Speakers

Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto is a facilitator by trade with university degrees in law and science.  A businesswoman active in community causes for decades, Marianne was first elected to Victoria City Council in 2010.  She was elected to the Capital Regional District (CRD) government from 2011 - 2018, where she chaired its landmark Special Task Force on First Nations Relations.  Re-elected to the CRD in 2022, she now chairs its Arts Commission, and is a member of the CRD Core Area Liquid Waste Management, First Nations Relations, and Hospitals and Housing Committees, and the Capital Regional Hospital District Board.
 
Mayor Alto is currently co-chair of the Victoria/Esquimalt Police Board, a member of the Victoria Regional Transit Commission, the BC Transit Board, Victoria’s Citizens’ Assembly Council Committee, and the Te'mexw Treaty Advisory Committee.  She has been City Council liaison to the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, South Island Prosperity Partnership, Greater Victoria Public Library, Destination Greater Victoria, Royal and McPherson Theatres Society and a host of other community and professional organizations.  Mayor Alto has been Council liaison to most of the city's neighbourhoods, and is matriarch of the City Family (a unique collaboration among the City, the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations) having nurtured a long, rich relationship with those Nations.  President of the Canadian Capital Cities Organization for 5 years, she remains its Past President.
 
A zealous advocate for increased housing supply and affordability, Mayor Alto actively facilitates civil discourse toward the realization of an intentionally transformed city.  Mayor Alto convened the city’s first collaboration with Island Health and service providers working in the various fields of harm reduction, addictions and mental health, and initiated the city’s first open data portal, driving the city’s commitment to open government.  She continues to be committed to expanding the city’s efforts at smart city technology, in particular as it enables Victoria’s capacity for climate adaptation, disaster planning and response, optimizing citizen engagement and inclusion, public transportation and the lifecycles of infrastructure assets.
 
Married and a mom of two boys, Marianne is a lifelong activist who vigorously advocates for equity, inclusion and fairness for everyone.  She owns and operates Azimuth Research & Consulting, a firm specializing in problem solving, change management and facilitation.  Mayor Alto owns a home in Victoria’s Burnside Gorge neighbourhood.

Dr. Willerth, a Full Professor in Biomedical Engineering, holds a Canada Research Chair in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Victoria where she has dual appointments in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Division of Medical Sciences. She also holds an appointment with the School of Biomedical Engineering at the University of British Columbia and is a Fellow of the Canadian Society of Senior Engineers. She recently founded the start-up company - Axolotl Biosciences that sells high quality bioinks for bioprinting human tissue models. She is an active member of the steering committee of the B.C. Regenerative Medicine Initiative and the Stem Cell Network. She also serves as a staff scientist at Creative Destruction Lab. She served as the Acting Director of the Centre for Biomedical Research and the Biomedical Engineering undergraduate program at the University of Victoria from 2018-2021 and as the President of Canadian Biomaterials Society from 2018-2019. She was elected to the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars and Engineers and Geoscientists of B.C. awarded her their Teaching Award of Excellence in 2021.

Derek Gent has served as CEO for the local YMCA / YWCA since 2019. The Y has been around for almost 150 years on the Island and currently operates recreation centres, childcare facilities, social housing for young mothers and for independent youth, a 1200 acre wilderness site at Camp Thunderbird and a range of programs delivered across the region. Prior to the Y Derek was CEO at the Community Foundation associated with Vancity Credit Union and worked for many years in impact investing through Vancity’s Venture Capital division and the previously named Pacific Coast Savings in Victoria. He started his career working in microcredit in Bangladesh after completing an MBA at Queen’s University, and he grew up in Edmonton. Derek has taught a number of courses at the University level, and volunteered on many nonprofit Boards, including Imagine Canada, Aga Khan Foundation, Cooperators Group, New Market Funds, the Loran Scholarship, and Victoria’s Rent Bank.

Frank Bourree is a Fellow of the Canadian Certified Management Consultants
Institute. Until retirement in January 2020 Frank was the CEO and owner of
Chemistry Consulting Group Inc. which operated 9 offices in BC with 130 staff.
Chemistry Consulting along with its subsidiary company GT Hiring Solutions
provided Business and Human Resource Services including a contract with the BC
Government for WorkBC Employment Centres on Vancouver Island and the BC
Lower Mainland for over 25 years.
Chemistry Consulting Group and it’s sister company GT Hiring Solutions has won BC
Business Magazines “Best Companies to Work For” five years in a row.
For 12 years Mr. Bourree was a Partner and Tourism Consulting Director for Grant
Thornton LLP Chartered Accountants and Management Consultants. Prior to
entering the consulting business, Mr. Bourree was the BC regional manager for
Controlled Foods International (Earls) for 15 years and then for 10 years an owned
and operated of 10 of his own restaurants.
Frank specializes in Human Resource Consulting and Recruitment, Strategic
Planning and Business advisory services.
With direct experience in most industry sectors Frank has a wealth of experience to
assist any business or non-profit strategic advice.
Active in his community, Mr. Bourree is the Chair for the South Island Prosperity
Project (SIPP) , Past Chair of Our Place Community Advisory Board, Past chair for
the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce, on the board of BC Youth Futures, a
Leadership speaker for the United Way, a Lifetime Member of Tourism Victoria the
Treasurer of the Victoria Spirit committee, the Past President of Community Living
Victoria Foundation and a former board member of Tourism BC. Mr. Bourree is a
Member of the Order of St John and a Fellow of Canadian Certified Management
Consultants.
Frank and his wife Jane enjoy a blended family with 7 children all over 19 and six
grandchildren and are enjoying the empty nest lifestyle.
Phone: 250-881-2674

