Meet the Presenters/Guest Speakers
GUEST SPEAKERS
Hon. Clyde Jackman
Minister of Tourism, Recreation and Culture
Lunch
Friday, June 19, 2009
12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Mr. Jackman has served as a volunteer at both the local and provincial levels. He has been a member of the Board of Directors for the T. J. Macdonald Youth Group Home and, for 21 years, he worked as a volunteer firefighter. He has held several positions within his local church community and, for a period of time, he and his family provided foster care support. Mr. Jackman is an avid outdoors person. He particularly enjoys kayaking and canoeing. He has fished alongside trawlermen and inshore fishermen and he has a deep interest in the future of rural Newfoundland and Labrador. He was sworn in as the Member for Burin - Placentia West on November 12, 2003. He was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary for the Department of Education in June 2005. He was sworn in as Minister of Environment and Conservation on March 14, 2006. Mr. Jackman was sworn in as Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation on October 30, 2007.
THOMAS J. DAMMRICH
President
National Marine
Manufacturers Association
Conference
Dinner
Saturday, June 20, 2009
7 p.m.
Thomas Dammrich assumed the role of president with the National Marine Manufacturers Association in November 1999, bringing with him 30 years of association management experience.
Since taking the helm nine years ago, Dammrich has helped NMMA increase its membership upwards of 30 percent. Today, the association represents more than 1,600 members that produce 80 percent of the recreational boating products currently sold in the U.S. Additionally, under his leadership, NMMA has bolstered industry advocacy at both the state and federal level as well as expanded industry- and consumer-related research and statistics efforts.
Most notably, Dammrich was instrumental in helping finally unite the industry behind a strategy to increase the number of people who participate in recreational boating. The first-official national advertising and marketing campaign for the industry’s Grow Boating Initiative was launched in 2006.
Dammrich furthers his involvement in and commitment to recreational boating interests by serving on several industry boards, including the following: American Sportfishing Association He also serves as Chairman of the Board for the American Recreation Coalition; and Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation; International Council of Marine Industry Associations; and International Marine Certification Institute. He was most recently appointed by Secretary of the Interior to the Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council, and is on the National Boating Safety Advisory Council.
Dammrich’s academic accomplishments include an MBA and MS in accounting, with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He is also a Certified Public Accountant. Thom and his wife, Carol, have four adult children.
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PRESENTERS
Robert
Greenwood, Ph.D.
robg@mun.ca
Director, The Leslie Harris Centre of Regional Policy and Development
Rob
is the founding director of The Leslie Harris Centre of Regional Policy
and Development, which was launched on October 1st, 2004. The
Harris Centre’s mandate is to coordinate and facilitate
Rob
has operated his own consulting business and has served as a Director and
Assistant Deputy Minister of Policy in Economic Development departments in
Newfoundland and Labrador and in Saskatchewan. He was Vice President,
Corporate Development, Information Services Corporation of Saskatchewan,
and was founding Director of the Sustainable Communities Initiative, a
partnership of the University of Regina, the City of Regina, and the
National Research Council of Canada.
In
Saskatchewan, he led the development of the provincial economic strategy.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, he was Director of Research and
Principal Author of the 1995 Report of the Newfoundland Task Force on
Community Economic Development, entitled Community Matters: The New
Regional Economic Development. He then led the process to establish
Regional Economic Development Boards in 20 Economic Zones, based upon the
recommendations of the Task Force. Rob also led the development and
co-authored "A Strategy for Small-Scale Manufacturing in Newfoundland
and Labrador, which was launched in 1999.
Rob
holds a Ph.D. in Industrial and Business Studies from the University of
Warwick, England, which he attended as a Commonwealth Scholar and an
Institute of Social and Economic Research Doctoral Fellow. He was
Newfoundland’s representative on the International Advisory Board of the
North Atlantic Islands Program and co-edited "Competing Strategies of
Socio-Economic Development for Small Islands", published in 1998. He
has taught, consulted, published and presented extensively on community
economic and regional development, strategic economic planning, sectoral
and cluster development and knowledge mobilization. He is Past-President
of the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation and past-Chair of the
North Atlantic Forum.
Rob
is married to
Stan
Cook Jr.
President
Stan
Cook Sea Kayak Adventures
Stan
Cook Jr. is a private tourism owner and operator from St. John’s. His
family business is located in Cape Broyle
He
is the chair of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada. He chairs the
Brand Experiences with the Canadian Tourism Commission. Stan was co-chair
of the Atlantic Canada Tourism Partnership. He is a Past Chair of
Hospitality Newfoundland and Labrador. He is chair of the Gros Morne
Institute for Sustainable Tourism.
