Todd Babiuk
Todd Babiak is co-founder of Story Engine, a consultancy that helps cities and states, companies, and organizations create a master story that is the core of their strategy. Because he likes having his heart broken, he writes novels in his spare time.
Bob Black
Born in Yellowknife, NWT, Bob is a graduate of the University of Alberta, Faculty of Law and practiced law and was a senior partner with the respected Alberta law firm, Brownlee LLP, where he served on the firm’s management committee for many years. During his legal career of 25 years, Bob appeared in all levels of Court, including the Supreme Court of Canada.
In October, 2009 Bob assumed the position of Executive Vice-President of Rexall Sports & Entertainment for the Katz Group, the parent company of Rexall Sports and Entertainment and the Edmonton Oilers. He has since assumed the roles of Executive Vice President of Edmonton Arena Corp and Chief Development Officer for the Oilers Entertainment Group. Bob is leading the design and construction of Rogers Place and was a member of the negotiating committee that put in place the Master Agreement for the arena funding with the City of Edmonton as well as numerous ancillary agreements thereto. Bob was also a contributor to the Capital City Downtown Plan and lead in the rezoning and master planning of the ICE District. He also leads a number of ongoing special projects relative to the ICE District.
He currently serves on the One Edmonton Committee, the Downtown Vibrancy Task Force, the Board of Directors for the Edmonton Downtown Business Association, the Downtown Bike Network Advisory Group and is a past member of the Winter City Think Tank. In July 2010, he was named among 50 of Alberta’s Most Influential People by Alberta Venture magazine.
Paul Blais, MA, Ec.D., CEcD
Paul is Executive Vice-President and co-founder of MDB Insight, one of North America’s largest economic development specialist consultancies. From the start, MDB Insight has been actively recruiting people who strive to be economic development thought leaders – those who aspire to save the world – even if it’s just one place at a time. Our This is Not a Newsletter is now on its 78th issue and has 6,587 readers who have requested the perspectives we offer. MDB Insight has also been consistently at the forefront of what it means to be economic development practice leaders. Our people have always shown their abilities to develop aggressive but achievable action plans based on defendable recommendations. This is where ideas for innovative practices such as Triage BR+E are conceived and brought to the market for all to use.
Roger Brooks
Roger is one of North America’s most sought after speakers on the subject of tourism, community branding, marketing, and product development. Author of the popular book, “Your Town: An Amazing Destination” and a former U.S. Travel Association board member, Roger and his team have assisted more than 1500 communities throughout Canada, across the U.S., and in Western Europe. A Certified Speaking Professional, Roger’s enthusiasm inspires and empowers audiences to achieve their highest aspirations. His passion is to make a difference in people’s lives by helping their communities become better places for people to live, work, and visit.
Victoria Brooks
Victoria has more than 20 years’ experience at the executive level in Municipal Government and private sector positions. She holds a Bachelor’s dress in Business Administration, a certificate in Local Government Administration, National Advanced Certificate in Local Authority Administration II, and is a certified Business Retention and Expansion Coordinator. She is the BusinessNow lead for the Western Regional Enterprise Network, delivering BR&E service in the region. She is the co-owner of a family farm with her husband and the mother of three children.
Rhys Chouinard
Rhys received his first bachelor of science in Physics and Mathematics from the U of A in 2009, before getting his second BSc in Honors in Astrophysics in 2010. He then spent a few years getting a Masters in Particle Astrophysics while working on the DEAP-3600 dark matter experiment, which is currently being built at North America’s deepest underground science laboratory, SNOLAB, near Sudbury, Ontario. His Master’s project focused on a range of topics including photon detector testing, electronic signal processor testing, and Monte Carlo simulation of particle interactions. After working on his favorite dark matter experiment as a Research Assistant in the Department of Physics, Rhys made the transition into industry in 2013 by taking on the role of Corporate Analyst at the City of St. Albert. He now uses his statistical, quantitative, and mathematical powers for the good of the common taxpayer. Rhys enjoys the challenge of applying his problem solving skills to the public service realm, and prides himself in the ability to convey complex ideas and thoughts to a general audience. Data visualization, insight discovery, and data-driven decisions in government are key areas of expertise for Rhys in his role at the City of St. Albert.
Robert (Bob) Claxton
Bob is a TRANSFORMER – I convert passive workers into exceptional performers adding profit to the bottom line of your company.
