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Our Board

2012 – 2013 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

No non-profit society would be successful without a strong, effective Board to guide it.

Carol Botting has lived in Maple Ridge since 1974. Carol taught ESL at Westview Secondary until her retirement in 2006. Carol is married to Doug and they have three daughters. Carol’s family have always been keen recyclers and composters with only 4 trips a year to the garbage transfer station. Carol has served on the board for almost 10 years.

Bill Elder (Treasurer) has resided in Maple Ridge since 1972, and taught school with the local district until his retirement in 2002. He has a keen interest in improving the environment and has been a member of the Recycling Society for over 15 years.

 

Candace Gordon is a founding member of RMRS. She has maintained a passionate interest in and commitment to the environment. In 1981, she wrote the Society’s constitution, and has served as President, Past President and Treasurer. She has also served 12 years on Maple Ridge Municipal Council. During that time she continued as a member and volunteer for the Recycling Society. In April, 2012, she was honored as Maple Ridge Community Foundation‘s 2012 Citizen of the Year.

Cherie Hankinson (Secretary) has been a resident of Maple Ridge since 1991 and has volunteered with the Ridge Meadows Recycling Society since 1995. First introduced to the Society through the Master Composter Course, Cherie realized Ridge Meadows Recycling was a good fit for her. Now a recent retiree from  St. Paul’s Hospital, Cherie hopes to learn more about organic gardening, find new ways to live simply and continue to reuse or repurpose items.

 

Jon Harris (President) has lived in Maple Ridge all of his life. Jon is a notary public and has served 12 years on Maple Ridge Council, 3 of them as the Council Liaison to the Recycling Society. Jon has lived on his 5 acres for almost a half century, trying to look after it in an environmentally safe way. He enjoys his hazelnut orchard and boating in his spare time.

Leigh Hodgins (Vice President) has lived in Maple Ridge since 1985 and has always had a keen interest in protecting the environment. She is the Assistant Corporate Secretary (Canada) for Spectra Energy Corporation and received her Bachelor of General Studies degree from Simon Fraser University in 2007. Leigh previously volunteered with the Minerva Foundation and annually participates in the Spectra Energy Helping Hands in Action event.

Dennis Kinsey (Past President) has lived in Maple Ridge with his wife Sandra and 3 sons for over 15 years. Dennis has been actively involved in environmental issues since 1984. He has served on the Board of Directors of RCBC and Encorp Pacific and was the chairperson for the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors National Environmental committee. Locally he served on the Maple Ridge Economic Advisory Committee. Among many varied projects, Dennis was actively involved in encouraging retailers and brand owners to take full life cycle responsibility for the products they sell.

Mike Mulcahy moved to Maple Ridge in 2007 and owns Big Feast, a local bistro & catering company with his wife Stacy. Together they are working on becoming a zero waste business and leading the way to an urban composting program for all restaurants partnered with the CEED Center. Mike has 3 young children who are all growing up with the environment in mind and attend the new Environmental School Project which began in the fall of 2011.

 

Carly O’Rourke is a graduate from Simon Fraser University with a Major in Communications, and currently works as a Constituency Assistant for the MLA of Maple Ridge – Pitt Meadows, Michael Sather. Carly loves to travel and her last trip was a year and a half in Thailand, India, and Nepal. In Nepal, she found her life partner and married Kishwor Sedhai.  Carly is a passionate environmentalist and ran for Maple Ridge Council in 2008 and 2011, motivated by her concern for Maple Ridge’s long term livability, rural character, and agricultural land. When Carly was a child both her parents worked for the Ridge Meadows Recycling Society. She describes herself as an anal recycler and composter, and refuses to accept a plastic bag at any check-out counter.

Paula Panek, a retired IT project manager, is a long-time resident of Maple Ridge.  She is a passionate advocate for building community resilience through the re-localization of economic activity and the judicious use of resources. She has served on the Haney Farmers Market Society and CEED Centre boards and has contributed on a number of Council advisory committees. She also presently serves as a director of FarmFolk CityFolk.

Sandy Sigmund lives in Maple Ridge and is the Vice President  & Chief Marketing Officer of Encorp Pacific Canada. She has been a senior manager with Encorp since its inception in 1995 and for the past 18 years has lead the steward’s Marketing, Communications and program development efforts.  Prior to Encorp, her career included managing retail toy stores as well as managing sales and merchandising as the Marketing Manager for a National Toy Retailer. Sandy is a BCIT graduate in marketing and business administration, and also holds a certification from the Institute of Corporate Directors, UBC in Governance for Directors of Not-for-Profit Organizations.  Sandy believes that industry-led product stewardship can create continuously improving environmental performance. She became a member of the RCBC board in 2010 and serves on the governance and policy committees. Sandy also sits on the Board of Directors of the Burnaby Board of Trade, serving as Chair of the membership committee and sits on the Environmental Sustainability Committee.

Ken Williams has been a resident in Maple Ridge since 1970. He taught secondary school for 30 years in the community until retirement. A Grade 11 program called Community Studies earned his students at Thomas Haney a Provincial Environmental Award in 2002 and his Envirothon Club represented British Columbia at the 2004 North American competition in West Virginia. Ken is active in Big Brothers, the Ridge Canoe & Kayak Club, 1^stHaney Scouting, and has been on the Board of Kanaka Education and Environmental Partnership Society (KEEPS).