Social Venture Institute (SVI) Sea to Sky

Lil'wat Business Group

We are thrilled to welcome Rosemary Stager as a speaker at SVI Sea-to-Sky! In August 2023, she became the first woman CEO of the Líl̓wat Business Group (LBG), the economic development arm of the Líl̓wat Nation. With over a decade of involvement, including 12 years on the Líl̓wat Nation Council overseeing Economic Development, she brings deep expertise in business growth and strategic partnerships.

A passionate advocate for economic empowerment, Rosemary is committed to creating well-paying jobs and expanding training opportunities for Líl̓wat families. As the daughter of the late Stl’atl’imx Hereditary Chief Allen Stager, she carries a strong connection to Nt̓ákmen (The Ways of Our Ancestors).


We are honored to have her share her insights at
SVI Sea-to-Sky!

Save Da Sea

Aki Kaltenbach is the founder of Save Da Sea, a plant-based seafood company based in Victoria, BC. The idea for Save Da Sea came while she was running her family’s Japanese restaurants. After becoming vegan in 2018, Aki searched for plant-based seafood alternatives but found few options available. Determined to fill this gap, she developed her own recipes and began serving them in the restaurants. Once she saw a growing demand for these products, she took the leap in 2019 to focus on Save Da Sea full-time.

Today, Save Da Sea is pioneering the plant-based seafood movement in Canada. Their products, made from whole foods and free from toxins and microplastics, offer a sustainable alternative to traditional seafood. As the first Canadian company to bring fresh, refrigerated, plant-based seafood to market, they now offer three products in over 500 retailers nationwide, including Whole Foods,
Save-On-Foods, and Sobeys.

About Ziptrek Ecotours

Charles Steele is a pioneering social venture entrepreneur and the visionary President and Co-Founder of Ziptrek Ecotours, the first zipline tour company in North America, established in 2001 in Whistler. Under Charles's leadership, Ziptrek has expanded to locations worldwide, including Mont Tremblant, Quebec, and Queenstown, New Zealand, and has worked with high-profile clients such as the Olympics, multiple Super Bowls, Major Baseball League, and Canadian Football League, including the recent Vancouver Grey Cup.

Ziptrek was created to facilitate learning about
sustainability and is designed to illustrate related principles whenever possible.

Ziptrek is a multi-award-winning business renowned for its commitment to sustainability education based on the principals of The Natural Step framework.
Ziptrek teaches more people about it annually than The Natural Step organization itself.

In recent years, Charles has been at the forefront of innovative transportation solutions based on radically reimagined ziplines. This includes the development of the Switchback® ride system by Ziptrek Technologies, which integrates cable and rail allowing ziplines to go uphill and around corners, opening up vast new possibilities for both recreation as well as low-carbon, autonomous public transportation.

Details TBA

About FireSwarm

Meet Melanie Bitner, co-founder and business development leader at FireSwarm Solutions Inc., a company pioneering the integration of advanced drone technology in wildfire management. With a background in strategic marketing, brand development and communications, Melanie leverages her expertise to drive industry adoption of FireSwarm’s cutting-edge solutions. Her passion for wildfire resilience is deeply personal—FireSwarm was founded in response to the devastating loss of her own multigenerational property to wildfire in 2023.
This firsthand experience fuels her commitment to empowering responders with technology that improves situational awareness, decision-making,
and safety in complex fire environments.