Bob transform teams from people who tolerate working together to high functioning dynamic teams that deeply trust one another. Building on one anothers strengths, unlocking their unique personalities, and learning together solidifies a bond to reach common objectives free of petty road blocks.
Bob’s proven “I Found the I in Team” platform enables each participant to take a personal inventory and to invite individual ownership of their own choices to be a team player. Whether you are a leader or a team member, it is your choices that make a confident, energized and engaged workforce.
Dynamic Senior Leader offers experience in managing 7 different not-for-profit organizations, as well as extensive leadership, planning and program development/evaluation experience on national, provincial and local committees | Respected for vision, passion, leadership and business savvy in expanding memberships and financial giving programs | Talent for developing, coaching, inspiring and empowering others to be successful | Seasoned trainer and public speaker (large & small groups) Change agent and process thinker who continually seeks ways to improve service delivery.
Nolan Crouse
Elected in 2007, St. Albert’s Mayor Nolan Crouse became the Capital Region Board’s first elected Chair in 2012 and remains so. Nolan is a native Albertan, a farmboy raised north of Camrose in the Viking/Irma area. He holds a Masters degree in Community Economic Development, spending 30 years as an owner and manager of manufacturing businesses in the Forest Products industry in Alberta and Pennsylvania. A fierce sports fan, he has coached hockey teams, including the AJHL Traders in Fort Saskatchewan In 2000 Nolan started up the Brooks Bandits Alberta Junior Hockey franchise, as Coach and General Manager.
Dr. Jason Daniels
Jason S. Daniels, PhD is the Associate Director, Research Support Services, Faculty of Extension, University of Alberta and a member of the University of Alberta Speakers’ Bureau. Jason provides evaluation and consulting services for many diverse groups both on and off campus and, over the past decade, has facilitated numerous focus groups and evaluations. In addition to his consulting work, Jason also teaches courses on psychology, research methods, and statistics. Jason has a background in cognitive development and has extensive experience doing research related to the effective use of technology in education, the impact of media use on child development, and student engagement.
Rick Daviss
A born and raised Edmontonian, Rick began his career with the City of Edmonton immediately upon graduation from the University of Alberta. During his 40-year tenure with the City of Edmonton, Rick has been fortunate to work on a wide variety of Projects including: the City’s first Bikeway Plan, the initial launch of DATS, and the Social and Environmental Impact Study for the South LRT line. He spent the majority of his career managing the City’s Land and Building Inventory, which included real estate leasing, sales; property acquisitions and expropriations, building maintenance and residential and industrial land development. Three years ago, Rick took on a challenging new role as Executive Director of the Downtown Arena District Project for the City of Edmonton. Working in partnership with the Katz Group, this exciting Project has the potential to significantly shape the success of Edmonton’s Downtown
Marty Eberth
Marty Eberth is the Director of Industry Development and Education with Travel Alberta and has spent the past twelve years supporting tourism businesses, tourism partnerships and Destination Marketing Organizations through training, marketing planning and activation. She enjoys being a catalyst for collaboration and is always searching for new ways to help businesses and partnerships evolve.
Brad Ferguson
Brad Ferguson is the President & CEO of Edmonton Economic Development Corporation (EEDC), mandated to help architect the economic strategy for the city.
As the head of the Executive Team, Brad balances setting priorities for investment, business, tourism, and event and conference attraction, with positioning the city as a vibrant competitor amongst peers in North America. His passion for Edmonton liesin the city’s personality as a consistent underdog, with the ability to punch above its weight.
Prior to EEDC, he focused on bringing new ideas to market at Procter & Gamble, and later on, bridging the gap between public and private sector on large, visionary projects at a boutique strategy consulting firm. With a goal to one day help shape the next economic strategy for the country, his blend of energy, entrepreneurial thinking, creativity and diplomacy is what drives him to consistently re-define leadership in the public service.
Outside of the office, Brad’s first priority is his family, including his wife Kathy, his two young entrepreneur sons and Jones, his dog and morning yoga partner.
Karen Fischer
Karen works as part of a very dynamic team in Eastern Ontario. Her role is to assist rural municipalities, rural business organizations, sector organizations, and community groups through coaching, training, building partnerships and providing resources and tools to help increase economic and community development capacity. Karen has worked in small rural communities for most of her 20+ year career. She has an in-depth knowledge and is very passionate about business retention and expansion, business and community development, Teeny Tiny communities, local food, and helping to build vital rural communities. She resides in the rural Village of Consecon, and has a great love for nature, kayaking, motorcycling, travel, and photography.
