Board of Directors

Rick Hastings | President (Vancouver)

Hollyburn Country Club – Rick Hastings was an active junior tennis player in B.C., and today he and his family remain very involved in league, social, and competitive tennis play. Rick has extensive board experience, serving as a director for several private-sector businesses as well as non-profit societies, including two terms on the Hollyburn Country Club Board of Directors, two terms on the Lions Gate Hospital Foundation Board of Directors, and he has served on the Tennis BC Board of Directors since 2014.

Rick has been involved in the apparel industry for over 30 years, establishing his first company in 1986, and today owns and operates businesses that manufacture, design, and distribute textiles throughout North America.  Rick brings enthusiasm, business experience, and a passion for developing and growing the sport of tennis.

Denise Wong | 1st Vice President (Burnaby)

Denise is a Chartered Professional Accountant and a Consultant, specializing in financial reporting and systems and business processes. Denise has been passionate about tennis from a very young age and now enjoys travelling the globe to different tennis tournaments to support our Canadian tennis athletes. In addition to the Tennis BC Board, she also served as Treasurer at the New Westminster Tennis Club. Denise joined the Tennis BC Board of Directors to find more ways to inspire and bring tennis to the people in our community.

Karen Clarke | Director (Victoria)

South Cowichan Lawn Tennis Club – Karen is a full-time faculty member at Camosun College in Victoria, BC, where she has been teaching in the School of Business since 1989. She is a TPA-certified Tennis Instructor and has worked extensively with tournament committees at various clubs and associations over the years. In 2015, Karen was Tournament Chair for the Western Canadian Senior Indoor Nationals, which won Tennis Canada’s Excellence Award for Event of the Year. Her competitive resume includes three National Doubles Titles and she has competed in six World Championships.

Gary Davidson | Secretary (Vernon)

Gary taught junior science and senior chemistry for 33 years in B.C., the last 26 years at Clarence Fulton Secondary in Vernon.  He coached the school tennis team and a basketball team every year of his teaching career.  He has a BSc (SFU), an MEd (UVic), and is the co-author of four Chemistry textbooks.

Gary grew up playing tennis on the North Shore of Vancouver.  He has served as the tournament director of the BC Summer Games, the BC 55+ Games, and the Kalamalka Country Club’s Canada Day and Labour Day Open tournaments.  He taught the Greater Vernon Recreation Services tennis lessons from 2011 to 2019.

Gary is a tennis fanatic who loves playing the game and continually strives to improve.  He believes strongly in Tennis BC’s mission to inspire and enable the growth of tennis in our beautiful province.  Gary is a member of the Commons Racquet Club at Predator Ridge, the Salmon Arm Tennis Club, and the Kalamalka Country Club.

Raymond To | Treasurer (Vancouver)

Raymond is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA CMA) with a BSc. and MBA, both from the University of British Columbia. One of his companies, GO Recruitment, provides recruitment, executive search, and HR advisory services to technology companies in the Pacific Northwest. His other company, GO Futures HR, provides the same service but exclusively for school districts across the province.

In 2006, he was awarded the Business in Vancouver’s 40 Under 40 award for his innovations in changing the way recruitment services are delivered to fast-growing companies. Raymond has been a Director, Advisor, Investor, and Chair for both for-profit and non-profit boards such as the Learning Disabilities Association of BC, Social Venture Partners, Dress for Success, and Science World’s Equity Giving Committee. He is still an active investor of Inetco Systems and LifeBooster.

He started playing tennis as a 10-year-old, and while he didn’t make the UBC tennis team, he continued his love of tennis as the President of the UBC Student Tennis Club. Fast forward 25 years to the past few years, where he has been a corporate sponsor for the Odlum Brown Van Open tournament, and is in discussions with the Vancouver Tennis Association to establish an endowment to encourage youth participation.

He entered early retirement in his 50s, a couple of years ago, and now spends time between living in Kelowna, Toronto, and his hometown of Vancouver, where he has also launched a Podcast called “Is this Job Right for You?” With the extra time on his hands, and an abundance of energy and ideas, he hopes to play lots of tennis as one of the early members of the Tennis HUB, as well as developing new businesses in healthcare coaching and property management. He is looking forward to bringing to Tennis BC his skills in corporate sponsorship, event planning, social-media marketing, financial governance, and the many deep relationships he has nurtured in his 28 years of business experience.

Paul Crawford | Director (Vancouver)

Paul Crawford is the President of King Marketing, a national Manufacturers’ Agency that provides sales and marketing support to enable many well-known hardware and home-improvement brands to sell their products into retail groups like Home Depot, Lowes, Home Hardware, and Canadian Tire.

Paul is originally from England where he grew up playing rugby, soccer, tennis, and, of course, cricket. He is an avid skier and worked for three winter seasons in the French Alps. He has played tennis recreationally for most of his life and is currently the tennis captain at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club, where he plays three to four times a week.

Recognizing the tremendous success that Canadian tennis players have had in recent years at the international level, Paul is keen to see the continued growth of the game in BC, and to make it accessible to as many people as possible, from school children to older players.

Kira Draliuk | 2nd Vice President (Vancouver)

Kira Draliuk is a lawyer based in Vancouver, British Columbia. She has experience in private practice and as an in-house lawyer. She advises the leadership team on a variety of legal matters including privacy law, corporate governance, strategy, and commercial law. Kira has worked with various public companies and societies to design and overhaul corporate governance mandates and policies. She holds an Honours in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Simon Fraser University, and a Juris Doctor and a Master of Business Administration degrees from the University of Western Ontario and Richard Ivey School of Business.

