In a Nutshell
What's Important to Me?
Family
Prioritizing the Dunnville Community
Doing What's Right
Finding Common Ground with the rest of the county representatives
What Do I Bring to the Table?
Strong Principles
Legal Contract Expertise
Financial Acuity
Relationship/Business Development Skills
Fiscal Responsibility
Corporate C-Level Executive Experience
Other Things You Need to Know About Me
I evaluate every situation on its own merits. I have always conducted myself like that and this has been reinforced more recently with certain events.
I don't believe in blind obedience.
I will engage with whoever wants to chat with me about Ward 6 and Dunnville.
Who Am I?
I was born and raised in Binbrook, ON when it was not even 5000 people strong. Everyone seemed to know everyone else. My parents still live in the house that my father built in 1960. As a kid I used to play in the farm fields surrounding my house, dirt bike on the farm trails and work at the Hamilton Gun Club. I also taught swimming at Brewster Pool (attached to Orchard Park Highschool in Stoney Creek). I was lucky enough to go to university and earned a degree in biomechanics. In my early working career, I was recruited into an athletic footwear company in the USA. One of my roles was in pro-athlete footwear. I was one of the specialists where I had the privilege of working on shoes for Venus Williams, Shaq, Ato Boldon, Pat Rafter, Lori Bowden and a bunch of other athletes. It was there that I decided that I could do more than apply my expertise in biomechanics - I could help businesses grow so I decided to earn an MBA. During my MBA, one of my footwear colleagues who was a supporter of my career goals introduced me to a start-up footwear company from Toronto. I became their VP of Merchandising after I finished my schooling. I opened new stores for them around Toronto and in parts of the USA. I also worked for HBC in Toronto developing footwear lines for them and as a Management Consultant at Skechers in California. I worked as a professional in footwear development from 1996 to 2007. Some of my career, until that point, was spent in Canada and some of it in the USA.
Eventually my career moved away from footwear. I wanted to come back to Canada and athletic footwear companies weren't really a thing here. That's when I made a dramatic career shift. I came back to Ontario in 2007 and got into energy projects. I knew nothing so I started at the beginning and worked as a project coordinator. I was ok with that because it gave me a solid base to grow from. Very quickly I advanced and was running a small division out of Burlington, ON. I loved it because I was near my family and learning tons of new stuff. I was in energy from 2007 to 2019. I “retired” in 2019 as the Canadian Country Manager of a multinational energy company. Then the pandemic hit. I was lucky as I had already moved back to Binbrook to be near my elderly parents. As Canada was coming out of the pandemic (ok ya a few times we were told that) I worked a series of contract, part-time "retirement" jobs at the City of Burlington and the City of Toronto. Then I got sick. I won't go into too many details but it wasn't great. I was really incapacitated for 1.5 years and wasn't doing great for another 6 months after. I recovered thank goodness.
Besides my passion for footwear and energy projects, throughout most of my life the sport of soccer has been a central theme. I started playing on an organized team when I was 11 and was a varsity athlete in university. I coached young boys and girls in soccer for many years since my 20s. It’s been a chosen volunteer activity throughout my life. I have also been a huge supporter of international women's soccer and was one of the pioneers for international women’s soccer tournaments. I was the volunteer organizer for the Women's Soccer satellite event held in Hamilton in 1993 for the World University Games. I'm proud to say that the success of that event led directly to Women's Soccer being included in the 1996 Olympics for the first time. Since that time I've volunteered my time at many Women's World Cups in various capacities. The Canadian Olympic Committee recognized my efforts and appointed me to a four year term as an official Olympic Supporter in 2021. Volunteering has always been important to me and it’s one of the ways that I give back to the communities that I'm involved in. I will never forget being in Vancouver in 2010 and volunteering for the Right to Play organization during the Vancouver Olympics. The City was so alive with Canadian spirit and, a huge bonus, I got to meet a few amazing athletes along with our other volunteers. It made me so proud to be a Canadian.
All of these experiences have helped guide me and often reinforce my central ideologies. When I got sick, my perspective on life got refocused and I knew it was time to get back to my country kid roots. Haldimand County had been a part of my life for a long time. My great grandparents are buried in the Decewsville Cemetery and I have family and friends who live and work here. I’m also a part owner of a business that contributes directly to the Caledonia Agricultural society.
When I started looking for a rural property in order to get back to my country roots, it made sense to look in Haldimand County. I wanted to live in a town that had characteristics of how I grew up and also had "community". It didn’t take me long to figure out that Dunnville was a great fit. I bought farmland in Dunnville in 2023 with the goal of building my forever home. The market is still a bit upside down so the build part is moving slower than I want. In the in-between I saw my parents needing more and more assistance if they were going to stay in the house my Dad built. I kept the farmland but also bought a house in Binbrook to be close to my folks. However, I consider Dunnville to be my community and my future. I am in Dunnville every week for events, volunteering and at my farm with my two dogs.
As I started to recover from my illness, my volunteer itch was also re-ignited. Volunteering gives me a real sense of accomplishment and connects me to my community. I now regularly volunteer in Dunnville. This year I volunteered with the team that organized International Women's Day at the Lifespan Centre. If you attended that event, you would have been greeted by me at the entrance as you came in. I also joined the Dunnville Chamber of Commerce and volunteered at the Mudcat Festival. In addition, If you spend any time at the Legion, I try to be there once a week to help out. If you see me please say hi.
In an effort to be more connected to my new community, I even took a customer service part-time contract job at the County. I worked there from March 2024 - July 2025. Many of you probably spoke to me on the phone or at the counter throughout the time I worked there. You may have even received an email from me if you sent in an inquiry.
Besides my volunteerism, another key ideology that was reinforced for me was the importance of doing the right thing and standing up or speaking up for what you believe is right. I’ve always had a strong sense of community and social justice but I also consider myself to be fiscally conservative. I think a healthy dose of all of those values keeps us honest and responsible.
