The Naramata Centre Society
Board of Directors
We are honoured to work together toward a vital goal: the long-term sustainability of Naramata Centre.
Toward that end, we apply our collective experience and diverse professional backgrounds so that Naramata Centre may continue its mission to inspire individual and collective transformation in a safe, inclusive, sacred space.
Our work is meaningful, dynamic and engaging. Our conversations emulate the Centre’s purpose. We celebrate the Centre’s spiritual nature. We are deliberate in making connections with one another.
While members of our team live across Alberta and British Columbia, each of us is connected and committed to the life and community of the Centre and its Society. We are grateful for this opportunity to serve.
With gratitude,
Naramata Centre Society Board of Directors
Meet the Board
Linda McCandless, Co-Chair
Nanaimo, British Columbia
Naramata Centre is part of Linda’s DNA. For 40 years, the Centre has had a profound impact on her life, starting with a transformative experience as a member of Summer Staff. Naramata has connected four generations of her family and changed the pathways of their lives through programming in personal development, social justice and self-discovery.
Linda has dedicated her life’s work to adult education, community board membership, strategic planning and policy development through a lens of social justice, inclusion and diversity, and reconciliation with First Nations. For the past 28 years, she has instructed and coordinated adult basic education courses and programs at Vancouver Island University (VIU) and Tillicum Lelum Aboriginal Friendship Centre. She holds a Master’s in Education in Adult Education and Higher Learning from the University of Calgary.
Kathy Hamilton, Co-Chair
Kelowna, British Columbia
Kathy is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and has over 25 years of experience in major areas of business responsibility, including finance, strategic planning, contract negotiation, risk management, insurance, and human resources.
Prior to moving to Naramata in 2015, Kathy and her family attended various programs at Naramata Centre for 20 years. She is very passionate about the Centre and what it has to offer. Kathy previously served as board treasurer in 2015-2016 and started a new term on the board in 2018.
Karen Botsford, Vice Chair
Naramata, British Columbia
Karen’s first experience of the Naramata Centre was in the summer of 2006. Her children were in Grade 11 and first-year university. The whole family was immediately welcomed and enfolded into the community; immersing themselves in all that the Centre offered. It was a unique vacation where they were nurtured spiritually, physically, and mentally all while sharing their experiences in community and small groups. It was a wonderful entry into a new way of being cared for and they knew then that the Centre would become an annual priority. Karen and her family returned to the Centre every year and have been nurtured, challenged, and inspired to live out their faith journey. Their experience of Naramata being a thin space led them to move to the Village in 2018 from Surrey.
Karen has over 20 years of experience as an Executive Assistant supporting the Boards of Education in Surrey and Okanagan Skaha. She has a strong faith foundation through worship, retreats, workshops, and sharing her faith journey with various study groups. She has served on two United Church boards and two non-profit society boards. Karen brings a variety of skills to the Board with her work experience, service in the church, faith foundation, and previous board experience.
Karen is excited about the future of the Centre and feels very strongly that in these challenging times the Centre has an important role to play. The fostering of ongoing reconciliation and social justice are important cultural issues. She believes that more than ever folks need to be able to come together in a safe inclusive community to be supported, nurtured, educated, inspired, and empowered in an environment that provides an opportunity for spiritual growth and wellness.
Sharon Birney, Treasurer
Surrey, British Columbia
Sharon lives in Surrey BC and is a longtime member of Peninsula United Church where she has served on the Board as Treasurer for several years and is involved as a volunteer in many capacities. As her children were growing up, she was a member of daycare, preschool, and gymnastics not-for-profit boards.
Sharon holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Carleton University in Ottawa, an MBA from the University of Toronto, and is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA CMA). With her strong financial education and background, Sharon often found herself in the role of Treasurer. She has significant work experience in various financial roles within the municipal and charitable sectors covering all areas of finance, budget, and accounting.
Sharon was introduced to Naramata Center by Barb Gregg and remembers feeling “Wow, you don’t know what is missing until you are here”.
Sydney Cooke, Secretary
Jasper & Edmonton, Alberta
Sydney started attending the Naramata Centre with her family in 2004. Visiting the Centre was always a valued time to reconnect with family, nature and create new friends. As a child, she regularly mentioned how much she wanted to work at the Centre when she was older. Although she never had the opportunity to become a lifeguard for the Centre beach or a program leader, Sydney looks forward to giving back to a place and community that holds such a special place in her heart as a board member.
For six months out of the year, Sydney works and lives in Jasper National Park working as a Visitor Service Attendant for Parks Canada. This position allows her to live, in her opinion, in one of the most beautiful places in the world and enjoy all the activities the mountain town provides: hiking, biking and backcountry camping. When she is not living in Jasper, she is either traveling or volunteering with harm reduction agencies and community services in Edmonton.
Sydney graduated from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and with a minor in Psychology. Throughout and after her degree, she had the opportunity to volunteer and work with a wide demographic of individuals, some of which include those struggling with homelessness, sex work and addiction. Sydney values creating one on one connection and meaningful connections with those she works with. This is something she aims to implement in her volunteer and work positions, as well as in her day-to-day life.
Heather Amos
Edmonton, Alberta
From Heather’s first time at the Centre as a preschooler in 1971, she spent part of nearly every summer of her childhood and youth at Naramata with her family. As a parent herself, she continued that tradition with her daughter Emily, with many summer weeks spent at Naramata throughout Emily’s childhood and teen years. In fact, mother and daughter are both Winter Session alumni (1986-87 and 2010 respectively)!
