Jeff Gilmer
Municipality of Port Hope Deputy Mayor, Representative

Jeff Gilmer Chairs the Economic Development Committee for the Municipality of Port Hope. He was born and raised in Port Hope, the son of Dorothy and Jim Gilmer. The Gilmer family has a long history in the community, owning and operating Gilmer's Home Hardware Building Centre from 1972 to 2010.
 
Jeff attended Port Hope High School, graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in Recreation and Business in 1981 and worked for 3 years for the former Town of Lindsay as a Recreation Programmer. Rejoining the family business in 1985, he remained involved for 25 years.

Jeff and his wife Cyndi have been married for 27 years and have three children Christopher (26), Brian (23) and Jennifer (18). The family moved from the urban area to Canton in June 2006. He is an avid local sports supporter, former President of the Chamber of Commerce and former Board member of the Dalewood Golf and Curling Club.

Jeff is prepared to bring his years of business skill, teamwork and true appreciation for the Municipality to his work on Council.

Eric Lawlor
Ontario Ministry of Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), Representative

Eric has had a number of roles within the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs since joining the Ministry in 1987. He currently has a dual role of Economic Development Consultant and Regional Information Coordinator. As an Economic Development Consultant, Eric provides consultative services and specialized assistance to municipalities and community economic development agencies. His role is to assist individuals and businesses to achieve success to better the rural economy. Activities include delivering Economic Development tools, facilitate development of economic development strategies and plans, and providing individual, business and organizational advice.

These activities are complemented by his role as Regional Information Coordinator in which he focuses on increasing awareness among agricultural and rural clients of the importance of and implications of emerging trends and technology. He identifies emerging issues that impact on the agricultural and rural sector and helps address them by coordinating and marketing the resources of the Ministry relative to the issues.

Prior to joining the Ontario Public Service, Eric had a career in private industry as a management consultant and as sales manager and product manager for manufacturing and agricultural supply companies.

          


 


Wendy Curtis
Northumberland Community Futures Development Corporation (NCFDC), Representative

At the forefront of Northumberland Community Futures Development Corporation is Wendy Curtis, Executive Director. Wendy is responsible for delivering the organization's mandate of assisting small and medium sized enterprises, as well as enhancing the communities' economic and employment growth through community-based planning and economic development initiatives. Strengthened by education, with an Honours Bachelor of Commerce from Queen's University, Wendy is guided by her desire to lead progressive, dynamic firms that have embraced a customer orientation to their business, delivering superior results via management principles that value individuals, teamwork, quality and strategic focus. Wendy's past career experience is a hallmark of success including progressive marketing assignments with Pillsbury Canada Limited where she delivered business growth in both market share and profitability for well known consumer brands including Green Giant™ vegetables and Pillsbury/Totinos™ pizza products. Wendy was appointed Director of Trade Marketing, working with the national sale force to implement marketing management business principles with grocery wholesale customers across Canada. She lived several years abroad in Mexico City, Mexico where she served as Vice Chair of Newcomers of Mexico, assisting the organization to develop its programs in response to its 1000+ membership.

The success Wendy has experienced in her career is mirrored with her personal commitment to community. She is currently an active participant in numerous community projects including, the Northumberland Manufacturers Association - Board of Directors, Northumberland Youth Advisory Council - Steering Committee, Town of Cobourg-Mayor's Task Force and the Cobourg Economic Advisory Committee. Wendy was also the Founding Co-Chair of Habitat for Humanity Northumberland Women Build, Founding Co-Chairman of the Northumberland Hills Hospital Foundation Annual Gala, Founding Chairman of the Town of Cobourg Municipal Safety Task Force and the Past-Chairman of the Cobourg Public Library Board of Trustees among others. She is a multiple recipient of the Town of Cobourg civic awards (2003, 2005) and in 2007 was named the Northumberland Business Woman of the Year by Northumberland Publishers.

Her leadership at Northumberland CFDC has resulted in record gains in lending, business services and expansion of community economic projects and the CFDC has been recognized through several municipal and provincial awards of excellence.

