2023 EXECUTIVE BOARD NOMINEES

Bio/Background

I’m running as an incumbent, having served as SORCAs Director of Advocacy and Government Relations for the past two years. My experience volunteering with SORCA means that I come already equipped with knowledge of the many key initiatives SORCA is involved in, the key players involved, and an understanding of how SORCA functions as a board and community organization. Professionally, I work as a Physical Research Scientist and have spent the better part of the last decade working with and for government in the realms of Indigenous relations and environmental science. I come from a background of having several years’ experience negotiating and collaborating on agreements that advance reconciliation with Indigenous people across BC. It is this experience that first led me to volunteer as a SORCA director, wanting to improve and continue to build SORCAs relationship with the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw and to contribute my understanding of how to work with Government (BC and Squamish District) to advance key advocacy and trail-related issues. Over the last two years, we’ve made progress in both of these areas but there remains much important work to do. I would be grateful for the opportunity to continue contributing my skills to the organization as a board member with the goal of seeing the great projects we’ve already started on through to completion.

Outside of my professional life, I’m a dedicated trail-user and spend the majority of my free time enjoying our thriving trail network both on bike and on foot. Aside from SORCA board-related work I always do what I can to give back to our community, whether through clearing drainage, giving directions to new or visiting trail users, or by volunteering to run timing equipment at Cincos!

Bio/Background

I’ve been honoured to serve on the SORCA Board for nearly seven years now (Three as Trail Maintenance Director and four as President) and to have played a part on many of the great teams who have represented our trail and mountain bike community with passion and professionalism.

Throughout my term I’ve been able to work on all aspects of SORCA’s mission from volunteering at the door of events, to writing grant applications, to scouting and permitting trail applications to leading negotiations with landowners and various levels of government. While I’m proud of many of the accomplishments that our team has had over the years, the leadership role we have shown within the outdoor recreation community by taking steps towards reconciliation with the Squamish Nation and our creating the memorandum of understanding, tops the list. I’ve been lucky enough to be the primary contact in this endeavour and have formed.

Contributing to our community through volunteering with SORCA gives me a great deal of pride and satisfaction. Most of all it has allowed me to work with some; kind and talented people over the years, many of whom I now call friends. I’ve given a large amount of my free time to support what we have achieved and would be excited to continue to do so in the future if you will have me.

In my professional life, I work as an energy trader with a background in business and engineering. I believe that this experience helps me bring a balanced and analytical approach to my work with SORCA and has enabled me to build constructive relationships with a wide range of our major sponsors, land managers, and other stakeholders.

Bio/Background

Hello – I am a project manager and an active biker living in Squamish. Over the last several years I have volunteered for trail days with a variety of organizations including NSMBA and the Bragg Creek Trails Association. In addition, I have led a volunteer initiative at my company for the past six years that connects our employees with volunteer activities in the community, the most recent being a trail day with NSMBA. I believe my project management skills as well as my experience leading a volunteer initiative make me well suited to join the SORCA Board as a Director at Large with a focus on Volunteering. Having moved to Squamish a year ago I was keenly interested in volunteering for trail days but have found it hard to find information about them. As a member of the Board of Directors I hope to increase the awareness of the volunteer opportunities that exist and help connect people and companies with opportunities.

Bio/Background

My skills and experience make me a strong candidate for this position. In my role as Chief Operating Officer at CAN Immunize, a company I cofounded in 2018, I have demonstrated success in creating novel revenue opportunities with both public and private sector partners. I have brokered multi-million dollar sales with the federal, provincial, territorial and municipal government as well as pharmaceutical companies and other private industry (e.g. utility companies). I have also worked with the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch and Indigenous Services Canada to create new partnerships that brought services to Indigenous communities across Canada. This work requires me to have excellent verbal and written communications, develop sales collateral (product summaries, marketing copy etc) which demonstrates value to the customer, conduct follow up and negotiate legal and contracting terms of the deal.

