Board of Directors

Mr. Grant Parnell, Chair

BC Ministry of Agriculture
Grant is the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Strategic Industry Partnerships Division in the BC Ministry of Agriculture. Prior to being appointed to this role in late 2010, Grant held various policy and operating positions since 1985 within the BC Forest Service and in the Crown Land Administration Division in the former Ministry of Agriculture and Lands. Grant now leads provincial programs in business areas delivering federal – provincial agricultural risk management programs, emergency preparedness and coordination, initiatives to both strengthen farming and raise public awareness and support for farming, agri-environmental risk management programs and activities related to food safety, quality and traceability. Grant brings a deep understanding of the nature of public policy development and implementation, and the inherent tradeoffs and balances in reaching consensus with stakeholders in this important arena.

Mr. Nick Crisp, Vice Chair

BC Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations
Nick is the Executive Director, Oil and Gas Division, with the BC Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources for the Province of British Columbia. The Division’s mandate is to facilitate expanded investment in development of the province’s oil and gas resources in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. Nick is a forester (UBC) and a certified management consultant (CMC). He has worked in the private sector with Interfor, Bank of Montreal, and the Sterling Wood Group. He has been involved in the development of oil and gas resources since 2003, and has contributed to a number of projects ranging from an infrastructure-based public-private partnership (P3), to new legislation, to service-sector initiatives and social licence.

Dr. Roderick Negrave, Treasurer

BC Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations
Rod is currently Section Head and leads the Research program in the Coast Area. Current areas of activity include partial-cut harvesting issues, hardwood management, forest fertilization, and silvicultural practices to support Red and Blue-listed plant communities. He has worked in the areas of forest, range, agronomy and parks management for the BC and Alberta governments and for private industry. Rod received a PhD in forestry from UBC.

Ms. Annette van Niejenhuis, Secretary

Western Forest Products Inc.
Annette is currently coordinator for Western Forest Products’ Land-based Investment allocation. She continues to promote sustainable reforestation strategies and sound tree genetics resource management. Annette facilitates and supports research collaborations with Universities, government, and other industry partners. Research areas of interest include forest fertilization, variable retention, and genecology. Additionally, Annette volunteers as a councillor to the Vancouver Island Section of the Canadian Institute of Forestry where she promotes best practices through delivery of local presentations and work shops.

Ms. Chris Hollstedt, Chief Executive Officer

FORREX
Ms. Hollstedt is the CEO of the Partnership. Her contributions to the Board include providing the link between corporate policy and implementation, and providing secretariat functions. She brings 20 years of experience in natural resource management, research, and extension within the forest industry, government, and research organizations.

Dr. David Wilford, Past Chair

Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations
David has been Research Forest Hydrologist with the BC government since 1975. He has been a member of many local and provincial technical advisory committees, and was a founding director of the Forestry Continuing Studies Network. His extension activities include regular presentations at local and provincial conferences, and delivery of forest hydrology workshops around the province.

Mr. Steve Lorimer

Steve graduated from the University of British Columbia with a BSF in 1972. He has been an active member with the ABCFP since 1974. Steve has extensive experience in forestry and communications gained through a varied and interesting career with TimberWest and predecessor companies. Steve is currently a councillor with the ABCFP, and is involved with various organizations such as the Canadian Institute of Forestry, the Marmot Recovery Board Foundation, the Private Forest Landowners Association, the FIA Forest Science Program, and the Malaspina Forestry Program Advisory Committee. Steve is married with four adult children and three grandchildren.

Mr. Randy Trerise

Association of BC Forestry Professionals
Randy is the Registrar and Director of Act Compliance for the Association of BC Forest Professionals (ABCFP). The ABCFP is the professional organization created by the Foresters Act that licences, regulates, and represents all Forest Professionals in BC. Prior to joining the ABCFP, Randy was an operational forester in the Kootenays. He has extensive experience in silviculture, timber harvesting, sustainable forestry certification, environmental management systems, safety, and auditing.

