Board of Directors & Staff

Click here for Past Board Members

Current Board

President

Janet Amsden, M.A.

Janet is a retired teacher and author of Grizzly Pete and the Ghosts (Annick Press, 2002).  She is married to artist Steve Amsden and has two grown children,  Jessie and Jackie. Interested in working toward sustainable communities, her current goal is building connections between like-minded members of the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows community. Janet joined the Board in the late 1990s.

Vice President

Jack Emberly

Jack describes himself primarily as a story teller. The "telling" of tales that make him think has been a lifelong passion. His interests include the well-being of the planet and the life that inhabits it (especially fish). He was one of the original directors of the CEED Centre in the 80s. Jack has recently retired from a long career in teaching, mostly in the area of special education, but  occasionally gives workshops to teachers and other groups. Jack has been an eduction newspaper columnist. He has produced a CD of stories related to school life, one book, and is working on another.

Secretary-Interim Treasurer

Paula Panek

Paula is lending her financial acumen to the administration of the Society after a career in municipal administration. She also volunteers on the boards of other community partners and is Co-Vice Chair of the Maple Ridge Agricultural Advisory Committee. She joined the Board in October 2009.

Trustee

Chum Richardson

A lifetime resident of the Ridge Meadows area, Chum has worked in the RCAF, shake & shingle and lumber sawmills and in the logging, trucking, farming, fishing and railroad industries over a career spanning five decades. Currently retired, his interests as a director are focused on the environment and global warming. "There used to be more snow in the summer on the Golden Ears than there now is in the winter." Chum joined in 2004.

Sheila Pratt

Teacher, Retired. A resident of Maple Ridge since 1968 except for year-long teaching exchanges to the U.K. and U.S.A., Sheila is devoting her retirement to community building, environmental conservation and organic gardening. She believes in thinking globally and acting locally. Her BA in Sociology/Anthropology was earned at Simon Fraser University. Sheila has been a director since 2003. She can be found most Saturdays at the CEED Centre booth at the Haney Farmers Market.

Geoff Mantel

Geoff joined the Board in Spring 2008, bringing an interest in rational transit development and urban planning among other issues. As a software developer and enterprise architect, his analytical abilities and large skill set are put to good use by the Society.

Gerry Pinel

Shortly after joining the Board in early 2009, Gerry spearheaded the CEED Centre's close look at climate change solutions, which eventually led us to establish a "transition town initiative" for our three local communities. A new retiree in 2010, Gerry is president of the Boiling Point Action Network on Climate Change.

Staff

Executive Director

Christian Cowley, MBA

Christian began managing the CEED Centre in August 2004. He is president of Concise Communications Corp., an investor relations and Japanese translation agency. Christian is presently a Vice Chair of the Maple Ridge Agricultural Advisory Committee and is spokesperson for the Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows Environmental Council. Christian served for many years on the Tonari Gumi board, a social services agency for the Japanese Canadian community in the Lower Mainland. As executive director, Christian is interested in environmentally oriented community development in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows. He raises poultry and bees in Maple Ridge.