Board of Directors

Since founding Panatch Group (previously Centro Development Ltd.) in 1993, Kush has been actively involved in the organization’s daily operations as well as setting the group’s strategic objectives regarding real estate acquisition, development, and investment. Now, two of Kush’s adult children are helping to run Panatch Group, while his youngest has recently transformed their family property into a 35-acre regenerative farm, Athiana Acres.

In past years, Kush served on the Board of Directors of the Vancouver Airport Authority and Richmond Hospital Foundation. While serving as the Richmond Hospitals Foundation’s Chair, he was awarded an Honorary Director Distinction Award for demonstrating exemplary service in furthering the objectives of the Foundation.

He has also previously served three terms as a board member of the Financial Institutions Commission and the Audit Committee of the Credit Union Deposit Insurance Corporation. Within the City of Richmond, Kush has served as the Chair of the Advisory Design Panel as well as a member of both the Olympic Business Advisory Committee and the City of Richmond’s Major Facility Advisory Committee during the Oval’s inception and construction.

Kush is a lifelong Richmond resident, along with his wife and three adult children. He is passionate about serving the community that his family has the privilege of living in.

Axel, M.O.M., BGS, M.A., is a dynamic, progressive leader, facilitator and educator possessing advanced operational, managerial, and executive skills. He has worked with First Nations, unions, government, and resource industries on projects involving strategic planning, Board governance, organizational development, public safety policy development and labour relations.  

Prior to forming his consultancy, Axel served 32 years as a member of the Vancouver Police Department where he served on national and international committees on organized crime, national security, strategic human resource management and police education. As a result of his meritorious service, Axel was invested as a Member of the Order of Merit for the Police Forces. 

 Axel’s volunteer activities include being chair of the City of Richmond Task Force on Community Safety and Crime Prevention and as a member of the Board of Directors for Family Services of Greater Vancouver. 

 Axel received a Master of Arts degree from Royal Roads University with a focus on leadership and strategic planning. He is also a graduate of the Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government’s Senior Executive Program on National and International Security. Axel has been adjunct post-graduate faculty with Royal Roads University, School of Leadership.  

 Axel is a lifelong Richmond resident and has been active in sports throughout his life. 

Born in Victoria, B.C., Bob was raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Upon graduation from the YMCA College in Chicago, Bob assumed the position as the Physical Education Director of the Vancouver Downtown YMCA. Bob retired, after working for the Richmond School District for 36 years, the last 18 years as the District Athletic Facilitator. Post retirement, Bob served as the Eligibility Officer for BC School Sports for 3 years.

Bob has earned 2 Masters Degrees and is a National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association Certified Athletic Administrator.

Throughout his professional athletic career, Bob served a couple of terms as the President of the Richmond Secondary Schools Athletic Association, several terms as President of the Vancouver & District Interscholastic Athletic Association and one term as the President of BC School Sports.

As a volunteer, Bob has coached a multitude of high school athletic teams and community sport teams. Some of the awards he has received include Sport BC President’s Award, City of Richmond U-Rock Award, Richmond Sports Council Award of Distinction, Promotion Plus Leadership Award and the BC School Sports Honour Award.

Besides the Richmond Olympic Oval Corporation, Bob currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Richmond Sports Council and the Richmond Retired Teachers’ Association. Bob is a member of the Richmond Sports Wall of Fame Nominating Committee. He currently chairs, the not-for-profit charity, the Richmond Chapter of KidSport. Bob served as a member of the 2009 Richmond Senior Games Board of Directors as the head of registration, accreditation and results.

Professionally and as a volunteer, Bob has always promoted participation in physical activities. Each year the Richmond secondary school, with the highest rate of participation, receives the Bob Jackson Participation Award Banner.

Bob and his wife, Michelle, have resided in Richmond for over 50 years where they have raised their 2 daughters, Colleen and Suzanne, in this great and physically active community of Richmond.