Dr. Jeanette Armstrong

En’owkin Centre
An indigenous author and activist, her published works include literary titles and academic writing on a wide variety of Indigenous issues. Awarded the 2003 EcoTrust Buffet Award for Indigenous Leadership, she is distinguished with Honorary Doctorates from St. Thomas University, UBC Okanagan and Queens University. She holds the Okanagan College Lifetime Fellow award. She is the Executive Director of En’owkin Centre, the cultural research and education facility of the Okanagan Nation as well as being on faculty in Indigenous Studies at UBC Okanagan. She has a PhD from the University of Greifswald, Interdisciplinary in Environmental Ethics and Syilx Indigenous Literature. She is an Okanagan Syilx culture and language specialist and traditional knowledge keeper. She currently serves on Environment Canada’s Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge (ATK) subcommittee for the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC).

Dr. John Innes

University of British Columbia
Professor Innes is Dean and FRBC Chair of Forest Management in the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia. He teaches courses in international forestry and in the evolution and ecology of tropical rain forests (at the UBC Faculty of Forestry), and sustainable forest management (at the University of Melbourne, Australia). With extensive overseas research experience, he brings an international perspective to the Board.

Mr. Loren Kelly

BC Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations

Mr. Archie MacDonald

Council of Forest Industries
Archie is currently the General Manager of Forestry for the Council of Forest Industries. Based in Kelowna, his primary focus is forest policy. Archie is a graduate of UBC with a Bachelor of Science in Forestry. He is a Registered Professional Forester and a member of the Association of BC Forest Professionals. Archie has a wide range of woodlands/forestry experience, having held various positions in management, forest planning, silviculture, and harvesting in numerous locales around BC. Prior to joining COFI in 2003, Archie spent the previous 20 years working in Northern BC. The majority of this time was spent in Northwestern BC where he worked in the Terrace, Hazelton, and Smithers areas. Before this, he worked in Northeastern BC where he lived in Mackenzie following a short stint in Chetwynd. In addition to being employed by forest companies, he has also started and operated his own forest consulting company.

Dr. J.A. (Tony) Trofymow

Canadian Forest Service
Tony has been a Research Scientist with the Canadian Forest Service since 1984. He studies C and nutrient cycling (with a focus on the role of soil biota in detrital carbon fluxes and decomposition processes) and is a contributor and developer of the CFS-Carbon Budget Model. Tony is a leader of the Canadian Intersite Decomposition Experiment (CIDET), a study that examines long-term litter and wood decay rates at 21 forested sites across Canada with results used to revise the CBM-CFS3 soil submodel. He also leads the Coastal Forest Chronosequence Experiment (a study examining changes in ecosystem structure, processes, and diversity in old-growth and managed forests of coastal BC), and is a co-investigator in the Fluxnet Canada Research Network studying the effects of disturbance on stand-level C fluxes, stocks, and component fluxes at seven stations across Canada. Tony leads studies on historic C budgets, C stock distributions, litterfall, and root production at the coastal BC and interior BC stations, as well as a cross-station decomposition experiment. Through the British Columbia Ectomycorrhizal Research Network, he leads studies on ectomycorrhizal fungal diversity under variable retention forestry and development of online taxonomic tools for ectomycorrhizal fungi, including Concise Descriptions of North American Ectomycorrhizae, Photoprofiles and Ectomycorrhizae Database of Descriptions, and Matchmaker for Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest. Tony is a member of several boards and committees, and is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Victoria. He has supervised 6 professionals, 3 post-doctorates, 6 graduate students (committee member or co-supervisor), and 20 undergraduates.

Mr. Bill Woodward

Guildhall Management Ltd.

