Mira Oreck – Chair
Mira Oreck works with Make the Road Action Fund, an immigrant rights advocacy organization in New York City. Prior to moving to NYC, Mira worked as a political organizer and assistant to the current Mayor of Vancouver, Gregor Robertson and as the spokesperson for Vision Vancouver, the current governing political party. From 2005-2008, Mira served as the Director of Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region, the national advocacy organization of the Jewish community of Canada. Mira has also worked as a Senior Account Manager at Hoggan and Associates, a Vancouver-based public relations firm and as a Campaign Coordinator at Rainforest Solutions Project, the initiative that preserved the largest coastal rainforest in the world.
Mira holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Women’s Studies from McGill University, a certificate in Community Economic Development from Simon Fraser University, and a Masters in Urban Policy Analysis from The New School in New York City.
Adam D. Grossman – Treasurer
Adam Grossman co-founded The Alta Fund (www.thealtafund.com), a boutique investment fund and advisory firm that provides seed capital and strategic consulting to early stage companies. Adam is currently on the board of three private companies, two of which are portfolio companies of The Alta Fund.
Adam received his JD and MBA degrees from Georgetown University in 1987. He practiced corporate law with Cox, Castle & Nicholson in Los Angeles for five years before moving to the private equity arena. Adam managed a $30MM private equity fund for a publicly traded investment company, Canadian Maple Leaf Financial, from 1992-1994. From 1994-2000, Grossman was a principal shareholder and Chief Operating Officer of Stone Street Capital, a specialty finance company. He directed the growth of Stone Street from 7 to 140 employees and to over $150MM in annual sales.
Victoria Smith – Secretary
Victoria Smith is the Manager of the Aboriginal & Sustainable Communities sector in Customer Care at BC Hydro. Her group is focused on delivering value for communities in British Columbia through community energy planning, conservation programs and renewable energy innovation projects.
Prior to taking on this role, Victoria worked with the Whistler Sustainability team on Whistler2020 as part of her masters thesis research and through the International Centre for Sustainable Cities spent 6 months in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania working for the Mayor to help to build capacity in urban sustainability planning with local government. Most recently, Victoria has: participated on the Translink Sustainability Advisory Committee and the City of Vancouver – Greenest City 2020 Climate Leadership External Advisory Committee has presented at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources on integrated urban energy systems, taught at the UBC Summer Sustainability Institute and currently chairs QUEST BC.
Victoria has contributed to a number of organizations and boards including; the International Centre for Sustainable Cities, UNICEF BC, SafeTeen, the Youth Millennium Project and the Mt. Pleasant Neighbourhood House community board. Victoria has over 15 years of public and private sector experience in the field of energy conservation and holds a Master’s of Environmental Education and Communication degree from Royal Roads University.