Leadership
Overview
Our Board, committee members, and volunteer teams work hard, splitting their time between desk work (IT, meetings, and strategic planning) to work in the field, which includes invasive species removal, plastics and debris clean-up, to site assessments and on-site maintenance. Contact us through our Helpdesk.
Executive
Karina Younk
Chair of the Board
Karina lives in Nanaimo and has been kayaking many areas of the West Coast for 20 years. When not paddling, she is swimming, hiking, skiing or travelling. Karina considers herself fortunate to have been included in many 2-4 week paddle expeditions along the Central Coast, Vancouver Island, and around Haida Gwaii. Many of her friends have contributed to building BCMT’s vision and now that she has retired from her rewarding career in teaching and administration, Karina has time to pursue her outdoor passions and share this appreciation in new ways. Formerly holding the positions of Co-Vice-President, and Chair of the Stewardship Committee, Karina now heads the organization!
Robert Holley
Treasurer & Chair of Trails Development Committee
Robert has been a resident of Vancouver since the early 80s and has been an avid fan of water sports since washing up on the coast. He is a Paddle Canada Level 1 kayaking instructor, a decent rower and stand-up paddler, a moderately capable windsurfer and not a very good sailor. Robert was so inspired by the creation of the Salish Sea Marine Trail that he paddled it with his wife Barb the year that it was officially opened. This opened his eyes to the many possibilities and challenges involved in connecting the coast for paddlers, and made the decision to join BCMT an easy one.
Susie Youle
Secretary & Member of Stewardship and Fundraising Committees
From an early age, Susie was involved in the outdoors. Childhood weekends and holidays were spent traveling throughout Alberta and BC with her parents, camping and hiking. Skiing soon grew to be a passion and she spent many years in the Rockies, skiing, camping, hiking and climbing. She moved to BC and added sailing, paddling and a love of the ocean to her interests, living on the water in a floating home for seventeen years. That experience made her realize how fragile our waterways are and how overused and under protected they are. She has long been a member of Nanaimo Paddlers and was heavily involved in club administration for a number of years. Through Nanaimo Paddlers she has followed BC Marine Trails from its infancy, and looks forward to contributing to its further growth and success.
Board of Directors
Paul Grey
Director, Chair of Trails Development committee, IT team member, map developer
Paul is a fourth generation Vancouver Islander with his roots in the Nanaimo-Extension area. He has worked for the BC Marine Trails as a volunteer for approximately 12 years in a number of capacities. Paul served eight to nine years as president of BCMT, retiring from the position in late 2024. Paul developed an integral part of the BCMT: committees (Trails Development, Stewardship and First Nations, Communications, Staff Committee and IT team), strategic documents, membership, and the mapping system. He helped develop the BCMT financial system. Currently he is the grant chair, Trail Development chair, and IT team coordinator.
He enjoys hiking, paddling, writing, travelling (Paul is sitting outside the Mount Kenya Safari Club) and reading. Paul is also the co-author of Easykayaker: A guide to laid-back paddling and Kayaking Vancouver Island.
Gina Gotch
Director, Chair of Communications Committee
Gina discovered the adventure of sea kayaking 30 years ago and has been exploring the Coast ever since. Introducing new people to the natural beauty and wonder of the BC coast inspired her to join BCMT in 2016 and support its mission to build, protect and promote a network of trails to connect the coastline in a sustainable way. Currently, Gina leads the Cross-Club Group, Chairs the Communications Committee and is a member of the IT Team.
Peter Englander
Director, Chair of First Nations Engagement Committee
Peter has been whitewater and sea kayaking since the late 80s all over Turtle Island and beyond. Throughout, he was increasingly aware of First Nations’ territories and relationship with the coast, reinforcing his philosophy of living “in relation”. He has since deepened his knowledge, particularly with the Nations along the Inside Passage, where he’s supported First Nations’ environmental activism. He joined the BCMT First Nations Engagement Committee in November, 2022 and is a BCMT Trailblazer. Peter was CFO at the Nantahala Outdoor Center and has served on not-for-profit executive committees for a combined 14 years. He also worked at the City of Portland in economic development for 15 years.
Lycette Clark
Director, Chair of Stewardship Committee
Lycette considers herself a late bloomer to the sport of kayaking compared with many of her BCMT peers. She paddled for the first time in 2016 and her first kayak camping experience in 2020 was on Francisco Island. This trip seeded a keen sense of adventure to remote places. Lycette is fortunate to have completed a recent expedition from Bella Bella to Port Hardy as well as many other 5 to 10 day trips on the east and west coasts of Vancouver Island, including some trickier ones like circumnavigating Sonora and Maurelle Islands with all the fun rapids! Now that she is retired from her career in market research and consumer insights, she spends most of the summer in her kayak, and when she is not in the seat of her boat she enjoys photography/videography, sketching, writing about her kayak adventures, and of course dreaming up and planning future kayak expeditions. Lycette looks forward to continuing to make a meaningful difference to help maintain and protect the network of BC Marine Trails. Lycette is based in Victoria.