In my role as Clinical Research Program Manager at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute from 2014-2018, in addition to conducting academic research and managing a team of 30+ staff, I oversaw more than $25m in grants from organizations such as The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Public Health Agency of Canada. I have published more than 30 peer reviewed journal articles and have skills in epidemiology, data analysis and knowledge translation. In a Director position, those skill could be leveraged to help develop SORCA membership engagement surveys and to bring back findings to the Board to help inform development of initiatives to grow membership and member engagement.

I am interested in being on the SORCA board because I believe that I would bring a skill set and perspective to the board that will add value. I can help SORCA meet its objectives of increased revenue.

Bio/Background

Currently, I work as the Digital Advertising Coordinator for Pinkbike. I spearhead the advertising campaigns that run on the website and through running reports and analyzing data, I optimize the campaigns for clients. I wanted to work for Pinkbike because 3 years ago in Whistler I became obsessed with mountain biking and spent all the time at my previous job on trailforks searching for new trails to ride. Since then, I have wanted to become more involved in the mountain bike community. Pinkbike was a start but I have attended a volunteer trail day with SORCA and a female event in Whistler and want to do more. This fall, I also started working on an Economic Impact Study with CAMBA ( “Canmore’s SORCA”) to distill information from their survey and extract key findings to leverage for more grant and funding possibilities. I think I would be a good fit to the SORCA executive team as I am outgoing, very passionate about biking and love to be a part of the community. I am organized and like to help plan events, and if you need some numbers crunched I can help.

Bio/Background

I am a Master of Arts in Leadership student living in Squamish. For my thesis, I am studying volunteer motivation in partnership with SORCA. I am interested in what motivates our community to give so much time to the Squamish trails and what enables/prevents volunteerism.

This past summer, I worked as SORCA’s Event Coordinator. You would have seen me handing out food/drink tickets and begging you to help me pop up the SORCA tent. Through these two experiences, I have learned about all of SORCA’s key areas – trails, advocacy, and events – and developed a thorough understanding of the role of a Board Director. I am ready to put in the hard work that is expected of a Board Director.

Authenticity and growth are my core values. I love to laugh and have open and genuine conversations. I am incredibly passionate about learning and development. I am a volunteer leadership facilitator with SFU and have previously volunteered with Mountain Mentors. My previous work experience has been in training, change management, and implementation within operations and technology teams.

Immediately, I can contribute my knowledge in volunteerism to help improve the volunteer experience for SORCA’s trail, advocacy, event, program, committee, and Board volunteers. I am also interested in increasing member education opportunities and making SORCA’s initiatives more welcoming and diverse.

This year I have had the privilege of volunteering with many aMTB events, coaching, training, races and projects (locally and across BC). I have had the opportunity to work with RSTBC and SORCA to develop adaptive trails in Squamish. I work closely with KASA and accessibility advocates to become informed and gain skills for a more equitable outdoors- I love taking action to make it happen! And I am stoked so many builders and community members have been supportive and willing to share knowledge. I also loooove trail building. 🙂

Bio/Background

I joined the Sorca Trail Crew this past summer (2022). I was lucky to have learned from the legendary Dave Reid. My interest in joining the crew was motivated by my desire to pursue work in trail design. My favourite part has been getting the community out digging on trail days and sharing our passions for the trails and the sport of mountain biking.

Bio/Background

I’ve been honoured to serve on the SORCA Board for nearly seven years now (Three as Trail Maintenance Director and four as President) and to have played a part on many of the great teams who have represented our trail and mountain bike community with passion and professionalism.

Throughout my term I’ve been able to work on all aspects of SORCA’s mission from volunteering at the door of events, to writing grant applications, to scouting and permitting trail applications to leading negotiations with landowners and various levels of government. While I’m proud of many of the accomplishments that our team has had over the years, the leadership role we have shown within the outdoor recreation community by taking steps towards reconciliation with the Squamish Nation and our creating the memorandum of understanding, tops the list. I’ve been lucky enough to be the primary contact in this endeavour and have formed.

