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A Career Spent Inside Municipal Organizations
The work I do now comes from everything I learned there.
I spent over three decades working inside a municipal organization in Ontario — in roles that put me in the room where trust was built, where it was tested, and sometimes where it broke down.
That experience is not a talking point. It is the foundation of everything I bring to this work. When you reach out, you are working directly with me — someone who has lived the governance pressures, the Council dynamics, the staff cultures, and the invisible weight that leaders carry when no one is watching.
When I work with a CAO, a director, or a leadership team, I don’t need things explained. I’ve lived the context. That means we can get to what actually matters, faster.
My Background
Some Things Don't Change
When I was a supervisor in aquatics in the early 1990s, managing more than 150 lifeguard staff I told my team that we had three priorities in order. Safety first. Then team. Then service to the people we were there for. The order mattered. And I was deliberate about it. I put team before customer service because I believed and still believe that you cannot manufacture great service. If the people doing the work feel genuinely supported, connected to each other, and proud of what they do, that shows up naturally in every interaction with the
public. You don’t have to tell them to smile. You don’ have to script the experience. It happens because the culture is right.
Thirty years later I am still working from the same framework. In municipal leadership the language is different psychological safety, team trust, and service to the community but the logic is exactly the same. You cannot serve a community well if your team is fractured. You cannot build a strong team if people don’t feel safe enough to speak honestly. And none of it is sustainable if the leader at the centre is running on empty. I didn’t learn this from a leadership book. I learned it on a pool deck and every role I’ve held since has confirmed it.
Credentials
Coaching &Facilitation
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Associate Certified Coach (ACC) — International Coaching Federation
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ICF Member
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Strengths-based practitioner
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Over three decades of facilitation and leadership experience in the municipal sector
Sector Experience
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30+ years inside a municipal organization in Ontario
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Deep familiarity with Council/CAO governance dynamics, staff culture, and the specific
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pressures of public sector leadership
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Experience working with frontline staff, supervisors, managers, directors, and senior
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leadership
Community Practice
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Facilitator, GenWell — a national movement dedicated to building human connection and belonging in communities across Canada
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Chief Community Development and Programming Officer, PACE Canada — supporting older adults across Canada to age in place through coordinated health and community care
How I work
I work from the inside out — starting with the individual leader, then the team, then the relationship between the organization and the community it serves.
This isn’t just a framework. It reflects something I genuinely believe: that sustainable leadership
starts from within, and that the strongest teams are built by people who know themselves well
enough to show up consistently for others.
There are three ways to work with me — each a distinct entry point depending on where you are
and what you need:
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Coaching — supports the individual leader — building self-awareness, clarity, and the capacity to lead sustainably. For leaders who want a private, confidential space to think clearly and find their footing.
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Programs — strengthens the team — building trust, shared language, and the collaborative strength to navigate pressure together. For municipal leadership teams ready to invest in how they work together over time.
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Community Work — extends that outward — supporting municipalities to engage their communities more genuinely, and helping community organizations build productive, lasting relationships with the municipalities they work alongside.
Each can be an entry point on its own. Many leaders find that coaching and programs running
alongside each other produce the most meaningful shift. And the work at every level ultimately
shows up in the community.
What I believe
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Sustainable change takes time. A single workshop opens a conversation. A series embeds new behaviour.
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Trust is built in rooms where people feel safe to speak. Creating that safety is always the first job.
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The best intelligence about an organization lives with the people inside it. My job is to help that intelligence surface and reach the right hands.
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Leaders cannot sustainably give what they do not have. Individual capacity is not a luxury — it is the foundation of everything else.
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Community is not built by organizations alone. It is built by people — and the best thing a municipality can do is create the conditions for that to happen.
At the heart of everything I do is a belief that when leaders feel genuinely supported — not just managed through the pressure — they lead better. Their teams work better. And the communities they serve feel the difference. That is what I am here to help you build.