The PROBE. Next Meeting. Thursday, May 14, 2015 at 9:30 am, Marine Drive Golf Club

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1 President Mark H White president@probusvancouverwest.com Vice President Rosemary Wakefield vicepresident@probusvancouverwest.com Secretary Joan Hebb secretary@probusvancouverwest.com Treasurer Douglas Cucheron treasurer@probusvancouverwest.com Activities Sharon Baxter & Estelle Jacobsen activities@probusvancouverwest.com Communications Rooky Driver communications@probusvancouverwest.com House John Fraser house@probusvancouverwest.com Member Services Pat Sexsmith memberservices@probusvancouverwest.com Membership Tony Weall membership@probusvancouverwest.com Speakers John Fraser, Acting chair speakers@probusvancouverwest.com Next Meeting Thursday, May 14, 2015 at 9:30 am, Marine Drive Golf Club Speaker: Andy Poon - Manager, Investor and Industry Education Communications & Education Topic: Helping British Columbians educate themselves about investing and protecting themselves against investment fraud Andy manages the British Columbia Securities Commission s education programs: For investors, this means educating investors so that they can make informed investment decisions and protect themselves from fraudulent schemes. For industry, it means helping cultivate a culture of compliance by providing education and information to market participants in an engaging and timely basis. Andy joined the BCSC in April He has a BSc and MBA from Dalhousie University in Halifax, N.S. and a MA in journalism from University of Western Ontario. The BC Securities Commission is the independent provincial government agency responsible for regulating capital markets in British Columbia through the administration of the Securities Act. Its mission is to protect and promote the public interest by fostering: A securities market that is fair and warrants public confidence A dynamic and competitive securities industry that provides investment opportunities and access to capital Welcome to our new members Catherine Smailes, Physician Judith Donnelly, RN, Realtor Geri Jarvis, Chartered accountant Bill Parker, Nurse Our journey is self-development. Our strength is fellowship. Our success is participation.

2 Message from Andy Poon, British Columbia Securities Commission In the past, you have invited the BC Securities Commission to speak to your group about investor education and fraud prevention. As the government agency responsible for helping British Columbians educate themselves about investing and protecting themselves against investment fraud, our seminar sessions have been a very popular feature of our InvestRight program. I want to share with you a new online feature that we have developed to connect with groups and communities such as yourselves. It is our In Your Community section ( community.aspx). It shares where we will be delivering seminars and the opportunity to learn more about fraud prevention and activities planned in communities throughout the province. It provides visitors with news about fraud and links to resources that can help them avoid fraud as well as a way to contact us to arrange a seminar. A key feature is the series of new videos that we have developed to illustrate the fraud warning signs, common frauds, and how people can avoid falling victim to investment fraud. In fact, we think it does such a good job of covering the key points from our in-person seminars that we encourage people to share it with their family and friends to help them avoid investment fraud. I encourage you to have a look and tell us what you think. And, if you like it, please feel free to share it with your group or members. 2

3 Notes from our President Erick Lichte is one of the most delightful people that I have had the pleasure to deal with and his presentation was outstanding. Sheila, you outdid yourself. Unfortunately Sheila has had to resign for personal reasons. She will be missed. We were looking for a replacement for her. John Fraser has very generously stepped up to the plate and volunteered to fill Sheila's very sizeable shoes as acting chair until a permanent replacement is found - quite a challenge. Thank you very much John. Without this position our meetings would have such a different format. Marine Drive Golf Club has an excellent restaurant and the restaurant welcomes us to stay for lunch. I would encourage our members to consider making arrangements to stay and have lunch after the meeting. It is a great opportunity to socialise and get to know your fellow members. The restaurant opens at 11:30 and has a varied and interesting menu. I will be staying but I won t eat by myself so let s see if we can get a little after-party going at the next meeting. Our speaker for May is Andy Poon - Manager, Investor and Industry Education Communication & Education. Andy joined the BCSC in April He has a BSc and MBA from Dalhousie University in Halifax, N.S. and an MA in journalism from University of Western Ontario. His subject is how investors can protect themselves from securities fraud. I look forward to seeing you on May 14 th, Mark 3

