Meet the Team
Our catering team is dedicated to making your events at The Nest memorable and enjoyable. With over 25 years of combined experience, our team is ready take your events from idea to reality, from venue booking to catering, Nest Catering will take care of everything so you won’t have to.
Christine Halonen
Senior Manager
christinehalonen@ams.ubc.ca
(604) 822-3465
The hospitality sector has been Christine’s home since graduating in Business, Hotel & Restaurant Management and Holistic Nutrition, and it’s lucky to have her! Her education, energy, excitement and people-orientated outlook has led her hold numerous leadership positions in the industry. She’s a team builder, problem solver and always up for a challenge. With this enthusiasm and experience, Christine joined Nest Catering and Conferences in 2015 to open the Nest building as Catering & Conferences Operations Manager, before stepping into the role of Senior Catering and Conferences Manager, where she tirelessly supports her happy team in creating brilliant events!
Monika Kodnani
Business Development Manager
monikakodnani@ams.ubc.ca
(604) 822-6540
Monika is an accomplished event planner with over a decade of experience planning corporate and personal events. Her bubbly personality, meticulous nature and creative problem solving abilities have enabled Monika to create a portfolio of incredibly successful events. She approaches every wedding, conference, fundraising event, festival, education forum, corporate symposium and board meeting with the same energy and enthusiasm as her very first event 10 years ago. Partnering with Monika and the team at Nest Catering & Conferences feels like you’re planning an event with friends, who really know what they’re doing!
Lyanne Evans
Senior Events Coordinator
(604) 822-6704
With over 25 years of industry experience, Lyanne has demonstrated her finesse for planning and executing first-class events a thousand times over. Lyanne’s experience ranges from award ceremonies and corporate special events to multi-day academic conferences, engaging upwards of 3,000 people at a time in the UBC community and beyond. Her deadline-orientated, detail-driven approach ensures peace of mind leading up to your event, whilst her calm and personable nature under pressure will ease any nerves or apprehensions you may have. By virtue of rich experience and a natural gift, Lyanne is an expert in her field and the perfect pathfinder for any event.
Ella Xiao
Sr. Events Coordinator
EllaXiao@ams.ubc.ca
Ella is a seasoned professional with almost one decade of event management experience across multiple industries including direct selling and communication technology for overseeing high-performing teams to support a large volume of more than 20000 event participants. She has a verifiable history of contributing directly to company growth and expansion throughout her career after graduating from SFU, always dedicated and detail-oriented just to ensure a seamless and positive experience for the event participants. Colleagues describe her as a progressive, driven, down-to-earth and managerial expert who can be relied on to offer superior solutions that deliver results.
Neal Pellegrino
Sr. Events Coordinator
NealPellegrino@ams.ubc.ca
For almost two decades Neal has been event organizing and collaborating with a large cross-section of international and local businesses, including community and charitable organisations in the Event Management sector. A graduate of British Columbia’s Institute of Technologies, Media Communications program, he is always looking for new and innovative ways to enhance and exceed industry standards in event management. Through creative and strategic planning he has seamlessly executed some of Vancouver’s most memorable, distinctive and show stopping events. Embracing event complexities, he finds solutions through healthy negotiation, strong leadership and a desire to always fulfil the vision of his clients with dedicated care and integrity.
Sarah Zoobkoff
Sr. Events Coordinator
sarahzoobkoff@ams.ubc.ca
Event Planning has always been Sarah’s passion, for as long as she can remember. Her favourite part about planning an event is the joy and excitement she brings to her clients. Watching everything come together and exceeding the expectations of each person, she knows this is what she was destined to do. She treats every event as though she is planning it for the most important people in her life, because she believes this is the approach one should take when planning any event. After attending and graduating UBC, Sarah recognized the importance of both student life and the special, memorable moments life has to offer. This makes her role as Senior Events Coordinator perfect. Working with both student club events in addition to commercial events such as weddings, this gives her the fortunate opportunity to organize not only events, but unforgettable memories for a variety of people.
Vishwa Mohan
Sr. Manager, Food & Beverage, Building Operations & Executive Chef
(604) 827-3565
Vishwa is an experienced chef in the industry for over 18 years, with a Diploma in Hospitality management he is a professional in both the kitchen displaying his culinary skills and on the floor showcasing his strong operations management. Vishwa has worked in multitude of settings before, including The Oberoi in India, Four seasons in Maldives, Fairmont Dubai and Burj Al Arab in Dubai, Fairmont Beijing in China, Royal York, and Pacific Rim in Canada, as well as owning his restaurants in Vancouver. He is also very well-travelled chef. His training in India and experiences travelling through many countries, allows him to bring the fusion if International flavors and cooking techniques to North American Cuisine.
Ang Tiam Lai
Chef De Cuisine
Ang is born in one of the most vibrant and colorful cuisines in the world, full of intense flavors of Indonesia. As a child, he helped his family’s catering business, thus influencing his interests in culinary and career path.
Ang started at AMS as a Supervisor of the Burger Bar in 2009. He then studied Asian Culinary and Culinary Art at Vancouver Community College (VCC). After graduating from VCC, he started to work at the Catering Division of AMS. While working at the Catering Division, he took a culinary apprenticeship program for 3 years and received a Red Seal certification. He has gained valuable experience working with several chefs from various backgrounds since then. His motto is to always immerse himself in his work, never complain about the job and dedicate his life to mastering his skills.
Edrick Sy
Offsite Assistant Catering Manager
edsy@ams.ubc.ca
(604) 822-5130
Approaching a decade of experience, Ed is our offsite assistant catering manager. He’s catered for hundreds of events throughout UBC’s Vancouver Campus and the greater Vancouver area, delivering an exceptional experience every time. Ed takes care of all the sweet and savoury details for multi-day conferences, wedding receptions, celebrations of life, faculty dinners with the President of UBC Santa Ono, outdoor BBQs, networking lunches, fundraisers, graduation parties, student club nights, welcome events and more. His passion for working with clients and delivering on his promise is what brings Ed to work each day, along with the opportunity to quality check our food on a regular basis!
Sophorn Kong
Operations Manager
sophornkong@ams.ubc.ca
(604) 822-1276
About 15 years ago, Sophorn started her unexpected hospitality career while going to school for a completely different field of work. She fell in love with the excitement and final outcome of a well-executed food service and decided to stay for the long haul. She has a well-rounded management experience from running her own business to managing multiple food and beverage outlets at a Casino, boutique hotel, restaurants and now she calls Nest Catering and Conference at the Alma Mater Society of UBC my home away from home.
John Lu
Bookings Coordinator
amsbookings@ams.ubc.ca
(604) 822-3966
John is the booking rep for the AMS clubs. As a UBC graduate, being part of these student clubs taught him the value of finding belonging and community. Now, John’s career has bought him to a full circle back at the AMS of UBC, and he is excited to help student clubs run their events and build their communities!
Auryn Lewis
Jr. Events Coordinator
aurynlewis@ams.ubc.ca
(604) 822-4396
After exploring positions at everything from a bakery to a curling club, Auryn discovered his enthusiasm for the hospitality industry while working for Nest Catering & Conferences. With 3 years of experience at the Nest on the floor as well as behind the scenes, Auryn is familiar with all aspects of event planning and execution. He has coordinated events ranging from student parties to galas for UBC leadership and employs his diverse skill set to ensure that every event is a success.
