The Team

The Strathcona Sustainability Committee

Toby Barazzuol - Sustainability Committee Chair

Toby Barazzuol is the founder of Eclipse Awards, a local company that specializes in creating personalized recognition awards and counts organizations such as NASA, Microsoft, Oracle, and the United Nations amongst its clients.  In 2002, Toby moved his company to Strathcona with the goal of making a positive contribution to the Dowtown Eastside.  Two years later Toby was honored as one of BC's top 40 under 40 by Business in Vancouver.   Over the past few years, Eclipse Awards has introduced sustainability to its operations while still maintaining a growth rate of 20-30% each year.
 
Toby currently serves as the Vice Chair of both the Strathcona BIA and the Strathcona Revitalization Committee. 
He believes that the next generation of businesses must take on a greater role of social responsiblity and operate more sustainably, but that doesn't mean they won't be profitable, healthy, inspiring and fun.

Cathy Kwan - Strathcona BIA Executive Director 

Purdy Lee - Event Planner

Beth Ringdalh

Celina Starnes - Sustainability 1.0 Calender Designer

Celina is an environmental educator with Metro Vancouver, as well as a freelance illustrator and graphic artist.  Having moved to Vancouver in 2007, she has made great strides to integrate herself into the environmental community.  She has participated in Metro Vancouver’s Sustainability breakfasts, Green Drinks, the BCSEA, and the Global Habitat Festival.  Most recently, she has contributed her artistic abilities to the Strathcona BIA in creating the Strathcona’s Sustainability Calendar.  She brought together a number of artists from the community to create an incredible resource for companies starting down the path of sustainable development.

Celina’s interests and passion for promoting the integrity of human relations and the environment has brought her from one end of the continent to the other and even to South America.  Between semesters at McGill’s School of Environment, she worked with endangered species research and environmental education.  She has also traveled throughout Western Canada, Northwestern USA and Bolivia, visiting and learning from intentional communities and ecovillages.

At McGill she worked with the Organic Food Coop and Gorilla Composting (a university wide program) as coordinator of communications, marketing and branding.  In her new home of Vancouver, she will continue to develop her abilities by cultivating positive change.

Danielle Carrie

Juan Carlos Villegas

Kira Gerwing, MScP

Kira Gerwing has been with the City of Vancouver Planning Department since 2005.  Her current focus is projects supporting the regeneration of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, specifically through community economic development, land use planning and policy development.

Prior to working at the City, Kira was a regional planner for an environmental non-profit organisation with extensive experience in conservation planning along British Columbia’s coast.  She holds a Masters in Community and Regional Planning from the University of British Columbia and Bachelor of Geography from the University of Victoria. 

Kira’s core area of interest lies in partnering with marginalized communities to develop plans that synthesize their cultural and physical resources with traditional and community values.  She has provided community and professional workshops on strategic planning, land use policies, community economic development, and government-to-government consultation.
She is a member of the Planning Institute of British Columbia and a mother to two young children.
 

Lori Schlechtleitner

Marilyn Kopansky

Marilyn Kopansky is the co-founder and President of Edible Planet Catering. Edible Planet has provided 14 years of top quality catering to the film and television industry, and large public events in locations ranging from the Canadian Rockies to the Yangtze River in China.Marilyn and EP's recipe for success has been to combine the creative talents of the team with the best available products and ingredients to satisfy clients’ needs for exceptional service and cuisine. As a member of the Green Table, Get local and Ocean Wise, Edible Planet values sustainability and makes an effort to protect the integrity of the food source. Completion of a major renovation of their building at 460 Railway Street in Strathcona has enabled Edible Planet to serve a wider market through a café and production kitchen. Active in her community, Marilyn is a board member of the Pot Luck Café Society and Strathcona BIA. An energetic team builder and motivator, Marilyn encourages people to excel by enabling them to "operate in their genius". 

Nelson Borges

Vicki Scully

Volunteers

David Lee

Stephanie Lee

Richard Jones

Travis Clyne

Tina Ngo