2026/27
Kara James, Chair, is the Chief Operating Officer at Pushor Mitchell LLP, bringing over 24 years of financial leadership experience across corporate, legal, and consulting sectors. A Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA), Kara began her career in public practice with KPMG in 1998 before joining Sysco Canada in 2003. Over her 17 years with Sysco, she held various Director and CFO roles, contributing to the company’s strategic growth.
In 2020, Kara joined Pubco Reporting Solutions, a boutique firm in Vancouver, BC, and later co-founded JB CFO, a sister consulting practice providing fractional CFO services to startups, small to mid-sized entrepreneurial organizations, and non-profits.
Kara taught accounting and entrepreneurship at Okanagan College’s School of Business from 2021 to 2023. In 2021, she also served as a business mentor for Entrepreneurship@UBC – Okanagan Campus. She is deeply committed to community leadership and mentorship. Kara served on the board of Kelowna Women in Business as Vice President and Director of Mentorship, where she created the organization’s first mentorship program in 2020–2021. She was also a member of the Ellis Place Supportive Housing Community Advisory Committee.
Currently, Kara serves on the Kelowna Art Gallery Board—to which she was appointed in February 2022—and is passionate about contributing to the Gallery’s 2022–2024 strategic plan.
Camille Saltman, Past Chair, is co-founder and General Partner of OKGN WMAN Angel Funds and co-founded the bio-composites manufacturing company INCA Renewable Technologies. She is an avid contemporary art collector and serves as Chair of the Collector’s Circle of the Kelowna Art Gallery.
Prior to her return to Canada, Camille was President of Malama Composites and MD Revolution, a remote chronic care management platform that was recently acquired by CoachCare to create the largest remote care platform in the U.S. While in San Diego, Camille served in Board leadership roles with CONNECT, EvoNexus, BIOCOM, Wireless Life Science Alliance, CleanTECH San Diego, San Diego Sport Innovators and San Diego Social Venture Partners.
Camille built strong ties between San Diego’s innovation and arts communities, serving in board leadership roles with Tony award winning La Jolla Playhouse; La Jolla Music Society, one of the West Coast’s leading presenters of premier performing arts; and The New Children’s Museum. She has earned the Director Qualified Credential from the American College of Corporate Directors.
She is a recipient of the YWCA Spirit of Commitment Award, the San Diego Performing Arts League STAR Award, the YWCA Tribute to Women and Industry Award, the US Department of Commerce Economic Development Award for Creation of Regional Innovation Clusters, and the Science and Technology Institute Economic Development Award for Building Entrepreneurial Capacity, among others.
Martha Banner, CPA, Treasurer is a Canadian business leader, speaker, and writer, and serves as Treasurer of the Kelowna Art Gallery Board of Directors. As a partner at a global accounting firm, she works with mid-sized businesses across Canada to scale sustainably by investing in their people, strengthening operations, and leveraging technology to support long-term growth.
Martha is deeply committed to building strong, connected communities and believes in the important role that arts and cultural institutions play in fostering dialogue, inclusion, and shared experience. She brings a governance and financial stewardship lens to her board work, with a focus on supporting organizations that create meaningful impact and broaden access to the arts.
Brent Coyne, Secretary, is Partner at Pushor Mitchell in Kelowna. Brent holds a Bachelor of Arts from University of British Columbia Vancouver, and Juris Doctor of Laws from Bond University on the Gold Coast, Australia. Brent advises clients in all aspects of family law. Brent also has considerable experience in a wide variety of commercial and civil litigation matters, including contractual disputes, negligence claims, and real and stratified property disputes. Brent is a trial lawyer and has successfully represented clients at all levels of court in British Columbia.
Brent is formerly the director of governance for the Kelowna Community Music School, and currently serves as the director of governance for Canada Skateboard, national governing body for amateur and Canadian athletes at the Olympics and international events. A keen photographer himself, Brent is an art enthusiast with a particular appreciation for the medium of photography, with a particular passion for 20th century and contemporary black and white photography. Mr. Coyne was appointed to the Board in December 2022 and is currently on the Kelowna Art Gallery’s Art Acquisition Committee.
Sarah Cambell is a senior advancement professional and leader in post-secondary educational fundraising, with a background in the cultural sector in Kelowna, BC. She is currently the Director of Development at the University of British Columbia Okanagan’s Development and Alumni Engagement office, where she’s held progressively senior roles over the past fourteen years, including Associate Director and Development Officer. In her leadership capacity, Sarah oversees strategic development initiatives, cultivates major relationships, and advances institutional priorities through disciplined stewardship and governance practices.
Sarah’s educational background is in the gallery and museum field. She served as Curatorial Assistant and Registrar at the Kelowna Art Gallery from 2005 to 2010, where she was directly involved in collections management, exhibition coordination, and registrar functions including a collaborative role in the successful application for the KAG’s Category A status designation to CCPERB in 2006. She later served as Gallery Director at Park West Gallery, further strengthening her operational and curatorial leadership experience.
She holds a master’s degree in public history from North Carolina State University and an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Art History from Carleton University.
