Board Of Directors

Dawn Black is a former Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and former three-term Member of Parliament, first elected in 1988.

Ms. Black attained national recognition for her advocacy on behalf of women, families, and the underprivileged. Prior to that, she worked as a sales representative for the Poul Moellar Agency and as an accounting clerk for the Vancouver Art Gallery and Traveller’s Insurance. Active in her community, Ms. Black volunteers for the Stephan Lewis Foundation and sits as a board member of the Broadbent Institute. She has worked with several international organizations such as UN Development Programme, the National Democratic Institute, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. She was also board member of the Legal Services Society. Ms. Black graduated from Fairview Commercial High.

Penny Wilson has more than 30 years of experience in senior marketing and executive leadership roles in the technology industry including Hootsuite CMO, Juniper Networks CMO, Macromedia CMO, Alias|Wavefront President and Merrill Lynch.

Ms. Wilson has a proven track record of delivering business growth and establishing market dominance through high performance teams and a strong customer focus. Penny enjoys spending her free time with family and friends, running, hiking and skiing.

Joel McKay is the CEO of the Northern Development Initiative Trust, a $300 million-dollar regional development corporation focused on stimulating economic growth in Northern British Columbia.

Mr. McKay joined Northern Development in June 2012, where he handled the Trust’s communications and marketing, economic research, and analysis. Prior to that, he was assignment editor at Business in Vancouver Newspaper and a journalist specializing in BC’s natural resource industries. Joel is editor of the Don Rennie Award-winning Small Town P.R. Playbook, a Jack Webster award winning journalist, and an alumnus of the Governor General’s Canadian Leadership Conference. In 2016, Kwantlen Polytechnic University honoured him with a Distinguished Alumni award. Active in his community, he is the former Chair of Media Relations for the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George and volunteers with the Rocky Mountain Rangers Association. Mr. McKay holds a Bachelor of Applied Journalism from Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

Nicole Vaugeois is the Associate Vice President of Research at Vancouver Island University (VIU).

Dr. Vaugeois held the BC Regional Innovation Chair in Tourism and Sustainable Rural Development from 2008-2017 and she was the Director of the World Leisure Center of Excellence in Sustainability and Innovation. She is currently a Director for the BC Rural Center and held former Directorships with the Travel and Tourism Research Association (Canada Chapter), Innovation Island, BC Rural Network, Tourism Vancouver Island and the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation. Dr. Vaugeois has had an active career as tourism researcher and her expertise has provided important insights for a range of stakeholders involved in tourism.

Doug recently served as Chief Councillor of the Kitasoo Band Council. Mr. Neasloss is a keen student of Kitasoo/Xai'xais history and culture.

Beginning his career as a bear viewing guide and Cultural Interpreter, he has spent 12 years becoming intimately familiar with Kitasoo/Xai' Xais Territory. As the Marine Use Planning Community Coordinator, He spent 6 years with the community, writing a marine use plan for their territory. He later moved on to become the Kitasoo/Xai' Xais Resource Stewardship Director and an elected Councilor. Active in his community, Mr. Neasloss serves as a Board member for Nature United, the Grizzly Bear Foundation, Coastal First Nations and CCIRA. In addition, he is the Executive Director of Spirit Bear Research Foundation and the Chairman of the Kitasoo Band Council.

Dr. Linda Hannah brings to Destination British Columbia three decades of experience derived from public and private sectors, as well as from not-for-profit agencies and the university environment.

Her professional focus is on governance issues: she has worked on resource, environmental and sustainability matters at the program, policy and project levels. Linda recently served as Regional Vice President of the Nature Conservancy of Canada. Under her leadership, significant conservation lands were added to BC's protected areas system. She held the Kinross Chair in Environmental Governance at the University of Guelph and advanced relationships between the university and broader community to promote reconciliation and sustainability. Her public policy background includes senior management responsibilities for fisheries and environmental protection, serving in Assistant Deputy Minister and Director roles, for the BC government. Linda holds a PhD from the University of Victoria, where she researched governance and measures that will make a positive and enduring difference in people's lives.

Sheila Bouman brings close to 20 years of experience helping organizations transform to have a higher impact. In her recent role as CEO of viaSport, Sheila worked with partners across sectors and government to champion changes so that more British Columbians can benefit from sport.

Partnering with business and community leaders to plan and implement innovative and positive change has been core to Sheila’s professional and volunteer work for over twenty-five years. Prior to viaSport, she worked with executive teams as a consultant and was then an executive for Cogeco Peer 1, a global technology company. She has also served as Chair of the Minister’s Tourism Engagement Council, an elected School Trustee, and President of the BC Organization Development Network. Her volunteer work continues today with a focus to advance gender equity in multiple sectors, through organizations like We for She, BC Tech, and Minerva.  Sheila graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education, and is also a certified Executive Coach. Her work today is with High Impact Lab, helping leaders and their teams increase their impact on employees, shareholders and community.  For fun Sheila is in the mountain as much as possible and exploring BC’s coast with her family.