Growing up playing tennis in Vancouver, Kira had the opportunity to compete for two Canadian universities and continues to participate in BC tournaments and league. Kira enjoys watching live tennis and often travels to watch ATP and WTA tournaments.

Kira brings creativity, a solution-oriented focus, and a passion for tennis to the Tennis BC Board.

dave pentland | director (Vancouver island)

Dave is a Licensed Customs Broker and the Sr. VP of Compliance and Client Services at Carson International. Dave was born and raised in Vancouver and was an active tennis player and coach during his youth. Today he continues to play social, league, and competitive tennis 3-4 times per week and often travels afar to take in tennis tournaments around the globe. He just recently returned from the Laver Cup in London and is anxious to help promote the Laver Cup in Vancouver for 2023.

Dave has extensive past experience on the Boards of various Tennis clubs in and around British Columbia.  He is currently a member of Bear Mountain Tennis Club, and in the summer, can often be seen on one of the seven historic 135-year-old grass courts at South Cowichan Lawn Tennis Club. A self-professed lover of all things tennis, Dave truly believes that ‘Tennis is a sport for life,’ and that as an organization, Tennis BC needs to do more to promote the sport of tennis, capture players of all abilities, and keep them playing tennis for a lifetime.

MADELINE BENN | director (Vancouver)

Madeline is a corporate lawyer in Vancouver. Prior to practicing law, she grew up playing tennis on the North Shore and competed as a high-performance athlete both nationally and internationally.

She received her Bachelors of Science in Business Management from Skidmore College in New York. At Skidmore, Madeline played NCAA tennis where she was a two-time All-American, New York State Champion, and captain of her team for two years.

In 2020, Madeline received her Juris Doctor from the University of Western Ontario. There, she was involved in the London community as a member of the Western Women’s Tennis Team, as a volunteer with a local legal aid clinic, as a student editor at several legal journals, and as a sports writer for the Western Mustangs communications team.

Madeline is passionate about promoting tennis in BC and strongly believes in the power of sport to help shape individuals. Madeline brings her enthusiasm for tennis and her entrepreneurial mindset to the Board at Tennis BC.

Marvin Storrow | Honorary LIfetime Director

Marvin Storrow is a Partner Emeritus with Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, involved in arbitration, mediation,  and civil and criminal law. Marvin has been involved with a wide variety of litigious matters and alternative dispute resolution matters over the past several years. He has been a member of the bar since 1962, is a chartered arbitrator, and a graduate of UBC Law School.

Marvin has been a Director of a number of organizations, including the BC Epilepsy Society, Greenpeace Canada, the West Coast Environmental Law Association, Cambie Surgery Centre, the Justice Institute of British Columbia Foundation, the BC International Commercial Arbitration Centre, the Arbutus Club, the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation, and was a 2010 Olympic Ambassador.

With respect to sports generally, Marvin has been a Board member of the BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum for the past 15 years, and has chaired approximately 12 of the Board’s annual Gala Award Dinners. In addition, he has had the opportunity to observe tennis at very high levels attending each of the four majors on a number of occasions, and has been a regular attendee at the professional tournament in Indian Wells, California for several years.

Marvin developed a passion for sports from a very young age, and was the first stick boy for the very first Vancouver Canucks hockey team; he has played soccer, fastpitch softball, and tennis competitively and was a ranked slalom and downhill skier as a junior. With respect to tennis, he has competed in “low level” tournaments within the province over the past many years, and to this day, continues to play approximately four times a week.

Mark J Braidwood | Past President     

Mark is a principal of SHK Law Corporation, a leading boutique construction, insurance, and commercial law firm in Vancouver.  Mark grew up playing tennis at Hollyburn Country Club, and over the last dozen years, has enjoyed a renewed enthusiasm for the sport, playing in social leagues, a number of social tournaments, and attending tennis fundraisers.

Mark has extensive experience resolving a wide variety of complex legal disputes, many of which include large construction projects, such as the construction of the new BC Place Stadium roof.  Mark is effective at building consensus to achieve strategic objectives, and is keen to use these skills and his enthusiasm for the sport to promote tennis throughout British Columbia.

Tennis Canada BC Representatives

Penny Ballem | Director

BC Representative – Since her graduation from UBC with her MD in 1978, Penny Ballem, MD FRCP FCAHS, has had a diverse career in the health and government sector as a senior administrator, academic medical practitioner, and teacher/researcher. Dr. Ballem is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at UBC, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and a recent appointee as a Senior Fellow in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Institute for Health System Management and Evaluation at University of Toronto.

She has received significant public recognition for her work in medicine and public service, including the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal for Public Service, the 2012 Wallace Wilson Award at UBC for High Ethical Standards and Leadership in the Profession, the Marion Powell Award from Women’s College Hospital for leadership in Women’s Health, and the Cannell Award from the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada for her contributions to leadership in reproductive health and others. In addition to being a member of the Tennis Canada Board, she also serves on the Boards of StreetoHome Foundation and the Heart and Stroke Foundation National Board.

Richard Harris | Director 

BC Representative – A Partner and Managing Director at Tricor Pacific Founders Capital Inc., Richard is an accomplished businessman with 30 years of experience in North America, the United Kingdom, and Europe, including 15 years at the CEO and Chairman levels. Richard lives in West Vancouver with his wife Ailsa and two teenage children, Daisy and Joseph. He is a tennis fan and plays recreationally three to five times a week at Hollyburn Country Club.