In her current role as a senior manager with Alberta’s Community Development Unit, Heather leads a talented team in the design and delivery of board governance and other training to support Alberta’s vibrant non-profit sector. Prior to that, she led a team of passionate individuals to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment in the public service and beyond. Another notable experience included leading a cross-provincial team providing frontline services to vulnerable Albertans seeking help in navigating the justice system.
Greg Best
Naramata, British Columbia
Naramata Centre has always been a part of Greg’s life. As a child, he attended the Centre every summer, and when he was 15, he moved to Naramata when his parents were both on Program Staff. Greg was on summer staff multiple years and met his wife Lori when they were on staff together. Greg and Lori have four sons, for whom the Centre has had a significant influence on who they are today. It is the strong desire to ensure that families continue to have opportunities to learn, play, care for each other, care for the earth, discover new relationships and experience the beauty of being in a truly sacred place that has Greg excited about contributing to the work of the Board.
In addition to his love for the Centre, Greg brings a business background to the board with 30+ years of experience in marketing, sales and executive sales management for large organizations in the technology sector. Greg joined the Board in 2018.
Kim Follis
Calgary, Alberta
Kim Follis is a seasoned fundraising and corporate sponsorship professional with experience on capital campaigns and in corporate and foundation relations. In an earlier career he served as Dean of Students at a Christian liberal arts college where he was responsible for all of the student programming outside of the classroom.
Kim is an active member of Hillhurst United Church in Calgary having served on the Church Board and as an advisor on various fundraising initiatives. Kim and his spouse Lori first came to the Naramata Centre in 2012 as part of their embracing of the United Church of Canada. They were instantly drawn to the approach to spiritual renewal that embraces a variety of traditions and practices. They returned again in the summer of 2022 and plan to make it an annual place of pilgrimage. Kim is grateful to be part of the reimagining of the Naramata Centre and is excited for what the future holds.
Janet Groen
Calgary, Alberta
Janet is a Professor of Adult Learning at the University of Calgary. She came west with her family in 2002 to take up this position, after working as an adult educator, in a variety of settings, for many years in Kitchener, Ontario. She continues to be passionate about teaching and program design in adult learning at the university and out in the community, with a recent focus on mindfulness, spirituality, and contemplative ecology.
She is a recent graduate of the Soul Guiding Program (spiritual direction training), offered through Pacific Jubilee Programs (PJP), and is now enrolled in the Soul Mentoring Program with PJP. In addition, she is a trained Mindfulness Based-Stress (instructor) through the Centre of Mindfulness studies and is part of the Mindful Communities Teachers’ Cooperative in Western Canada.
Dawn Hein
Abbottsford, British Columbia
Dawn sees Naramata Centre as a sacred space where people can slow down, breathe and contemplate their connection to the divine. Over the past two decades her own spirit has been fed during the numerous retreats and workshops she has attended, and she and her wife were married in the Naramata Centre Chapel in 2005. Dawn holds the vision for a sustainable Naramata Centre that is available to serve future generations.
A leader in the social services sector for the past 30 years, Dawn is currently the CEO of Mission Association for Community Living (MACL). In her role at MACL, Dawn oversees a variety of services and programs that support people who have disabilities to live, work and play in their community. Dawn is a strong business development professional and a quality assurance enthusiast who is skilled at policy development, program management, human resource management, budget administration, and risk management. She brings a passion and strong work ethic for community engagement, diversity, and inclusion. Dawn holds a Masters in Leadership from Royal Roads University and is a Chartered Professional in Human Resources.
Jim Simpson
Naramata, British Columbia
Jim Simpson possesses an extensive background in the finance and corporate areas of international commodity marketing, the creative industries, and oil field services. Over the last ten years, Jim has used his C-suite experiences to focus on supporting organizations in the not-for-profit sectors to assist in maximizing their financial and organizational development areas to align with their mission and goals.
Active in the community, Jim is currently Vice-Chair of Vancouver School of Theology, was on the board of the Penticton Art Gallery, and is active in the Naramata Cittaslow group. Jim and his family have been involved with the Centre in a variety of capacities over many years, and along with his partner Donna, he is part of the local Centre host community that volunteers year-round at the Centre. Jim was previously on the board from 2005-2011 and was board chair from 2010-2011. He started his current service with the Board in 2017.
Alison Stewart
Kamloops, British Columbia
Alison was introduced to Naramata Centre through a Wild Church program. The land and the spirit of the organization permeated her heart and soul. She is excited to have the opportunity to contribute to the development of the strategies and plans that will support the important work of Naramata Centre in the years ahead.
Alison grew up in Kamloops and after high school moved to Edmonton to attend university. She practiced law for 10 years and then made a career change to work in the tourism industry. She has extensive experience in strategic and operational planning, financial management, guest services, human resources, and program development. She is known as someone who sees the big picture but has an eye for the details.
At this time in her life, Alison is on personal journey to find new ways of living in the world focused on kindness, reciprocity, and regeneration. She is on the board of a cooperative focused on the development of a cohousing community and is pursuing studies in eco-spirituality.
News from the Board
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The Centre community was deeply saddened to hear of the death at the end of January of our dear friend and colleague, Chris Grauer.