4 Nancy Deshaw, immediate past vice president extraordinaire we cannot thank you enough Editorial note: We will miss Nancy as our vice president she has been of constant assistance to various committees and has been a tremendous help and actively instrumental in helping this club formulate and finalize some of its incorporation documents and processes. As both editor of this newsletter and the website co-ordinator, I have had to turn to Nancy continuously for advise and input. The management committee will miss Nancy s positive, solution finding approach to all matters, big or small. The communications committee continues to enlist Nancy s help and we thank Nancy profusely for generously sharing with us her talents combined with her various skills and experiences. Even though she has resigned her role, she assists the various committees in picking up the slack at all levels as and when needed. We asked Nancy for some personal words and some thoughts about herself and her life here s Nancy, such and interesting life story: My Dad once wisely said: What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." - Oliver Wendell Holmes. It is a motto I try to live by and passed on to my own daughters when they struck out on their own, for a life lived with honour, passion, commitment and love has no time for regret and little room for fear. So armed I became a stepmom of two young teenagers at age 33 while trying to build a legal career; left a secure 18- year partnership as a litigator in Toronto to assume the role of in-house counsel to a publicly-traded junior company in Vancouver; quit work with my husband in our late 40s to travel the South Seas on a 4-masted barque for 6 months; joined the world's largest diversified mining company on my return to Canada and became senior counsel overseeing its Canadian assets; buried the love of my life at age 52; ran more than a dozen marathons; became a proud grandmother; and then retired, joining PROBUS Vancouver West, my condo council and several community service organizations while overseeing several estates as Executrix, all in an effort to return to family, friends and the community at large some of the many, many blessings that I received over the years. Sound amazing not at all. All of us have similar stories of success, adventure, loss and tribulation when adverse circumstances arise. How we each succeed depends in large part on the strength of what we have inside - our mental and physical health, the seeds sown by our early role models and our own personal grit. But I also firmly believe that family and organizations like PROBUS play a large part in helping to ease life's transitions by giving us the opportunity to contribute, to participate, to learn and, above all else, to actively connect with others especially now, when the work that defined our early years is behind us and the door to a new journey of self discovery and fulfillment has opened. 4

5 Minutes of the April 9th, 2015 General Meeting of the PROBUS club of Vancouver West at Marine Drive Golf Club TIME: PLACE: ATTENDENCE: Chair: 9:30 11:30 AM Marine Drive Golf Club, Vancouver, B.C. 71 members and 1 guest Mark White Trivia: Announcements: Tony Weall reported that, with regard to membership renewals, there are 20 members behind in their dues. Paid-up membership is at 158 (43 men and 115 women). Sharon Baxter announced two future club activities that are under consideration for the fall, a tour of the new Emily Carr campus site and a bus tour to the Britannia Mine and the Sea to Sky Chairlift. Sharon also announced, and Marine Drive Golf Club confirmed, an earlier start to the lunch hour, - 11:30 AM - enabling our PROBUS club members to stay on for lunch after the meeting if they wish. Mark told us about Melanie, a young Vancouver corset-maker (laceandbrace.com) who owns the world s largest collection of antique corsets and has customers all over the world needing new ones. Recently, while on her way to New York with her collection, she was delayed 5 hours at the US border by Fish and Wildlife, looking for whalebone! Nowadays, whalebone has been replaced by steel. Her business is located at 16 th and Main. Speaker: Pat Sexsmith introduced Erich Lichte, Director of Vancouver s renowned all-male choir, Chor Leoni, who talked about the history of the choir, future concerts and the sheer joy of making music for a living. Lichte was thanked by Tony Weall. The next General Meeting will be Thursday, May 14 th, when the speaker will be from the B.C. Securities Commission. 5

6 Last month s speaker, Erick Lichte, Artistic Director of Vancouver s Chor Leoni Men s Choir At our April 9 th meeting Erick Lichte, Artistic Director of Vancouver s Chor Leoni Men s Choir delivered a passionate and inspirational presentation. His commitment to men s choirs has been lifelong and seems to be more of a calling than a job. Erick played a short video of a Chor Leoni practise and described how he came to be the Artistic Director in When he first heard the position was available he did not intend the apply; but, as he already had a complete resume and only needed to change a few items in the cover letter, he forwarded his information to the search committee. As the process went from telephone interview through an in-person meeting and an opportunity to conduct the Choir, he became more and more enthusiastic. He saw the diversity among the members old and young, professional and blue collar and gay and straight and their commitment to the Choir and each other. Once he became Artistic Director, the opportunity to have Diane Loomer mentor and guide him was invaluable. The upcoming Chor Leoni season was previewed, with one of the highlights being a second presentation of All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914, which has been broadcast internationally, has toured the United States six times and was presented at New York s Metropolitan Museum of Art in He is the co-creator and arranger. A repeat of last year s very successful fundraiser, Chor Leoni Idol, will be held on May 11at the Lamplighter Pub. Various Choir members will sing and the audience will vote. While Erick plans to make some changes as time goes by he is firm about maintaining and enhancing the high standard that Diane Loomer created. Recorded by Gladys Johnsen 6

7 Activities committee report Next Activity Club Outing Great Northern Way Campus Tour - Monday June am pm Located at the site of the old Finning headquarters, Great Northern Way Campus is owned by UBC, SFU, BCIT and Emily Carr University and is being transformed into a new district for students, digital entrepreneurs, and artists to live, work and study. The tour will feature walking visits and presentations about its current developments and activities: the Centre for Digital Media - a state of the art learning centre and student housing complex for post graduate training; a variety of new media and creative industry businesses; the Equinox and other art galleries; and the future site of Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Parking and light refreshments will be available on site. Sign-up sheet will be available at the May meeting, with detailed instructions to follow. Max registrants, so circle the date now. Contact is Joan Pottinger