Bob Ransford is a third-generation Richmond resident and has been active in community service most of his life. Locally, he has served on the Richmond Hospital Foundation Board, the Richmond Community Foundation Board, Richmond’s Heritage Advisory Committee and the Richmond Family Court Committee. He also served as Chair of the Board of EasyPark, the City of Vancouver-owned parking corporation and was a Commissioner on the Vancouver Planning Commission. He also chaired the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs Foundation Board and was a director on the Board of Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs of South Coast BC board, a director on the Vancity Community Foundation Board, a director on the board of Science World and a director on the board of the Jack Webster Foundation.

For the last 35 years he has worked in the urban development business as a senior executive and also as a private land use consultant. Currently, he is Vice President of Development for Century Group. At the beginning of his working life, he worked as a radio and print journalist and in national politics, serving as an aide to Members of Parliament in Ottawa and as Executive Assistant in the BC Premier’s Office in Victoria. For more than 14 years Bob wrote a regular column in the Vancouver Sun on housing and urban issues.

As a dancer, writer, business owner, and Registered Occupational Therapist, Gina believes in the value of being physically active. You’ll rarely find her sitting at the desk at her clinic or standing still. The best places to find her would be on the rock climbing wall at the Richmond Oval, teaching a Bhangra and Bollywood dance class to Parkinson’s patients, or chasing after her energetic 4-year-old in Steveston with her husband Ashiq!

In 2014, she established a private occupational therapy clinic, Enable OT, with a mandate of delivering effective services to neurodivergent youth, and adults with neurological diagnoses. This unique private practice blends typical clinic treatment with physical activity to improve emotional and cognitive abilities, and includes kayaking and rock climbing sessions for youth, and dance and boxing classes for individuals with Parkinson’s disease. Throughout her career, Gina has been fortunate to work with multiple health authorities and in various practice areas such as palliative care, oncology, and forensics, and in rural communities throughout BC.

As Gina’s real passion is dance, she has had the opportunity to teach Bhangra and Bollywood dance at local dance studios and high schools, and travel to various cities, such as Whitehorse and Sechelt, as a guest choreographer and instructor. Prior to this, she coached multiple dance teams, and competed internationally at the collegiate level. The highlight of her dance career was performing at the 2010 Paralympic Torch Relay at Robson Square.

Gina is excited to join the Richmond Olympic Oval Corporation Board and work with the dedicated team to continue building on the Oval’s reputation as a centre of excellence for sports and wellness. She will look to guide the team in ensuring the Oval is accessible to all individuals with varying social, emotional, cognitive, and physical abilities, and enable the Oval to reach its goal of providing facilities, programs and services for quality sport, fitness, recreational uses and wellness services for the community.

Helmut Pastrick is an award-winning economist and author of forecasts, reports, submissions, articles and presentations on topics such as business economics, interest rates, construction, finance, housing and real estate, legislation and regulation, and taxation. He’s been a featured speaker, regularly quoted in the media – print, radio and television, for decades. While chief economist at Central 1 Credit Union, the organization that oversees 90 Canadian credit unions and their $155 billion in assets, he was known for his objective, tell-it-like-it-is commentary, and principled decision-making,  

Helmut served as president of the BC Association of Professional Economists for four years and was a director for ten years. He was a provincial appointee and member of the Federal/BC Expert Panel on Housing Supply and Affordability and a member of the BC Ministry of Finance Economic Forecast Council. 

He is a six-time winner of the Crystal Ball award for most accurate economic forecasting in BC, and the 2021 Credit Union Distinguished Service Award. He also received a City of Richmond Heritage award for maintaining and preserving the 1935 Jacobson House. 

He is a part-time hobby farmer and has volunteered, for the past decade, for FarmWatch Richmond, which has a goal of preserving local farmland for farming. He’s also a member of the South Slough neighbourhood group which receives grants from the Vancouver Foundation for bat boxes, seeds and vegetable plants and fruit trees to plant and grow to for food security.  

