Garry Jobin has worked for BladeRunners for the past 20 years and continues to enjoy helping the at risk youth by securing careers in the construction trades. Garry has also assisted with the housing development at the Woodward’s building side by side with the late Jim Green and Garry was also the very first recipient of GVUAS Aboriginal day Leadership Award. Having lived and worked on the DTES for the past 25 years, Garry is well known and well respected. Garry is of Cree decent and he is also a proud grandfather of six grandchildren. I have an issue on that day though. Councilor Bligh is bring a serious motion forward on that day that I’ll need to speak to in council. I won’t know the rough timing of this until next Tuesday. I’ll need to be there in person. We may need to have a back-up person for me just in case. Typically council breaks for lunch so fingers crossed this works but they can be unpredictable.

Steven is a seasoned executive with more than 15 years of experience in the not-for-profit sector, working to improve the social and economic circumstances of vulnerable populations. He began his career in community economic development at Dixon Hall in Toronto, where he played a key role in building and supporting innovative programming for at-risk residents in the inner city. He relocated to Vancouver in 2014 to lead Tradeworks Training Society, where he guided the growth and revitalization of the agency’s critical employment and social enterprise programs. The majority of his experience supporting populations facing barriers to employment, including concurrent disorders and homelessness, comes from working in two of Canada’s most challenged and impoverished urban communities: Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and Toronto’s Regent Park. He has developed, delivered, and led innovative programming to provide support and solutions to improve the lives of residents with a focus on income generation and grounded in a social determinants of health perspective. He serves on a number of community boards, including the Advisory Board of the Binner’s Project, and is a mentor to many organizations in the Downtown Eastside.

Sheryl is an impactful team leader, the Provincial Director of Redevelopment at BC Housing, and is an experienced real estate development professional with a demonstrated history of working in the government administration industry and private development sector. Skilled in Land Development, Affordable Housing, Real Estate Development, Strategic Planning, and Social Housing. Community development professional as a PMP; a technologist with an Architectural and Building Technology (Construction Management & Economics) diploma from BCIT; and a geographer with a Bachelors in Urban/Human Geography from UBC. She joined BC Housing in 2009, with a portfolio that included partnerships with other senior government agencies, municipalities, and non-profit housing providers in the delivery of affordable housing solutions in the province. Sheryl is a certified Project Management Professional with academics in urban geography (UBC) and architectural and building technologies (BCIT). Her career portfolio is a diverse range of projects that includes multi-residential developments; master planned / mixed use communities; hotels; neighbourhood shopping centres; and regional retail centres. As Provincial Director – Redevelopment, Sheryl manages the revitalization of aging BC Housing assets with the intention of modernizing sites to meet current housing demands and bringing forward best practices in sustainable design, engineering & construction. In her spare time Sheryl enjoys interacting with public on all things real estate. Sheryl is passionate about facilitating affordable housing options and creating vibrant, complete & inclusive communities in BC.

Kaela is the Director of Projects and Planning at M’akola Development Services with over ten years of professional consulting experience and has been working with M’akola since 2011. In that time, she has successfully grown the capacity of the organization to a professional staff of 15 with backgrounds in planning, research, environmental management, communications, finance/accounting, project management and public health. Since being with M’akola, Kaela has directly managed or supervised the completion of 13 new construction, renovation/repair, or direct acquisition projects (representing over 375 units) with five new construction projects currently under construction (representing over 330 units). She provides strategic oversight and direction to all projects, with over 2700 units across the province representing just under $1B in construction costs. Kaela’s vision and strategic planning has allowed for M’akola to expand their services to now include planning and research, community engagement, development consulting, project management, operations management and capacity building, and Indigenous relations. She is a registered professional planner with the American Institute of Planners, has a Master of Urban Planning degree from McGill University in Montreal (2012), a Master of Education degree from St. Lawrence University in New York (2010), and graduated cum laude (honors) with a Bachelor of Arts in Geography and History from Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota (2007). In 2018, Kaela received recognition for her achievements and was named one of BC’s Forty under 40 by Business in Vancouver. She sits on the Women of UDI (WUDI) Capital Region Committee, Women of Urban Land Institute of BC (WLI) Committee and is a member of the Leadership Team driving ULI BC’s Partnerships for Health Equity Program.