We are very excited to share our first “Women only” event with you. On November 23rd we are inviting you to our panel on “The Courage Behind The Career” in cooperation with the Holland House.
📅 Thursday, November 23rd, 2026
📍 RBC Tower, 1055 West Georgia Street, 36th floor, Vancouver
🕠 Doors Open: 5:30 PM
🎤 Program: approximately 5:45–8:00 PM
🥂 Networking Reception to follow
Our panelists will share some of their most significant moments in their careers and how they overcame those with courage and these are our four panelists:
Julie Smulders
Julie Smulders is a pioneering leader bridging elite athletics and high finance. A former UBC Thunderbirds point guard, she played professionally in the Netherlands and on the Dutch National Women’s Basketball Team. Transitioning to business, she advanced through PwC and Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group before becoming Chief Operating Officer at Willoughby Asset Management. In 2024, she founded SHE’S GOT NEXT, a nonprofit elevating women’s sports in Canada through initiatives like “Breakfast with Champions”. Honored with UBC’s 2025 Kay Brearley Award, Smulders exemplifies the powerful intersection of athletic excellence and executive leadership, championing equity for female athletes and professionals alike.
Saskia Geurtzen
Saskia Geurtzen is the founder and Executive Director of FutureLab Makers Society. What began as her personal furniture restoration initiative in 2024 grew into a nonprofit in 2025, reflecting her commitment to social equity and love for mid-century furniture. FutureLab Makers provides supportive employment for people facing barriers to work, mainly those with mental health challenges and/or lived experience of homelessness and substance use. With professional experience in program management, fundraising, and strategic partnerships at Oxfam and the European Climate Foundation, she intends to transform Vancouver’s employment support to truly serve the individuals it impacts.
Dr. Heidi Lescanec
Dr. Heidi Lescanec is a naturopathic physician, trained anthropologist, and the creator of The Pink Zones, a term she coined for the places, practices, and communities where women thrive in midlife and beyond. For 25 years, her clinical practice has focused on hormone health and the menopause transition. Through a forthcoming book and her Substack, Dispatches from the Pink Zones, she gathers research, field notes, and interviews with older women whose wisdom is too often overlooked. She is also producing What Women’s Bodies Know, a TELUS STORYHIVE–funded documentary on the pioneering research of UBC endocrinologist Dr. Jerilynn Prior. Her work rests on a simple observation from practice: many women become clearer and braver in midlife+, not smaller.
Lieutenant Colonel (LCol) Anh M. Foort
LCol Foort was born in Saigon, Vietnam, and came to Canada as a refugee during the Boat People migration. She joined The Loyal Edmonton Regiment in 1987 and transferred to 39 Service Battalion as a Vehicle Technician in 1989. In 1999, she was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant and began her career as a Logistics Officer. She holds an Applied Sciences degree from Simon Fraser University, with a major in Communications and a minor in Political Science. Throughout her military career, LCol Foort has completed several advanced military leadership and logistics programmes, including the Joint Command and Staff Programme in 2022. Promoted to her current rank in 2022, she assumed command of 39 Service Battalion in September of that year while maintaining her full-time civilian career. Her military service includes deployments on Operations LENTUS and LASER, as well as serving as Company Commander of the Territorial Battalion Group, which responds to domestic operations in British Columbia. A strong advocate for diversity, inclusion, and women’s leadership, LCol Foort has represented the Canadian Armed Forces at numerous national and international speaking engagements, including the Explore Asian Festival, the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade’s Women’s Leadership Council, and the ASEAN Regional Forum Workshop in Vietnam. She also served as the leadership keynote speaker for a national CSIS leadership course in 2023 and as lead instructor for the Integration of Women and Gender Perspectives in Armed Forces course in Jakarta in 2024. In her civilian career, LCol Foort is Manager of Claims Services at the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC), where she has worked since 1996, progressing from Claims Adjuster to her current leadership position. Beyond her professional commitments, she has dedicated considerable time to community service, volunteering with the Vancouver Police Victim Services Unit, the Immigrant Services Society Host and Leadership Program, and the Vietnamese Canadian Seniors’ Society. She has also served two terms as President of the Sherman Armoury Officers’ Mess Committee and currently sits on the executive board of the Chinese Canadian Military Museum Society.