Ken Gossen
Ken Gossen is the Executive Director, Food and Bio Processing Branch (FBPB) at Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. The FBPB’s mandate is to develop programs and services to encourage the growth, diversification and competitiveness of the agricultural, food and bio processing industry. The hub of the FBPB is the Food Processing Development Centre (FPDC) and the Agrivalue Processing Business Incubator (APBI) located in Leduc, Alberta. The FPDC provides product and process development support to the processing industry. Attached to the FPDC is the APBI with eight individual suites which processing companies can lease for a maximum period of three years while they are growing their business.
Ken grew up on a dairy farm near Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Before joining Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development he held a number of progressive positions at Cargill Foods and United Grain Growers. Ken’s extensive experience ranges from working with small to medium size enterprises in a business development capacity to working with multinational firms in investment and policy related issues. Ken holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture from the University of Saskatchewan.
Doug Griffiths
The best education Doug ever received was growing up on the farm. It taught him practical life lessons, fostered a strong work ethic, and provided a deep understanding of what it takes to be successful and how the wrong attitude can ensure failure.
After a successful career in provincial politics, Doug stepped away in 2015 to get back to what he really loved – helping build better communities. Now, Doug leads a team of community therapists – a term more accurate than you may imagine – working with people all over North America to help them create a brighter future for their communities.
Angela Groeneveld
Angela Groeneveld has the unique experience of being at the forefront of business and economic recovery for two of the nation’s largest natural disasters. After the devastating floods of 2013, she served as the Town of High River’s Business Renewal Officer, leading two of the three phases of economic recovery, assessing and assisting local businesses in rebuilding. Angela later used this knowledge and experience after the Fort McMurray fires of 2016 to help create and implement the RMWB Recovery Hotline and the Business and Economic Disaster Recovery Plan. She is passionate about helping businesses succeed and contract her services to many rural communities providing coaching, training and grassroots knowledge to develop foundations for strong business ecosystems, disaster preparedness and recovery.
Leann Hackman-Carty
Leann is Managing Director (Alberta) for GroYourBiz, which sets up peer advisory boards across the province for women entrepreneurs wanting to grow their businesses, and has served on a number of non-profit boards. She also heads up her own consulting company, HACKMANCARTY & Associates.
Since 2009, Leann has served as the Chief Executive Officer for Economic Developers Alberta (EDA) which currently has over 300 members, who are involved in economic development activities including business retention & expansion, business and investment attraction, opportunity identification, tourism, workforce development, business and economic recovery, and industry sector development.
A well-respected professional in her field, she has lead public, private and non-profit organizations through eras of change to new levels of growth and stability. She is a sincere advocate with an aptitude for bridging conflicting interests, motivating staff and volunteers, and influencing key stakeholders.
Geoff Herdman
Geoff Herdman is the Director, Real Estate & Investment Attraction for Edmonton International Airport. He is currently focused on driving revenue growth through the development of retail, logistics, industrial, and office, hotel and aviation industries. With approximately 20 years’ experience in real estate development and leasing, strategic planning and market research, Geoff has a deep well of experience to draw from. Geoff is a key player in the creation of EIA’s Aerotropolis, an amalgamation of many different services, supporting regional economic development and diversification. Recent projects include the Outlet Collection, Costco, Rosenau Transport, Aurora Sky, Century Mile, Aeroterm and many others. Geoff holds an MBA from Durham University.
Dave Loken
Dave was elected to represent Ward 3 on the Edmonton City Council in October of 2010. Dave campaigned for and continues to advocate for the building of a city on the principles of smart urban design, expansion of the current transit system, and investing in neighbourhoods to insure that citizens at all stages of life have quality infrastructure and a safe community to live in.
A consensus builder with extensive experience in high-level decision making, Dave understands the complexities of civic government and the decision-making process. He is professionally trained in conflict resolution and negotiation; in 2010, Dave received a Masters Degree in Conflict Analysis & Management from Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia.
Dave and his wife Camille have four grown sons, including one who lives in the community of Lago Lindo with his family. Since a close member of his family has experienced the reality of reduced memory capacity, Dave has tirelessly been involved in fundraising campaigns related to Alzheimer’s disease research.
