Authors

Dr. Pitman B. Potter is a Distinguished Fellow Emeritus with APF Canada, Emeritus Professor with the Allard School of Law at the University of B.C., and a Member of the Order of Canada.

Sheldon was appointed CEO of NEXT Canada on November 1, 2017 and is a long-time champion of innovation and an experienced builder of startup ecosystems. Sheldon is one of the founders of the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship, where he now serves as Chair of the Advisory Board. He also serves on the Leadership Council of Scale Up Ventures, Inc., which invests in promising young firms to grow and expand their markets globally.

Prior to his current role, Sheldon served from 2015 to 2017 as Deputy Minister of the Ontario Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development. From 2005 to 2015, he served as President and Vice-Chancellor of Ryerson University, where he initiated Ryerson’s many initiatives to foster student innovation, including the Digital Media Zone (DMZ), an early-stage incubator for student entrepreneurs that has since become an international success. Sheldon is also a founder and advisor to Ryerson Futures Inc., an accelerator that has exported the DMZ concept to such locations as Calgary and Mumbai.

Sheldon’s prior positions have included President, Sheridan College; Vice-President Finance and Strategy, University of Ontario Institute of Technology; Vice-President Governmental and Institutional Relations, University of Toronto; and Vice-President Institutional Affairs, York University.

Prior to starting the investment fund Lyra Growth Partners in September 2015, Charles was the President & Founder of Vega, a company he started from scratch from his basement in 2004. Financed by his life savings, a second mortgage on his house and four credit cards, Charles built Vega to become an iconic lifestyle brand of clean, plant-based nutritional products, sold in over 20,000 stores across North America.

Both Vega and Charles have received many accolades, including: Profit 100 Fastest Growing Companies, Best Workplaces, BIV 40 Under 40, Best Managed Companies and E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year.

In August 2015, Charles led the sale of Vega to White Wave Foods for US$550 million. He is proud that corporate headquarters have remained in Vancouver and Vega’s employees continue to run the company. Charles lives with his family in Vancouver, British Columbia, and is an active member of Young Presidents Organization (YPO), an avid mountain biker, golfer, skier and Whistlerite wannabe.

Dayuan Xue is a Professor and project leader at the College of Life and Environmental Sciences at Minzu University of China (MUC) in Beijing; former Chief Scientist on biodiversity under the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China, Director of Ethno-ecology Commission under the Chinese Society of Ecology; a member of the World Commission of Protected Areas of IUCN; a member of the Task Force of Indigenous and Local Knowledge under IPBES.

Yvonne Xiao Tiberghien is a Canadian freelance writer, former Lecturer at Sichuan University of International Studies (Chongqing), and a native of the Autonomous Yi Region of Da Liang Shan in Sichuan.

Li Guo is a Ph.D. Candidate in the department of political science at the University of B.C. and a specialist on Chinese environmental politics. Her research centres on biodiversity protection, genetically modified food policies, and national parks regulation. Her dissertation examines different modes of public participation and contestation at the interface between environmental conservation and economic interests in China.

Sebastian Murdoch-Gibson is a Post Graduate Research Fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. He studied Global Governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs.

Justin is Program Manager, Trade, Investment, and Innovation at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada

Vietnam News Agency is a state-owned agency under the Vietnamese Government, and functions as the official information channel of Vietnam.

Yingqiu Kuang is a Mitacs Research Fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. She is also a PhD Candidate in political science at the University of B.C. Her research interests include international political economy in multinational corporations and technology standardization, with a focus on China.