
Mary Anne is a successful CEO and Senior Human Resource leader within the Financial Service, Insurance and Construction industries across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific regions. Her executive experience includes mergers and acquisitions and migrations from private to public company status, as well as global expansion. Mary Anne’s past board experience includes not-for-profit and for profit organizations, serving as CEO Ex Officio, HR Committee Chair and as a member of the Executive, Governance and Nominations Committees. She holds an Institute of Corporate Directors Designation (ICD.D) and an MBA, and is completing the Board/Executive Compensation certification program
Laura Case
Ms. Laura Case is Chief Operating Officer for VCH Vancouver Community, overseeing a wide-ranging, $600 million portfolio of health care services and programs that are provided outside of the Vancouver Acute Care setting. This wide and diverse portfolio includes Mental Health and Addiction, Adult and Older Adult, Home and Community Care, Housing, and Public Health. Health care services provided in the Downtown Eastside also fall under Laura’s oversight. She began her career in health care in the 1980s as a registered nurse and psychiatric nurse in the Fraser Health Authority. As Operations Director in Mental Health & Addiction of Vancouver Coastal Health in 2011, she provided leadership for the 2012 operational redesign of the Burnaby Center, which is now well established as the Canadian center of excellence for clients with complex concurrent disorders. In 2013, as Executive Director, Vancouver Community, she quickly demonstrated her ability to link business principles with her deep understanding of operations to align services and programs to meet the needs of changing populations. She is a leader who is passionate about program integration as the basis for achieving the best outcomes for patients and clients. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Nursing, a Masters in Business Administration and a Graduate Certificate in Project Management.
Benjamin Yeung, DMD 楊世彬
Mr. Benjamin Yeung is Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Peterson Group, a family-owned real estate company active in real estate investment, development, property management, capital lending, and private equity. He devotes time to serve the community as a Board Member of the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation, UBC Faculty of Dentistry, as a Director of Tung Lin Kok Yuen Canada Society, Tung Lin Kok Yuen Canada Foundation, and as Vice President of the Shandong Natives Association of BC.
Jack Wong, CPA 黃景棠
Jack Wong is the Chief Executive Officer of the Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia. Before being named CEO in February 2011, Jack was the Assistant Managing Director & CFO of the Vancouver Board of Trade. A certified member and Fellow of the Certified Professional Accountants of Canada, Jack holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Business Administration degree from UBC. He is a past Fellow of the Ford Foundation’s Regional Sustainable Development Program, member of Lambda Alpha International, and associate member of the Real Estate Institute of BC. Jack serves as a Director for Brightside Community Homes Foundation, Immigrant Services Society of BC, Vancouver Police Foundation, and the Richmond Museum Society. He also is the Chair of the Social Innovation Working Group at UBC Farm, Capital Committee co-Chair of Thompson Rivers University, as well as serving on the external advisory councils for the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of BC and the Faculty of Environment at Simon Fraser University. He is the Past-Chair of the Canadian Environmental Grantmakers Network (Toronto) and Past-President of the Dr. Sun-Yat Sen Garden Society (Vancouver). He lives in Steveston, BC with his wife Alanna, and has 2 grown daughters.
Tony Letvinchuk, RI (BC)
Mr. Tony Letvinchuk is Managing Director of Macdonald Commercial Real Estate Services Ltd. (a Macdonald Real Estate Group Company). He has 30 years of experience operating commercial real estate companies in Metro Vancouver and British Columbia, and joined Macdonald Commercial in 1998. He was a member of the Real Estate Council of BC’s Property Management Advisory Group and a Director of the Urban Development Institute Pacific Region (UDI). Tony has previously served as the President of UBC Commerce Alumni Association, Director of the Arthritis Society of BC and Yukon Division, and he received the Blythes Eagles Volunteer Award from the UBC Alumni Association. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and received a Diploma in Urban Land Economics from the University of British Columbia.
Maggie Ip, LLD 葉吳美琪
Maggie was born in Shanghai, China and grew up in Hong Kong where she obtained her B.A. She came to Canada for postgraduate studies at the University of Ottawa and received her Masters degree in Education in 1967. She was a high school teacher for 25 years and also a devoted volunteer in helping new immigrants. She was the Founding Chair of S.U.C.C.E.S.S. in 1973, an immigrant service organization in Vancouver. Between 1993 to 1996, she was elected Vancouver City Councillor. Maggie has also served on the Boards of United Way, YWCA, BC Heritage Language Association, and Vancouver Public Library. She was conferred an Honourary Doctor of Laws degree from S.F.U. in 2015.
