Meet Our Team

Our Board of Directors

Bryan Young

BRYAN KIRK YOUNG - Chair

Email: bryan@transitionsaltspring.com

Bryan has 25 years’ experience in energy conservation program design and renewable energy development.  He founded and managed an incubator fund providing $12 million annually to support the development of innovative electricity conservation programs at Ontario's Independent Electricity System Operator.  Currently, he is the Chair of Transition Salt Spring -- a catalyst for the implementation of the Salt Spring Island Climate Action Plan for which he was a lead author.  He’s passionate to see how much food he can grow on 1.89 acres on the south end where he lives with his partner, poet Brian Day.  Bryan is passionate about bridging divides, finding synergies, and building a more equitable and diverse Salt Spring economy. He believes that one of the paths to economic prosperity for Salt Spring will be found in the restoration, stewardship, and cultivation of diversified forest and marine ecosystems for the benefit of our communities and the natural world around us. 

 

Deboroah Miller

DEBORAH MILLER - Vice Chair and Working Group Liaison

Email: deborah@transitionsaltspring.com

Deborah is an educator who spent her 34 year public school career on Salt Spring teaching Biology, Science, English and a variety of other things. She has a Masters of Arts Degree from UVIC, developed a nature-based environmental education course at GISS, and was the head of the Environmental Educators Group for the BC Teachers Federation for several years. She was hired by SSI Conservancy to develop and deliver a program for SSI students in the Stewards In Training program.  In her career and personal life she has focused on relationships both in and with the natural world. She is a gardener, a hiker and a sometimes artist. Especially in these times of climate and biodiversity emergencies, she feels compelled to continue to dedicate her life toward a renewed natural world for the benefit of her four wonderful grandchildren and for future generations.

Patti

PATTI BARAL - Engagement

Email: patti@transitionsaltspring.com

Patti has lived on Salt Spring Island for 18 years. She has served on board and as past President of the Transition Salt Spring Society, formally the Earth Festival Society, since 2005. She was a round-table member of the Official Community Plan’s Energy Strategy task force, a member in 2011 of SSI’s Climate Action Council, and is a permaculture designer, environmental activist and event producer. She also serves on the board of the Salt Spring Island Foundation. Patti lived in Europe and Russia and worked in the investment banking sector as a director with emerging markets divisions specialized in Russian equities. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia and participated in the graduate program at the Budapest University of International Business and Economics. She believes in supporting her community in having access to sound and sustainable practices, and is committed to strengthening our cultural vibrancy by supporting the implementation of a diversity of artistic and sustainable programs.

Ruth

RUTH WALDICK - Climate Adaptation Research Lab

Email: ruth@transitionsaltspring.com

Ruth loved complexity even as a child; her first questions being about frogs - how did they transition from water to land? What happens when we change their ecosystem? How do we make sure we keep them healthy?  She continues to be driven by similar questions about change and how we can anticipate and reduce damage to natural systems. Her work with undergraduate and graduate students focuses on how best to apply science to support policy and land use management. In 2003, this focused heavily on looking into how Climate Change would influence socio-ecological systems. Most recently, she helped incorporate climate adaptation considerations into the Salt Spring Island Climate Action Plan (2.0). Ruth is committed to reconciliation and protecting natural systems and is grateful to live and learn in the unceded territories of the Hul'qumi'num and SENĆOŦEN speaking peoples, including the Quw'utsun and Tsawout First Nations.
Kelda Logan

KELDA LOGAN - Treasurer

Email: kelda@transitionsaltspring.com

Kelda is an educator who spent her 26 year career in public education as a teacher and Principal. She loved her career teaching children from 5-18 years old everything from reading and literature to musical theatre and mindfulness. She has a Masters of Leadership & Training degree from Royal Roads, which allowed her to delve into interesting and complex problems in public education with a wider systems lens. Originally from Victoria, Kelda moved to Salt Spring to raise two beautiful boys, currently ages 16 and 12. She loves hiking, fitness, and travel, as well as reading and writing, and is passionate about biodiversity and nature conservation. She is looking forward to being part of Transition Salt Spring and the work they are doing to make Salt Spring a better place for all to enjoy for generations to come.
Karlis Hawkins

