Generating wealth and creating prosperity from economic opportunities for current and future generations of the Skwxwú7mesh Nation.

Nch’ḵay̓

About Nch’ḵay̓

Nch’ḵay̓ was established in 2018 as the economic development arm of the Squamish Nation. Its mandate is to develop, manage and own the active businesses of the Nation, and was created to allow for the separation of business and politics within the Squamish Nation. The name Nch’ḵay̓ was chosen as a reference to the Great Flood – the flood that forced Squamish Nation ancestors to tie their canoes to the highest mountain in the territory, Mount Garibaldi, in order to survive.

Skwxwú7mesh.

About Squamish Nation

The Squamish Nation consists of 23 villages and is comprised of descendants of the Coast Salish Aboriginal people who live in the present-day Greater Vancouver area, Gibson’s Landing and Squamish River watershed. The Squamish Nation has occupied and governed the territory since beyond recorded history. The Squamish Nation’s culture is rich and resilient. The Nation continues to practice its customs and traditions, which are strongly interconnected with the traditional territory. Together Squamish lands, customs and traditions are the foundations of who the peoples are as Skwxwú7mesh.

VIEW Squamish Nation WEBSITE

Board of Directors

Nch’ḵay̓ Board of Directors

The Squamish Nation Council went through an extensive process in collaboration with Boyden Canada to ensure they built an exceptional leadership team. Below, we would like to introduce you to the members of the Nch’ḵay̓ Board of Directors & Executive team.

Jay-Ann Gilfoy

Independent

Tewanee Joseph

Board Chair, Independent Squamish Nation Member

Joy MacPhail

Independent

Mike Magee

Independent

Tiyáltelut Kristen Rivers

Squamish Nation Council

Syexwáliya Ann Whonnock

Squamish Nation Council Member

Heather Tremain

Independent

Executive Team

Nch’ḵay̓ Executive Team

Bernd Christmas

CEO

Mindy Wight

CFO

Brian Titus

COO

Alfredo Di-Blasio

EVP – Business Development

Gary Muuren

EVP – HR

Selected Project

Sen̓áḵw

Sen̓áḵw, noun:
“The place inside the head of False Creek.”

VIEW SEN̓ÁḴW WEBSITE

Sen̓áḵw, verb:
“The start of something beautiful; respect for nature, for indigenous peoples, for healing, and for a new path forward.”

Stay up to date

Nch’ḵay̓ Newsletter

Nch’kaỷ extends its sincerest gratitude and appreciation for your interest in our newsletter. To stay up to date with our latest news, please subscribe below.

Contact

Contact Nch’ḵay̓

Phone

(604) 985-1533

Address

1681 Columbia Street
North Vancouver, BC V7M 1A5
Canada

Email

communications@nchkay.com

Address

1681 Columbia Street
North Vancouver, BC V7M 1A6,
Canada

Jay-Ann Gilfoy

Independent

Jay-Ann Gilfoy joined Meridian as President & CEO on January 3, 2022. She is focused on leveraging Meridian’s unique value proposition to transform the business, achieve its winning aspiration and secure its future. In collaboration with the Board and senior management, she is responsible for articulating the organization’s strategy and delivering on its purpose on helping Members and customers achieve a better life, while growing the business.

Jay-Ann’s wealth of business transformation and management expertise has been cultivated over more than 20 years as a senior executive in a broad range of roles and experiences in the private and public sector, and co-operative financial services.

Since 2018, Jay-Ann served as CEO of Vancity Community Investment Bank (VCIB), a nationally focused subsidiary of B.C.-based Vancity credit union. In this role, Jay-Ann brokered partnerships with the Canadian Housing and Mortgage Corporation (CHMC) and Habitat for Humanity to help create innovative, affordable housing solutions for Canadians. She also led VCIB’s efforts to be the first bank in Canada to acquire an impact investment firm: CoPower, a leading provider of clean energy financing and investments.

Prior to that, she served as Senior Vice-President of Digital Solutions and Business Technology for Vancity. While there, Jay-Ann led the development and implementation of the credit union’s technology road map. Previously, she served as Chief Transformation Officer/Chief HR Officer at Coast Capital Savings.

