I’m a husband to an awesome wife and a dad of three amazing daughters. I was born and raised in Kelowna, BC and now live in White Rock, BC in the winter and Kelowna in the summer. I work in the resort and destination real estate development business, and I am a partner and chief strategy officer for Replay Destinations. We envision, plan, build and sell real estate in the resort and second home sector in sought after destinations in North America (think wine country California - Scottsdale, Arizona - Park City, Utah - Ski Country, Colorado - Hawaii etc.) 

It’s a bit of a long story. My introduction to autism and kids on the spectrum was through two of my daughters. Just by chance introduction, my daughter Katie worked as a BI for a teenage boy named Reid who lived in our neighbourhood many years ago while she was going to university. That summer job turned into multiple summers, and it inspired her to change her academic direction at university and helped push her to get a master’s degree in special education specializing in autism from UBC. Katie now works for the Canucks Autism Network and Reid is now a young man who is still connected to and is a big part of our family. My youngest daughter Molly lives in Europe in the fall and winter and in Kelowna in the spring and summer and was fortunate enough to be hired as a BI at Vista a few summers ago. She has a degree in psychology and loves kids so it has been a great fit for her and Vista.

I got to know Vista through her, and I met the team and several of the kids when our family hosted a beach and boat day at our house on the lake a couple of summers ago. It was such a fun day. I was inspired by both the kids who were up for anything and the active caring of the kids by the team from Vista. I believe every kid has incredible potential to do amazing things, they just need to be included, given a chance, and some kids may need a helping hand…and that is what Vista provides. I was so impressed and inspired by both the kids and the Vista team I thought I could bring a different skill set to Vista that may be helpful as they look to grow to provide even more support for kids and their families.

There are two things I think about when I think about Vista:

1. I love that Vista focuses on kids as individuals. We all know that every kid (and all of us) learn in different ways and there is nothing wrong with that. How fortunate would all of us be if when we were young, we had people like the Vista team working on individual learning plans for each of us.
2. I love that the work Vista does helps families. While the Vista team gives kids a helping hand, they also give families a helping hand. The look on a child’s face and the family’s faces as their child makes strides and has wins is worth everything.

So what does Vista mean to me? Happy kids and happier families.

What I value most about Vista is the inspiring, passionate and caring people who work tirelessly to make the learning experiences for both the kids and their families second to none. 

I am a Master's student in the Clinical Psychology program at UBCO as well as a psychologist's assistant for a forensic

clinic in the Provincial Health Services Authority.

After being employed as a Behavioral Interventionist at Vista, I fell in love with the organization.I had to leave my position to attend graduate school and decided to become a board member so I could continue to stay involved with this great organization.

Vista, to me, means inclusivity. It is a supportive environment where kids are celebrated for who they are and not forced to fit unreasonable expectations.

I value that Vista is consistently re-evaluating and assessing how they can give each individual the best care and support to rise the best versions of themselves.

My husband and I own two small businesses, a security/medic company and also a first aid training school. After I had our son, I quickly understood that being employed by someone else was going to be a challenge so working in our own family business was a perfect solution. I left my employer after 15 years and jumped into being a mom of two and working with my husband with a flexible part-time work schedule.

I happily joined the Board of Directors because I wanted to share the perspective of a family living with a child on the spectrum. What the needs are, what daily challenges we deal with and how a facility like Vista can help change and/or improve these challenges.

We had our son enrolled in a private school which was not providing any support or guidance for him. Without any idea where he would go, we pulled him out of that school and thankfully found Vista and he

has been attending ever since. Vista changed all the negative feelings we had about school and how our son would fit in and succeed at learning.

Only one thing!?! There are so many! But mostly we value the inclusive, flexible, non-judgemental feeling we have at Vista.