Thank you Carmela Thomson! Welcome Camelia and Annette as Co-Chair of BWT Vancouver!

To continue to advance BWT’s mandate of fostering personal development and career growth, the BWT governance team has approved a new model for the co-chair positions. Moving forward, the co-chair role will be a 12 month position with 1 of the 2 roles rotating every 6 months. This rotation model will provide the opportunity for all member organizations to participate while still ensuring stability in the role given for each 6 month rotation there is always one person already familiar with the role.

As a result of the implementation of this model, Carmela Thomson has stepped down from the co-chair role effective July 1^st and Annette Simbabure (TELUS) has stepped into the co-chair position with Camelia Cirjoi (SAP) for the next 6 months.

BWT is extremely grateful to Carmela Thomson for her contributions over the past 8 years, especially for her vision as founder of BWT and have grown it into the organization it is today. Her passion for creating a venue of bringing women together to network, develop and grow is an inspiration for all who have worked with her within BWT. While Carmela is stepping back from the co-chair role, she will continue to be a part of BWT as a mentor and advisor to the governance team, along with participating in events, for which we are thankful and look forward to leveraging.

Welcome Camelia Cirjoi and Annette Simbabure!

As a Technology Leader at SAP, Camelia Cirjoi oversees a global IT delivery team responsible for implementing business solutions that enable SAP to grow and manage its Partner ecosystem.
Passionate about leadership, people development and team building, Camelia promotes an innovative, results-oriented and agile culture in her organization, focused on delivering value to customers and end users. In addition to her role as BWT co-chair, Camelia actively volunteers by leading the SAP’s Business Women’s Network Vancouver chapter and is a board member of the SFU Advisory Board for BTM. Camelia is passionate about giving back, and wants to mentor and empower BWT members and SAP employees to drive D&I initiatives that help women grow in their careers.

Annette has 26 years of experience in Information Technology, spanning Systems Administration, Project Management, Service Management and leadership roles, with a passion and focus for delivering results. Annette has implemented programs, frameworks, and governance models that drive productivity, improve customer experiences, and strengthen the reputation of the organization she represents. Annette’s current role at TELUS is Director, Information Systems, responsible for the delivery of IT Infrastructure projects that support TELUS Health and Payment Solutions. In addition to her role at TELUS, she is also the Board Chairperson for Umoja, a non-profit organization supporting immigrants and refugees in successfully integrating into Canadian society. Annette believes in living life to the fullest and wants to be able to use her skills and abilities to make positive contributions to the situations surrounding her. She is looking forward to applying her skills and expertise during her time as Co-Chair of BWT and feels it is an amazing privilege to work with such a talented group of individuals as we seek to together help each other and the women around us network, develop and grow.