Gina
Pecore
President
Myx Meeting Centre
Gina
Pecore is president of Myx Meeting Centre in Topsail, Newfoundland and Labrador.
As an Accredited Business Communicator and Certified Professional Facilitator,
Gina’s 20-year career has revolved around working with organizations across
Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador to help them clearly communicate ideas,
decisions, visions and goals.
Gina
will facilitate the conference’s afternoon dialogue sessions to make sure key
thoughts and ideas are discussed, prioritized and recorded. Her work will
culminate in a conference report that communities, governments and businesses
can use to advance the province’s marina and recreational boating capacity.
Bruce
Sparkes
Managing Director
Clayton Hospitality Inc.
Bruce
Sparkes brings with him a great deal of experience in the tourism industry as a
Managing Director of Clayton Hospitality Inc., a 30 year old family hospitality business
with holdings in hotels, food & restaurant supply, tourism packaging and
real estate. He is the past-chair of the Canada Select Newfoundland and Labrador
and is very involved in tourism and community development in his hometown of
Bruce has been a boater for most of his life and just recently completed a trip from Saint John NB to Salvage NL in a 34 footer.
Patricia Nelder
Executive Director
Atlantic Marine Trades Association
Pat
Nelder has been around boats since she was born, and after finishing an
arts degree in Montreal, entered the recreational boating industry. After
working for boat manufacturing companies in Quebec and sailing as part of
delivery crews for several years on the eastern seaboard of the USA, she
sailed to St Maarten in the Caribbean where she established a marine chandlery
and yacht service company. She moved with her partner, Keith, to Nova Scotia
in 1989. Pat is the Executive Director of the Atlantic Marine Trades
Association, the official association of the recreational marine industry in
Maritime Canada, and the co-chair of the Maritimes Recreational Advisory
Council to the Office of Boating Safety. (Pat has never been to Newfoundland!)
The Atlantic Marine Trades
Association (AMTA) is the official voice of the recreational boating
industry in Canada's Maritime Provinces. Incorporated under the Canada
Corporations Act in 1987, AMTA is a not-for-profit organization whose mission
is to promote the sport of recreational boating and support its members in
their endeavours. AMTA members include manufacturers, distributors,
wholesalers, dealers and brokers of yachts, boats, engines and accessories, as
well as marina operators, recreational marine service providers and other
boating-related organizations. AMTA is the owner of the Halifax International
Boat Show. In recent years this has been a very successful event, drawing
exhibitors from the Atlantic Provinces and from as far away as Vancouver. It
is the premier boat show in the region. AMTA is a partner Discover Boating, a
public awareness effort managed by NMMA Canada on behalf of the Canadian
recreational boating industry. Discover Boating programs focus on increasing
participation and creating interest in recreational boating by demonstrating
the benefits, affordability and accessibility of the boating lifestyle while
helping to educate potential boaters and offering opportunities to experience
the fun and togetherness of being on the water in a boat.
(AMTA
is pleased to welcome Newfoundland member the Town of Lewisporte and would
like expand the definition to Canada's Atlantic provinces!)
Chris
Vincent
Central
Chapter Representative on the Board of Directors
Kayak
Neil Dawe, BD Ep, MLA
Tract Consulting Inc.
You might say that sail making and boat building run strong in the veins of a Stevens, especially when you think of Michele Stevens of Second Peninsula in Nova Scotia. Michele is a forth generation sail maker and great niece of famous boat builder David Stevens (known for building the schooner “Atlantica” during Expo 67). Under the tutelage of her father Robert, Michele re-opened the original Stevens sail loft on Second Peninsula in 1994. This same location is where Robert, her grandfather Harold and great-grandfather Randolph perfected the craft of constructing cruising/racing sails. Michele Stevens Sailloft Ltd. carries on the tradition of custom designed and individually crafted sails that meet your needs and demands as a cruiser. It’s not always work though, Michele, her husband Al Mosher (former broadcaster/MLA turner realtor) and their CS 36 “Easy Listening” traveled to Bermuda and then around the Caribbean and up the eastern sea board for a ten month luxury “working” vacation in 2004/2005. Michele is proud to make her living in the boating industry and is honoured to be the first female President of the Atlantic Marine Trades Association.
Gardner Pinfold Consulting Economists Limited of Halifax.
One Ocean
Leon
King
Area Habitat Biologist
Fisheries
and Oceans
During his leisure time,
Laurie
A. Roche
Marketing Coordinator
Cruise
Laurie is a
graduate of
She has
been in her current role are Marketing Coordinator with Cruise