I came to Grande Prairie to take a job developing youth programs. I moved here to create community connections for young people. And I grew to love Grande Prairie because of the many different ways it allowed me to connect.
I’ve raised a family, established a sport, volunteered, started a business, and served on Council. These have all been incredibly rich experiences which I am so thankful for. Scroll down to see how I’ve connected with our community.
City Council and other levels of government play a critical role in shaping our community. But government doesn’t create a great community. It only supports it.
Businesses and non-profits are the organisations that truly make community happen. They provide jobs. They deliver services. And they further causes.
My career has involved working in private, non-profit, and government roles. This gives me experience and insight to help organisations of type do their part to build a better Grande Prairie.
I’ve been involved as an owner in starting and growing multiple small businesses. I’ve appreciated the opportunity to create jobs and to enhance our community through private ventures while gaining operational experience. Most of my businesses have had significant Business to Business sales, giving me insight into the challenges and opportunities of diverse organisations across our region.
I spent a decade establishing and supervising youth programs throughout the Peace Country. It was a privilege to learn about and meet the needs of young people. Recruiting volunteers, fundraising my entire budget from private donors, and organising big events helped me develop communication and management skills. Running large programs on a slim non-profit budget helped me develop a creative and efficient approach to running organisations and teams.
I’ve served for eight years on Council, where my dedication to research has earned me a reputation of always being prepared. I also spend a large amount of time engaging with residents in person and online to apply their perspectives to my work. Additionally, I serve as a Vice President at Alberta Municipalities. This allows me to get deep insight into how other communities are operating in order to bring ideas and best practices back home. It has also developed my governance experience as I help oversee services delivered to municipalities and nonprofits such as employee benefits, insurance, and electricity procurement.
Volunteering is important to my life and family. It’s how we make our community better. How we met most of our friends. And where we have a lot of our fun. And how we thank Grande Prairie for being so good to us. Here are some of the ways I’ve given back to Grande Prairie.
When I first moved to Grande Prairie, I founded the local Disc Golf Club. I also designed, installed, and fundraised for the Thrill Hill Disc Golf Course. I still serve on the Club’s board, fundraise, teach youth, and organise events. I’ve also been involved in the design and construction of the two other public courses in our region. Disc golf is a free opportunity for our residents to get active in our parks. By introducing foot traffic, it also cleaned up some troubling and criminal activity in our parks. I’m very proud of my work to help introduce an affordable and accessible recreation opportunity to our community.
Strong neighbourhoods are a bedrock to vibrant communities. I have put a lot of time into volunteering with my neighbours. I was a founding board member of my Neighbourhood Association. I’ve helped with many community projects including improving our parks, maintaining a rink, organising neighbourhood mixers, and City Scrubs. I’ve also been very involved in our neighbourhood school’s parent Council. Getting neighbours meeting and working together is the best way to make Grande Prairie Stronger and better.
I love opportunities to help support and strengthen our next generations. I moved to Grande Prairie to run youth programs throughout the Peace Country. Young people have also been a focus of my volunteer work. I have run youth disc golf tournaments and leagues and led the Ambassador programs for the Alberta Summer and Winter Games to give young people athletic community and opportunity. I also volunteer on the United Way Board, which has changed the organisations’ mandate to be focused on alleviating youth poverty in our community.
I enjoy finding a variety of challenges and needs in our community. This has led to me volunteering for Bear Creek Folk Festival, the Community Accessibility Advisory Committee, the evaluation team for Community Building Youth Futures, and various committees with Swan City Rotary Club. I’ve also provided communications support, strategic planning facilitation, governance coaching, and fundraising work to various non-profits. This work is in addition to the many boards and committees I’ve been appointed to by Council.
Along with my wife Naomi, I’m raising two energetic boys. Our house is a noisy, busy, often messy, but never boring place!
Our family is very involved in the boys’ school, loves playing board games, reading together, and bike riding around the neighbourhood.
When I have some free time and am not disc golfing, I enjoy getting together with friends to drink or make coffee and craft versions of other adult beverages. There is also no denying my inner nerd: I’ve always got some sort of sci-fi book on the go, and look forward to my weekly Dungeons and Dragons game.
