Michael Povey
Managing Director

The Fifth Option was founded in 1989 by Michael Povey, an expert in human capital consulting. Michael has over 25 years of experience in maximizing the contributions of people in the workforce through effective human capital management. He has held a variety of long-term, senior management and executive positions with such high profile industry leaders as Cominco Ltd., Schlumberger Ltd., Westcoast Energy Inc. and Microtel Ltd. As the director of The Fifth Option, Michael uses his extensive experience to help companies big and small with every aspect of labor relations and human resource management.

George Coghlan
Senior Recruitment Consultant

In addition to a strong background in Marketing and Promotion, George Coghlan has in excess of 20 years experience in sourcing, recruiting, negotiating and hiring exceptional employees. George has worked as a recruiter and as a career transition counselor for MacDonald Dettwiler, BC Transit and as a independent consultant to small, medium and large firms. George brings a practical, humane and down to earth orientation to the recruiting and hiring process.

Anjana Moitra
Human Resources, Supervising Consultant

With a fresh and innovative approach to human resources, Anjana has joined our firm with a background in client retention and generalist human resources. She graduated from the University of British Columbia (UBC), with her B.A. and the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), with a post diploma in human resources management. She has worked within a variety of industries such as design and architecture, tourism and hospitality, sales and marketing, pharmaceuticals and manufacturing. As a human resources consultant with The Fifth Option, Anjana uses her experience to help both small and medium sized companies practice innovative but practical human resources management. Anjana is also a CHRP and actively involved with local community groups, industry and non-for-profit associations.

Candice Meighen
Senior Recruitment Consultant

Candice joins the team bringing with her a diverse and eclectic background.  After completing her HBFA at York University she played away on the stages of Toronto theatre scene until the likely calling of the hospitality world took hold of her career plans. Her central focus became Food and Beverage within the Canadian Pacific Hotel and Resorts and quickly moved to a career in boutique hotels across the country, ending with the top position held of Food and Beverage Manager. Having worked in every possible department led to Candice igniting her entrepreneurial spirit and opening a business in catering and events management which she ran successfully for five years. She then diversified her career by working in the human capital field. She has an exceptional understanding of the human dynamic within the workforce and how the strongest asset in an organization is their employees. This led her naturally into the world of recruitment.  Candice’s years of dealing with the public, hiring and management gave her the opportunity to develop hiring and training initiatives and retention workshops.  She has been trained in interviewing and recruitment to attract quality employees. With over fifteen years of experience, Candice is a great addition to The Fifth Option team. She currently works as a Recruitment Practitioner where she services all types of clients and candidates; from large corporations to small Mom and Pop shops. She is fulfilled in her job when she is able to offer someone a life changing opportunity and when she is able to work closely with her clients to ensure long term satisfaction when she has secured the best talent possible for their organization. 

Credit: Apollo Photography

Katherine Read
Senior Consultant, Business Development

Katherine has 21 years experience working with various national and international consulting firms and as an independent consultant. She has served at the Principal and Vice President levels and worked in executive search, management consulting, business development, sales & marketing, training and development and market research. In her career she has served the needs of a diverse range of businesses from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies and Crown corporations.


Katherine’s last corporate position prior to working with The Fifth Option was as Vice President and Principal of a group of three consulting firms. As Principal of an Executive Search firm and HR consultancy she served the needs of a diverse range of national and international clients wishing to find high performance candidates for mid-management to CEO level positions.

Her background in executive search led Katherine naturally into private practice as a skilled Career Transition Coach. She has worked extensively with individuals seeking to change jobs, careers or make major life transitions. Katherine is also a professional facilitator with over twelve years experience facilitating strategic planning sessions, training sessions, focus groups and industry forums.

Ms. Read has a Bachelor of Arts degree from UBC, a Diploma in Business Administration from BCIT and is a Certified Life Coach and Certified Wellness Counsellor and Life Skills Counselor and Instructor. Katherine is also a Certified Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTIÒ) practitioner.

Michael Hudson
Senior Consultant, Human Resources

Michael is a Human Resources generalist with over twenty years of experience gained in a variety of industries, including high-tech manufacturing, insurance, pharmaceutical, and telecommunications. Much of his expertise has come from supporting growing organizations in developing their initial HR framework, including management and employee coaching, compensation and benefit program development, performance management implementation, as well as, introducing best practices in recruitment, policies and procedures. Michael also has over ten years experience developing and implementing HR frameworks in fast growing entrepreneurial environments where the practical implementation of sound HR systems need to be both cost effective and efficient. He has also gained valuable generalist experience and collective agreement interpretation within a large public sector employer and other large complex multi-union environments, serving organizations with as many as 5000 employees.

Michael has a Bachelor of Arts degree as well as a Post-Graduate Diploma in Industrial Relations from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.

Barb Collum
Senior Consultant, Recruitment

In addition to Barb's solid background in property management, Barb has eleven years of experience and extensive knowledge in recruiting. Barb bases her success on truly understanding client needs. She strives to present her clients with candidates possessing the skills and background they require, always taking the company’s corporate culture into account. Barb is a generalist in her practice of recruitment, although she does have an expertise in the area of office and administrative personnel.

Barb specializes in placing top-tier professionals within both the private and public sectors throughout British Columbia. She deals with companies ranging in size from small, local firms to large, multi-branch organizations. Barb brings her enthusiasm, professionalism and superior customer service skills to her role at The Fifth Option. Barb is a dynamic professional who excels at building long-lasting customer relationships.

Debra Lummas
Supervisory Consultant, Recruitment

Debra has over 11 years of professional, well-rounded experience both in Canada and across Europe. Previously working for one of the top three largest recruitment companies in the world Debra brings a wealth of valuable experience working on projects from conception to completion from Junior to Senior Management with a very diverse range of candidates and clients.

Debra worked her way up from Consultant through to Regional Manager, with the last seven years being in a Management role, primarily with a focus on all aspects of the Engineering sector with both SME's and large International companies.

From a HR standpoint Debra has delivered high quality HR services on behalf of her clients – such as Performance Appraisals, training/mentoring, conflict resolution, succession planning and team dynamics. Debra has also been a Regional Advisor for various Skills Councils and Education facilities with a keen involvement in the future of the local workforce.

Debra brings enthusiasm, consistently high standards of client service, a commitment to providing an open and honest approach whilst building lasting relationships with clients and candidates.