ENET President
Audrey Pons, MEd, B.A., RRP
Vocational Rehabilitation Consultant
WorkSafeBC – WCB
e-mail: Audrey.pons@worksafebc.com
tel: 604-276-3010
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Audrey Pons, M.Ed., B. A., R.R.P., As the Founding President of ENET (formerly NETWERCC) since 1991, Audrey is very connected with many community resources and has been a Vocational Rehabilitation Consultant with the WorkSafeBC for over 12 years. After completing her Master Degree in Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies, she was appointed Chairperson of the Advisory Board for the Bachelor of Community Rehabilitation Degree program at Douglas College. As well, Audrey is active with VCC Advisory Committees for the Counselling Skills and Substance Abuse programs and was on the Open Learning Agency Advisory Committee for students with disabilities. She is an instructor of the Career Decision Making course at Douglas College and the Vocational Counselling course at Vancouver Community College. With over 26 years of experience in the Career Practitioner field, Audrey brings a wealth of experience and dedication to life-long learning to her students and clients.

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ENET Vice President
Robin Kosonen, Director
RDK Career Services Inc.
e-mail: robin@rdk.bc.ca
tel: 604-552-7080
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Robin is the director of RDK Career Services Inc. RDK is funded by Service Canada to coordinate two Coquitlam Employment Resource Centres – www.rdk.bc.ca. RDK has provided case management services since December of 1996, and employment services since 1987, including a variety of project based training programs for local residents experiencing serious barriers to employment. Prior to that Robin worked for the federal government as an employment counsellor, as a special programs officer and as a supervisor. Robin especially appreciates the educational opportunities ENET offers for her team’s professional development; she has a B.A. in Psychology (SFU) and M. Ed (SFU).

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ENET Secretary
Liz Charyna, Partnership Development Coordinator
Building Opportunity with Business (B.O.B.)
e-mail: liz.charyna@bobics.org
tel: 778-328-7669
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Liz Charyna has been on the ENET Board since 2003. She was first introduced to the field at a NETWERRC meeting and jumped right in! Liz has a degree in Communications, a diploma in Recreation Leadership, courses from the Career Development Practitioner program, and an RRP designation through CARP. She has worked with a variety of people including First Nations people in NWT, people with disabilities, seniors and working aged adults. She spent over 4 years as the Employment Placement Specialist at CNIB. She is presently the Partnership Development Coordinator at Building Opportunities with Business (BOB) Inner City Society. She has a passion for connecting people to resources and opportunities that will enhance their lives.

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ENET Treasurer
Aya Johns, Career Consultant
Career Builder Plus Program; Douglas College - The Training Group
e-mail: treasurer@enetsociety.com
tel: 604-777-6090
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Aya is currently a career consultant at Career Builder Plus Program at Douglas College Training Group.  She has been in the education field for more than 15 years and has played various roles from instructor to entrepreneur and had established three ESL schools overseas.

Her passion for life is to empower people by creating awareness and guiding them to further their education so that they can achieve their goals.  This passion has lead her to pursue a profession, Career Development Practitioner. She has completed the Career Practitioner Training Program at Kwantlen University College.  Her belief in education is exhibited in her own educational achievements.  She holds a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction (UBC), Master of Education in TESOL (Temple University) and GCDF (US designation) and is currently enrolled in the PID and Counselling Skills Program at VCC.

In addition to her role as the Treasurer for ENET since September 2006, Aya has been a committee member of Focus on International Trained Professionals for the last three years and passionately speaks about our roles in the multi-cultural society.  Interests: Fitness, Reading, and any activities with her kids (dogs).

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ENET Director / ITP Conference Chair
Ian Cameron, Employment Counsellor
The Employment Network 45+
e-mail: icameron@ufcw247.ca
tel: 604-523-5433
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Ian is currently an Employment Counsellor and Facilitator at UFCW 247 Training Centre assisting mature workers 45 to better achieve their goals. A firm believer in continued learning he recognizes and participates in professional development regularly. A former educator for over 15 years, both teacher and counselor, Ian has a great deal of experience in organizing and implementing workshops and seminars. With a keen interest in multicultural issues Ian currently participates in ENET’s International Trained Professionals committee, assisting in the development of our annual ITP Conference. Ian has a Bachelor of Education Degree, Diploma of Educational Psychology, and Diploma in Guidance Studies.