Nick Heath
Director & Data Manager, Member of Trails Development Committee
Nick lives in Coquitlam and is a founding director of the BCMTNA with broad experience gathering and field checking site data. He has a long history in the outdoors both on land and water, with 22 years service as a volunteer in Ridge Meadows Search and Rescue, sailing, canoeing, mountaineering, cycling, hiking and kayaking. Nick holds degrees from the University of Oxford and Simon Fraser University in philosophy, political science and economics. Having retired from university administrative roles, he now prefers hands-on tasks, but inevitably gets caught up in never-ending paper and screen work instead.
Jerry Kaye
Director & Member of Communications Committee
Jerry has been paddling and sailing the BC coast for 35 years, including a two-month sea kayak expedition from Bella Bella to Tofino with his wife Julee. After collecting B.Sc. and MBA degrees from UBC, Jerry worked as a corporate banker handling large corporate and government accounts for a major financial institution for 30 years. An avid paddler, Jerry has been contributing to BCMT and its predecessor, BCMTA, since their inception. Jerry has introduced his three sons to kayaking and hopes to help spread BCMT’s message to a younger generation of paddlers.
Ken Bigelow
Director & Member of IT Team, Member of Trails Development Committee
Ken is an experienced kayaker recently completing a trip in God’s Pocket. Ken has been playing with VR and recently shot a virtual trip of Ramillies Channel in Howe Sound. Ken assists the BC Marine Trails by maintaining our server and addressing technical issues. He is a Systems Administrator with the Advanced Research Computing group at UBC.
Andrew Godfrey
Director & Member of Fundraising Committee
Andrew grew up paddling the rocky shores of Georgian Bay, and more recently has been exploring BC by kayak. When he’s not on the water, Andrew works with technology – designing and building some of Canada’s most loved digital products. He’s excited to support and represent BCMT from Toronto, to help drive awareness around conservation and sustainable exploration of the beautiful BC coastline.
Nathan Slater
Director & Member of Communications Committee
Nathan hails from North Vancouver in Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh Nation territory. He’s been paddling the West Coast of North America for over a decade and spends much of his time in Haida Gwaii and Clayoquot Sound. Nathan holds a Certificate of Wilderness Leadership from Capilano University and a degree of environmental planning along with certificates in geographic information science and Indigenous studies from Dalhousie University. He has been working as an outdoor educator since 2013 delivering ecology, culture, leadership, and environmental stewardship focussed expeditions for youth. He is a Paddle Canada Level 2 Instructor and an apprentice sea kayak guide trainer. Nathan is passionate about continuing the legacy of high-quality leadership on BC’s coastal waters.
Employees
Sam Cutcliffe
Communications & Stewardship Coordinator
Sam is an ocean enthusiast and West Coast implant, originally from PEI/Nova Scotia. A graduate of Dalhousie University, Sam holds a B.Sc Hons in Oceanography. An avid kayaker, Sam has been exploring the BC Coast for the past three years as an AOG guide with the Sea Kayak Guides Alliance of BC. When not in a kayak, you can find Sam exploring the intertidal zone, snorkelling, hiking, snowboarding, taking pictures of marine animals, and making the worst (best?) puns you have ever heard.
Eric Daigle
GIS Specialist
Originally from Ontario, Eric has been an avid sea kayaker since moving to Vancouver to attend UBC, from which he holds a Bachelors degree in Computer Science and Economics. When not paddling or working on BCMT’s member map and GIS data, Eric can usually be found hiking, cycling, or exploring the Sea to Sky mountains.
Katja Walther
First Nations Liaison
Katja is a west coast resident who grew up on K’ómoks territory on Vancouver Island. While new to paddling, she has extensive experience on the water, having sailed in her youth and worked aboard conservation and marine research vessels in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. She has worked closely with many coastal First Nations on marine research, land protection, and Indigenous rights advocacy. With an Associate of Arts in Global Stewardship and a Bachelor of Science from Trent University, she focused her studies on centering Indigenous Knowledges in the practice of ecological restoration. Katja believes in building relationships through reciprocity, both with the people and the places she works with and for. When not working, she can be found in the forests or training in Muay Thai and jiu-jitsu on the sparring mats.
Meet our Regional Data Managers
Nick Heath
Multiple Regions
Fred Pishalski
Vancouver Island Region
Steve Best
Haida Gwaii Region
John Halliday
Discoveries & Mid Coast