Jay-Ann currently serves as President & CEO and a member of the Board of Directors of motusbank. She is also currently Vice Chair Director, Nch’Kay Development Corporation. Current volunteer roles include Director, ParticipACTION and Director, Innovate, Cities. Previously she has served as Chair of the Board, BC Human Resources Association (2009-2011), Director, BC Human Resources Association (2009-2012), and Board Director of the British Columbia Automobile Association (2021).

Tewanee Josephn

Board Chair, Independent Squamish Nation Member

He is a member of the Squamish First Nation and is half Maori. Tewanee served eight years on the Squamish Nation Council and has a talent for facilitation and coordinating diverse groups to identify and achieve their goals. He has utilized his skills to work on a broad range of initiatives including First Nations federal legislation, First Nations Land Management, Strategic Communications and Governance.

Previously, Tewanee served as the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Four Host First Nations Secretariat for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Tewanee has worked with the Organizing Committee and its partners to ensure unprecedented Aboriginal participation in the planning, hosting and staging of the 2010 Games. In this role, he spearheaded the largest re-brand of Aboriginal people in Canadian history, and led the team that overcame countless obstacles and doubt to create a world renowned brand, and a new model for inclusivity.

Joy MacPhail

Independent

Joy MacPhail was born in Hamilton, Ontario. She graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a B.A. in Economics and then attended the London School of Economics in England. She graduated from the LSE in 1978 with a Diploma in Trade Union/Industrial Relations Studies. For the next 13 years, Joy worked as an economist and negotiator in the union movement in Ontario and British Columbia.

In 1991 Ms. MacPhail was successful in her first attempt at electoral politics when she was elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Vancouver-Hastings in British Columbia. She was re-elected in 1996 and 2001, before retiring from politics in 2005.
During her political career she held many significant portfolios: Deputy Premier, Minister of Finance, Minister of Health, Minister of Education, Government House Leader, and Leader of the Opposition, among others.

Joy MacPhail is an owner (with her husband) of OUTtv, the world’s longest airing and most successful Gay and Lesbian TV network.
She was appointed as Vice Chair of the Independent Commission on Mobility Pricing in May of 2017. She was appointed as Chair of the Insurance Corporation of BC in July of 2017.
In September of 2019, the Governments of Canada and British Columbia appointed Ms MacPhail as Chair of The Expert Panel on the Future of Housing Supply and Affordability.The Expert Panel released their final report - “Opening Doors:Unlocking Housing Supply for Affordability” - in June 2021.
The Governor General of Canada appointed Joy to the Order of Canada (CM) on December 29, 2021

MacPhail is Chair of the Grant Selection Committee of Face the World Charitable Foundation and is Chair of the Board of Trustees of Adler University in Chicago. She is a director on the board of Covenant House Vancouver and the board of Arthritis Research Canada.
She completed her terms as director of Delta Hotels Ltd.and Silverbirch Hotels and Resorts Ltd. in September 2014 She is a public speaker, both nationally and internationally.

Mike Magee

Independent

Mike Magee is the principle and founder of Convergence Strategies, founded in 2000. He provides strategic counsel and facilitation support to a select group of business, government, real estate, investment and philanthropic clients across the Pacific Northwest. Mike helps his clients navigate complex policy, investment, real estate acquisition and land use planning challenges. In 2019, he co-founded Blue House Investments, an impact investment firm with a focus on emerging low carbon technology start ups and bringing them to scale. He has played a key strategic role in advancing several large scale infrastructure and land use initiatives throughout the region that seek to balance economic opportunity, social and environmental responsibility.

In 2008, Mike served as Vancouver Mayor’s Chief of Staff through three successive terms. There, he was instrumental in crafting and implementing the strategies, partnerships and agendas that have made the city a global leader in sustainability and civic innovation – recognized by the World Economic Forum as the world’s greenest city.

Mike has a longstanding interest in supporting First Nation-driven conservation-based economic development. Prior to his work at the city, Mike was instrumental in supporting several northern First Nations in their ground breaking conservation land use planning and economic development. As part of that support, he was directly responsible for acquiring one of the largest guide outfitting territories in the North to assist in the creation of bear viewing operations that both support the local community and protect the bears.