Mr. Chris Tollefson

University of Victoria
Born in Saskatchewan and raised on the Prairies and Ontario, Chris did his LLB at UVic and has spent most of his professional career on the West Coast. After law school he was a law clerk to Mr. Justice Lambert of the BC Court of Appeal before pursuing a litigation practice in Vancouver for several years that focussed on criminal defence and Charter litigation. A practicing member of the BC Bar, he has appeared as counsel on cases in the BC Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, and in the Supreme Court of Canada. Chris is a co-founder of the UVic Environmental Law Centre and the organization’s founding Executive Director, a position in which he has served pro bono from 1996 to date. His duties include overseeing operations of the UVic Law's nationally acclaimed public interest environmental law clinical program. He was a member of Canada's National Advisory Committee under the NAFTA environmental side agreement (2001-2006), sat on the Academic Advisory Committee to the Deputy Minister of International Trade (2002-2004) and has chaired the B.C. Community Forests Advisory Committee (2005-2007). Currently, he is a fellow of LEAD Int'l. (Leadership through Environment and Development); he is also a Director of the Ecojustice Legal Defence Fund having served as its Chair and President from 1997-2001. He was promoted to Full Professor in the Faculty of Law at UVic in 2007.

Mr. Saško [Sashko] Despotovski

Synergy Capital Market Advisors
Sashko is a UFV and UBC (Jack Bell Research Centre) science graduate, currently completing a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. He sits on the boards of a number of non-profit organizations, serves as an advisor to several private and public companies, and was induced, post-graduation, into the Golden Key Society of Canada as an honourary member. He was the in-house healthcare and biotechnology specialist for Ascenta Capital group, as a sole banker in this field. He has held several VP posts with public and private companies, and is currently advising a number of groups on going public strategies. Sashko has also been involved with a number of biotechnology and cleantech firms in the departments of research, business development and IPO (Initial Public Offering). He has solid knowledge of the systems governing Canadian and US Stock Exchanges and public company management, particularly in the technology and healthcare sectors. He has also published a number of peer reviewed manuscripts in the medical and science journals.

Mr. Howard Madill

BC Oil and Gas Commission
Howard is currently the Director of Stewardship with the BC Oil and Gas Commission. The mission of the BC Oil and Gas Commission is to regulate oil and gas activities for the benefit of British Columbians. Howard has 30 years experience in natural resource management. He has worked for a variety of federal and provincial agencies managing and regulating the use of natural resources. Having started his career as a Conservation Officer and Wildlife Technician, he has served as manager of land use, water, forestry, and wildfire programs in northern and western Canada. Howard has participated in and led land use planning projects, First Nations land claim negotiations, economic development programs, environmental assessments and the development of regulatory and policy frameworks pertaining to the management of natural resources. Howard brings a broad perspective on the management of natural resources to the Board.

Mr. Michael Lambert

Encana Corporation

Mike Lambert was raised in Dawson Creek, BC.  After high school graduation and some college, Mike spent several years with Environment Canada's Atmospheric Environment Service serving in the Western Arctic and in Alberta.  Mike was successful in winning his first BC provincial public service position with BC Environment in May 1986.  In June 2005, Mike was appointed Associate Deputy Minister and led the Integrated Land Management Bureau, with his team meeting or exceeding all objectives and achieving 6 Premier's awards from 2005 to 2008.  One of these was Gold Award for cross-ministry coordination.  Mike moved on to new challenges in 2009 joining the Ministry of Energy and Mines.  He served as an Executive Director leading completion of the Environmental Protection and Management Regulation, a cornerstone of BC's Oil and Gas Activity Act implementation.  In August 2010, Mike joined Encana Corporation in Calgary and is employed as an Environment and Land Use Advisor.  Mike earned an Environmental Studies degree from the University of Waterloo in 1998.  He has been married for 32 years and has two adult children both married.  He is also a proud grandfather to granddaughter Sam.

Mr. Butch Morningstar

Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations
Butch is currently the Executive Director for the North Central and West of BC. Prior to his recent posting, he spent five years with the Mining and Minerals Division of the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources. He has gained a broad array of experience in economic development and natural resource management over the years. His 14 years with the provincial government also includes work in Economic Development, Tourism, Business Planning and five years with Forest Renewal BC. Prior to coming to government, Butch was in the forestry consulting business in the Kootenays and worked overseas in Malaysia with CUSO, for more than 2 years, assisting rural farmers to intercrop with forestry operations. Butch started his career with the Ministry of Natural Resources in Ontario.