Legal Aid BC’s board of directors appoints a chief executive officer (CEO) to administer the organization’s business. We are managed by an Executive Management Committee (EMC) made up of the CEO and executives.
As required by the Public Sector Employers Act, Legal Aid BC discloses executive compensation annually: 2023/24 Statement of Executive Compensation (PDF).
Wendy Jackson, CEO
Wendy Jackson has dedicated her legal career to improving access to justice for people in British Columbia. Before joining Legal Aid BC, she spent over two decades in the public service with BC’s Ministry of Attorney General, providing both legal and policy advice to government decision-makers. She was the Executive Director of the Legal Access Policy Division from 2020 to 2025, where she oversaw policy and funding enhancements that resulted in significant increases in services for legal aid clients as well as improvements for the legal aid bar.
Wendy has worked collaboratively with advocates, service providers, the bar, and the judiciary to develop and implement service enhancements in the legal aid space. She is committed to human-centred design principles and leads from a place of curiosity, kindness, and continuous improvement.
Salman Azam
Salman has decades of senior leadership experience in business planning, technology, finance, corporate services, human resources, and labour relations. He joined Legal Aid BC in 2021, first as our VP of corporate services and public relations, before transitioning to his current role in 2023.
As chief operating officer and the lead of the Legal Operations Division, he is primarily responsible for the delivery of Intake and Referral Services, Parents Legal Centres, Lawyer Services, and Family Law Advice Services. Prior to joining us, he held several assistant deputy minister positions in the provincial government with a reputation for creative problem solving, sound fiscal management, excellent team building, and collaborations that supported cross-sector solutions.
In addition to specialized leadership roles, Salman spent several years as the chief operating officer for the Independent Investigations Office of BC, where he was responsible for finance, human resources, information technology, public engagement, policy, training, and project management.
Rhaea Bailey
Rhaea Bailey is an Indigenous lawyer with over ten years of experience advancing access to justice through legal service delivery and is a graduate of UBC Law. She is a collaborative, agile, change leader with a passion for developing and implementing strategies that have a lasting impact.
Rhaea is skilled at developing a clear vision, making timely decisions, and aligning resources to achieve the objectives set. She successfully led and supported several strategic initiatives at LABC prior to accepting this role, including the creation of our Reconciliation Action Plan. She was also significantly involved in the development of our vision, mission, core beliefs and priorities for 2023-2028 and has worked closely with the Executive team and Board of Directors to provide support on advancing organizational priorities.
As the Vice President of Legal Strategy, she leads the Legal Strategy Division, which is primarily responsible for supporting LABC to identify, set and achieve its strategic objectives.
Ali-Reza Allameh
Ali is a lawyer with experience practising in multiple jurisdictions in Canada and the U.S., including serving as General Counsel & Corporate Secretary in both the private and public sectors.
He currently leads LABC’s Legal Operations division which includes the team delivering intake, navigator, and lawyer services along with the Family LawLine and Parent Legal Centres.
Ali has extensive experience collaborating with the LABC Executive team and Board of Directors and successfully executing various organizational initiatives. He is solutions-oriented and thrives in building, mobilizing and collaborating with high-performance teams and steering complex multi-stakeholder strategies and projects.
As the acting Vice President of Legal Operations, Ali is driven by a laser-focused desire to achieve positive client outcomes and strengthen client-centred legal help for people living in British Columbia who experience barriers accessing the legal system.
Steve Veinot
Steve Veinot is an experienced leader specializing in finance, operational oversight, and supply chain management. At Legal Aid BC, he is responsible for our budget, financial and statistical reporting, procurement, and asset management.
He leads a team of human resource professionals that manage the recruitment, compensation, performance, and training programs for staff. Steve also manages an information technology department that oversees both network and business applications. He additionally provides support for internal and external communications, and social media as well as various corporate websites.
Prior to joining us, he was the Director of Strategic Sourcing and Contract Management at TransLink.