Leadership Team

Board Chair

​Rick began his career in the forest industry at the age of 12, working part-time at Doman Industries. By 17, he transitioned to full-time employment in building materials operations and lumber sales. His dedication and expertise led him to handle North American lumber sales, ultimately becoming the company’s director from 1987 to 1999. Between 1995 and 2001, Rick expanded his scope to global lumber and pulp and operations.

In 2001, Rick was appointed CEO and director of Western Forest Products, a position he took on at the request of the company’s bondholders. Under his leadership, Western Forest Products grew to become one of Canada’s largest forest companies, focused on sustainable harvesting, pulp and lumber production, and global markets. The company restructured the debt, significantly reducing operating and interest costs. During his tenure, the company consumed and harvested nearly 5 million cubic meters of softwood logs annually from coastal British Columbia, producing over one billion board feet of lumber capacity and a pulp capacity of 440,000 metric tonnes, with products sold in over 60 markets worldwide.

From 2008 to 2015, Rick founded EACOM Timber Corporation, serving as CEO, director, and chairman. This company emerged as one of Canada’s larger forest enterprises, dedicated to sustainable harvesting across nearly 20 million acres of forest and an annual lumber capacity close to one billion board feet.

Rick also in 2021 co-founded GreenFirst Forest Products, another significant player in the Canadian forest sector, with an annual lumber capacity of nearly 800 million board feet and 210,000 metric tonnes of pulp and paper capacity. The company emphasized sustainable harvesting on its approximately 20 million acres of timberland. Rick served as CEO and director before retiring from those roles.

Rick is currently co-founder and chairman of Boreal Carbon Corporation, which owns private timberlands and concentrates on forestry carbon projects across North America to improve forest management and enhance forest growth.

Board Member

​Shannon Janzen is the owner of Hypha Consulting Inc., which collaborates with Indigenous communities to advance their vision for economic and environmental reconciliation. She serves as a strategic advisor to Iskum Investments, a consortium of 19 First Nations on the B.C. coast and supports various Indigenous economic development initiatives.

​Shannon began her career in operations, spending over a decade in silviculture and planning. In 2004, after five years working in the Holberg logging camp, she transitioned to the Coast Forest Conservation Initiative as the Ecosystem-Based Management Implementation Manager. In this capacity, she led negotiations on behalf of five forest companies as part of the Joint Solutions Project, working alongside prominent environmental organizations such as Greenpeace, Sierra Club, and Forest Ethics. Her contributions to this work earned her recognition as the Association of BC Forest Professionals’ Professional Forester of the Year in 2009. She was involved in the development of B.C.’s Forest Carbon Offset Protocol and has led full lifecycle carbon accounting for forest products.

​In 2013, Shannon was the first woman in Canada to be appointed Chief Forester of a major forest products company. She later became Vice President at Western Forest Products in 2015, a role she held until December 2022. With a strong business background in the forest industry, Shannon has overseen fiber supply, logistics, and quality control. She has implemented cost-saving LEAN supply chain initiatives, negotiated compensation agreements, and led teams to execute advanced capital programs, including Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) forest inventory systems. Her roles have also encompassed environmental management for timberlands and manufacturing in both the US and Canada, as well as managing fiber supply relationships between pulp, paper, and solid wood operations.

​She has served on numerous boards and committees, including the Premier’s Women’s Economic Council, B.C. Forest Practices Advisory Committee, Forest Sciences Board, and UBC Forest Advisory Council. Once a volunteer firefighter, Shannon is committed to making business sense of doing the right thing for people and the planet, tackling complex challenges with optimism and focus.

​Throughout her career, Shannon has taken on complex and challenging issues, driven by her belief in finding solutions that benefit all stakeholders. Known for her tenacity, she has focused on negotiating innovative agreements and ensuring their successful implementation.

​Shannon lives in the Stzuminus and Snuneymuxw traditional territories with her husband Keith and dog Charlie near Ladysmith on Vancouver Island.

Board Member

​Dr. Michelle Corfield is a First Nations leader, entrepreneur, and facilitator who has spent her career creating opportunities for Indigenous communities to thrive economically. A member of the Ts’uubaa-asatx First Nation, she brings together cultural knowledge, business expertise, and strategic vision to strengthen Indigenous economies across British Columbia and beyond.

