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Jo Whelan (Director)

Joan Harrison (Treasurer)

Sue deCarteret (Director)

Sue moved to Gabriola full time in 1967 with her parents Bill and Sheila Matthews. They lived on Peterson Road at Still Meadows farm. Sue started working at W&J Wilson’s in Nanaimo and was then transferred to Victoria where she became a buyer for Wilson’s. Ten years later Sue moved back to Gabriola to help look after her mom. Sue is a founding member of the Gabriola Island Chamber of Commerce and served three terms as President in the 80’s, She is a volunteer for the Info Centre and this year put in over 100 hours volunteering.  Sue married Bill deCarteret in 1989. They had a wonderful life together until Bill passed away three and a half years ago. Bill and Sue bought the Gabriola Sounder from Alan Howardson in 1991 and ran it for 17 years. Sue had to go back to work with Alan because she still owes him interest on the $1.00 that she never paid him! Alan and Sue now have a new small business, Sue And Alan Photo Restore. They take old/new slides, photos, negatives and digital pictures, clean them up and put them to the music of your choice. Check out their website at SueAndAlanPhotoRestore.ca.

Dorothy Jeanne Engst

Dorothy Jeanne Engst launched True Blue Spirit magazine in 2008. Over the past 25 years she has juggled her time between raising a family, running successful businesses, and maintaining a corporate management career. A writer and creative artist, she has now applied her fresh outlook to the publishing industry. With her outside the box thinking and an abundance of positive energy; she is always keen to hear new ideas regarding our ever evolving consciousness.

Steve Wohlleben (Secretary)

Steve moved to Gabriola in 1991 and constructed the largest shopping centre on the Island (Folklife Village) utilizing a recycled pavillion from Expo 86. During the many years since, Steve has served on the Chamber Board in various capacities including President. During his tenure on the Board the Chamber achieved a number of milestones including; establishing a "Visitor Info Centre", the creation of the "Dancing Man Music Festival" and the "Go Gabriola Brochure". Steve has also served on the Boards'' of the BC Chamber and Tourism Vancouver Island and has been involved on the executive of the Coastal Council to BC Ferries, the local Ferry Advisory Committee and the Gabriola Parks and Recreation Commission.

Following a year managing a Tourism Study for Tourism Vancouver Island and Vancouver Island University Steve rejoined the workforce in his current capacity as a Commercial Property Manager with DTZ Barnicke (Nanaimo) managing a portfolio on Vancouver Island and enjoys his time off with his family; hopefully tossing a football, fishing and golfing and playing slo-pitch baseball.

Gloria Hatfield

John Peirce (Director)

John and Nancy bought their property on the south end in 2000 and named it Namaste Farm, to reflect some life goals. They built their 22-sided mandala home in 2008 and moved to Gabriola permanently in 2009. On the farm, their long-term goal is to raise all their own fruits and vegetables to supply themselves year-round.

John has been active on the boards of GaLTT and the Gabriola Land Conservancy for several years. During 2010-2011 he has served as Co-Chair of the Volunteer Review Committee in support of the OCP review process.

In 2010 John became the Gabriola Representative for Rainwater Connection, providing consulting and design and installation services for rainwater harvesting systems. Rainwater Connection is based on Thetis Island and has become a leader in the Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island in providing sensible solutions for using rainwater for home and commercial use.

John has joined the GICC Board because he believes that a sustainable community on Gabriola depends on a robust local economy that can provide a variety of work opportunities for Gabriolans. A challenge for our community, including the business community, is providing enough housing at reasonable rents for those working on an hourly wage.

Ken Gurr (Vice-President)

Ken moved from Alberta to Gabriola in 1999 with his wife and two kids. With extended family on the coast, and a childhood spent here, the pull of the ocean and a community that fit the family philosophy was just too strong. With a college diploma in business administration and marketing, and ongoing professional development, Ken spent 20 years as a marketing, communications and fundraising specialist for: Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, NeWest Press, Alberta Government, Land Stewardship Centre of Canada (founding co-director), Georgia Strait Alliance, BC Government, and several other environmental and arts organizations. A conversation over-the-fence with his neighbour resulted in Ken training for and acquiring the on-island household service, Withey's Water Treatment in 2005, fulfilling another "life-list" goal to own and grow a successful, customer-service-oriented small business.

Ken has been an active volunteer in community issues his entire life, and with Gabriola -- a community without a municipal government -- sees the vital importance of the Chamber and all the island's service and membership organizations linking up to work on shared priorities that build community, economy, sustainability and our own island culture. Ken: "The two regional governments that serve Gabriola don't have the capacity to make things happen as quickly and effectively as citizens working for common purposes. We want good things done, improvements made, then we need to do it ourselves."

Rachel Davey (Director)

Rachel Davey is the Executive Director of The Haven, an international centre for personal and professional development. She has worked internationally in education management and consultancy for more than 15 years, for organizations including the British Council and the United Nations. She first visited Gabriola to come to The Haven in 2001 and then travelled to Canada from Cyprus every summer. She began working at The Haven in 2006. She lives on Gabriola with her husband and two children, who both attend the Elementary School on the island.

Carol Ramsay (Manager)

Carol grew up in Winnipeg, where she earned a degree in Social Work and later, after moving to Vancouver in 1979, studied at BCIT and earned a degree in Human Resource Management.

While living in Vancouver she worked for several large corporations and local government in the areas of accounting, law, human resources and communications.From 1995 - 2005 Carol taught part-time at BC Institute of Technology. Her courses included Scanning/Colour Correction, PhotoShop, Illustrator and InDesign. In addition, she worked extensively with the FAS/E Support Network of BC doing research, writing, graphic design work, spoke at conferences and taught seminars on this topic.Carol moved to Gabriola Island in 2000. She has worked with Islands Trust, the Arts Council, and the local newspaper (Gabriola Sounder). She has desktop published a book for a local book publishing company, does private tutoring and services a small client base who she designs print material for. She secured a position instructing on-line courses for VIU five years ago and currently instructs in Adobe Illustrator and InDesign, Design Concepts, and Portfolio Prep. For fun she likes to bicycle and can proudly say she has covered every road on Gabriola in this fashion. Hiking and kayaking, attending concerts and plays are also high on her list of ways to spend her spare time.Carol was a Director for the Gabriola Chamber for three years prior to taking on the position of Manager.