2007 Board of Directors

Email Don President Donald C. Pinkney Regional Sales Manager, Accent Inns Email Paul Past President Paul LeBlanc Owner/Operator, FASTSIGNS Vancouver Paul's early career focused on tourism related industries, including car rentals and tourism publications. Originally from Nova Scotia, he came to Vancouver in 1995 to start his business as Vancouver seemed to be the best place in the country to live. His subsequent experience here confirmed this. Paul also volunteers with the Vancouver Tourism Awards. Email Vivian Vice-President Vivian Farkas President, Rare Indigo Ventures Inc. At Rare Indigo Ventures Inc., Vivian works closely with business of any size to help them deliver meeting and incentive trips with flair and creativity.Among her many successes, Vivian hosted a Fortune 500 telecommunications company in Banff for a five-day, top-tier, multi-million dollar sales incentive trip for 280 business professionals. Managing corporate events and travel is second nature to Vivian. Raised in Vancouver and having lived throughout BC and Alberta, this BCIT graduate has a true passion for Western Canada. With more than eight years of experience in sales and marketing, travel promotion, destination and event management, her expertise is in demand across North America. Email Melissa Co-Director of Venues Melissa Allen Advertising Consultant & Classified Supervisor, Business in Vancouver One week after receiving her BA in Geography from the University of Toronto in 1996, Melissa moved to Vancouver. She began her career in advertising sales with Business in Vancouver two years ago.Joining Vancouver AM in the fall of 2006 helped cement her role as the “go to” person for BIV’s monthly Hospitality Tourism Report, and has provided her with many opportunities to network and become more involved with the tourism community. Joining the 2007 Board of Directors can only further Melissa’s knowledge and understanding of one of BC’s fastest growing and most important industries. Email Faye Co-Director of Speakers Faye Bednarczyk Tourism Marketing Specialist, Vancouver Art Gallery Approximately six years ago Faye decided to move from Vancouver Island, which she called home for the majority of her life, to pursue new challenges in the ‘big city’ of Vancouver. With over nine years working in the hospitality industry and a Bachelor of Fine Arts, she has followed her passion for the arts and carried out various contract positions in major arts and educational institutions throughout the Lower Mainland. Currently, Faye looks forward to discovering new ways to promote her new home (Vancouver) as an arts cultural destination. Faye also sits on the Downtown Business Improvement Association Marketing Committee, the Vancouver Tourism Awards organizing committee and is a proud member of the Downtown Vancouver Attractions Group. Email Kate Director of Fundraising Kate Brown Designer, Lifestylewest An experienced traveller, Kate is the designer of the Vancouver Raincoat and the 5 Essentials for Travel. She uses her experiences to develop designs for living.  She encourages local manufacturers to try different projects and promotes BC made products internationally. In her Granville Island store, Lifestylewest, Kate sells unique, BC made products for the West Coast lifestyle to tourists from around the globe. Kate believes Vancouver AM is a great organization to keep us informed of what is going on in Vancouver.  Email David Co-Director of Membership David Clark-Wilson President, Second Stream Marketing Inc. and Ultimate Gift Card Inc. David is an expert in the Gift Card and Prepaid Card business. He is currently writing the book “How to Make Money from Plastic cards in the 21st Century". He has two wonderful children, Charlotte and Oliver. David is helping the HSBC Celebration of Light develop a Legacy Funding program for sustainability. Email Bill Co-Director of Speakers/Special Events Bill Greenbaum Managing Director, Live Theatrical Ventures BC (LTV) Bill is an award-winning special events designer and theatre producer currently operating LTV, a cutting edge marketing agency. LVT offers visitor metrics, street teams, box office services, sponsorships, gift store / exhibit design and e-ticketing to leading attractions, festivals and theatres across Canada, the United States and Europe. Born in Toronto, educated in Switzerland, Bill brings more than 20 years experience to his clients and can truly walk-the-talk.Before moving to Vancouver, Bill served as Exhibition Director for Gunther von Hagens BodyWorlds2 in Toronto, Denver and Boston. Email