Judith Hutson is an experienced healthcare consultant known for her strategic approach, innovation, drive for success, and ability to build trust. Judith’s expertise includes organizational strengthening, project management, issue management, strategic planning, governance, and change leadership. Judith has been providing expert consulting support to healthcare organizations in BC, Alberta, Yukon, and NWT for over 30 years. 

 Judith has a BA (Special) in political science and a Master of Health Services Administration (MHSA) from the University of Alberta. She was an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Alberta and continues to be actively involved with the University of Alberta.  

 In terms of community service, Judith has served on a number of boards including the Canadian Cancer Society (BC & Yukon), University of Alberta Alumni Council, Vancouver Hospice Society, and the Richmond Caring Place.  

 Judith has lived in Richmond for over 25 years and is passionate about good governance, accountability, and community service.  

Rick Hansen, C.C., O.B.C. is a Canadian icon who has dedicated his life to awakening the world to the potential of people with disabilities. He is best known as the “Man In Motion” for undertaking an epic 26-month, 40,000 km journey around the world in his wheelchair. Rick is also a three-time world champion, nine-time Pan Am gold medalist, and six-time Paralympic medalist. He is the Founder of the Rick Hansen Foundation, an organization committed to creating an inclusive world where people with disabilities are living to their full potential.  

 For over three decades, Rick and his team have been focused on the removal of barriers. Currently, Rick and the Foundation are rethinking how people of all ages and abilities access spaces where we live, work, learn and play. The Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification™ (RHFAC) is the only program that rates, certifies and showcases accessible building based on their level of meaningful access for persons with mobility, vision and hearing disabilities. To date, more than 1,915 sites across Canada have been rated through the program. 

Serj Sangara has lived in Richmond his entire life. He was born on Mitchell Island in the mid 50’s surrounded by sawmills and spent 47 years in the lumber industry, first as a labourer and then as a family business owner of Leslie Forest Products and now of Wild River Forest Products.

However, Serj’s real passion was and still is community sports. Serj has coached and administered sports in Richmond for over three decades. Through those endeavours, in 2010 he received the Richmond Sports Award for Excellence In Athletics – Builders Category and in 2023 BC’s Grassroots Coach of the Year from Baseball Canada,. He has been a Director with Richmond Baseball, B.C. Minor Baseball, Baseball B.C., Richmond Little League and the Richmond Sports Council, where he served as Vice Chair. Serj continues to be heavily involved in the community with The Dugout Club, a not- for-profit organization he created by engaging others in the sports community and which continues to provide low cost opportunities for children to engage in sport. Further made possible in early 2024 by partnering with the BC AMATEUR SPORTS FUND and the Rishi and Serj Sangara Family Foundation.

Having never left the Richmond community in his 68 years, Serj’s main goal going forward, along with his wife Rishi and children Aleesha and Jai, is to leave the health, fitness and sports opportunities in Richmond second to none. Ones where doors open for the entire general public regardless of any financial barriers or obstacles of any kind and one where people are proud to call Richmond “Home”.

Traci Corr is healthcare professional, with extensive experience in high-acuity clinical, management and research settings. Traci’s career has included working in clinical cancer settings, at BC Children’s Hospital; at BC Cancer Agency, as Manager of Clinical Trials, and with the Ministry of Health, as Provincial Blood Office Utilization Manager. Traci is a Triple Alumni from UBC with Bachelors and Masters degrees in Biochemistry and Nursing. Traci currently supports Arthritis Research Canada as a Grant Reviewer on their Innovation Team.

A long-term Richmond resident and dedicated community volunteer, Traci is past Director for the Richmond Public Library, and currently also serves on the Richmond Women’s Resource Centre and Richmond Cares, Richmond Gives Boards. Traci is an advocate for inclusive services and spaces for all and is excited to join the Richmond Olympic Oval Corporation Board.