CPAWS Trustees

Oliver Kent has been a trustee of CPAWS since 2006, and was national Treasurer until being elected as President in 2009. He was previously Treasurer of the Ottawa Valley chapter. Oliver spent most of his 35-year professional career as a partner in the management consulting practice of Price Waterhouse, which became part of PricewaterhouseCoopers and was later acquired by IBM. He provided advice to federal, provincial and municipal governments and Crown corporations across Canada on business, operational and technology strategy; program management; and the implementation of change. He also had local and national leadership responsibilities for consulting in the public sector. When he retired from IBM in 2008, Oliver returned to graduate school and earned an MA in Economics focusing on resource and environmental economics. He also has a BA in Economics, an MBA, and is a Certified Management Consultant (CMC). Oliver has been an outdoor enthusiast for five decades. He has enjoyed canoeing, backpacking, cycling, cross-country skiing, and running in every province and territory of Canada. He spent Christmas of 2008 climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with his daughter. His wife, Martine Jaworski, is a paediatrician focusing on learning and behavioural issues. Together, they have three adult children.

Marie-Eve Marchand is from Quebec. She moved to Boulder in 2009 to join the Wild Foundation, and has recently returned to the Canadian Rockies. She has a business degree, a Masters in Environmental Sciences and has extensive experience with non-profit management such as budgeting, fundraising, staff recruitment and development, board liaison and communication. As a former Executive Director of the CPAWS Quebec chapter she helped develop the idea of Wilderness in French “Nature sauvage” and played a key in role in the Quebec government’s commitment to protect at least half of Northern Quebec. She also received the Golden Leaf Award from the Canadian Council on ecological Integrity for the work she led to protect the Dumoine watershed. She is a member of the World Commission on Protected Areas (IUCN-WPCA). She is currently working in a campaign to bring the plains bison back to Banff National Park in Canada as well as working on the Nature Needs Half program with WILD.

Pippa is a lawyer with over two decades experience working as a public interest advocate with NGOs across the country. After 12 years as counsel at the national Public Interest Advocacy Centre, she started up the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic at the University of Ottawa where she led numerous legal and policy initiatives to promote the internet as a public resource and to protect individuals from online exploitation. She is a nationally recognized privacy and consumer advocate and has been a frequent media commentator and presenter at conferences on issues arising from new technologies.

In 2008, Pippa and her spouse moved to Whitehorse, Yukon, in part to enjoy the extensive wilderness that makes Yukon such a special place. She now works part time for the Department of Justice, Yukon Government and is active on the Board of CPAWS-Yukon as well as the Whitehorse Cross-Country Ski Club.

Although her career has focused on consumer protection, Pippa’s biggest passion is environmental protection. She is most happy skiing, hiking or paddling in the unspoiled backcountry. She is also a competitive cross-country skier and keen cyclist. She has been a supporter of CPAWS for many years, and is committed to the protection of large, connected expanses of wilderness throughout Canada.

Stephen Mayor has been a trustee since 2008. He is currently a board director and conservation committee chair of CPAWS NAB, and previously served as a board member and vice-chair of CPAWS NL. Stephen is a PhD candidate at the University of Alberta, studying ecology. His research investigates large scale biodiversity changes in response to human impacts (oil/gas, forestry, agriculture, etc.) across boreal Alberta. His MSc research focused on woodland caribou habitat selection in Newfoundland. He has been awarded numerous research grants and scholarships, and has published in top ecological journals. Stephen’s love for wilderness began with canoeing and backcountry travel. He has paddled and hiked on multi-week trips in Yukon, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland, previously leading expeditions for vulnerable youth.

Ray’s career in the ENGO and the private sector has primarily been in the areas of wilderness conservation advocacy, government and stakeholder relations, media and marketing. In particular, he has been active, both professionally and as a volunteer in ENGO work in the area of wilderness conservation in Nova Scotia.

