Women Leading Change: 2nd Annual Discussion Panel
Event hosted by Ireland Canada Chamber of Commerce Vancouver
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Ireland Canada Chamber of Commerce Vancouver are excited to host our 2nd annual ‘Women Leading Change’ event, in partnership with Brigid’s Festival Vancouver. We are proud to lead this interactive discussion which will bring together a panel of esteemed speakers who drive the change we see, both across the industries we work in and society at large.
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Panel Speaker Bios
Joan Sheehan
Recently recognized in the Technology HealthCare Report, as one of the Top 25 Women Leaders in Biotechnology of 2020 and winner of the 2018 Wendy McDonald Outstanding Mentor Award Joan spent the early part of her career as a Medical Technologist specializing in Hematology and Blood Transfusion Serology.
After relocating to Vancouver in 1993, she decided to take on a new challenge in the business world, and joined STEMCELL Technologies as one of two Technical Sales Representatives. Since then, she has developed and amassed a large global Sales force of over 200 individuals across 10 offices, and built a number of different functions across the company including Product and Scientific Support, Education, Customer Service, Distribution, Marketing and Sales.
In her current leadership role, as Executive Vice President, Global Sales, she manages a global team of over 300 highly trained scientific staff which includes the global Sales, Product & Scientific Support and Education teams.
Joan is also a board member of the Center for the Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine in Toronto.
Rachel Mockler
Sligo born Rachel Mockler is Vice-President, Legal for Flatiron Construction where she founded the grassroots Diversity and Inclusion Growth Group (DIGG) to encourage greater diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Rachel was also the 2017 winner of the Canadian Bar Association's Debra Van Ginkel QC award for mentoring. The award recognizes women lawyers who pledge their time to building trusting and collaborative relationships and sharing personal experiences to help women navigate the ups and downs of the legal world.
Rachel has been called to the bar in British Columbia, Wales and England. In the U.K, Rachel worked for a large international law firm before moving to practice in-house as a project lawyer on the $8 billion dollar Channel Tunnel Rail Link project. Since moving to Vancouver in 2008, she has worked both in private practice and in-house with a focus on mining and construction projects based in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K.
Rachel is also a volunteer director at Charlford House, a non-profit rehabilitation home in Burnaby for women recovering from drug and alcohol addiction.
Niamh Cunningham
Niamh Cunningham is the Chief Operating Officer & Founding Partner at Rival Technologies; a technology start up that was founded in 2016. Rival Technologies is a software company that enables companies to connect with & better understand their customers. Rival’s top tier clients include, Kimberly Clark, Viacom CBS, Sam's Club, Heinz, Craft, Warner Bros, BCLC, The Canucks & Nike.
Niamh has a degree in Computer Science from University College Dublin (UCD) & an MA in International Business Mgt. from Newcastle University, UK. She spent the start of her career as a market researcher in Dublin. After relocating to Vancouver in 2008 she moved into a career in tech. Niamh is committed to helping more women build successful careers in the tech space.
In her current role as Chief Operating Officer Niamh is responsible for many functional areas including product strategy, partnerships & customer advocacy.