Board of Directors

Mr. Grant Parnell, Chair

BC Ministry of Agriculture
Grant is the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Strategic Industry Partnerships Division in the BC Ministry of Agriculture. Prior to being appointed to this role in late 2010, Grant held various policy and operating positions since 1985 within the BC Forest Service and in the Crown Land Administration Division in the former Ministry of Agriculture and Lands. Grant now leads provincial programs in business areas delivering federal – provincial agricultural risk management programs, emergency preparedness and coordination, initiatives to both strengthen farming and raise public awareness and support for farming, agri-environmental risk management programs and activities related to food safety, quality and traceability. Grant brings a deep understanding of the nature of public policy development and implementation, and the inherent tradeoffs and balances in reaching consensus with stakeholders in this important arena.

Bryson Goodwin

Open Gold Corp.
Former Director, Investor Relations of Klondex Mines Ltd.; 18 years of experience in the public, private and financial markets, with concentration on corporate finance; involved in capital raising efforts, including a $10 million round completed in the midst of the 2008 market crash; maintains a very strong network of investment community relationships in North America, Asia and Europe.

Dr. David Wilford, Past Chair

Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations
David has been Research Forest Hydrologist with the BC government since 1975. He has been a member of many local and provincial technical advisory committees, and was a founding director of the Forestry Continuing Studies Network. His extension activities include regular presentations at local and provincial conferences, and delivery of forest hydrology workshops around the province.

Mr. Steve Lorimer

Steve graduated from the University of British Columbia with a BSF in 1972. He has been an active member with the ABCFP since 1974. Steve has extensive experience in forestry and communications gained through a varied and interesting career with TimberWest and predecessor companies. Steve is currently a councillor with the ABCFP, and is involved with various organizations such as the Canadian Institute of Forestry, the Marmot Recovery Board Foundation, the Private Forest Landowners Association, the FIA Forest Science Program, and the Malaspina Forestry Program Advisory Committee. Steve is married with four adult children and three grandchildren.

Mr. Randy Trerise

Association of BC Forestry Professionals
Randy is the Registrar and Director of Act Compliance for the Association of BC Forest Professionals (ABCFP). The ABCFP is the professional organization created by the Foresters Act that licences, regulates, and represents all Forest Professionals in BC. Prior to joining the ABCFP, Randy was an operational forester in the Kootenays. He has extensive experience in silviculture, timber harvesting, sustainable forestry certification, environmental management systems, safety, and auditing.

Dr. Jeanette Armstrong

En’owkin Centre
An indigenous author and activist, her published works include literary titles and academic writing on a wide variety of Indigenous issues. Awarded the 2003 EcoTrust Buffet Award for Indigenous Leadership, she is distinguished with Honorary Doctorates from St. Thomas University, UBC Okanagan and Queens University. She holds the Okanagan College Lifetime Fellow award. She is the Executive Director of En’owkin Centre, the cultural research and education facility of the Okanagan Nation as well as being on faculty in Indigenous Studies at UBC Okanagan. She has a PhD from the University of Greifswald, Interdisciplinary in Environmental Ethics and Syilx Indigenous Literature. She is an Okanagan Syilx culture and language specialist and traditional knowledge keeper. She currently serves on Environment Canada’s Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge (ATK) subcommittee for the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC).

Dr. John Innes

University of British Columbia
Professor Innes is Dean and FRBC Chair of Forest Management in the Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia. He teaches courses in international forestry and in the evolution and ecology of tropical rain forests (at the UBC Faculty of Forestry), and sustainable forest management (at the University of Melbourne, Australia). With extensive overseas research experience, he brings an international perspective to the Board.

Gerry Fraser

Progress Energy Canada Ltd..

Dr. J.A. (Tony) Trofymow

Canadian Forest Service
Tony has been a Research Scientist with the Canadian Forest Service since 1984. He studies C and nutrient cycling (with a focus on the role of soil biota in detrital carbon fluxes and decomposition processes) and is a contributor and developer of the CFS-Carbon Budget Model. Tony is a leader of the Canadian Intersite Decomposition Experiment (CIDET), a study that examines long-term litter and wood decay rates at 21 forested sites across Canada with results used to revise the CBM-CFS3 soil submodel. He also leads the Coastal Forest Chronosequence Experiment (a study examining changes in ecosystem structure, processes, and diversity in old-growth and managed forests of coastal BC), and is a co-investigator in the Fluxnet Canada Research Network studying the effects of disturbance on stand-level C fluxes, stocks, and component fluxes at seven stations across Canada. Tony leads studies on historic C budgets, C stock distributions, litterfall, and root production at the coastal BC and interior BC stations, as well as a cross-station decomposition experiment. Through the British Columbia Ectomycorrhizal Research Network, he leads studies on ectomycorrhizal fungal diversity under variable retention forestry and development of online taxonomic tools for ectomycorrhizal fungi, including Concise Descriptions of North American Ectomycorrhizae, Photoprofiles and Ectomycorrhizae Database of Descriptions, and Matchmaker for Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest. Tony is a member of several boards and committees, and is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Victoria. He has supervised 6 professionals, 3 post-doctorates, 6 graduate students (committee member or co-supervisor), and 20 undergraduates.

Mr. Bill Woodward

Guildhall Management Ltd.

Mr. Howard Madill (Vice Chair)

BC Oil and Gas Commission
Howard is currently the Director of Stewardship with the BC Oil and Gas Commission. The mission of the BC Oil and Gas Commission is to regulate oil and gas activities for the benefit of British Columbians. Howard has 30 years experience in natural resource management. He has worked for a variety of federal and provincial agencies managing and regulating the use of natural resources. Having started his career as a Conservation Officer and Wildlife Technician, he has served as manager of land use, water, forestry, and wildfire programs in northern and western Canada. Howard has participated in and led land use planning projects, First Nations land claim negotiations, economic development programs, environmental assessments and the development of regulatory and policy frameworks pertaining to the management of natural resources. Howard brings a broad perspective on the management of natural resources to the Board.