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ENET Director
Vivian Chui, Learning and Employment Strategist
Training Innovations Inc.
e-mail: vivian.chui@training-innovations.com
tel: 604-298-4757
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Vivian is currently the Learning and Employment Strategist for Training Innovations. She has the passion to work with individuals at different stages of their career development and be able to provide professional support and necessary resources to assist them to be successful! Prior to this, Vivian worked as a case manager in an immigrant services agency for four years. Her background includes working with ESL clients, job seekers with training needs and income assistance recipients. Her education in Human Resources and her interest in counseling provide her a strong desire to promote career development and life long learning. Interests: Family, music and spiritual development. Vivian is proud to serve as an ENET Board member. Education: Bachelor of Business Administration, concentration in Human Resources from Simon Fraser University.

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ENET Director
Michael Yue
e-mail: myue@infinet.net
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Michael Yue has over 15 years of combined experience in educational, community, and now employment services. Besides a committed professional in the field of career development, he believes in the tremendous potential of technology in enhancing the work of practitioners, and that this potential is still largely untapped by our community. Working with like-minded practitioners, he has presented to his peers in conferences and training sessions to promote the learning and adoption of useful technologies. Another one of Michael’s professional passions is in helping skilled immigrants to overcome their employment barriers. He believes that the successful labour market integration of skilled immigrants is now the responsibility of all service agencies, instead of just the ones specializing in immigrant services. He calls for more cooperation between agencies and practitioners to share expertise and experience so that skilled immigrants can be better served by a community of well-informed professional helpers.

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ENET Director
Gregg Taylor
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Gregg Taylor is a long time member and supporter of ENET with over 17 years experience as a career & employment counsellor, consultant and coach. Through his Vancouver based company, Transitions Career & Business Consultants Inc, Gregg and his team provide career testing, career transition, and employment counselling services to individual clients, companies, and to the public. Transition’s government funded career exploration program, The Transitions Program, is now in its 14th successful year of operation and was the recipient of the 2005 Netty for Program Of The Year. Transitions was successful in a recent call for proposals and is negotiating a new contract that will run through to 2010. Gregg received the 2007 BC Career Development Award of Excellence, and is Certified as a Human Resource Professional through the Human Resources Management Association of BC.

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ENET Director
Thomas Yeung B.So.Sc. M.S.W.
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Thomas is a social worker with more than 30 years of field, training and administrative experiences. He has a Bachelor degree in Social Science and a Master degree in Social Work. Having served initially as a youth worker and then a probation officer, Thomas became a social work lecturer in at the City University of Hong Kong responsible for teaching Social Group Work, Research Methodology and Services for Offenders.

Thomas migrated to Vancouver with his wife and two daughters in 1988. To begin with, he worked as an outreaching youth worker for S.U.C.C.E.S.S. serving youth-at-risk in the Hastings area. Later, he was assigned to setup a new satellite office for immigrants in Richmond. This position required effective management skills and the ability to work with a variety of community organizations. He was well received by the community and was invited to become a board member of the Richmond Volunteer Information Center Society.

Since August 1990, Thomas was further transferred to manage employment programs at the Fraser Street office. Together with a group of staff members sharing a common vision, Thomas consolidated all employment services that subsequently became the foundation of a post secondary training institute. Currently, the SUCCESS TRAINING INSTITUTE has been accredited via the Council on Accreditation (COA) by meeting the highest national standard of professional performance.

Thomas upholds the belief of continuous training and has acquired numerous professional training in the passed years. Apart from being a professional social worker, Thomas is a certified Job Finding Club facilitator; a True Color & Personality Dimension Level II Trainer; certified facilitator for “Starting Point”, “Making Sense of LMI”, “Career Cross Road” and “Employment Counselling Process”. He is also a member of numerous Employment Service related advisory committees and has repeatedly been appointed as one of the assessors in BC for the “Canada Millennium Scholarship”. Besides, Thomas serves occasionally as a part time faculty teaching Social Work Research and acts as a social work field instructor for various universities.

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ENET Director
Tannis Goddard
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Tannis Goddard is the Founder and President of BC-based Training Innovations (Tii), a career management organization since 1992 that delivers services to thousands of individuals each year. Tannis has experience designing and delivering large scale programming for provincial and federal governments, non-profit associations and organizations.

