Women in Leadership: Leadership, Legacy & Impact

WHEN:

Monday, June 1, 2026

WHERE:

Fairmont Waterfront, 900 Canada Pl, Vancouver, BC V6C 3L5

TICKETS:

Regular: $150 | Student: $100

Purchase Tickets

Sponsorship Opportunities

About the Event

Women in Leadership is a flagship leadership summit produced by SPOKEN Leadership & Education. This event is designed to convene trailblazing women and allies across generations for thoughtful, elevated conversations about leadership, resilience, stewardship, and purpose.

Returning on June 1, 2026 at the Fairmont Waterfront, Women in Leadership brings together an audience of 400 leaders, changemakers, and emerging voices for a moderated panel featuring exceptional women from areas including business, entrepreneurship, the arts, science, medicine, education, and beyond. These accomplished panelists share candid insights into their leadership journeys—the decisions, challenges, failures, and defining moments that shaped their paths. The title of this year’s discussion is Reinvention, Purpose and the Power of Women Rewriting their own Narrative.

Moderated in a dynamic, live setting, the conversation offers the audience rare access to lived experience, practical wisdom, and perspective across industries and generations. Attendees are invited not only to be inspired, but to learn—gaining meaningful takeaways they can apply to their own leadership, careers, families, and communities. The evening blends a high-calibre panel discussion with purposeful storytelling, an expanded philanthropic component, and intentional opportunities for connection across business, family, and community. More than a single event, Women in Leadership is a platform—one that creates space to reflect on how leadership shows up in our lives, how legacy is built over time, and how values are translated into action for the next generation.

Women_In_Leadership_Eventbrite_Banner (4)

Women_In_Leadership_Eventbrite_Banner (1)

Women In Leadership Legacy Impact Award Recipients

Legacy Impact Award for investment in women-led and women-founded companies:

Tracey McVicar



Nanon de Gaspé Beaubien-Mattrick



Legacy Impact Award for philanthropic impact benefitting women:

Cindy Beedie



Andrea Thomas Hill



Legacy Impact Award for creating community and opportunity for women inside and outside the workplace:

Jen Murtagh



Speakers

EVENT HOST

Tassan Sung

Founder, SPOKEN Leadership & Education

Tassan Sung is a founder, facilitator, and community leader with over three decades of experience at the intersection of leadership, finance, education, and philanthropy.

With over 20 years experience in the financial industry, Tassan brings deep expertise in strategy, planning, and stewardship. She holds an undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of British Columbia and a Master’s in Higher Education Leadership from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

In 2024 and 2026, she was named one of Vancouver Magazine’s “Power 50” for her community impact, and in 2025 received the King Charles III Coronation Medal for her work supporting vulnerable communities. Through SPOKEN, Tassan creates spaces where complex conversations are approached with humanity, clarity, and purpose—inviting leaders to reflect not just on what they build, but on what they leave behind.

PANELISTS

Dawn Jia

CEO/CIO UBC Investment Management

Manages $7 billion in assets for UBC, having previously held some of Canada’s most prestigious investment roles. Dawn began in Engineering in China, worked in Toronto and New York (State Street and Barclays) before moving to Vancouver 7 years ago.

Sasha Plavsic

Founder ILIA Beauty

Featured on The Failure Factor podcast

Founded clean beauty company, ILIA Beauty, from the ground up in Vancouver. ILIA was acquired by Famille C, the French parent company of Clarins.

Dr. Stephanie Simmons

Founder Photonic Inc.

As the founder of Photonic, Stephanie, an Oxford-trained PhD physicist, is one of the few women in “Deep Tech.” Already, she has secured a partnership with Microsoft and investments from RBC, TELUS and BC Investment Management.