Leon Gous is a civil engineer and executive manager with over 30 years of experience in city management, project management, design for mining projects, water resource management, management and design of urban water distribution and sewerage collection systems, and hydroelectric projects. Leon served as the Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Vernon for 6 years after serving for a couple of years as the General Manager, Community Services. Leon joined the City of Burnaby in 2013 as General Manager, Engineering (City Engineer) and currently is the City’s Chief Administrative Officer. In this role, he is responsible for the City’s $700 million annual operating budget and the annual delivery of capital projects valued at about $300 million. Leon holds a Bachelor of Engineering (civil) and a Bachelor of Urban Engineering (Honours) from the University of Pretoria, as well as a Masters of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University. He has been involved in projects in Canada, the USA, South Africa, the Philippines, Peru and Argentina.

Serena Lusk is the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) with the City of Richmond. She has been with the City since 2005 - progressing through various administrative roles in the organization. Serena leads a senior management team of six general managers and a total workforce of more than 2000 staff. With a population of approximately 230,000, Richmond is a culturally diverse and geographically unique community located on BC’s south coast only 20 minutes from downtown Vancouver and home to the Vancouver International airport. As an award winning city, Richmond has been the recipient of numerous awards for management and innovation.

Raul Allueva was promoted to the role of the City of Coquitlam’s City Manager in March 2023 after almost 13 years on the organization’s senior leadership team. Allueva served as Deputy City Manager from 2019 to spring 2023, General Manager of Parks, Recreation and Culture from 2013 to 2019 and Manager of Development Services from 2010 to 2013. Allueva is a Registered Professional Planner who brings more than three decades of experience in municipal government to his current role, much of that in leadership positions at large cities in Metro Vancouver, including Surrey and Richmond. His long service in municipal government management earned him recognition in 2021 from the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators. As Coquitlam’s City Manager, Allueva oversees the broad requirements of the organization, provides advice to Council and executes its decisions, and works with the City’s senior management and all departments to ensure effective and efficient delivery of services. Allueva led Coquitlam through the unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, and also oversaw Coquitlam’s award-winning Community Support and Recovery Plan, which fostered broad community resilience and long-term recovery by investing almost $4 million in direct relief to residents, businesses, not-for-profit groups and others in the community. Allueva’s negotiating acumen was instrumental in the City’s innovative partnership with the YMCA and Concert Properties – a complex, multi-year deal that brought major new public amenities to Burquitlam and significant savings to the City. Allueva was also the City’s top negotiator in finalizing a new vision for the City’s newest waterfront neighbourhood at Fraser Mills, which includes a new community centre and a range of other major public amenities delivered by Beedie. Other key accomplishments included orchestrating various joint-use field and school and public service partnerships with School District #43 that have resulted in cost-effective service delivery, and shaping the far-sighted Parks, Recreation and Culture Master Plan that was unanimously endorsed by Council in 2017 and continues to provide a framework and plan for future services. Throughout his career in municipal government, Allueva has pursued an upward trajectory that brought him new challenges and responsibilities and continually expanded his experience and expertise. Well respected both in the public and private sector, he is known as an energetic and creative leader and a keen negotiator with an ability to motivate others and build stakeholder relationships, and a distinguished track record of building partnerships that create community value and in conceiving, communicating and delivering visionary projects to the community.