KARLIS HAWKINS

Email: karlis@transitionsaltspring.com

Karlis has spent eight years advocating and fundraising for better environmental policies throughout multiple municipalities across Canada. He is tri-lingual, has achieved a B.A. in Geography and Environmental Studies from the University of Toronto and is close to completing a Diploma in Restoration of Natural Systems (Restoration Ecology) from the University of Victoria. Karlis first began his journey with Transition Salt Spring in 2020 when he led a feasibility study of marine initiatives that focused on restoration, resilience and reconciliation. The project considered multiple approaches to rebuild the island’s ecological integrity by working with kelp, sea grasses and bivalves to increase ecosystem services and resilience to climate disruptions. Before moving out west in 2019, Karlis spent years as a touring musician, traveler and urban food security advocate in Toronto. Currently, he resides in Vancouver and enjoys hiking, kayaking and discussing local solutions to the overlapping crises that we face.

Our Staff & Contractors

Darlene Gage

DARLENE GAGE - Executive Director

Email: darlene@transitionsaltspring.com

Darlene has over 30 years of experience as a social change activist, community organizer, adult educator and facilitator who loves to work collaboratively with groups and communities to learn, plan, get organized and take action together. She specializes in facilitating community change projects and organizational decision-making processes. She is a skilled trainer, counsellor and leader who has spent her career in the non-profit sector, working in small communities, big cities and around the world. She has led organizations and programs in the public health care sector, international development, economic development, and social change and is committed to seeing her home of Salt Spring Island become the beacon of hope it could be during these turbulent times.

Andria Scanlan

 

ANDRIA SCANLAN - Coach Education Programs

Email: andria@transitionsaltspring.com

Andria has worked in community health research and programming for over 35 years. Committed to knowledge and education Andria has put the skills she learned doing her PhD to work in half a dozen other countries and settings including: academic, for profit, NGO's, government and start ups, with one goal in mind - creating healthy communities!  Born and raised on the west coast and a full time resident of Salt Spring for over 15 years Andria is a passionate drought tolerant gardener, composter and succulent enthusiast!!

Natasha Kong
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NATASHA KONG - Communications Lead

Email: natasha@transitionsaltspring.com

For over two decades Natasha has focused on design and marketing for nonprofit organizations and social mission-based businesses. She is passionate about online storytelling, using graphics, audio, and video to help communicate challenging climate issues, supporting organizations and individuals to carve a path towards change. She's happy to have called Salt Spring home since 2007 and can be seen booting around the island on her electric bike or hiking up one of our beautiful trails. One day she hopes to complete her permaculture certification.

 

 

PAM TARR - Programs Manager: Advocacy

Email: pam@transitionsaltspring.com

Pam brings deep experience in advocacy, with a frequent focus on climate change, to Transition Salt Spring. Her work on regenerative agriculture with American Farmland Trust and The Carbon Underground supported the importance of carbon drawdown and food security as fundamental to our resiliency. She has championed work with non-profit organizations to empower social and political change, including Rock the Vote and Council for a Livable World. As an entertainment and advertising executive producer, Pam produced myriad media and messaging projects and in the process, founded industry-changing companies, organizations and trade associations to invigorate those business communities. She is inspired to help create systemic solutions to Salt Spring’s interrelated challenges.

 

 

 

GEO COSTELLO - Director of Operations

Email: geo@transitionsaltspring.com

Geo is a project management specialist with a background in permaculture design and energy efficient home design.  His interest in low impact lifestyle and resilient community planning is a natural alignment with many initiatives at TSS. Relatively new to the island, Geo moved here with his family in 2020 and can be found hiking and cold plunging in all four seasons.

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KAREN CLARK - Bookkeeper

Email: bookkeeper@transitionsaltspring.com

Karen Clark (Bookkeeper) has co-owned & operated a human resources consulting firm specializing in pay equity for 25 years & has an MBA. Deeply-rooted in the rocks, soil & community of this island since 1997, Karen is an author and blogger focussing on feminist-centred pagan spirituality.

 

 

 

MICHAEL BERG - Fundraiser

Email: michael@transitionsaltspring.com

With over a decade of experience in environmental community engagement, Michael is excited to connect with Salt Spring Island residents and share Transition Salt Spring’s mission to build community and drive sustainable change on this beautiful island we call home. As a seasoned canvasser, he has engaged tens of thousands of people across BC, initiating productive, informed conversations with folks on both sides of the environmental landscape.