Michael Held
Michael Held is the Director of Policy and Economic Services for Rural Development Initiatives (RDI), a non-profit economic development and capacity-building organization serving the northwest United States. Michael is a passionate champion of rural people and places with over 10 years of experience in community economic development. Mr. Held has led the development and implementation of multiple Business Retention and Expansion programs in rural communities and is excited to share best practices and stories from the field. In his free time, Michael loves to go backpacking and is an enthusiastic supporter of the Northwest craft beer industry. Mr. Held currently resides in Salem, Oregon.
Todd Hirsch
Todd Hirsch is the Chief Economist of ATB Financial.
For over 20 years, Todd has worked as an economist at numerous organizations including the Canadian Pacific Railway, the Canada West Foundation and the Bank of Canada. For almost a decade, Todd taught economics at the University of Calgary. He released his first book, The Boiling Frog Dilemma: Saving Canada from Economic Decline in 2012, his second, Halfway Home in 2016 and his third, Spiders in Space: Successfully Adapting to Unwanted Change in 2017.
Todd provides economic commentary for many Canadian media outlets and is a regular contributor to the Globe and Mail. He currently serves on the University of Calgary Board of Governors and is the chair of the Calgary Arts Academy. Todd recently received the University of Alberta’s Alumni Honour Award.
He holds a BA Honours in Economics from the U of A and an MA in Economics from the University of Calgary.
To receive Todd’s daily economic updates via email, subscribe to ATB Financial’s daily economic update, The Owl.
Joachim Holtz
Joachim is the current Executive Director of operations for the Alberta Avenue Business Association starting with them in January of 2008. One of 13 business improvement areas (BIA) in the City of Edmonton, the association represents 200+ businesses from NAIT to Northlands along 118th Avenue. Prior to coming to Alberta Avenue Business Association, Mr. Holtz’s working background consisted of 30+ years in the banking industry, including commercial and personal banking as well as branch management in both B.C. and Alberta. His specialty was financing small to medium sized businesses. He also spent five years in property management and real estate. He holds a Professional Managers’ Designation through the Canadian Institute of Management.
Mike Cey
Mike grew up on a farm near Scott, SK. as part of a large farming family. He obtained his Agriculture degree in 1991 at the University of Saskatchewan with a Specialization in Soils. He worked for Dow, AAFC, Novozymes and Monsanto in various research capacities during his university years. Prior to joining AWB, Mike worked for Imperial Oil, SWP, CWB and FCL in a variety of research and marketing roles over a period of 20 years.
For the past six years Mike has been employed as the Director of Corporate Initiatives for Ag-West Bio. He works with industry, research institutions, associations, and government agencies to identify and lead key strategic initiatives and execute collaborative projects to strengthen Saskatchewan’s pre-eminent Bioeconomy, and provides strategic guidance in Ag-West Bio’s commercialization support activities. Mike is happily married with four children. He has just completed his EMBA in Innovation Leadership through the University of Fredericton.
Peter Kenyon
Peter is simply a social capitalist, community enthusiast and social entrepreneur. Over the last four decades, he has worked with over 2000 communities throughout Australia, New Zealand, North America, Africa, Southern Asia, Pacific and the Middle East, seeking to facilitate fresh and creative ways that stimulate community and economic renewal. He is motivated by the desire to create vibrant, caring, inclusive, connected and enterprising communities and local economies. Peter is convinced that one cannot develop communities and local economies from the top down or from the outside in. It requires communities to build from the inside out, and for their members to invest themselves, ideas, assets, resources and creativity in the process. Peter created the Bank of I.D.E.A.S. (Initiatives for the Development of Enterprising Action and Strategies) in 1991 to promote such a paradigm shift and assist with the necessary facilitation, ideas and skills. Peter’s consulting project work has resulted in assignments in 59 countries. He is the author of 16 publications in the fields of community building, enterprise development, small town renewal, youth enterprise and youth empowerment.
Diane Kereluk
Taking a vision and making it reality through sound strategy development, she intuitively sees the threads of challenge present themselves as opportunity and navigates through the pros and cons bringing them together as a coherent whole. Respected as a credible voice in decision making, finding strategic partners, and establishing governance boundaries, Diane earns a seat at the table whenever the topic is “Let’s just build it”. Occupying the position of Executive Director since 2006, Diane has faced many challenges changing the negative perception of a business area where judgement was based on a memory. Her motto on branding – “You do not create a brand – you create an experience which then becomes a brand.”
