Dean's External Advisory Board

Howard Jang

Jang is an internationally respected arts leader. In January 2022, he joined ArtSpring Arts Centre on Salt Spring Island as their Executive and Artistic Director and most recently he served as Vice President, Arts and Leadership at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Jang has held leadership positions with the Arts Club Theatre, Ballet BC, Winnipeg Symphony, and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. He also served as Professor of Professional Practice at the SFU School for the Contemporary Arts, and Director of the SFU Woodward’s Goldcorp Centre for the Arts.

Jang has been an active member of several volunteer boards and committees, most notably for the Canadian Arts Summit, Orchestras Canada, Manitoba Arts Stabilization, and the Canada Council, BC Arts Council Music, City of Vancouver, Vancouver Alliance for Arts and Culture, and Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance. Jang served as Chair of Tourism Vancouver in 2011/2012 and was a member of the Board of the Canada Council for the Arts from 2012-2016. He is currently serving on the Executive Committee for the International Society for the Performing Arts. 

Jenny Moran

Moran is a communicator, coach, connector, and creative doer who is passionate about finding opportunities for leaders of all career stages to shine. As the chief of staff and executive communications director for Microsoft's Communications Group, she drives communications strategy, organizational health and culture transformation, leadership team operations, annual planning, and internal and external communications for the Corporate Vice President, Communications. Prior to joining Microsoft in 2014, she held a variety of consumer and commercial tech communications roles at Nokia in Silicon Valley and Helsinki, Finland.

Jenny holds a master’s degree in communication from the University of Helsinki and a bachelor’s degree in communication from Simon Fraser University.

When not talking communications and tech, Jenny coaches on career and confidence. She is Seattle Coach Certified and this close to International Coaching Federation (ICF) accreditation.

She is also a naturally curious person and is constantly discovering new places in her hometown of Helsinki, Finland. She recently started a TikTok account where she posts daily about her discoveries. 

Jan Halpape

Halpape is a digital professional with nine years of experience working as Chief Digital Officer for a regional media publisher in Southern Germany. In 2022, he begins a new venture as Area Manager and Head of Digital Business within a subsidiary of Germany's leading IT system house. He is enthusiastic about driving digital transformation, developing digital products, and applying innovative digital technologies.

Supporting the next generation of digital talent, Halpape is a lecturer at Ravensburg-Weingarten University of Applied Sciences, teaching Business Informatics and Online Marketing students the principles of the digital economy.

Halpape was born and raised right in the middle of Europe and has a B.Sc. in Mediapublishing from Stuttgart Media University and a Master of Publishing from Simon Fraser University. He is inspired daily by his wife and their young daughter. In his free time, he sets out for the Austrian Alps to ski, hike and climb.  

Norman Armour 

Armour is a Vancouver-based non-profit arts specialist with 35 years of experience in the field. He consults with a wide range of clients, including CAPACOA, Indian Summer Festival, Pi Theatre, Theatre Conspiracy, Zee Zee Theatre, and the Vancouver International Film Festival. He co-founded Rumble Productions in 1990, establishing it as a mainstay of the city’s thriving independent theatre scene. During his 15-year tenure, the company focused on creating and producing work in a variety of artforms, genres and mediums. 

In 2005, he co-founded the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, serving as its Artistic and Executive Director for 14 years. Under his leadership the festival evolved into a significant cultural asset renowned for its ability to twin the development of a local arts scene and its audiences with the presentation of ground-breaking works from leading international artists. 

Norman’s work has been recognized with 37 Jessie Richardson Award nominations, SFU’s Distinguished Alumni in Arts award commendation, City of Vancouver Civic Merit Award, Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award, and an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from his alma mater, where he team-teaches creative entrepreneurship with Dani Fecko and Kenji Maeda. Norman currently splits his consulting work between various Canadian clients and the Australia Council for the Arts international team, as the International Engagement Consultant for North America.

