Introductions

I have extensive experience providing strategic advice, options and recommendations to senior management, both in government and in the private sector. My areas of expertise include:

  • Online communications

  • Strategic planning

  • Project management

  • Research and analysis

  • Personnel management

One of my key aptitudes is an ability to intake and synergize significant quantities of complex, technical information with the goal of condensing and make it comprehensible for a broad, low-literacy audience. This enables me to conceive of issues and think of them very clearly in strategic terms. Many times over the course of my career I’ve been commended for how, after encountering new information, I very quickly “get it.” I particularly enjoy establishing strong strategic goals and then inspiring others to devise tactical approaches to fulfilling them.

I am a superb writer and enjoy collaborating with others on written material. I’ve been a professional writer for over three decades and was a columnist for CBC Radio and the Yukon News for many of those years. I am an accomplished public speaker and have excellent media skills. Because of my experience, I particularly enjoy mentoring developing communicators in the craft of the written and spoken word.

I have formally studied media and communications at Royal Roads University, Capilano College and the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. In 2000, I received the Yukon Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the Business Development Bank of Canada.

Private sector

I have represented the interests of dozens of private companies, not-for-profit organizations and government agencies and advised their leadership on effective communications and marketing strategies and campaigns, including:

  • Council for Yukon First Nations

  • City of Whitehorse

  • Northwestel

  • Whitehorse Hospital

  • Yukon College

  • Various Government of Yukon departments

I am a Yukon internet pioneer, having been responsible for many important advances in online communications in the territory. Here are a few significant milestones:

  • Established the Yukon’s first e-commerce site for Whitehorse-based Midnight Sun Gallery and Gifts in 1996.

  • Delivered Yukon’s first web-based advertising campaign in 1996 for Whitehorse-based outfitter Uncommon Journeys on Yahoo, two years before Google was founded.

  • Developed the first newspaper websites in the Yukon, for the Yukon News and the Whitehorse Star, in 1997.

  • Delivered the Yukon’s first live webcast in 1998, of the 20th anniversary of the Dawson City Music Festival.

  • Developed a predecessor to Pokemon Go in 2008 as a location-based text messaging treasure hunt to promote and drive customers to Whitehorse businesses.

  • Led a team that delivered a hybrid social media/traditional media game in 2019 that bridged generational divides.

Innovation and creative approaches to problem solving come naturally to me, as I’ve demonstrated repeatedly throughout my career. I continue to seek clients interested in advancing their operational, communication, and strategic goals through the application of unique approaches and solutions.

Government

I spent six years in a leadership role with the Yukon Workers’ Safety and Compensation Board (YWSCB) as their Manager of Social Marketing and Communications and, for over a year, acted as their Director of Corporate Services. I provided strategic advice, insight, options and recommendations to senior leadership. I also developed a number of important advancements that provided the organization with a range of improvements.

  • Established a formal issues management process.

  • Developed a strategic approach to communications through an annual planning process.

  • Enabled outreach and education staff to successfully expand their program to such an extent that they received the Premier’s Award of Excellence and Innovation in 2018.

  • Completed the Government of Yukon’s Leadership Pathways program.

  • Oversaw the establishment of an organizational style guide.

  • Established a standardized communications asset management system.