Blaine LaBonte
When Blaine LaBonte joined the family-owned Cougar Tool in 1992, few people realized he’d eventually transform the mid-size Canadian firm into an international oilfield services provider. As the company’s Vice-President of Operations, he jumped at the chance to buy Cougar in 2005 and become its president. Under his leadership the company merged with Blackstone Drilling Systems to become Cougar Drilling Solutions.
In January of 2011, he became the newly merged company’s CEO. As a student, Blaine earned a B Sc from the University of Alberta. Since then he has also graduated from the prestigious Harvard Business School. There he attended the Owner/President Manager Program, earning a leadership degree (OPM) exclusive to business owners and entrepreneurs who run and hold significant equity stakes in companies.
Over the course of his remarkable career, he has become an expert in the importance and benefits of leadership development. Today, a professional management team runs his business. But, still engaged in the art of business, Blaine is a startup mentor and angel investor.
Jeanine Lassaline-Berglund
Jeanine was hired by the Municipality of Leamington in 2014 to build an Economic & Community Development Strategy that would stabilize the community and open the door to economic prosperity, after the announcement of the Heinz closure. For over twenty years Jeanine had worked in and with small and large companies to improve business performance by effectively assessing needs, understanding complexities that impact organizations, and delivering strong leadership and strategic solutions; skills she developed over a career of professional development and certification. Today, Jeanine is the Manager of Economic & Community Development and works to support industry, facilitate a ‘business-ready’ climate while continuing her work in Leadership development through various initiatives.
Shawna Lawson, B. Comm, MSc (Planning), EcD
Based in Okotoks, Alberta, Shawna brings over 25 years of economic and business development experience in Alberta, Ontario and overseas (UK and Southeast Asia). She has a proven track record of bringing public and private sector interests together for successful results and project management of complex projects involving several, often conflicting, stakeholders. Over the past few years, Shawna has worked with several struggling communities to diversify their economy and downtowns as well as develop their image, all while building their internal capacity to carry on development on their own – using tools such as BR+E, Downtown Revitalization, Investment Attraction and data-based strategic planning.
Eric McSweeney, BA, EcD(F), CCIM, ALC, CMC
Eric is an Economic Development and Management Specialist whose skills, practical guidance and results-oriented approach have assisted municipal clients in Canada and Europe develop innovative economic development solutions. He has coordinated or lectured at University of Waterloo economic development program seminars on planning, property development and the local economy. He is a trained facilitator and a trainer in economic development, process facilitation and strategic economic planning.
Dave Parsell
Dave’s professional background includes senior roles in consulting and local government where he specialized in demographic research, market research, local economic development and urban planning. He has an intimate understanding of business site selection processes and holds a Masters of Public Administration, Masters of Environmental Planning and Bachelor of Commerce. Dave’s role at Localintel is both CEO and subject matter expert in relation to economic development, site selection and SMBs.
Matt Machielse
Matt Machielse currently serves as the Assistant Deputy Minister – Trade and Investment Attraction for the Government of Alberta. He has more than 25 years of experience within the Government of Alberta. He is currently leading the Trade and Investment Attraction Division which is responsible for the Alberta International Office network and trade policy team. The Division works very closely with partners in the Federal and Municipal governments as well as multiple stakeholder agencies in delivery or support of industry trade and investment activities. He has had the opportunity to work in various departments including; Environment and Parks, Executive Council, Energy and Agriculture.
Born and raised on an irrigation farm in Southern Alberta, he now enjoys acreage life with his wife living near Camrose and has a daughter, son and daughter-in-law attending University.
John Rose
John is a seasoned economist with over 30 years’ experience in economic analysis, forecasting and consulting to private and public sector organizations. Before joining the City of Edmonton in 2010 he was Director of Economics with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Toronto. Prior to this, he held various positions with IHS Global Insight, Deloitte & Touche and Standard & Poor’s. John also served with the Canadian Foreign Service in Europe and Asia where he focused on trade development and investment promotion.
John appears regularly as an economic commentator on CBC radio and TV, Global TV, The Edmonton Journal and other various media outlets. He is a member of the Canadian Association for Business Economics and the Economics Society of Northern Alberta where he serves on the Board. John holds a BA (Honours), Economics from the University of Waterloo and Masters, Economics from the University of Toronto.
