2024 Women of the Year Awards: Innovator – Runner-up Archana Singh

Runner-up

Archana Singh
Executive vice president of corporate services and risk, Vehicle Sales Authority of BC

Archana Singh’s first job after an MBA from Chandigarh’s Panjab University was at HDFC, India’s top bank by market cap. She then joined Reliance Communications, a subsidiary of India’s largest company. But three years in, she craved work/life balance: “I used to come home at 11 p.m., and I started to think, how am I going to have kids?”

Singh made the move to Vancouver in 2005. She arrived on a Saturday and secured a position with Richmond’s Norsat International by Monday. Since then, she has served several roles in B.C., including director of HR at Teldon Media Group and VP of HR at Fraserway RV.

In 2021, Singh became executive VP of corporate services and risk at the Langley-based Vehicle Sales Autho­rity of BC. The nonprofit ensures that industry players like dealerships comply with government regulations, and Singh oversees important functions such as risk, strategy, marketing, HR and tech.

One of her first projects was rebranding VSA’s website and social media—the implementation of a dispute resolution portal, for example, reduced months-long wait periods to 14 days, she says.

Singh also worked on company culture by helping each employee understand how their role plays into VSA’s overall strategic direction: “When I joined, we were at a 47-percent employee happiness score,” she says, “and for the past two years, 100 percent of our employees would recommend VSA as a place to work.”