As the Wilderness Coordinator for the Ecology Action Centre for the last six years and a Director of the Nova Scotia Salmon Association for over a dozen, he has had the opportunity to play a leading role in a number of successful conservation campaigns in Nova Scotia. As the leader of the Nova Scotia Public Lands Coalition (www.publicland.ca) he developed significant experience in grassroots conservation campaign planning and execution. He acted, in turn, as strategist, organizer, advocate, spokesman, fundraiser and lobbyist regarding wilderness conservation and inland fisheries issues.

In his professional career prior to joining the Ecology Action Centre, Ray worked in the communications field, including creative concept development, production management in various media, and broadcasting.

He is very familiar with CPAWS, having worked over the last six years with local CPAWS staff, board members and volunteers on a number of successful campaigns. His organization and CPAWS are currently planning a Big Wild trip together into their latest wilderness area target – Ship Harbour Long Lake.

A lifelong resident of northern British Columbia, Wayne Sawchuk has worked as a logger, trapper, sawmill worker and wilderness guide, and has become renowned for his work as a conservationist, author and photographer who has fought to protect the country he once logged. He owns and operates a trap line in the remote wilderness of Canada’s northern Rockies, and is a sought after speaker on issues of conservation and wilderness protection.

In January 2009, Wayne was made a Fellow of the Explorers Club, a prestigious honour given to a very few individuals around the world who promote new field science and discovery. Wayne’s appointment recognizes the many expeditions of scientists and artists he has led into what is now known as the Muskwa-Kechika area of the Rockies.

Wayne began working on environmental issues in 1990 and was a key player in the land use planning process that brought resource industry, environmental, outfitting, trapping and First Nations interests together with government to develop policies that led to the creation of the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area. This innovative land use planning and management model has attracted the attention of conservationists and governments around the world.

Evan Sorestad has been a CPAWS supporter and volunteer for 25 years, holding various volunteer roles from Chapter Board member to national trustee. Evan holds a law degree from the University of Saskatchewan and is a member of the Saskatchewan and Alberta Law Societies. He is currently employed as a Labour Relations counsel with Federated Co-operatives Ltd. in Saskatoon, SK and has been involved in collective bargaining, arbitration, mediation and manager and employee education. Evan has extensive experience with Human Resources issues, and has practiced exclusively in the area of employment law for 15 years.

Evan volunteers for the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society because he believes that wilderness has an inherent value and deserves to be protected, and wants to contribute to this goal.

Peigi brings 16 years of experience dedicated to national and international environmental law and policy with a focus in past ten years on Aboriginal rights. She worked for several years with the Assembly of First Nations, including as the Director of Environmental Stewardship, where she drafted many policy briefs and represented the AFN nationally and internationally on environment issues.

As a consultant, she assisted Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation in negotiation, communications, and legal strategy, aiding in the peaceful resolution of uranium exploration dispute. She also worked with the Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq, the Union of Nova Scotia Indians and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency to amend the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.

Internationally, she provided advice to UNEP and various developing countries, and was commissioned by the Secretariat for the Convention on Biological Diversity to prepare the Composite Report On The Status And Trends Regarding The Knowledge, Innovations And Practices Of Indigenous And Local Communities Regional Report: North America, in 2003 and 2007.

She is a Director of the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources, and has been on the board of the Greater Bobs and Crow Lake Association where she organized development of a lake management plan.

Dave is a lawyer in Winnipeg. As much as he loves his work as a lawyer, he often yearns to be on a river. Dave has been a member of the board of the CPAWS Manitoba chapter since 2003 and a National Trustee since 2004, first as the Manitoba Chapter Representative and then as an elected trustee. Dave chaired the Manitoba Chapter board for a number of years.

Dave currently serves on the Executive Committee of the National Board and as Chair of the Engagement Committee. As Co-Chair of our Major Donor (Fundraising) Campaign, he provides leadership to our ongoing efforts to expand private funding both at the Chapter and National levels.

Dave has extensive experience with a variety of NGOs, in both board and senior staff positions. With degrees in law and business administration, and a heart for their opposites, he is firmly committed to the work and vision of CPAWS.