Meet Rita (Jaiya) Parikh.

Rita is Chair of the Board of Vancity Credit Union, and of our national subsidiary, Vancity Community Investment Bank. First elected in 2016, she brings more than three decades of governance, financial management and regulatory experience to the board table. Rita is also a recognized leader in the Canadian healthcare regulatory sector, having served as an executive director in the BC College of Nurses and Midwives for eight years. There, she led the Nursing Community Assessment Service, an ambitious initiative aimed at streamlining the entry of internationally-educated health professionals into Canada’s workforce. 

Throughout her career, Rita has navigated a range of regulatory environments, led and provided oversight to large-scale technology transformations, and stewarded the values, strategy and growth of organizations small and large. She is the 2025 recipient of WXN Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women award, and is the principal at Wild Purpose Executive Coaching, providing leadership development support to purpose-driven executives.

Rita has a long and abiding commitment to the cooperative sector. She has been a member of a credit union since opening her first account as a child in Nelson, BC, and served as the board chair of Mountain Equipment Co-op as it deepened its cooperative footprint in the early 2000s. She has also served on the boards of several non-profit organizations including Oxfam Canada, the Vancity Community Foundation, the Victoria Immigrant and Refugee Centre, and Canadian Parents for French. 

Rita launched her career as a human rights investigator for the Canadian Human Rights Commission, and served as an adjudicator on several administrative justice tribunals including the British Columbia Employment and Assistance Appeal Tribunal, and the Property Assessment Review Panel. She is deeply community-minded and mission-driven: As a non-profit executive, she has worked alongside marginalized populations, as well as small business owners, women, farmers and youth, to build and sustain movements for climate, economic and social change. She is the co-founder of the Pacific Refugee Welcome Group, and has sponsored the settlement of several refugee families to Victoria.

Rita is a graduate of the Institute of Corporate Directors – Rotman School of Business Director Education Program, and holds her ICD.D designation. She earned a Master of Arts in International Affairs from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs in Ottawa, and a Bachelor of Journalism from Carleton University. In recent years, she has pursued and received additional certification including a Graduate Certificate in Executive Coaching from Royal Roads University. Her writing has appeared in the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the London Free Press, among other media.

Rita is grateful to the Lək̓ʷəŋən peoples for their careful stewardship of the traditional territories upon which she lives with her family.

Tenure.

• Elected in 2016
• Currently serving a fourth term (2025-2028)

Committees.

• Member, Equity and People Committee
• Member, Nominations and Election Committee
• Member, Risk Committee

Other board appointments.

• Director, Vancity Community Foundation
• Director, Vancity Community Investment Bank
• Director, Citizens Trust
• Chair, Vancity Community Investment Bank