Team
The ECA Team
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Jarvis Strong
Jarvis joined the ECA as the inaugural ED in March 2023. He has nearly 10 years of experience as a nonprofit Executive Director and has lived in the South Georgian…
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Carolyn Davies
With 20 years experience in the non-profit sector, Carolyn’s professional experience spans area-based conservation, habitat restoration project management, species-at-risk captive breeding programs, youth education
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Laura Page-Hamelin
Having been an entrepreneur for over 15 years in the digital marketing space, and 2 years in the project management space, Laura felt she needed something more purposeful.
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Amy Billinghurst
Amy Billinghurst is a results driven operations manager, with over a decade of experience owning and running small businesses.
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Natalya Garrod
Natalya Garrod is a Registered Professional Planner with a specialization in Indigenous relations and environmental governance.
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Renee Christensen
Renee grew up in South Georgian Bay, deeply connected to its landscapes and natural heritage.
Advisory & Stewardship
Our Board of Directors
Our board is comprised of exceptionally talented, committed, and passionate people from across the ECA geography. Our board members are well-known and respected in their communities and by major land conservancies. They have held top corporate, financial, entrepreneurial, and governance roles in Canada. The board is structured into more than a dozen ‘portfolios’ with each Director assuming clear mandates.
Bios
ECA Board
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Bruce Harbinson
Bruce is a founder and President of the Escarpment Corridor Alliance. He has been deeply committed to land conservation on the Niagara Escarpment and throughout Georgian Bay for the past two decades.
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Stephen Griggs
Stephen Griggs is the Chief Executive Officer, Smoothwater Capital Corporation, focusing on building value in core portfolio companies, including as Chair of TSX listed Genesis Land Development Corp.
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Tom Eisenhauer
Tom is one of the founding directors of the Escarpment Corridor Alliance and is passionate about protecting our natural areas. He is an avid hiker, skier and cyclist in the Blue Mountains area.
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Martin Rydlo
With over 25 years of marketing and business development experience in health & wellness and community economic development.
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Mike Robbins
Mike Robbins is a professional tourism consultant with over 45 years of experience, having worked throughout Canada, as well as in the US, New Zealand/Australia, Southeast Asia, northern Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean.
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David Scoon
David spent his career in the financial services industry including banking, merchant banking, venture capital and asset management. He has an MBA from Ivey Business School, Western University.
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Martha McCarthy
Martha McCarthy was called to the Bar in 1991 and has practised exclusively family law throughout her career.
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Jane Pyper
Jane has held senior positions in non-profit and community organizations such as the YMCA of Greater Toronto where she was the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Strategy Officer and as City Librarian for the Toronto Public Library.
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Ian Whitton
Ian practiced as a public accountant in Collingwood and Thornbury for over 40 years both in his own firm and with Baker Tilley SGB before retiring in 2022.
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Dale Bidell
Dale Biddell is an experienced leader and consultant in the charity sector, dedicated to modernizing traditional nonprofit models.
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Annette Sandberg
Annette Sandberg grew up on the Niagara Escarpment on a farm between Castle Glen and the Scenic Caves, and she now resides in Collingwood.
Some highlights from our founding board:
- The two principals who led the 2004 OMB battle against Castle Glen
- The CEO of the organization that led the buyout of the “Mega Quarry” lands in Dufferin County in 2013 – 6,500 acres of prime farmland that had been under threat of development as an aggregate quarry
- Former leader of marketing & economic development for the Town of Collingwood
- Founding Chairperson / Director of the Georgian Bay Land Trust
- Immediate past Chair of CREST, the Center for Responsible Travel, a unique non-profit with the mission to promote responsible tourism policies and practices so that local communities may thrive and steward their cultural resources and biodiversity
Since our inception, the board has continued to grow adding key members covering important portfolios. ECA’s board of directors is:
- Dale Biddell
- Tom Eisenhauer
- Stephen Griggs, Chair
- Bruce Harbinson, President
- Martha McCarthy
- Jane Pyper
- Mike Robbins
- Martin Rydlo
- Annette Sandberg
- David Scoon
- Ian Whitton, Treasurer
To learn more about who we are and to get involved, please contact us and sign up for the newsletter!
