Speaker Bios continued...
Bob Poore, Senior Director of First Nations Partnerships Plutonic Power.
Bob Poore, Senior Director, First Nations Partnerships, is a graduate of the University of New Brunswick with a Bachelors degree in Psychology, Sociology and Political Science. Bob has served as an Information Officer with the New Brunswick Electric Power Commission and as a Liaison Officer with The Council of Maritime Premiers. Bob held positions as Director of Marketing and Director of Sales for several BC-based high-tech companies prior to serving for three years as the Executive Assistant to the Minister of Competition, Science and Enterprise and the Provincial Revenue Minister of the Province of British Columbia. Bob was instrumental in completing Impact Benefit Agreements with the Klahoose, Sliammon and Sechelt First Nations for the Toba Montrose Project. He continues to work with First Nations in opportunities and joint-venture partnerships around Plutonic’s projects.
Matt Burns, Vice President, Commercial Operations, NaiKun Wind Energy Group Inc.
Matt, Vice-President, Commercial Operations, NaiKun Wind Energy Group Inc., has been with NaiKun Wind since 2006, where he is responsible for the Community Relations, Environment and First Nations files. Previously, Matt worked for the Vancouver International Airport Authority for over 10 years, where he most recently held the position of Director within the operations department. He has significant experience in project management and was responsible for several key business processes at YVR, including service contracts. Mr. Burns was also involved with the development of several major capital projects and spent a number of years acting as the liaison between YVR's engineering and operations departments. Mr. Burns holds a B.A. in Political Science from Simon Fraser University and an MBA from the University of British Columbia.
Bill Good
Bill Good has been covering news and politics in B.C. for more than three decades. For the past twenty years he’s hosted a daily talk show on Top rated CKNW and also co anchors CTV News at Six with Pamela Martin. He divides his time between the Sunshine Coast and Coal Harbour. He and his wife Georgy have three grown children and two beautiful grand children.
Tzeporah Berman, M.E.S is the Executive Director and one of the Co-founders of PowerUP Canada.
Tzeporah Berman, M.E.S is the Executive Director and one of the Co-founders of PowerUP Canada. Tzeporah is also a Co-founder of ForestEthics, a non-profit environmental organization with offices in Canada, the US and Chile. Tzeporah was one of the early architects of the forest markets initiatives and played a seminal role in the development and implementation of the campaign to protect Clayoquot Sound, the Great Bear Rainforest campaign, the Chilean initiative, the Boreal campaign and the Victoria's Dirty Secret campaign. Prior to joining ForestEthics, Tzeporah worked for seven years with Greenpeace International and Greenpeace Canada. Tzeporah received her B.A from the University of Toronto and her Master¹s in Environmental Studies from York University. Last year she was one of the experts interviewed in Leonardo Di Caprio’s environmental documentary 11th Hour, was profiled by Utne Reader as one of the “50 Visionaries Changing Your World,” and was one of six Canadian nominees for the Schwab Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award. In the last year Tzeporah has been featured as an environmental hero in Henry Miller's See Magazine, Metro Vancouver, Green Living and Shared Vision. Tzeporah is 39 years old and lives on Cortes Island, BC with her husband Christopher Hatch and their two children Forrest and Quinn.
Keith Baldrey
Keith Baldrey has been covering B.C. politics on a daily basis since 1986. He joined The Vancouver Sun newspaper as a general assignment reporter in 1984, eventually moving to the crime beat and then to Victoria to cover the provincial political scene in early 1986. He became The Sun’s legislature bureau chief in 1989, and joined BCTV (now Global) in 1995. Since then, he has reported regularly for the station’s various newscasts – morning, noon, and evening – on a daily basis. As Global B.C.’s chief political reporter, he has covered five provincial elections, seven federal elections, and eight premiers. Keith is also a regular weekly commentator on CKNW’s Cutting Edge of the Ledge segment on the Bill Good Show, writes a weekly syndicated column on B.C. politics for seven community papers in the Lower Mainland and appears regularly on Shaw Cable’s Voice of B.C. program. He has written regularly for B.C. Business Magazine and co-authored a book entitled Fantasyland: Inside the Reign of Bill Vander Zalm. Keith lives in Victoria with his wife, journalist/consultant Anne Mullens, and their two daughters.
Vaughn Palmer
Vaughn Palmer has been the Vancouver Sun's provincial affairs columnist, based in Victoria, since 1984. His column appears on P. 3 five times a week. He is also does commentaries on provincial politics on the Philip Till show and on Cutting Edge of the Ledge on the Bill Good show on radio station CKNW. He is a weekly commentator on Canadian news on radio station KUOW (PBS) in Seattle and the host of Voice of B.C. on Shaw TV.Chief Ken Brown Klahoose First Nation, Senior Director of First Nations Partnerships Plutonic Power
Chief Ken Brown is the elected Chief of the Klahoose First Nation, residing in the Squirrel Cove community on Cortes Island.
Ken spent his early years in Courtenay British Columbia, and as a young man travelled to the United States to train in close protection. Ken has primarily worked in BC's forest industry as owner of cedar shake manufacturing and related forestry businesses. He currently chairs the Qathen Xwegus (phon. kaa-then wey-gus) Management Corporation - translated as "Coming Together" - and is also President of the Powell River Educational Services Society.
Chief Brown is a passionate advocate of meaningful economic development for his nation, and his vision is driving a quest for economic self-sufficiency for Klahoose peoples. A measure of his success is that over 75% of current band revenues are earned from economic opportunities, rather than federal tax transfers to the First Nation.
Current projects include rebuilding the community's infrastructure, construction of new reserve housing and a 15,000 square foot multi-purpose building, and significant new business development in forestry, tourism, aquaculture, and run-of-river hydro generation projects within a variety of partnerships.
The Klahoose traditional territory encompasses Desolation Sound and islands in the northern Straits of Georgia as well as Toba Inlet and adjacent watersheds, and Klahoose peoples speak a dialect of Coast Salish.
