LUKE ZUKOWSKI, Chair

Luke is an accomplished entrepreneur, researcher, and consultant with over twenty years of experience in market research, IT, and business development. He has a reputation as a critical thinker who excels in identifying opportunities, proactively managing risks, and devising creative solutions.

Luke has served on boards of directors, advisory boards, and change control boards. Through this work, he has gained valuable experience in fostering stakeholder consensus by translating complex visions into clear, achievable, and win-win objectives. Currently, Luke serves as the Chair of the Advisory Board for Cyber-Seniors, an international nonprofit organization that connects generations through technology to bridge the digital divide.

Luke holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree, as well as the Chartered Manager (C.Mgr) and Certified Analytics and Insights Professional (CAIP) designations. He is a member of the Canadian Institute of Management. Luke has been a VOKRA volunteer, along with his family, since 2014.

karen duncan, director at large

Karen and Maria Soroski founded VOKRA in 1999 with a mission to care for kittens that needed around-the-clock bottle feeding and treatment. With assistance and training from Dr. Brondwin at Arbutus West Animal Clinic, they were able to make their dream a reality and things grew from there.

Over the years, Karen has seen VOKRA expand with ever-growing teams of people who organize and share the work. She's thrilled the organization now has the Operations Centre, which has enough space to allow for safely housing incoming cats, storage, and all of VOKRA's volunteers. She's also proud of VOKRA's TNR program which has effectively eliminated the endless flow of tiny kittens from Vancouver streets.

maria soroski, director at large

Maria co-founded VOKRA with Karen Duncan in 1999, after years of volunteering with cats and kittens. While volunteering, Maria saw a desperate need to develop a holistic approach to cat and kitten care, as well as a TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) program in order to keep the feral and homeless cat population down.

After VOKRA’s inception, Maria’s dream started coming true. Local shelters were seeing a dramatic drop in feral cat and kitten numbers in Vancouver – something Maria is proud to have helped with. She paved the way with VOKRA’s founding values and continues to ensure that as a no-kill organization, the TNR program is one of the best in BC.

With a passion for giving homeless and feral cats a happy and healthy life, Maria always ensures VOKRA uses organic and nutritious food for all cats. With VOKRA keeping her busy, the former prairie gal loves to reward herself with time spent at home relaxing with her cats.

michael sheldrake, director at large

Michael is an avid foster of kittens and moms. With his wife, Viktoryia, he’s fostered more than 35 cats and kittens. He is also involved in learning the trapping process and is keen to become even more active in the organization.

Michael is a local RE/MAX agent and has plenty of experience from building his business over the past 12 years. He is also formally educated in sciences with a B.Sc from UBC. His strengths are problem-solving, transparency and communication.

Sherry work, director at large

Sherry has been a volunteer with VOKRA since 2022 and I has been on a very diverse and interesting career path! I’ve worked in government roles, tech, and non-profits, with experience in finance, administration, and volunteering. The skills I’ve gained, especially with Microsoft Dynamics AX, Excel, and web administration, have been very valuable to me in my volunteer roles.

My work with VOKRA and the volunteer roles with MMR (Marine Mammal Rescue Society) and the Aquarium, stand out too! I've helped streamline operations and supported critical services, like scheduling and inventory, while contributing to important causes.

Positions I have held are:

City of Whitehorse - Accounts Payable (2yrs), Purchasing Agent (3yrs), Accounting Supervisor (2yrs)

Yukon Government - Contract Administrator (2yrs)

District of West Vancouver - Accounting Clerk (1yr), Payroll Manager (17yrs)

Eclipse Computing Australia - Microsoft Dynamics AX implementing Payroll and Tech Support for the integration to GL, AP, AR, Job Costing, etc. (3yrs)