Bree Nixon

Manager, Port Hope and District Chamber of Commerce

From 1997 - 2001, Bree was the office manager and a chiropractic assistant for Dr. Robin Whale at Northumberland Chiropractic Care in Port Hope. Bree worked for Dodd Media from 2001 until 2008 as an advertising coordinator for 25 American magazines, although her focus was on the fashion and lifestyle publications (Vogue, Vanity Fair, Glamour, Architectural Digest, GQ, etc). She was the Eastern Offices Manager for Classical 96.3 & 103.1FM, working out of Cobourg and Toronto, for 3 years prior to taking this position with the Port Hope Chamber of Commerce.  Her professional skill set is strongest in business administration, organization and media.

               





Bradley Robertson - Secretary
Northumberland Manufacturers Association (NMA), Port Hope Representative

Brad has been a member of the board of the Northumberland Manufacturers' Association (NMA) since its inception in 2006, holding a number of table officer positions.  Raised in Iroquois, Ontario, Brad graduated from Queen's University in 1987 with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering.  After 5 years working as a design engineer for a military and communications electronics supplier, Brad joined Esco Port Hope in 1992 as a design engineer.  From 1997 onward, Brad has held a number of roles on the Esco team including manager of Facilities and Equipment (capitals and maintenance), Technical (manufacturing engineering/QA) and Continuous Improvement (Lean).  Since 2008, Brad has split responsibilities with corporate QVS (Lean) and Sustainability files for Esco and local Port Hope Energy and Environmental roles.

                                                                                                                                                   




Deborah Clifford - Chair
Post-Secondary Educational Facility, Representative

Deborah has over 15 years of business experience which includes all aspects of marketing and sales, building dynamic and collaborative implementation teams and operations management. She has provided leadership across a broad spectrum of industry sectors including education, technology, not-for-profit and media.

During this period, Deborah completed a M.Sc degree with specialization in creativity and change leadership as well as a certificate in interactive marketing.

Deborah's business development experience coupled with her flair for building strong community relations serve her well in her current role as Manager of Fleming College's Northumberland campus. Her focus is providing "on the ground" leadership to effectively serve the education and training needs of Cobourg and surrounding communities.

Dr. Michael Owen, Ph.D. Associate Provost, Research, UOIT

Michael Owen, Ph.D., is Associate Provost, Research and Professor, Faculty of Education at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Prior to joining UOIT, Owen was Vice-President Research and Graduate Studies and Professor in the Faculty of Liberal Studies, Ontario College of Art and Design. He also has held positions of Professor and Associate Vice-President Research and International Development, Brock University, and Director of Research Services at Brock University, Ryerson University and the University of Saskatchewan and Assistant to the Vice-President Academic at Athabasca University.

Dr. Owen has extensive experience in research management and administration and leadership in scholarly associations in Canada. He served as Vice-President Research Dissemination of the Canadian Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences, President of the Society of Research Administrators' International (SRA International), President of the Canadian Society for Church History (CSCH) and President of the Canadian Association for Foundations of Education (CAFE).

Richard Jorge
Resident of the Municipality of Port Hope with business background practicing in accounting or finance.

Richard is an accredited Personal Financial Planner with RBC Wealth Management, he has been with Royal Bank Financial Group for over four years and is currently working out of the Port Hope branch. Richards role focuses on the accumulation and protection of wealth, as well as tax-efficiency and retirement planning for the employed, retired, and self-employed. Richard is a resident of Port Hope, he has studied Business Administration as well as Marketing and has experience in retail sales, management, and personal finance.

David Pamenter
Resident of the Municipality of Port Hope with business background practicing in law.

David Pamenter is a business law partner in Gowlings' Toronto office. He is the national leader of the Firm's Technology Industry Group and a coordinator of the Cleantech practice. David has more than 30 years of experience in technology law, business and commercial law, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance issues and private corporate finance. 

David is co-chair of the International Trade Subcommittee of the International Business Law Committee and chair of the International Transactions Committee of the Mid-Market Committee, Business Law Section, American Bar Association. Designated an Institute-certified director, ICD.D, David is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors.

David is a founding member of Cleantech North, a group of concerned service providers working collaboratively to mentor Canadian Cleantech companies.