Sarah combines an extensive understanding of collections and acquisition processes with strong governance, relationship management, and strategic planning expertise. Her experience uniquely positions her to provide thoughtful oversight of acquisitions while ensuring alignment with institutional mission, ethical standards, and long-term sustainability.
She is also active in the community, previously serving with the Rotary Club of Kelowna Foundation and the YMCA of Southern Interior BC.
Dr. Lesley Cormack is Principal and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of UBC’s Okanagan campus in Kelowna, BC. An historian of early modern science, Dr. Cormack specializes in geography and mathematics of late 16th and early 17th century England. She earned both her PhD and Master of Arts from the University of Toronto where she studied history and philosophy of science and technology.
Dr. Cormack joined UBC in July 2020 from the University of Alberta where she served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts from 2010 to 2020. Previously, she was Dean of Arts and Social Sciences at Simon Fraser University from 2007 to 2010 and, earlier, she taught at the University of Alberta in the Department of History and Classics for 17 years.
Dr. Cormack is a strong advocate for public education and a believer in the power of culture and the value of storytelling. One of her greatest passions is live theatre, a passion she pursued as a Director for the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton for nine years.
Dr. Susan Crichton is currently an emeritus professor at the University of British Columbia and was the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Education and the founding director of the Innovative Learning Centre (http://innovativelearningcentre.ca/). She is currently a consultant and designer in system change, participatory research, virtual learning and innovation and a co-founder of Clayline Pottery Studios (https://claylinepottery.ca/).
She taught in both the Bachelor of Education and graduate programs, focusing on new media, design thinking, Making, and appropriate technologies. Her research explores the thoughtful design and development of learning environments to enable quality learning, especially those in challenging contexts. She has worked to develop an immersive professional learning approach for professional learning, introducing maker education to educators locally and globally. Her work, focused on design and making, can be found at http://commons.royalroads.ca/takiningmaking/ and can be freely downloaded by acknowledging its Creative Commons licensing. Previously, she was a professor at the University of Calgary.
She has been a visiting professor in Bhutan, Chile, China, Papua New Guinea, Tanzania, South Africa, and Uganda principally in the area design thinking, change and innovation, appropriate technologies, and making.
Richard James Deacon is an award-winning Private Office Real Estate Advisor with Engel & Völkers, the world’s #1 luxury real estate firm. With 28 years of global luxury sales and marketing experience, Richard specializes in buying and selling iconic properties in Canada’s Okanagan Valley. He is the co-founder of TIGER 21 Canada, a private investor education organization for ultra-high-net-worth families, boasting over 1,100 members with assets exceeding $135B.
Richard is a dedicated philanthropist with numerous volunteer roles, including Past-President of the National Advertising Benevolent Society, a national judge for the Courage to Come Back Awards, and a Campaign Cabinet member for the University of British Columbia’s Business Families Centre. He was nominated for the National Top 40 Under 40 Award in 2006 and has been involved with various organizations such as the Nicola Valley Food Bank, Union Gospel Mission, and Arts Umbrella.
In 2016, Richard and his family created a student leadership and mentoring program in Reston, Manitoba. He was a finalist for the City of Kelowna’s Fred Macklin Community Man of the Year Award in 2018 and the Okanagan Real Estate Board’s Realtor’s Care Awards in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Richard also developed a sustainable giving program, donating over $150,000 to more than 60 charities across North America.
Dr. Samantha Lenci was named Provost and Vice President, Academic in December 2023. She brings with her expertise in the design, development, implementation, and measurement of complex strategies about teaching and learning.
Samantha’s educational experience started at what was then called Mount Royal College (now University), where she earned a diploma in Early Childhood Education in 1991. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Community Rehabilitation from the University of Calgary in 1995, and returned there for her Master of Education degree, where she specialized in Diversity, Adult Education and Workplace Learning. She holds a Doctor of Education degree from U of C, where she has specialized in Professional Skill based education, in Higher Education Leadership.
Samantha has spent more than 20 years leading a variety of programs in education that provided leadership, community development, strategic planning, project management and program development during stints at Mount Royal University, Bow Valley College, SAIT, and Lethbridge Polytechnic. Most recently, she has worked as Provost at Lethbridge Polytechnic. In her new position, she looks forward to supporting and building upon the college’s teaching and learning strengths and working closely with all members of the community to realize the college’s strategic goals.
Beth Shumka, Regional Vice President – Okanagan & Kootenays, RBC has agreed to join our board and assist Martha in the Treasurer role. Further background on Beth is below – please send us your vote on Beth joining our Board of Directors so that we can ratify at the AGM in April.
Beth moved to Kelowna to take on this role three years ago. She championed the 2026 Season Sponsorship of the Art Gallery across the various RBC lines of business and has been working with the management team to ensure that they consider how to engage with the Gallery. Joining our Board will further ensure that Beth and RBC are fully engaged with the Gallery!
Beth has been with RBC for 33 years and has held a variety of leadership roles in Western Canada. With RBC Royal Bank she was previously Community Manager, South Richmond and with RBC Insurance her roles included Regional Vice President – Group Benefits and Regional Vice President, Brokerage.
In her current role she leads a team of 200 financial services professionals who provide tailored advice and service to clients in 20 branches throughout the Okanagan and Kootenays.