Kimberly Co-Director of Special Events Kimberly Lejarzo Corporate Sales Manager, Delta Vancouver Suites Born and raised in Winnipeg, Kimberly is a true prairie girl at heart who originally left her roots because of her love for Latin America.Over the last ten years, she has lived in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica and is English/Spanish bilingual. She is a graduate of the McRae Institute of International Management and holds a degree in Psychology and Spanish from the University of Manitoba. She worked as an Event Manager for the Costa Rican Marriott Hotel in San José and spent a number of years with Rare Indigo. When Kimberly isn’t dancing up a salsa storm or running along the Sea Wall, she can be found sitting on a number of boards that benefit from her expertise, exuberance and passion for planning, including Director with the Canadian Special Events Society (CSES) and Past President for the McRae Institute of International Management. When she does have free time, she can be found fundraising for BC Cancer’s Underwear Affair – a fundraiser for cancers below the waist. Email Anne Co-Director of Venues Anne McCaw Director of Business Development,Simon Fraser University Vancouver Anne joined SFU just prior to the opening of the University's Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue in 2000. Formerly general manager of the Wosk Centre, she is now Co-Director of the newly-combined meetings department for the downtown campus. Before SFU, Anne worked with the Vancouver Board of Trade following a lengthy career with Distinctive Travel Services Inc. A graduate of the University of Saskatchewan, Anne is a member the Vancouver AM Board, the DVBIA marketing committee and the quality committee for the International Association of Conference Centres (IACC.)  Email Pat Director of Hospitality Pat Miller  President, Fairweather Cruises and Events Ltd With 16 years experience in the charter boat industry and more in the hospitality industry, Pat has incredible knowledge of the boats and tours available to her clients. She has organized charters for groups of up to 1000 delegates. One of the most satisfying was the 2005 10th Anniversary Celebration of Abreast in a Boat. Pat and her team organized a dinner cruise on four different boats for 750 breast cancer survivors and their supporters from all over the world, it was the highlight of their trip. Pat has been involved in many committees at the Burnaby Board of Trade and is currently the chair of the nominations committee for the 2006 Excellence in Business Awards. For the last ten years she has been a Director for the Carol Ship Parade of Lights Society. She volunteers with the Canadian Cancer Society and Mission Possible. Pat was born in Ireland and raised in Vancouver. She is married with three children. She has many passions, but her number one passion is promoting our spectacular city and giving her clients the truly magnificent experience of enjoying Vancouver from the water. Co-Director of Membership Christina Ng Sales Manager, Empire Landmark Hotel Born and raised in Vancouver, Christina is thankful for her parents for choosing this wonderful city to start a family. With a hospitality education, plus an interest in sales and marketing, Christina worked in accounting for almost six years. She finally changed careers to tourism and hospitailty. While starting in a new industry from the bottom, Christina has been taking sales and marketing night courses at BCIT. Christina can't think of a better city than Vancouver in which to live, work and promote! Email Christina Email Mark Director at Large Mark Polley Sales Manager, RPB Hotels & Resorts Somewhat of a rarity, Mark is a born and raised Vancouverite. Having a passion for the people side of the tourism business, Mark has over 25 years of experience in the hospitality tourism industry. He successfully completed BCIT's Marketing Management Program, majoring in tourism. Combining his love of sports with business, Mark has been involved in organizing a variety of events such as the Corby Cup Hockey tournament and hospitality golf tournaments. He is proud to call Vancouver home and cares deeply for the image and future of our city. Mark currently sits on the board of Meeting Planners International (MPI), BC Chapter. Email Bina Treasurer Bina Ramanaidu Owner, Minuteman Press of South Vancouver Bina provides full-service printing and graphics through Minuteman Press of South Vancouver. See Bina for all your printing needs - everything from business cards to full colour brochures to posters, etc.