Prem Gill

Gill is Chief Executive Officer of Creative BC. The organization is designated by the Province of British Columbia to focus on uniting, sustaining and growing British Columbia’s dynamic and diverse creative sector including motion picture, music and sound recording, interactive and digital media, and magazine and book publishing.

Gill has been named one of Canada’s 100 most powerful women, Vancouver Magazine’s “Power 50” and received the Community Catalyst award from the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade. She brings more than 20 years of experience from the digital media and entertainment industries to her current role as CEO, where she is responsible for delivering a wide range of programs and services that will expand B.C.’s creative economy to reach its economic, social and creative potential both at home and globally.

For many years, Gill has championed Canadian creativity as a representative and spokesperson to media, industry and government at all levels. Previous roles and responsibilities have included government and regulatory affairs, independent media consultation, cross-platform marketing, communications, research, public affairs and multicultural programming. 

Sara Diamond

Dr. Sara Diamond, C.M., Order of Ontario, ICD.D, RAC, brings a deep knowledge of the relationships of human practices, culture, and technologies. She has consulted with governments, industry, boards and institutions on digital media, the use of data, inclusion, and equity. Diamond is President Emerita of OCAD University, where she served from 2005 to 2020. She remains an OCAD U faculty member continuing funded research in data analytics and visualization, urban and cultural planning, and media histories. 

Diamond is co-chair of Toronto’s ArtworxTO, Year of Public Art, and the chair of the Baycrest Academy for Research and Education and incoming chair of the Toronto Arts Foundation. Diamond was an award-winning artist and documentary producer during the 1980s and 1990s, exploring intersectional women’s history as a strong advocate for equity and diversity. At The Banff Centre (1992 – 2005) she created the Banff New Media Institute, an international think tank and production centre and co-founded the Women in the Director’s Chair program with Carol Whiteman, and was instrumental in the creation of the Aboriginal Arts Program. Additional recognitions include a Doctor of Science, honoris causa, Simon Fraser University; the 2020 Exceptional Women of Excellence, Women’s Economic Forum; two Media Pioneer awards; and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for significant contributions to Canada.

Kirstin Richter

Richter is Principal + Creative Director at The Social Agency. Armed with a degree in Communication from SFU and nearly two decades experience working in the digital marketing space, Richter feels right at home at The Social Agency where she has worked with clients including the BC Dairy Association, White Spot Restaurants, Ryerson University and Coast Mental Health. Before co-founding The Social Agency in 2009, she worked at DigiBC (known then as New Media BC), where she wore numerous hats, primarily as their Communications and Program Manager. Kirstin was the founding director of the Vancouver International Digital Festival (VIDFEST), which she oversaw during the festival's five-year run.

Richter has taught in the Award of Achievement in Social Media program at UBC Continuing Studies and currently serves on the board of the Burnaby Arts Council. In addition to her BA, she also holds a Diploma in Executive Management from Simon Fraser University.

Heidi Waechtler

Waechtler is the Director of Sales and Distribution for Figure 1 Publishing, Canada’s leading publisher of high-quality illustrated books. She is a versatile and inquisitive publishing professional with more than 10 years' industry experience, including roles as Executive Director of the Association of Book Publishers of British Columbia, Managing Editor at Toronto’s Coach House Books, and instructor in Simon Fraser University’s Publishing Program. She holds a Master in Publishing and Editing Certificate from SFU.

ROCK LEUNG

Rock Leung is a Staff UX Researcher at Samsung R&D Canada. He has conducted research for both Fortune 500 companies and small businesses. He obtained a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of British Columbia (UBC), specializing in Human-Computer Interaction research.

Rock has actively mentored university students and supported local professional communities for over 15 years. At Samsung he has managed numerous co-op students, helping them to grow professionally and increase their impact at work. At UBC, he was an organizer for the Computer Science department’s Tri-mentoring program. Always looking for ways to support the local UX community, he helped found the Radical Research Summit, an annual event for UX research practitioners and supporters, and chaired it for two years. He is also an organizer of VanUE, one of the oldest UX meetups in Vancouver.