Board of Directors

Peter Blake is an experienced director and senior leader currently serving as Chair of the Board of FortisBC and as an independent director on the board of Toromont Industries Ltd. In his board roles, he has served as the Chair of Audit and ESG Committees.

Peter was previously the Chief Executive Officer Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc. for 10 years and of Western One Inc. for four years. He served as Ritchie Bros. Chief Financial Officer for seven years prior to assuming the CEO role. Peter also contributes his time to community boards, currently serving on the Adam’s Apples Foundation and West Point Grey Academy Independent School Boards and previously serving on the boards of Junior Achievement of BC, BC Women’s Hospital Foundation and BC Institute of Technology Foundation.

Haydn Acheson has extensive senior leadership experience in the transportation sector, most recently as President and General Manager of Coast Mountain Bus Company. Prior to that he held senior executive roles in the Canadian airline industry in the areas of operations, customer service and flight operations. Haydn also has an extensive labour relations background. He is an accomplished airline captain with thousands of hours of flight time.

Mary Anne Davidson has 30 years of senior executive experience, beginning in the Crown Corporation sector in Saskatchewan, transitioning into environmental stewardship leadership and then leading the KPMG Management consulting practice in the prairies region. Currently, Mary Anne serves as a Director of the Vancouver Chinatown Foundation whose purpose is to revitalize one of Canada’s iconic neighbourhoods in historic Vancouver. There, she chairs the Bob and Michaels Place Committee, a model for sustainable affordable housing. In BC, Mary Anne served as CEO of an industry lead apprenticeship agency and as Vice President of an international major construction and financing corporation. In addition, she served as the Chair of the YMCA of Greater Vancouver during its merger and evolution to YMCA of BC.

Heather Deal brings decades of experience as a scientist, environmental educator, researcher, elected official and literacy promoter to the YVR Board. She was elected in the City of Vancouver five times and served many years as a board member of Metro Vancouver and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, as well as being a member of, and chairing, multiple committees of those Boards. Heather recently served as a Director at Decoda Literacy Solutions, an umbrella organization for literacy work throughout BC, and is in her second term sitting as Chair of the Granville Island Council.

Frances Fiorillo brings extensive airline industry experience in the areas of human resource management, operational strategy, and customer service. She has previously served in a number of high-ranking positions at Virgin America, the BC Provincial Health Services Authority, Canadian Airlines International and Air Canada ZIP.

Jill Leversage is a corporate director with over 30 years of experience in the corporate finance and mergers and acquisition sectors. Since 2016, she has focused on serving as an independent board member. In addition to YVR, Jill currently serves on the board of RE Royalties Ltd. and recently retired from both MAG Silver Corp and Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Ltd. In her Board roles, she has chaired and served on Audit, Governance and Compensation Committees. Jill is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Professional Accountants of BC, a CGIC Accredited Director, and is also a retired member of the Chartered Business Valuators Institute.

Ken Johnston is an experienced senior business executive and held elective offices in both the municipal and provincial governments. Ken started and ran successful businesses in the courier and logistics sector where he was an early adopter of green technology and obtained B Corp certification. He served five terms as a City Councillor in Richmond and sat as an MLA for the riding of Vancouver Fraserview. While Chair of Richmond Savings Credit Union, Ken played a key role in negotiating its merger with Pacific Coast Saving Credit Union and Surrey Metro Savings forming Coast Capital Savings, the second largest credit union in Canada. He subsequently served on the Board of Coast Capital Savings. Ken serves as Director on the Richmond Community Foundation and Maple Residences and previously served on other community boards including the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Vancouver, the Regional Animal Protection Society and the South Arm Community Association.

Suromitra Sanatani is an independent Director and is currently a director of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. Previously, she served on numerous boards across the country including as Chair of Canada Post, director of Purolator Holdings Ltd., and Chair of the Royal Bank Global Asset Management Independent Review Committee. Suromitra has also been on the boards of both Edmonton and Victoria International Airports.

Suromitra began her legal career in litigation before transitioning to senior corporate positions in the non-profit, public and private sectors. She is the former BC and Yukon Vice-President of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business as well as the former Vice President Corporate and Government Relations of Partnerships BC (now Infrastructure BC).

Juggy Sihota is Senior Vice President at TELUS and a driving force in building TELUS into a global healthcare leader. She has shaped and scaled innovation, including AI enabled global digital health services that support primary and mental health care for 76 million people across 160 countries. Juggy chairs the $120 million TELUS Friendly Future Foundation, overseeing initiatives in youth, mental health and digital inclusion that improve outcomes for more than two million youth annually. She also leads Canada’s largest corporate-funded student bursary program, expanding access to education for students facing systemic barriers. Additionally, she leads TELUS’ local content and cultural investment portfolio, with an annual investment exceeding $20 million through TELUS Originals and the TELUS Fund to strengthen national cultural infrastructure and social cohesion. Juggy brings deep governance and institutional leadership experience, having chaired the VGH and UBC Hospital Foundation and the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade. She also serves as Vice Chair of the Vancouver International Film Festival. Her leadership has been recognized with the King Charles III Coronation Medal and as one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women.

Tamara Vrooman is an award-winning leader, known for her exemplary track record leading large, complex institutions in both the private and public sectors and her bold positions on sustainability and inclusion.

Prior to joining YVR as President & CEO, she served for nine years on YVR’s Board and for 13 years as the President & CEO of Vancity, Canada’s largest community credit union, transforming the business into a global reference point for values-based banking. She currently serves as Simon Fraser University’s 12th Chancellor, and as the Chair of the Board for the Canadian Airports Council.

Ms. Vrooman is the recipient of the Order of British Columbia, Peter Lougheed Award for Leadership in Public Policy and has been named the 2025 recipient of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce - Canadian Business Leader of the Year Award.

Sany Zein is a Professional Engineer and senior executive with a specialization in transportation. He is the President and General Manager of the British Columbia Rapid Transit Company (BCRTC). Over a career spanning more than 30 years, Sany has held leadership positions in the private and public sectors, and worked on multi-modal transportation projects and programs across Canada and in the United States. Previously, he was Vice President, Transit and Transportation (Canada) with Jacobs; and Vice President, Engineering at TransLink. He has also served as a Director on the Board of Coast Mountain Bus Company. Sany has experience leading large teams delivering operational excellence; major infrastructure programs; capital program planning, management, and delivery; strategic asset management; and transportation decarbonization initiatives.