Tannis’ entire career and professional development has been dedicated to the study of education and career development. Tannis’ Masters studies were in Continuing Education with a specialization in Workplace Learning and she has continued to enhance her knowledge and understanding of these uniquely interrelated fields.

Tannis has spent the last seven years studying and researching the impact of delivering facilitated career counselling to groups and individuals through an online environment. This research evolved into a pilot program to deliver the first ever online EAS career exploration and job search preparation program in Canada in 2004.

Tannis is a practitioner at heart. The excitement of delivering online facilitated service lies in her ability to effectively reach out and engage with individuals in transition through a different means, not in the ability to deliver this type of service through flashy technology. As a result, Tannis has been instrumental in guiding the design and development of an online learning system to support constructivist and adult learning principles. Through the design and innovation, Tannis has identified and confirmed the success of facilitated online career counselling. In this way, Tannis has pushed the career-counselling field to learn more about and start to embrace this innovative medium of service delivery.

Tannis has exceptional skills, thinking outside the box and bringing innovation to the field of career development. Confirming the success that an online medium can have in helping individuals have transformative experiences, Tannis is leading a team at Tii to complete the design and delivery of a blended online and face-to-face program for internationally trained professionals. Most recently, Tannis was awarded the British Columbia Career Development Award of Excellence, presented by the Career Management Association of BC, in honour of her inspirational leadership and excellence in career development.

Tannis is a passionate educator and leader and speaks at national conferences on career development, online learning and Career Practitioning skills.

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ENET Director
Joy Andrews
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Joy Andrews has worked in the employment industry for over 12 years. She has provided one-on-one employment and career counselling, facilitated and developed programs and managed employment resource centres.

Providing employment and career development services for immigrants for over eight years, Joy developed comprehensive knowledge of the challenges for newcomers in continuing their career once they arrive in Canada. In pursuing solutions for these challenges, Joy actively participated in the Employment Access Strategy for Immigrants initiative, the Internationally Trained Professionals Network and the Skills Connect for Immigrants pilot program. She also represented the Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of BC at the Pan Canadian Sector Council and Immigrant Services Dialogues.

Joy now works as the Client Services Team Leader at the Career Centre in Parksville, BC. She is proud to call the Career Centre her home for many reasons. One of those reasons is the commitment the organization has to supporting the staff in their pursuit of excellence by providing professional development.

Joy holds a strong belief that career development practitioners should have access to networking for sharing best practices and innovative solutions as well as access to meaningful and relevant professional development activities.

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ENET Director
Jennifer Simpson
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Jennifer Simpson graduated from the Career Practitioner Training Program at Kwantlen University College in February 2005 and began work immediately as an Instructor and Placement Consultant for the Training for Jobs program. Jennifer has a unique combination of expertise including Career Development, Facilitation and program development, Banking, Self Employment and even time as a Travel Agent in Washington State. Her background includes 6 years working as a Financial Services Representative and Loans & Investment Officer while working in a Call Centre environment. It was during her time in banking that she first got involved in training, mentoring and career development.

Jennifer was first introduced to the ENET Society by her instructor Kon Li. In February 2005 Jennifer had the privilege of designing and preparing a presentation for an ENET Society Training day called Call Centre, The billion dollar employment opportunity. Since then Jennifer has attended as many training days as possible and recently volunteered to help create a survey for ENET Society Members.

While working in banking Jennifer observed the need to have a mentoring program for new staff and approached the training department to see what could be done. Jennifer and the training department worked together to create a model that would support and encourage new hires during the first months of employment and also provide senior staff with an opportunity for personal and professional growth. This program was a huge success and still exists today. Jennifer went successfully mentored over 40 call centre staff, many of whom became mentors themselves. Later Jennifer created a Peer Coaching program that enabled senior staff provide informal but structured coaching.

As a member of the ENET Society Board of Directors Jennifer would like to see a mentoring program established for the Career Development and Rehabilitation Industry. Jenifer would like to use her skills and experience to create a model that will foster growth and encourage dialogue within this community of dedicated professionals. With the looming skills shortage we can all benefit by sharing idea’s and best practices while also increasing understanding and recognition.

Jennifer is self employed as a contract Job Placement Consultant, Facilitator and Employment Counselor. She is married with 3 kids and recently moved back to her home town of Nanaimo. Jennifer is pleased to be considered for nomination to the Board of Directors and looks forward to contributing to the ENET Society.

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