About
History
Growing up in Coquitlam, British Columbia, I became accustomed to living alongside wildlife. From an early age, I developed a simple belief: we are the outsiders in their environment. It is our responsibility to adapt to them, not the other way around.
Shortly after graduating, my partner and I moved to our first home in New Westminster. The Royal City will always hold a special place in my heart, but as we began to outgrow our 700-square-foot apartment, we faced a harsh reality. Like many middle-class families, we had been priced out of the community we loved. Rising housing costs, taxes, and the overall cost of living forced us to make a difficult decision.
We drew a one-hour circle around our workplaces and decided: either remain where we were with no room to grow, or start over somewhere new.
Bowen Island only needed one visit.
Standing on the rocky outcrop on Clipper beach, we looked at each other and said, "Wow... I guess we live here now."
Within a week, we had bought the house we still proudly call home today. A few years later, we were married in our backyard. Before we knew it, we had lived on Bowen longer than anywhere else in our lives.
This is more than our home. It's part of who we are.
My Promise To You
I will not become a cookie-cutter councillor. I will not follow others' lead simply because it is easier. I will question ideas, including my own, and I will change my position when the evidence supports it. My commitment is to fairness, consistency, and good governance.
I will not overpromise. I am one vote, but one vote can be the difference between funding a water system with grant money or asking residents to pay through a special levy. I cannot promise every outcome, but I can promise every decision will receive my full attention.
I will judge projects on their merits. If your proposal meets the same standards applied to similar projects, I will support it regardless of who brings it forward. I believe similar projects deserve similar treatment. Decisions should be based on evidence, policy, and fairness—not personalities or politics.
I will not pretend I can single-handedly stop new residents from making Bowen home. Instead, I will work to protect the character of our community while ensuring thoughtful, practical progress that reflects the needs of both current and future residents.
Most importantly, I will listen. Whether you are an individual resident, part of a neighbourhood, or representing a community group, your ideas deserve to be heard. If your proposal is constructive, practical, and benefits Bowen Island, I will advocate for it—even if it wasn't my idea.
I cannot promise you will always agree with my decisions. I can promise you will always know how I reached them. My responsibility is not to tell people what they want to hear—it is to make decisions that are fair, transparent, and in the long-term best interests of Bowen Island.
My business
I grew up immersed in my family's forklift sales, service, and repair business. After working for several large dealerships, I returned to where my professional journey began and reopened my father's company, rebuilding it from the ground up in 2010.
Since then, I've built VCF into one of the largest independent forklift service companies in British Columbia. We achieved that by embracing technology where it adds value, while never losing sight of the people behind the work. Technology should support great service, not replace it.
In 2019, VCF became the first company in our industry to offer employees five days' pay for four days' work. Putting skilled labour first has always been important to me. I also capped my own salary at the same level as our technicians because I believe leadership should understand the financial realities of the people it asks to build a business.
If there are two things my business experience has taught me, it's to separate ideas from people and to accept rejection. Ideas should stand on their own merits, not be propped up by the people who created them. Rejection is something every business owner learns to accept, learn from, and move beyond.