Michelle is the founder of Corfield & Associates, a consulting firm that helps First Nations and their partners build long-term economic strategies, negotiate complex agreements, and design governance systems that support prosperity. She also leads Hyistuup Harvesting, a seafood enterprise rooted in traditional Indigenous practices, and Indigenous Natural Health, which develops wellness products inspired by Indigenous knowledge.

Beyond her own businesses, Michelle has shaped broader economic systems through her governance and board leadership. As former Chair of the Nanaimo Port Authority, she played a key role in strengthening regional trade and infrastructure. Today, she serves on the board of FortisBC, one of the province’s largest energy providers, where she helps guide decisions that impact communities and industries across BC.

Michelle also believes in building future leaders. She co-developed the Indigenous Business and Leadership Executive MBA at Simon Fraser University and helped launch Ahp-cii-uk, a multi-sectoral initiative focused on advancing Indigenous social and economic development.

Her work reflects a simple but powerful commitment: ensuring Indigenous communities have the tools, influence, and opportunities to chart their own economic futures.

Board Member

With 25+ years as a hands-on CFO, Mike has led transformational transactions across public and private companies. His expertise spans finance, mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships, restructurings, and risk management.

Mike and Rick Doman have worked on strategic forestry transactions spanning over 15 years. They teamed up to play a pivotal role in shaping GreenFirst Forest Products (TSX: GFP), with the $300 million acquisition of six sawmills and a newsprint mill in Eastern Canada from Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc. Mike was instrumental in negotiating agreements for the acquisition and structured financing—including a $150 million listed rights offering, $150 million term credit facility, and $60 million asset-backed credit facility. In addition, Mike managed the due diligence process and presented financial models to institutional creditors and investors. This complex cross-border deal transformed GreenFirst into a leading softwood lumber company, boasting 800,000 mfbm in manufacturing capacity, annual sales of $500 million, and 1,500 employees.

Previously, Mike had teamed up with Rick to orchestrate a similar, strategic forestry acquisition at Eacom Timber Corporation, securing $145 million in financing to acquire Domtar’s forest products business—launching a new publicly traded softwood lumber company with $300 million in annual sales and 1,000 employees.

Beyond forestry, Mike has demonstrated leadership in complex financial transactions across multiple industries.

As Founder and Owner of Ogee Finance Solutions Corp., Mike provides outsourced CFO services, guiding companies through IPO preparation, mergers and acquisitions, financing strategies, and financial reporting. His advisory expertise has helped guide private and public companies navigating growth and capital markets.

Mike graduated from UBC with a Bachelor of Science (Pharmacy) and went on to get his CPA, CA designation while articling at Price Waterhouse (now Price Waterhouse Coopers). He has served as a Director and Audit Committee Chair for Rakovina Therapeutics Inc., as well as a long-standing board member at Naegis Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Board Member

Born and raised in British Columbia, Warren is a corporate commercial lawyer with over 28 years experience in a wide range of business across the province. Warren’s professional experience includes both private practice and in-house counsel at a large public company in the technology sector.

Warren has a broad business law practice with a focus on corporate/commercial, real estate, energy and natural resources matters. Warren’s clients include local and international businesses, First Nations, project lenders and developers.

Warren’s began his career in the Vancouver commercial real estate sector but he was later drawn to develop a practice in the energy and natural resource sector. Warren now advises on a wide range of interesting work, including clean energy project development and financing such as wind, run-of-river, solar and bioenergy plants, and related commercial and regulatory matters. He is also seasoned counsel to individuals and groups of First Nations on commercial matters in the forestry, fishing, hospitality and carbon offset sectors.

Throughout his career, Warren prides himself as being involved in the ongoing economic reconciliation with First Nations in British Columbia. In 2009, Warren was appointed to the BC Government Green Energy Advisory Task Force, has made presentations to numerous industry groups on the topics of the day and is an occasional commenter in local and national media on energy and business matters concerning British Columbia.

In 2017, Warren took on a new challenge in co-founding the Vancouver business law firm Stirling LLP where he currently practices with a smart and wonderful team.

Warren brings a keen interest in enhancing new opportunities for First Nations and enjoys working through unique and complex matters often with multiple stakeholder parties.