They are, from left to right:
Katie Jeanes - Founder, ALittleMoreGood.com
Mark Brand - CEO, Save On Meats / Mark Brand Inc
Maggie Langrick - Arts and Life Editor, Vancouver Sun
Michael Christie - 2011 Vancouver Book Award-winning author, MichaelChristie.net
Lesli Boldt - President, Boldt Communications
Peter Ladner - Author / Former Vancouver City Councillor, PeterLadner.ca
Jason Donaldson - Director, Gulf Islands School of Performing Arts
Amanda Gibbs - Principal, Public Assembly
Justin Young - Creative Director, Village & Company
Rebecca Bollwitt - Owner, Miss604.com and sixty4media
Michael Eckford - TV and Radio personality, Urban Rush and Rock 101
Roberta LaQuaglia - Operations Manager, Vancouver Farmers Markets
Margot White - Former Vice President, Weber Shandwick
Steven Cox - Principal, Cause and Affect
Meriko Kubota - Grants/Community Initiatives Manager, Vancouver Foundation
Graeme Berglund - Founder/Creative Director, The Cheaper Show
Rachel Thexton - Partner, Dunn PR
Josh Dunford - Founder, Burnkit Creative
Michael Green - Principal, Michael Green Architecture
Anthony Nicalo - President, Foodtree
Dave Olson - VP Community, Hootsuite
Jesse Keefer - Owner, Bodega Ridge Resort
Steve Rio - President, Briteweb
Erin Ireland - Founder, To Die For Banana Bread
Todd Falkowsky - Founder, The Canadian Design Resource
Leanna Crawford - Co-creative Director, Company Policy
Mark Busse - Partner, Industrial Brand
Yuriko Iga - Founder, Blim
Brian Riddell - CEO, Pacific Salmon Foundation
Michael Tippett - CEO & Co-Founder, Ayoudo.com
Karen Pinchin - Co-founder, Rain City Chronicles
Scott Hawthorn - Co-owner, Salt Tasting Room & Native Shoes
Lana Gay - Host and Journalist, CBC Music
Gregory Hegger - Director of Communications and Partnerships, brandLIVE
Amanda McCuaig - Marketing Officer, Museum Of Vancouver
Steve Pratt - Director of Digital Music & CBC Radio 3, CBC Music
What's going on here? Well, about a year and a half ago I made the announcement that we had decided to dissolve our non-profit and start running VancouverIsAwesome.com as a for-profit social venture. In the very beginning of this thing the idea was to have it work like other cultural/arts organizations do in this city; funded by municipal, provincial and federal grants as well as donations and other fundraising efforts. Fast-forward a couple of years and the business had organically become supported more by advertising than the tiny amount of grants we had been able to secure (one small grant actually, which wasn't used to fund our operations but to help put on some fabulous Rain City Chronicles events). And while we did put on an annual donor drive where some of our more passionate and thoughtful readers would pitch in to help us out (THANK YOU IF YOU EVER DONATED TO US!!!), at the end of the day the layer of non-profit on our organization ended up suffocating it.
At our core we have always been (and will always be) dedicated to reminding you about the things that keep you excited about your city. We serve as a hub for all of the positively awesome stuff that keeps you here despite all the bad, and no title nor certificate will ever change that. So with the blessing of our Board of Directors we decided to change the game plan, dissolve the non-profit and run the business as a for-profit social venture, with our original mission remaining the same. What this means for me personally running this tiny operation (that looks a lot larger than it is) is that I no longer have to dedicate an incredibly stressful month and a half of every year to begging for money during our donor drive (HERE is a story about my stress-induced eye disease that was partly due to managing our final donor drive on my own). It means that I no longer have to place the Executive Director hat on top of the ten other hats that I wear. Essentially it means that I have time to run VancouverIsAwesome.com properly, the best way I know how; as a business rooted in good, which exists to benefit all Vancouverites.
But I don't run this thing alone. Hell no. We currently have 48 active editors and contributors who all pitch in to provide editorial and bring you so much awesome every single day. All of our editorial is volunteer-based and the folks who donate their time and efforts (whom I will introduce you to properly in a similar post in a couple of days), they are the heroes of Awesome in Vancouver.
Also standing behind me is a board of 36 advisors (pictured above). These people work in all sorts of capacities of their own to make your city a better place. They are friends of mine, lovers of Vancouver, and they are major supporters of VancouverIsAwesome.com and what we do here. As our advisors they meet once a year as a group and in the days between they randomly help me connect the dots and often answer my dumb questions about things they specialize in. I am incredibly proud to introduce you to our advisory board for 2012-2103!