John Baxter has a Bachelor of Mathematics and Business Administration and a Masters of International Development. Having worked on entrepreneurship programs both in Canada and Abroad he has worked with a wide variety of businesses. He uses this experience to help his clients with all aspects of their business idea, helping them to develop a business plan that will guide their business through startup and growth.

Chief Constable Del Manak is in his 33^rd year of policing. He started his policing career with the Vancouver Police Department and joined the Victoria Police Department in 1993, where he has served in a variety of sections and roles. Chief Manak was promoted to the rank of Chief Constable on July 1, 2017 and he is honoured to serve as the Chief Constable in the city where he was born and raised.

Chief Manak is a graduate of the FBI’s National Academy Program and the Dalhousie University Police Leadership Program. In 2019, he completed his Masters of Arts in Terrorism, Risk and Security Studies from Simon Fraser University.

In 2011, Chief Manak was the recipient of the Sergeant Bruce MacPhail Award for Academic Excellence. In 2014, Chief Manak was appointed Member of the Order of Merit of the Police Forces. In addition, he is the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal and the Police Exemplary Service medal.

Chief Manak has coached many baseball, hockey and soccer teams over the years and remains active in the community.

Paul Nursey joined Destination Greater Victoria in January 2014. He is an experienced and respected senior tourism leader and progressive tourism marketing, strategy, and branding expert with 25 years of tourism-related leadership and management experience. He has held leadership positions with the Canadian Tourism Commission, Rocky Mountaineer Rail Tours, Mount Seymour Resorts and Tourism Vancouver – the Greater Vancouver Convention and Visitors Bureau. Widely regarded as one of Canada’s top tourism policy minds, Paul serves on the board of Destinations International and the Tourism Industry Association of Canada as the Advocacy Committee Chair.

During his tenure at Destination Greater Victoria, Paul has transformed the organization using the Balanced Scorecard performance management framework. In 2016, Paul successfully negotiated a new funding relationship with local hoteliers, the City of Victoria and Province of BC that enables Destination Greater Victoria to better execute strategic planning over the medium term. Under Paul’s leadership Destination Greater Victoria has assumed responsibility in a natural evolution with SportHost Victoria to partner on sports tourism in Greater Victoria. He has also overseen conference business including co-founding the IMPACT Sustainability Travel and Tourism Conference.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Paul has moved Destination Greater Victoria to a leaner and viable financial model, worked with industry to create the Greater Victoria Rescue and Recovery Task Force and has set the organization on a pathway to support industry for both short term survival and medium term recovery.  This is being done sustainably and in lock step with the values of the community.

As the CEO of Destination Greater Victoria - a member organization of Destinations International - Paul Nursey has taken the Destinations International Equity, Diversity and Inclusion CEO Pledge. He is committed to cultivating a visitor economy that represents a wide variety of individuals at all levels, celebrating the broad range of human differences among us and embracing the commonalities we share. The Destinations International Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion CEO Pledge is available here. Paul has achieved his professional milestones despite a learning disability diagnosed later in his career. For most of his life, Paul did not understand his dyslexia but now has become open and transparent about it. Destination Greater Victoria is committed to an open and inclusive working environment.

Paul holds a degree in Regional Planning from Simon Fraser University, has completed the Executive Development in Tourism program from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, and has completed the Directors Education program from the Institute of Corporate Directors and University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

The Hawker Typhoon JP843 is being built at our facility in British Columbia with the goal of once again returning a Hawker Typhoon to the skies. The project is being constructed using surviving parts from Typhoon recoveries, factory drawings, and highly accurate reverse engineering practices to bring the aircraft back to its former glory. It is our goal to see JP843 fly with the mighty Napier Sabre engine, and we are investing heavily in our work to make this happen.

The restoration/rebuild of JP843 is the passion of all members involved, and our team of eleven highly experienced aerospace and design professionals are volunteering their time and expertise to see this through to flight. If you would like to help the project by making a donation, please select “donate” from the shop tab above, and you will be re-directed to a secure site.

Ian Slater, Project Lead, apprenticed as a Millwright/Machinist/Industrial Mechanic prior to joining the Canadian Air Force in 1997 as an Aircraft Structures Technician. He is a licenced Aircraft Maintenance Engineer “S” (Structures) with experience in both civilian and military structures overhaul, repair and restoration. Ian has experience on 16 fixed and rotary wing aircraft types. During his service with the Canadian Air Force, Ian served with many units throughout Canada and the Middle East including 438 and 440 Squadrons, two of the three Canadian Wartime Typhoon units. Ian has been working towards the goal of an airworthy Typhoon since 1991.