Vision Vancouver Executive

Working on the Downtown Eastside for the last five plus years has shown Carolyn how much we need to do as a City government to make this community a part of the larger vibrant whole.  The Four Pillars strategy remains the best forward thinking plan for addressing the most serious issues in the neighbourhood.  As a practicing lawyer with more than thirty years experience, Carolyn understand how the system works and what is required to make changes. As an executive member of Vision Vancouver, Carolyn believe she can bring her knowledge to the decision making process and try to ensure that as a civic party we remain committed to resolving the basic issues that affect the quality of life of many residents of Vancouver. 

An expert in negotiating and public policy, David publishes regularly on public policy in the Toronto Star, Globe and Mail and Embassy Magazine. As a negotiation consultant, David works with leading companies across North America, helping them develop and implement strategies for maximizing value from partnerships, alliances, customers, and suppliers.  In addition, David works with non-profits and government agencies, consulting on public policy and strategy. In the past he volunteered extensively with Canada25, a non-profit think-tank that engages Canadians aged 20-35 around the world in public policy debates. In this capacity he served as Canada25's lead author of "Charting a New Path: A Compass for Canada's Future,” written at the request of the Privy Council Office. In 2004 was lead author of "From Middle to Model Power: Recharging Canada's Role in the World.” David was an Action Canada Fellow and held a Sauvé Scholar Fellowship at McGill University in Montreal. Born and raised in Vancouver, David is a graduate of Queen's and Oxford University. 

Esther has worked and volunteered in the non-profit sector since 1979, including work for Vancouver and District Public Housing and Tenants Association, the Firehall Arts Centre, The Norman Rothstein Theatre, and Strathcona Community Centre Board. For 5 years she was a faculty member at CapilanoCollege, Asia Pacific Cooperative Management Program. Esther is developing her unique direction as a photographer, studying and exhibiting in the Lower Mainland over the past ten years. She is a creative and motivated person who has initiated and implemented innovative projects and initiatives, ranging from housing to the arts. She strongly believes in contributing through volunteer work in the community to building a better and more equitable society. Currently, she consults for the Vancouver Oral Centre for Deaf Children, and coordinates the Stories of Compassion Book Project, a collaboration between the VSB, Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House and the  Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education. Esther was very involved as a volunteer in the both of Vision's civic campaigns.

Denise is the Co-Founder of Fairware Promotional Products Ltd, a Vancouver based company specializing in ethically sourced, sustainable custom branded promotional products. Previous to launching Fairware, Denise was the Director of Sustainability and Community for Mountain Equipment Co-op for seven years. At MEC she was responsible for overseeing MEC’s national efforts to be a leader in social and environmental responsibility.

Denise was on the board of BEST for over 3 years, including one year as the Chair of the Board and Chair of the Board Development Committee. She was an inaugural Fellow of Action Canada, a national public policy leadership program and sat on the City of Vancouver’s Ethical Sourcing Policy Task Force. Prior to MEC, Denise spent two years as the Director of Policy and Communications for the Recycling Council of BC. She has a Masters in Resource and Environmental Management from SFU and lives in East Van with her partner, their two children, and lots of bicycles.

Joie is employed as a national representative with the Communication, Energy, and Paperworkers Union of Canada. She also sits as a member of the Executive Council of the BC Federation of Labour. In the past she has worked as a director with the BC Federation of Labour in the portfolios of Community and Social Action, Women's Rights and Apprenticeship & Skills Training. Joie is also active in the global labour solidarity movement, and was a board member of the Canadian Asia Pacific Resource Network (CAPRN) from 1999-2007.

The first Vancouver civic election campaign that she worked on was Mike Harcourt's successful run for Mayor in 1980, and she was pleased to work as an Executive Assistant to Mayor Larry Campbell in 2004. Joie shares Vision Vancouver's progressive economic, social and environmental values and has been a member of the party since its inception.

Martha is currently the Senior Vice President of Renewal Partners - a collection of Vancouver based organizations providing investments, grants and collaborations for long term solutions, and brings 20+ years of experience overseeing financial administration of assets for individuals and companies.  She also has an active role in Renewal2, a new fund providing the opportunity for investors to participate in the development of business at the forefront of social and environmental innovation.  

Martha previously served as Assistant Treasurer for Tides Canada Foundation and Treasurer of the Sage Foundation (now known as Tides Initiatives).  She is a member of the faculty for Play BIG, a series of invitational workshops for those with significant resources and is a director of Renewal Land Company, which promotes conservation-based land use while working to create viable models of forest conservation on private land.  Martha was a founding member of Commercial Real Estate Women of Nashville and a multi-year volunteer for Artrageous and Historic Nashville (in Tennessee where she lived until moving to Vancouver in 1999).   

She lives in a historic house close to City Hall; and is a long time member~volunteer for Vision Vancouver.