The University of British Columbia is pleased to announce the appointment of Michael Korenberg as chair, and Sandra Cawley as vice-chair, of its Board of Governors.
After a two-year term, Stuart Belkin has stepped down as chair of the Board of Governors. Under Belkin’s leadership, the Board has appointed a new President, overseen the development of a new strategic plan for the university, and developed clearer and more transparent policies and procedures. With these, and many other achievements in place, Belkin felt it was an appropriate time to make leadership changes. The university is grateful to him for serving as chair and for his long-standing support of UBC over the years.
As specified by the University Act, Board members have elected Korenberg as the new chair of the Board of Governors. Korenberg was appointed by the Province to the Board in 2016 and reappointed for a two-year term in December 2017. He was elected vice-chair of the Board in 2016, and has chaired the Board’s Finance & Endowment Responsible Investment Policy committees, and served on the Board’s Executive, Property, Governance, Audit committees, UBC Investment Management Trust and number of advisory committees of the Board.
“Sandra Cawley and I would like to thank our fellow Board members for their vote of confidence in our leadership. We are committed to putting in place the supports needed to advance the teaching, research and community engagement mission of the university as reflected in the new strategic plan,” said Korenberg.
“Of particular importance will be our work to improve the access of Indigenous students to higher education, to enhance knowledge of Indigenous history and to address issues of importance to Indigenous communities. In that regard, we will be proposing the establishment of a Committee of the Board of Governors on Indigenous Partnership, chaired by Celeste Haldane, to work collaboratively on these matters.”
Michael Korenberg is the managing director of Wreath Group, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Heart & Stroke Foundation (BC/Yukon), the Law Society of Ontario and British Columbia, and the Dean’s Advisory Committee for the Centre for Business Law at UBC. He was also an adjunct professor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at UBC from 1991-2014. He received his juris doctor degree from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, and bachelor of arts (with distinction) from Carleton University. Until Dec. 31, 2015, Mr. Korenberg served as the deputy chair & managing director of The Jim Pattison Group.
Sandra Cawley has been elected as vice-chair of the Board of Governors. Cawley is currently chair of the Property Committee, the Leadership Council for UBC Line Advocacy Strategy, and the Land Use Committee. In addition, Cawley is a member of the Executive Committee, the Finance Committee, and the UBC Properties Trust Board of Directors.
Cawley has been a principal in Burgess, Cawley, Sullivan & Associates Ltd. since 1988. She has taught courses in the Urban Land Diploma Program at UBC and the Urban Development Institute’s School of Development Program. Cawley holds a bachelor of commerce from the University of British Columbia.