Mike currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Grizzly Bear Foundation.

Tiyáltelut Kristen Rivers

Squamish Nation Council

Tiyaltelut Kristen Rivers is a proud Indigenous woman of Squamish descent with extensive governance experience and a deep-lived commitment to reconciliation and advancing social and economic justice. Kristen is presently in her second consecutive term on the Squamish Nation Council while also pursuing her Master of Business Administration at Simon Fraser University.

In addition to over a decade of experience serving on numerous governance boards and appointments, Kristen has most recently honed her skills in the areas of strategic leadership and ethical decision-making through serving three years as elected Co-Chair of the Squamish Nation Council (a position equivalent to an elected Chief in other Nations), as well as Deputy Chair of the Nation’s Finance and Audit Committee and an active member of numerous other Council Committees.

She presently holds positions on the governance boards of the New Relationship Trust and Nch’kay Development Corporation, is an appointed member of the City of Vancouver’s UNDRIP Task Force and, serves the Squamish Nation’s over 4,000 members through her work on Council’s Strategic Priorities and Budgeting Committee.

Syexwáliya Ann Whonnock

Squamish Nation Council Member

Syex̱wáliya Ann Whonnock is a Knowledge Carrier & Elder Advisor from Squamish Nation with strong Indigenous worldviews, ancestral knowledge and traditional teachings. Syex̱wáliya is widely respected and acknowledged for her commitment to providing support within her community and beyond.

Syex̱wáliya returns to Squamish Nation Council, September 2021, after previously serving from 1989-2005 and from 2009-2017. Syexwáliya also served as a former Council Co-Chairperson 2013-2017. A Longhouse Elder with cultural and traditional protocols knowledge, she brings experience and a strong voice to the role.

Syex̱wáliya believes strongly in the need of developing ways of Improving & Increasing First Nation Economic Development in order for Squamish Nation and all First Nations to have Financial resources to meet their Citizens needs now and into the future. With successful developments and returns then there can be investments in Education, Training, Language & Culture and Nation businesses to have self-sustaining Squamish and First Nation Citizens.

Syex̱wáliya holds a Master’s in Business Administration in Indigenous Business & Leadership, from Simon Fraser University, and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Capilano University.

Heather Tremain

independent

Heather is a city builder with a passion for social purpose real estate and sustainable development.

Heather is currently the CEO of Options for Homes, an organization that uses an innovative financial model to help low and moderate income families become home owners. Under Heather’s leadership, Options has become Canada’s largest developer of affordable ownership housing and has grown its development pipeline to $1 billion.

Heather is a champion of affordable home ownership and has helped achieve change to both public policy and funding in support of this segment of the housing spectrum.

Before joining Options, Heather founded and led Urban Fabric Group, a strategic real estate and development consultancy to non-profits, and was the co-founder and CEO of Vancouver-based green building consulting and development company reSource Rethinking Building.

Heather has a Masters’ degree in Architecture from the University of British Columbia and an undergraduate degree in Political Science from McMaster University. From 2008-09, she was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and a Visiting Fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

Bernd Christmas

CEO

Bernd Christmas is the Chief Executive Officer of Gitpo Storms Corporation. He was a partner in the Aboriginal Law Practice at Cassels Brock and is a member of the Mi’kmaq community of Membertou. Bernd’s practice focuses on Indigenous economic development. He is the former CEO of the Membertou Band. Bernd has sat on numerous National and International Boards and Commissions. He currently sits on the Boards of I.G. Wealth Management and was on the Board of Canada Post and the Indigenous charity, Outside Looking In.

Mindy Wight

Treasurer of the Board, Chair of the Finance & Audit Committee (Squamish Nation Member)

Mindy Wight is a Tax Partner with MNP based in Prince George and serves as National Leader, Indigenous Tax Services. Drawing on more than a decade of tax experience, Mindy assists First Nation communities and organizations with purchases and sales of businesses, reorganizing companies, and minimizing taxes. With deep knowledge and experience in Indigenous taxation, her cross-industry expertise includes advising on proprietorships, private corporations, trusts and partnerships owned by First Nation members and communities in a wide variety of industries, including construction, real estate, manufacturing, cannabis, tourism, energy and forestry. She specializes in helping First Nation members and organizations to utilize and maintain their income tax exemptions when organizing their corporate structures and businesses.