Paul Ryneveld
Paul Ryneveld is the General Manager of Century Downs. He holds a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Washington as well as a Bachelor of Business Administration from the same. In addition, Mr. Ryneveld completed a Bachelors of Animal Science from the University of Arizona while attending the Race Track Industry Program. Mr. Ryneveld has 30 years of experience in pari-mutuel racing, 11 of which occurred in upper management at racetracks with slot casinos. He sits on the Board of Horse Racing Alberta as an “A” track representative. For the Century Mile project, Mr. Ryneveld is a contributing member of the development and construction team.
Ellie Sasseville
Ellie Sasseville, is currently the Executive Director of the Kingsway District Association for the past 4 years. Prior to that she did a contract with the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association as a Political Strategist. Ellie spent almost 29 years of her career in Yellowknife as the Executive Director of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce. Ellie is formally trained as an Executive Director.
Kevin S. Schmotzer
Kevin S. Schmotzer is the Executive of Small Business Development with the City of Cleveland’s Department of Economic Development, where he is responsible for creating and implementing programs, financial incentives, and economic development tools to attract entrepreneurship and small business development to the City of Cleveland. In April 2006, the Executive of Small Business Development position was created by Mayor Frank Jackson to focus on the attraction, growth and expansion of small businesses which includes: commercial, retail, locally-owned cafés, food trucks, urban farming, and technology businesses while creating jobs. Upon acceptance of the position, he streamlined the process involved with providing capital to small businesses including start-ups in collaboration with other partners including government agencies, non-profits, foundations, developers, and local banks.
The portfolio of small business projects include a pipeline worth more than $75 million in public-private financing for retail, commercial office, mixed-use development, urban farming in the neighborhoods and Downtown Cleveland over the past five years. Prior to becoming Executive of Small Business Development, Mr. Schmotzer worked for the City of Avon Lake in the Planning Department.
Dar Schwanbeck
Since 2005, Dar has been the Managing Director of the Northern Alberta Business Incubator (NABI) located in St. Albert, Alberta. NABI operates 43,000 sq. ft. of office space and provides support and advisory services to approximately 250 organizations annually. NABI is home to about 130 small firms. Prior to NABI, Dar spent 13 years with Coopers and Lybrand Consulting and 13 as the President of International Management Technologies. Dar is a Certified Management Consultant, has undergraduate and graduate degrees in business from the Universities of Alberta and Calgary. Dar is a learning junkie with extensive post-graduate work in health care, sales and marketing management, market research, customer satisfaction, and leadership development. Over 38 years as a practicing Management Consultant, 12 at NAB, Dar has had about 3,500 unique conversations with start-ups, small businesses and larger corporations. He has a wealth of ideas about business success.
Clinton Senkow
Clinton is currently the Co-founder & Chief Operating Officer of Influencive which is an online platform that shares unconventional wisdom from influential minds around the world. The content on Influencive teaches and inspires millions of people around the world each week to take action and build a life they truly want. He’s also a contributing writer for The Huffington Post, Mogul, and Thrive Global and has been featured in Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, The Huffington Post and Mashable.
If Clinton isn’t writing an article or producing content online you can find him advising and consulting with other small business owners and entrepreneurs. He is an advocate for youth entrepreneurship and a two-time recipient of the G20 Young Entrepreneur’s Alliance representing Canada.
Clinton enjoys traveling, fitness, cooking, reading, and you guessed it writing.
Kimberley Worthington
Kimberley Worthington is an entrepreneur & economic development practitioner with a vast array of experience. She has 15 + years’ experience in economic, community, and policy development as well as 10 plus years in guiding small business start ups and not for profits in business plan development, including 2 successful businesses of her own. She is known for collaborating and leading on many projects including the award winning Shuswap Launch- a- Preneur, an exciting start up competition. Kim has developed BRE programs from the ground up and implemented them. She does community economic development at the international level volunteering with FCMi encouraging municipalities in Colombia, South America to develop BRE programs to support business. She also provides critical assessments on tourism developments. Currently, Kimberley supports regional economic development initiatives at the Central Alberta Economic Partnership, locally known as CAEP- one of 11 Regional Economic Development Alliances.
She lives in Sylvan Lake with her son and has a new addition coming to the family Friday – an 8 week old moyen poodle. In their spare time, Kim supports her son’s entrepreneurial spirit, his love for soccer through coaching, and occasionally sneaks in a good dose of Netflix.
Business Retention and Expansion International 