Virtual Event
Women in Forestry – 2021
March 9, 2021 at 11:00am EST

Leaders discuss the ongoing challenges for women in the forest products sector, including gaps in recruitment, wages and senior-level positions—and how to solve them, from promoting the industry, to tapping into the talent pool, to creating pathways that advance women into leadership positions.

Moderator:
Kate Lindsay

Kate is responsible for working with FPAC members to advance the industry’s position on key legislative files and environmental leadership, including; climate action, sustainability, adaptation and resiliency, species at risk and biodiversity conservation. Kate has been with FPAC for over eight years, prior to this role, she was VP, Sustainability and Environmental Partnerships and Director of Conservation Biology. Kate has been selected to participate in formal advisory roles to the federal government, including as co-lead of the Species at Risk Advisory Committee (SARAC) and a member of the Pathway to Target 1, National Advisory Panel (NAP).

Kate is from British Columbia and prior to working at FPAC, Kate held roles with government, the forest industry and with an environmental consulting firm. Kate graduated with a BSc from the University of Victoria, and is a Registered Professional Biologist (R.P.Bio).

Panelests:
Lacey Rose

Lacey Rose grew up on the 53° N parallel in Labrador. Graduating from UNB in 2006 with a Bachelor of Science in Forestry, Lacey has been a Registered Professional Forester in Ontario since 2008. Lacey’s work experience has ranged from field work in the Boreal forest, to writing a forest management plan for 250,000 hectares of Crown forest in the Great Lakes St. Lawrence forest, to now the hands-on management of the Renfrew County Forest. Outside of these roles, Lacey is the Co-Founder of Women in Wood, and the host of the web-series “Mighty Jobs”.

Johanne Latour

Johanne Latour has over 25 years of experience in HR in a variety of Canadian industries, from auto parts, financial services, food, to printing. She started at EACOM in 2016 and is now the Head of Talent and Culture, in addition to being a member of the Forest Product Association of Canada’s (FPAC) HR committee as well as the Gender Equity in Canada’s Forest Sector National Action Plan Initiative.

As part of her role at EACOM, Johanne oversees recruitment and onboarding, talent and organizational development, performance management and she iscommitted to helping diversify EACOM’s workforce so that it may better reflect its communities.

Johanne holds a Bachelor’s degree in Arts from Université de Montréal with a major in Industrial relations and a minor in Health and Safety.

Charlene Strelaeff

A graduate of the UBC Forest Operations program, Charlene has been a Registered Professional Forester in BC since 2004. Charlene has cross-sector experience including pulp and paper, industry, government and consulting. Her work experience includes fibre procurement and valuation, long term and operational planning, forest certification and harvest development. Charlene is a strong advocate for youth mentoring. She currently works for Mercer International within its Castlegar operations – Mercer Celgar.

Dr. Fahimeh Yazdan Panah

Dr. Fahimeh Yazdan Panah is the director of research and technical development at the Wood Pellet Association of Canada and a Research Associate at the University of British Columbia. She has been engaged in research and discovery in the emerging area of bioenergy for over 13 years and have managed bioenergy projects for a variety of clients including governments, manufacturers and technology developers. She has led biofuel densification, pre-treatment, storage and handling research studies for 10 years and has co-authored more than 80 technical reports and peer-reviewed publications in the field.  Fahimeh also serves as the Project Lead within ISO Technical Committee 238 (Solid Biofuels) and served as the Chair within ISO Technical Committee 300 (Solid Recovered Biofuels) for two years. She received her PhD and MASc from Chemical and Biological Engineering Department at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and she holds a bachelor’s degree from Amirkabir University of Technology. She is also a registered Professional Engineer with EGBC and Professional Project Manager with PMI.