Mindy has attended Harvard Business School at Harvard University and is a graduate of the 2019 Leading People and Investing to Build Sustainable Communities program. She presents regularly at conferences and events on topics related to First Nation corporate structures and taxation. Mindy is a Chartered Professional Accountant, qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 2009. She received a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Northern British Columbia.

Brian Titus

COO

Brian is the Chief Operating Officer of Nch’kay’ Development Corp who provides strategic direction and oversight to the business operations of such as the Divisions of Retail, Marina, Tourism, Industrial land leasing and Forestry. Brian also has oversight in Special Projects such as ISO 9001 implementation.

Brian comes with 30 years of Executive experience in Economic Development for working with First Nations such as Sts’alies First Nations, Osoyoos Indian Band Development Corp, Sqewqel Development Corp and the First Nation Financial Management Board.

Brian has extensive experience in participating in various Boards throughout his career such as AFOA BC & Canada (Aboriginal Finance Officer Association), FNFMB (First Nation Financial Management Board), Northern Visions Development, RAB Energy, Chief Issac Incorp, and provided advisory in the past the Canadian Council of Aboriginal Business and Camosun College for the Aboriginal Business Program.

Alfredo Di-Blasio

EVP – Business Development

Alfredo Di Blasio is the EVP, Business Development and Partnerships of the Nch’Kay Development Corporation. An experienced C-level executive with a proven track record of marketing success at TELUS and INVIDI Technologies, where he drove rapid revenue growth, client acquisition and new market adoption. Di Blasio’s background in mergers, acquisitions, and corporate development along with his marketing experience yields a powerful set of business skills and provides access to a deep network of strategic senior business relationships. Served as a senior executive at AT&T, TELUS, Bell Cablemedia, and INVIDI Technologies among others. Strong marketing and finance professional, graduated from University of Cambridge. A proud member of the Huron-Wendake Nation.

Gary Muuren

EVP - HR

Gary Muuren is a career Human Resources Executive with more than 20 years of experience in all facets of Human Resources Management.

He started his career in the rail industry facilitating organization design and development, change management and leadership and executive training. Gary headed up the Kal Tire Human Resources division before joining Baptist Housing as Vice President, HR integrating a major acquisition. He then joined Paper Excellence and JJM Construction heading their HR divisions before joining Nch’kay. Gary chaired several CPHR BC and Yukon roundtables and committees.

Gary enjoys setting up HR divisions in large organizations, developing systems and processes. He also has a passion for organization development and employee training and development. He has implemented several leadership and other training programs and large learning management systems. He also negotiated several collective agreements.

Gary is a Chartered Professional in HR. He received a Bachelor in Industry Psychology, an Honors Degree in HR Development from the University of Johannesburg and an MBA from Royal Roads University in Victoria, BC.

Generating wealth and creating prosperity from economic opportunities for current and future generations of the Skwxwú7mesh Nation.

About Nch’ḵay̓

About Squamish Nation

Nch’ḵay̓ Board of Directors

Jay-Ann Gilfoy

Tewanee Joseph

Joy MacPhail

Mike Magee

Tiyáltelut Kristen Rivers

Syexwáliya Ann Whonnock

Heather Tremain

Nch’ḵay̓ Executive Team

Bernd Christmas

Mindy Wight

Brian Titus

Alfredo Di-Blasio

Gary Muuren

Sen̓áḵw

Nch’ḵay̓ Newsletter

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Contact Nch’ḵay̓

Phone

Address

Email

Address

Jay-Ann Gilfoy

Tewanee Josephn

Joy MacPhail

Mike Magee

Tiyáltelut Kristen Rivers

Syexwáliya Ann Whonnock

Heather Tremain

Bernd Christmas

Mindy Wight

Brian Titus

Alfredo Di-Blasio

Gary Muuren