Henry Fung, MD, PhD 馮耀明
Dr. Henry Fung, a retired physician and a pharmacologist, has held a number of academic appointments at various medical institutions in North America including the University of British Columbia, the University of Manitoba and Harvard Medical School. He is a founding partner of Linacare. Since his retirement from medicine, he has been actively engaged with Vancouver Chinatown revitalization efforts.
Peter Y.L. Eng, LLD, MBA, MA 吳毓麟
Mr. Peter Y.L. Eng is Chairman and CEO of the Allied Holdings Group of Companies, a real estate investment and development and hospitality business, for over 40 years. He has served as a non-executive director of a number of public companies and has also served on the boards of Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia, the BC Achievement Foundation, and co-founded the University of East Asia, which is now the University of Macau. Mr. Eng holds the degrees of BA and MA from the University of Hong Kong and the MBA degree from Pepperdine University. He was conferred an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Simon Fraser University.
Caleb Chan, LLD, MBA 陳悅明
Mr. Caleb Chan is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Burrard International Holdings in Vancouver and International Land Group in San Francisco. A Hong Kong-born Canadian businessman and philanthropist, Mr. Chan serves as a Director of UBC Properties Trust, Belkorp Industries Inc., and served as Director of HSBC Canada and HSBC Canada Asset Trust for almost a decade. He has also served as a board member of the Asia Pacific Initiative, BC Housing Management Commission, and BC Children’s Hospital Foundation. His family’s Chan Family Foundation has supported educational, medical, and missionary work in Hong Kong and abroad. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from UC Berkeley and holds a MBA from the University of San Francisco. He holds an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of British Columbia.
Carol A. Lee, MBA (Chair) 李佩珍
Ms. Carol A. Lee is Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Linacare Cosmetherapy, headquartered in Vancouver’s historic Chinatown district. With long-standing family ties to the history and development of Chinatown, she is deeply committed to the revitalization of Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside. She is Chair of the Vancouver Chinatown Revitalization Committee, and Honorary Patron of the Chinese Canadian Military Museum Society, and serves on boards of several other organizations. In 2016, she was appointed to the Finance Minister of Canada’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth. She earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of British Columbia and received her MBA from Harvard Business School.
Brandt C. Louie, OBC, LLD, FCA, FCPA 雷震瀛
Mr. Brandt C. Louie is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of H.Y. Louie Co. and President, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of London Drugs. As one of Canada’s most widely respected business leaders, Mr. Louie also serves as Chairman of Grosvenor Americas, Governor of the Vancouver Board of Trade, Chancellor Emeritus of Simon Fraser University, and a Member of the Dean’s Council of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He has devoted his time and philanthropic support to the community such as the Gairdner Foundation, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and Covenant House. He holds an Honorary Doctor of Laws from both SFU and UBC and in 2009, was appointed to the Order of British Columbia.
Wallace B. Chung, CM, OBC, MDCM, FRCS (C), DSc (Hon) 蔣北扶
Dr. Wallace B. Chung specialized in vascular surgery during his forty-year medical career. In 1991, he retired after decades of service at UBC Hospital as a Professor and as Head of the Department of Surgery. He has served on numerous cultural boards, including the Canadian Multiculturalism Council, British Columbia Heritage Trust, the Chinese Cultural Centre, and the Vancouver Maritime Museum. In 1998, he donated 25,000 items documenting Chinese Canadian settlement history to Western Canada to UBC Library, creating the Chung Collection – hailed as an invaluable educational resource for academia and the public. Dr. Chung is a Member of the Order of British Columbia and the Order of Canada
Robert H. Lee, CM, OBC, LLD 李亮漢
Mr. Robert (Bob) H. Lee is the Chairperson of Prospero Group. He was born and raised in Vancouver’s Chinatown. After co-founding Wall Financial Corporation in 1966, he founded the Prospero Group, a highly successful real estate business. Mr. Lee has demonstrated exceptional dedication to his alma mater, the University of British Columbia. He joined the UBC Board of Governors in 1984 and served as Chancellor from 1993 to 1996. He founded UBC Properties Trust in 1988, which to date has raised over $1 billion for the University’s endowment. He served as Chairman until 2011 and still acts as Chairman Emeritus. Mr. Lee was conferred an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from UBC, and is a member of the Order of British Columbia and the Order of Canada.