Board of Directors

PERSIS AHRESTANI - INTERIM CEO AND CFO

Meet Persis, a resilient CPA with 15+ years of leadership, thriving in dynamic settings. Currently the VP and CFO at Habitat for Humanity Greater Vancouver, she adeptly navigates financial intricacies and spearheads strategic planning. An immigrant and only child, Persis has triumphed over diverse challenges. Beyond professional achievements, including the BIV Forty under 40 award, Governor General’s Academic Medal and numerous scholarships, she shares knowledge as an Adjunct Professor at Sauder School of Business, UBC, and Langara College. Married with two boys, a dog, and a passion for skiing, Persis finds joy in cherishing moments with her close-knit family and friends. Her journey reflects not just professional success, but personal triumphs and a commitment to community.

Christina Burke - Board chair

A dynamic, strategic and results oriented Human Resources leader with 17 years of experience operating, collaborating, and delivering HR solutions within North America and globally.  Christina has extensive experience in navigating complex HR and employee relations matters and has proven to be successful in finding practical and creative solutions to affect change and move the business forward. Christina most recently started a consulting firm called frank HR. Christina and her business partner provide HR consulting services for clients in both Canada and the United States.  Some of Christina’s current clients include the City of Whitehorse, Trail Appliances, Woodtone, and CDCI. Christina received her Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Guelph and later earn her Master’s of Business Administration from EDHEC Business School in Nice, France.

Christina lives in Vancouver where you can typically find her on her yoga mat or up a local mountain.  She is also passionate about providing affordable housing for families in need and is thrilled to be part of Habitat for Humanity Greater Vancouver.  Christina also supports Habitat for Humanity Global Village and travels to 3rd world countries annually to assist in building homes for local families.

Brent Elliott

With a background that spans the public, development and consulting sectors, Brent is a senior planner with over 20 years’ experience in land use planning, policy writing, site planning, urban design, development management, sustainability, active transportation, green buildings and community and stakeholder engagement processes.

Brent is adept at integrating multiple disciplines and viewpoints and is highly respected for his understanding of municipal statutory and regulatory requirements, as well as his ability to work effectively with senior administrators and elected officials on visionary, policy and regulatory matters.

Mandeep Binng

Mandeep earned his Bachelors Degree in Finance from the University of Northern BC and has over 20 years of finance and accounting experience in both small privately held and large global publicly traded companies. He is proud to live in BC, born and raised here, and believes in giving back to the community by volunteering his time to coach kids sports teams and helps to organize an annual soccer tournament.

Clement Chan

Clement is a seasoned finance and accounting professional with over 15 years of experience in the corporate finance sector. He has a diverse background, having worked with both public and private companies in the United States and Canada across a range of industries, including building material manufacturing, forestry and sawmills, and zero waste.

As the Chief Financial Officer of RC Pets, Clement brings a wealth of expertise and a passion for animal welfare to the role. He is highly regarded for his versatility as a leader and his ability to successfully manage departments outside of his core finance and accounting focus.

Clement calls Vancouver home and loves spending time outdoors with his family, exploring the city's beautiful surroundings. He is an avid outdoor enthusiast, enjoying bike riding in the summer and snowboarding in the winter.

Clement holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the Sauder School of Business and is a designated CPA, CMA.

Sonny Gill

Sonny joined the board of Habitat in 2023 as the core values of the organization align closely to his personal beleifs and to help continue to grow the organization to continuing building strong communities by providing families a path to affrodable home ownership.  He is a strategic financial leader who brings over 20 years of professional experience in FP&A, accounting, process optimization, and corporate development and brings a strong background in several industries including Aviation, 3rd Party Logistics, and Technology. Sonny is currenlty the Vice President of Finance and Administarion at Boast Capital, a Vancouver based tech scale up focused simplifying the R&D tax credit process by helping buisness take something complex and time-consuming, and making it easier. 

Jean-Phillipe Picard

 Jean-Philippe (JP) is a professional engineer, project management professional and LEED-accredited professional working as the Managing Director for Western Canada. He has significant experience representing owners in facility construction projects having delivered well over $2B in projects. JP works with owners using a pragmatic approach to define their requirements and implementing the right design and construction strategies with the aim of providing a long-lasting and cost-effective solution to their real estate needs. JP is conversant in all LEED rating systems, including LEED for New Construction, Commercial Interiors, and Core and Shell, and has delivered projects under each rating system.

Some of the marquee projects JP has managed include the $750M TELUS Gardens project; the $400M TELUS Sky; the $60M Ritchie Bros. head office, which won the NAIOP Development of the Year Award; the Speed Skating Oval for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games and BC Hydro’s $300M Workplace Transformation Initiative.

Martin Nielsen

A registered architect and mechanical engineer, Martin is a Partner with DIALOG, an integrated multi-disciplinary design practice where he brings over two decades of leadership in urban design, mixed-use development, higher education, and transportation projects. He is passionate about developing sustainable design solutions that are socially, economically, and environmentally responsible, with a portfolio of work that has been recognized with awards for planning, architecture, and innovation.

He has taught at the UBC School of Architecture and Faculty of Engineering and has served as chair of the UBC Advisory Urban Design Panel and is currently serving on the UBC Land Use Committee. He is currently serving on the Board of the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) and has served as chair on the City of Vancouver Urban Design Panel.

Gareth Carline

Gareth joined the Board in 2021. Currently an in-house counsel for a large, international aviation company, Gareth brings over 10 years of legal experience. In his role, he manages a broad array of legal issues, including real estate matters, risk management, and management of the several boards in jurisdictions across the globe. He is a strong believer in giving back to his community, and remains enrolled in pro bono legal aid programs. Gareth holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the Sauder School of Business and a juris doctorate from the University of British Columbia.

Randy Heys

Born in Vancouver and graduated at UBC in Civil Engineering. Randy was the Senior Vice President of Engineering and Construction, and had about 350 people reporting to him in all areas of construction, equipment buying, trades, drafting and store layout, development work of all kinds, environmental issues and so on.  As a Senior VP there, he had his own responsibilities, but also had extensive interactions with leaders from all other areas of the company, such as HR, finance, retail operations, IT and many others.

Since retiring in 2008, Randy has travelled to and lived in many places, including Mexico, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, Thailand and others. After relocating back to Vancouver from Calgary, He started volunteering in the Vancouver Restore.  In August 2014, he led the 2-day “work bee” at the Government Street location to upgrade the exterior of the complex. In November, he went on a HFH Global Village house build week to Guatemala.

Mark Bakken

Mark Bakken is the Chief Administrative Officer and City Manager at the Corporation of the Township of Langley, a position he has held since 1996. After receiving a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree from SFU, Mark then went on to study law at UBC. Called to Bar in 1989, Mark served as a Barrister and Solicitor at Lindsay Kenney from 1989 to 1996 and was a founding member of the firm’s Langley office in 1991. He remains an active member of the Law Society of British Columbia and has been a seasonal instructor of Business Law at Kwantlen Polytechnic University since 2007. An active member of the community, Mark serves on numerous boards and associations, including the Regional Association of Administrators Committee, the Labour Relations Advisory Committee, and the Canadian Bar Association. The father of two grown sons and a fervent hockey fan, Mark serves on the BC Amateur Hockey Appeals Committee and is a former president of the Langley Minor Hockey Association.