Board Bios

Barry Macdonald, FCPA FCA, ICD.D

Chair, SFU Community Trust

Barry Macdonald is a recently retired Tax Services Partner in the Vancouver office of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, where he led their Transfer Pricing group. Mr. Macdonald—a CA since 1985—was an incorporated partner with more than 22 years experience advising on corporate transfer pricing and related international tax services.

From 1990 to 1997, he worked within the firm’s Hong Kong office and became the only North American partner in 1993. Mr. Macdonald’s team was experienced in cross-border tax planning, the preparation of contemporaneous documentation transfer pricing reports, and the representation of public and private companies in audit defence negotiations with tax authorities. Barry Macdonald is a frequent speaker at international conferences and chairs a number of professional and cultural organizations.

Mike Cordoba

Mike Cordoba is a partner of Empresario Capital, a Company formed to invest in mid-market businesses which can benefit from a capital infusion along with a systematic approach to growth and stability. Empresario currently has investment holdings in the food service, retail automotive, and energy solutions industries. Prior investments have included investments in the health care and food service industries.

Mike Cordoba has over 22 years business experience primarily focused in the restaurant and retail industries. He was formerly with Boston Pizza International in roles in Finance, as President, and as Chief Executive Officer. Mike is also involved with Mr. Lube Canada as one of the owners and is also currently the Chairman of the Board. He has also worked for a national super optical company and with a public accounting firm.

Mike has a Chartered Accountant degree, is a graduate of Business of Simon Fraser University and is one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40.

Joanne Curry, DBA

Dr. Joanne Curry is the VP, External Relations with SFU and has been with SFU for over 20 years.  Her achievements include leading the establishment and development of the SFU Surrey Campus at Surrey City Centre for a 12 year period, the creation of SFU’s first community engagement strategy, and the building of strong relationships with local governments and business and community organizations.  She currently sits on several Boards including the Burnaby Board of Trade, Innovation Boulevard, and the Downtown Surrey Business Improvement Association.

Dr. Curry was previously the executive director of the national TeleLearning Network of Centres of Excellence and also held several management positions in the private sector. Dr. Curry holds a Bachelor of Commerce with distinction from University of Manitoba, an MBA from SFU, and a doctorate in business administration at the University of Bath, where she received the Richard and Shirley Mawditt Prize for top prize for her thesis on building strong university-local government collaborations.

Howard Nemtin

Finance Committee Chair

Howard Nemtin has been the President of Nemtin Consultants Limited in Vancouver for more than four decades. The firm has provided project management, consulting and real estate development expertise to institutional, government and large private clients throughout British Columbia.

Mr. Nemtin served on the TransLink board as a director and Vice-Chairman. He also served a Chairman of Coast Mountain Bus Company. In addition to his corporate activities he is a commercial mediator with over 2,000 successful mediations.  He has been on the BC Mediator Roster since 2003 and is the author of “Communities in Cooperation – A Guide to Alternate Dispute Resolution for First Nations and Local Governments in British Columbia”. Howard Nemtin holds a Bachelor of Science degree from York University and a Master of Business Administration from Western University. He is a member of the Commercial Mediator’s Association and the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Martin Pochurko

Martin Pochurko joined Simon Fraser University as Vice-President, Finance and Administration in October 2015. Prior to his appointment, he was the Chief Financial Officer for the Fraser Health Authority from 2012 – 2015.

Mr. Pochurko’s career also includes a previous role at SFU where he served as Associate Vice-President, Finance from 2007 – 2012. Mr. Pochurko held several senior management roles during his 15 years at the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia— the most recent being the Associate Vice-President, Financial Services. Mr. Pochurko is designated as both a CPA and CGA, and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master of Education from Simon Fraser University.

Brian Taylor, LLB

Planning Committee Chair

Brian Taylor is a lawyer and past Partner specializing in real estate and public and administrative law at Bull, Housser & Tupper (now Norton Rose Fulbright).  Mr. Taylor’s practice focused on providing counsel and solicitor’s services to local governments and regulatory bodies, the real estate profession and other self-regulating organizations.

Mr. Taylor’s work has included advising local government and the development industry on a wide variety of matters including subdivision and development issues, public/private partnerships and amenity zoning . In addition to Mr. Taylor’s practice in the area of local government law, he for many years provided advice to local and provincial real estate boards and associations in British Columbia. He continues to lecture extensively to the real estate profession on the issue of agency responsibilities and fiduciary obligations.

Mr. Taylor is Chair Emeritus of Simon Fraser University and an honorary governor and past chair of the Leon and Thea Koerner Foundation.

Priyanka Dhesa

SFU Student Representative

Priyanka Dhesa is a Bachelor’s of Science candidate in Simon Fraser University’s faculty of Health Sciences. She is passionate about working in public health to create policies and programs to assist marginalized populations and eradicate inequalities in health care. During her undergraduate degree, Priyanka aspires to contribute to health research and advance knowledge on disease trends and effective treatment.

After completing her bachelor’s degree, Priyanka plans to pursue a master’s degree in public health to become a researcher in the field of infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases.

Students with feedback regarding the governance of SFU Community Trust can contact Priyanka by email: pda35@sfu.ca