Contributing to our community through volunteering with SORCA gives me a great deal of pride and satisfaction. Most of all it has allowed me to work with some; kind and talented people over the years, many of whom I now call friends. I’ve given a large amount of my free time to support what we have achieved and would be excited to continue to do so in the future if you will have me.

In my professional life, I work as an energy trader with a background in business and engineering. I believe that this experience helps me bring a balanced and analytical approach to my work with SORCA and has enabled me to build constructive relationships with a wide range of our major sponsors, land managers, and other stakeholders.

Bio/Background

I’m running as an incumbent, having served as SORCAs Director of Advocacy and Government Relations for the past two years. My experience volunteering with SORCA means that I come already equipped with knowledge of the many key initiatives SORCA is involved in, the key players involved, and an understanding of how SORCA functions as a board and community organization. Professionally, I work as a Physical Research Scientist and have spent the better part of the last decade working with and for government in the realms of Indigenous relations and environmental science. I come from a background of having several years’ experience negotiating and collaborating on agreements that advance reconciliation with Indigenous people across BC. It is this experience that first led me to volunteer as a SORCA director, wanting to improve and continue to build SORCAs relationship with the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw and to contribute my understanding of how to work with Government (BC and Squamish District) to advance key advocacy and trail-related issues. Over the last two years, we’ve made progress in both of these areas but there remains much important work to do. I would be grateful for the opportunity to continue contributing my skills to the organization as a board member with the goal of seeing the great projects we’ve already started on through to completion.

Outside of my professional life, I’m a dedicated trail-user and spend the majority of my free time enjoying our thriving trail network both on bike and on foot. Aside from SORCA board-related work I always do what I can to give back to our community, whether through clearing drainage, giving directions to new or visiting trail users, or by volunteering to run timing equipment at Cincos!

Bio/Background

Currently, I work as the Digital Advertising Coordinator for Pinkbike. I spearhead the advertising campaigns that run on the website and through running reports and analyzing data, I optimize the campaigns for clients. I wanted to work for Pinkbike because 3 years ago in Whistler I became obsessed with mountain biking and spent all the time at my previous job on trailforks searching for new trails to ride. Since then, I have wanted to become more involved in the mountain bike community. Pinkbike was a start but I have attended a volunteer trail day with SORCA and a female event in Whistler and want to do more. This fall, I also started working on an Economic Impact Study with CAMBA ( “Canmore’s SORCA”) to distill information from their survey and extract key findings to leverage for more grant and funding possibilities. I think I would be a good fit to the SORCA executive team as I am outgoing, very passionate about biking and love to be a part of the community. I am organized and like to help plan events, and if you need some numbers crunched I can help.

Bio/Background

I’ve been honoured to serve on the SORCA Board for nearly seven years now (Three as Trail Maintenance Director and four as President) and to have played a part on many of the great teams who have represented our trail and mountain bike community with passion and professionalism.

Throughout my term I’ve been able to work on all aspects of SORCA’s mission from volunteering at the door of events, to writing grant applications, to scouting and permitting trail applications to leading negotiations with landowners and various levels of government. While I’m proud of many of the accomplishments that our team has had over the years, the leadership role we have shown within the outdoor recreation community by taking steps towards reconciliation with the Squamish Nation and our creating the memorandum of understanding, tops the list. I’ve been lucky enough to be the primary contact in this endeavour and have formed.

Contributing to our community through volunteering with SORCA gives me a great deal of pride and satisfaction. Most of all it has allowed me to work with some; kind and talented people over the years, many of whom I now call friends. I’ve given a large amount of my free time to support what we have achieved and would be excited to continue to do so in the future if you will have me.

In my professional life, I work as an energy trader with a background in business and engineering. I believe that this experience helps me bring a balanced and analytical approach to my work with SORCA and has enabled me to build constructive relationships with a wide range of our major sponsors, land managers, and other stakeholders.