Board Members
Peter W. Webster
Chair
Peter Webster is a business executive with more than 30 years experience serving in senior governance roles, in both the business and community sectors.
In the business world, he serves on various corporate boards nationally. Mr. Webster’s current community service includes chairing the board of University of British Columbia Investment Management Trust (IMANT), serving on the board of the Vancouver International Airport Authority, and chairing the board of the R. Howard Webster Foundation.
Mr. Webster previously served on the Vancouver Police Board and is a former President of the BC Association of Police Boards.
Mr. Webster’s past volunteer community contributions are considerable. He has served on the board of trustees at Nova Scotia’s Acadia University as chair of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada Foundation, as the Mounted Police Foundation Board, and past Executive Director of the BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. He is an inductee in the Hall of Fame as an honoured member who contributed to the growth and development of sport in British Columbia. He was also inducted in the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame, and a former Director of the Vancouver Canucks and the Vancouver Whitecaps soccer club.
Mr. Webster has been honoured with numerous official recognitions, including the Queen’s Jubilee Medal, the federal government's International Year of the Volunteer Medal, the Variety Club’s Show of Hearts award and an honourary doctorate from the Justice Institute of British Columbia.
R. William Brown
R. William Brown is the former Executive Vice President and Director of Brio Industries Inc. Previously, he was the President of Alberta Distillers and General Manager of Andre Wines. In the community, Mr. Brown serves as a Director with Westminster Savings Credit Union. Previously, he served as a municipal council appointee to the Port Moody Police Board, a Chair on Industry Canada’s e-Community Project and as a Director for the BC Summer Games.
As well as studying Economics and Marketing, Mr. Brown taught managerial marketing to fourth-year senior management students at the University of Saskatchewan.
Peter M. German
(O.O.M., B.A.(H), M.A., LL.B., LL.M.)
A member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for more than 28 years, Assistant Commissioner German has worked on uniform and plainclothes duties across Canada. He was assigned to Commercial Crime Sections at Vancouver and Ottawa, where he was a Detective Inspector charged with major fraud and corruption investigations. Between 2002 and 2005, he was the RCMP’s Director General of Financial Crime, responsible for the force’s commercial crime, market enforcement and money-laundering programs. Assistant Commissioner German is presently the RCMP’s District Commander for the Lower Mainland of British Columbia serving 1.6 million people in 29 communities, with approximately 3,100 employees.
A lawyer and member of the Ontario and British Columbia bars, he previously practiced law privately, including as a Crown prosecutor and criminal defence counsel. He holds graduate degrees in law and political science and is the author of Proceeds of Crime, a legal text devoted entirely to the proceeds of crime and money-laundering. He is a frequent lecturer in Canada and abroad, and has served as a Canadian delegate to various international forums.
Assistant Commissioner German is an adjunct professor of criminal justice at the University College of the Fraser Valley, an adjunct professor of law at the University of British Columbia, and a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Financial Crime Studies at the University of Florida law school. In 2008, he was installed as an Officer of the Order of Merit of Police Forces by the Governor General.
Virginia Hasselfield
Virginia Hasselfield is the Director of Leadership Giving, Office of the President, Simon Fraser University. Previously, Ms. Hasselfield was President and CEO of Cross Cultural Communications International, Inc. and a teacher and principal with Deloraine Collegiate in Manitoba. In the community, Ms. Hasselfield served as a Director with the Fraser River Port Authority, Director of the Canadian Club, member of the Cultural Achievement Awards Committee in Surrey, and was one of the BC Host Committee members that brought the Canadian Country Music Awards to Vancouver.
Ms. Hasselfield holds her Bachelor of Arts Degree and an education certificate from the University of Manitoba. In 1996, she won the prestigious YM/YWCA Woman of Distinction Award.
Ian Jarvis
Ian Jarvis is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority (TransLink). Mr. Jarvis participated in the creation of TransLink, and for the period from inception in March 1999 to June 2001, he was the Chief Financial Officer for both the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) and TransLink. Mr. Jarvis held the position of Chief Operating Officer from September 2003 to March 2007 where in addition to the finance and corporate service functions he was responsible for Transit Police Service, as well as coordinating corporate business planning processes. In February 2007, Mr. Jarvis moved to the bus division to assume the role of Vice-President of Finance and Corporate Services for Coast Mountain Bus Company with responsibility for finance, human resources, information systems and customer information. He moved back to TransLink in February of 2008 and was appointed CFO in November 2008 to assume his current role which includes responsibility for financial functions, risk management and procurement.
Mr. Jarvis received his Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of British Columbia and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia. Prior to public service he served seven years in private practice.
Doug LePard
Deputy Chief Constable, B.A., M.O.M.
Deputy Chief Constable Doug LePard has been a member of the Vancouver Police Department since 1981. He has worked at several ranks in a variety of investigative roles as well as in operational and administrative assignments. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Criminology from Simon Fraser University as well as certificates from the Canadian Police College, the Banff School of Management, Queen’s University, and Harvard. He was one of the first two VPD members trained in the CPC’s Major Case Management Program and led major investigative teams while in the Major Crime Section. He has lectured extensively locally, nationally and internationally on various subjects including domestic violence, stalking, interviewing, interrogation and other investigation-related issues, and currently teaches a unit on preventing wrongful convictions through investigative excellence in a VPD Investigators’ program.
He has written or co-written several articles and book chapters on various issues, including assessing risk in stalking cases, best practices in police interviewing, and preventing wrongful convictions. He has been honored with nine VPD commendations, a Lieutenant Governor’s award for bravery and an Attorney General’s award for service to victims of crime. In 2008, he was invested as a Member of the Order of Merit for the Police Forces by Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaelle Jean, Governor General of Canada.
Baj Puri
Baj Puri has been involved in the lumber and building material industry and is very active in his community. Mr. Puri is the Chair of the B.C. Association of Police Boards, the Chair of the New Westminster branch of the St. John Ambulance (Officer of Order of St. John), a Director/Vice Chair of the Douglas College Foundation, a member of the New Westminster Chamber of Commerce, Chair of the Fraser Alumni Association of Sea and Navy League Cadets and on the New Westminster Advisory Planning Commission.
Mr. Puri is a former member of the New Westminster Police Board, the past president of the Hyack Festival in New Westminster, a former member of the Parking Commission and the Press Council of B.C.
In 1996, he was recognized as Citizen of the Year and has received Her Majesty the Queen’s Gold and Silver Jubilee Medals for community service, and the Building Supply Dealers Association Industry merit award in 1998.