#YWiBbtgc: Meet Joanna Buczkowska-McCumber

Beyond the Glass Ceiling panel event is back again, and this year’s theme focuses on Women and Innovation. We sit with top tier panelists from Vancouver who have live and breathe innovation. Who are these incredible businesswomen? Today, we’re pleased to introduce you to…

 

Joanna Buczkowska-McCumber

Managing Director of The Next Big Thing

Ms. Buczkowska-McCumber is an accomplished social innovation and business strategist with a strong passion in creating social change through entrepreneurship. Her philosophy is that business should not only provide economic value, but also create social and environmental value.

As the Managing Director of the non-profit foundation, The Next Big Thing (TNBT), she steers the ship in advancing the next generation of entrepreneurs. Ms. Buczkowska-McCumber comes across many entrepreneurs with innovative concepts in her role and has insight into how important a quality that is when it comes to starting a company that thrives.

Indeed, TNBT, itself, is innovative. Offering the nation with a rule-breaking fellowship program, TNBT breaks against traditional methods of teaching to get tomorrow's most promising entrepreneurs into the business world. Through this unconventional approach, they empower young entrepreneurs to succeed with resources, hands-on experience, and a network of driven like-minded and renowned innovators.

In 2014, TNBT helped accelerate 10 youth-founded startups. Prior to her involvement at TNBT, Ms. Buczkowska-McCumber was a founding member of the Centre for Social Innovation & Impact Investing at UBC's Sauder School of Business, and co-creator of the award-winning Coast Capital Savings Innovation Hub, a program that 'propels social change through innovation and entrpreneurship.'

Needless to say, innovative has been the air that Ms. Buczkowska-McCumber breathes, and we are so excited to hear from her at Beyond the Glass Ceiling: Women & Innovation!