Board of Directors
Michael Jackson
Executive Director (2016 – Present)
Michael was one of the first students in the UK to study Ecology, a trail-blazing bachelor’s degree course at the time operated by the newly built Biology Department at East Anglia University back in 1973. A few years later he was awarded his master’s degree in Nature Conservation at University College London and finally completed his PhD on the restoration of shallow lakes at the University of East Anglia in 2003.
Michael has been the lead author of many peer-reviewed papers including some prestigious journals, such as The Journal of Ecology and Cambridge University Press. Michael's work in the field of freshwater ecology has been wide in scope and impactful. Whether establishing long-term monitoring programs of aquatic plants and macroinvertebrates, studying the effects of anti-fouling paint on house boats in The Norfolk Broads, or searching for new stickleback species-pairs in island lakes in the Georgia Strait. He also spent many years developing a program for sustainable mosquito control in the Lower Mainland of Vancouver and Costa Rica. His focus has always been on reducing harmful impacts of human development on natural ecosystems and particularly through the irresponsible and often indiscriminate use of harmful chemical pollutants entering sensitive freshwaters and watersheds.
Michael excels in outreach. He is a highly engaging public speaker who has given talks throughout the UK and North and South America. He has appeared on broadcast media including CBC News, Global News, BC Almanac, and was a guest presenter in The Nature of Things program on mosquitoes. In print media his work has featured in articles in The New York Times, Vancouver Sun, the Province, The Coast Reporter and BC Magazine. Michael also sat on the board of the Sunshine Coast Festival of Written Arts and was chair of the Sunshine Coast Conservation Association for two years. He has frequently been asked to plan and facilitate scientific conferences and workshops, utilizing his wealth of experience not only in wetland ecology, habitat restoration, and entomology, but also education, technical writing, the arts, and project management.
Michael has lived on the Sunshine Coast since 2001, and has been involved in countless projects in BC. He founded Culex Environmental Ltd in 2002 a company that specialized in environmentally friendly mosquito control and was contracted to conduct West Nile virus programs for most of the Lower Mainland municipalities and major long-term contracts with Metro Vancouver and BC Hydro as well as the Sunshine Coast Regional District. Michael and his wife Dale also founded Bluewaters Environmental, a wetland restoration company that was instrumental in facilitating and writing the Area A Water Master Plan in 2005 which has since become a model for hundreds of water master plans across the country. Michael is a founder of the Loon Foundation and served as volunteer chair for 15 years prior to becoming Executive Director when the Foundation transitioned to a governance structure.
Martin Farncombe
Chair (2022 - present)
Martin spent most of his life in the UK, working in management consultancy before starting a financially successful procurement/supply chain business. He moved to Pender Harbour and became a Canadian a few years ago and, since then, has been a keen participant in the Loon Foundation citizen science program. He has a PhD in Analytical Chemistry and has published in a number of other fields, including simulation modelling, business strategy and economics. As well as being the treasurer of a large sports-governing body for several years, he has held directorships or partnerships in a number of businesses. In his spare time, Martin counts invertebrates and teaches martial arts.
Jane Keresztes
Vice Chair (2021 – present)
Jane was born and raised in Montreal. After graduating from the University of New Brunswick with an Elementary Education degree, she landed in this spectacular province. In addition to teaching for the Coquitlam School District, Jane was contracted with the City of Surrey for 10 years to convey the principles of the “3R’s”, water conservation, and bin/worm composting to students and youth organizations. She continued her schooling at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, completing a certificate in Career Counselling, after which she worked with Work BC and also launched Crossroads Career Counselling to support high school students and career professionals. Jane and her husband Zoltan have been on Sakinaw Lake since 1995. She now spends time kayaking, hiking, reading, biking, and seeking new adventures with genuine appreciation for the natural landscape and surrounding beauty.
Jim Cameron
Secretary (2016 – present)
Jim was born in Garden Bay and, after graduating from Pender Harbour Secondary, received his BSc from Simon Fraser University in 1984. Jim started gillnetting for Sakinaw Lake sockeye with his mother at only 4 years old. He has since fished for salmon and herring, as well as dogfish, halibut, cod, and prawns. He fished with his father for many years on “Britannia 1,” gillnetting and trolling for salmon as well as seining for herring, before buying his own license and boat, “Miss Barbara”, in 1985. Jim has been a member of the Pender Harbour Volunteer Fire Department since 1988 and is currently the Assistant Fire Chief. He is also a highly experienced professional biologist and has been helping to secure the survival of the unique Sakinaw Lake sockeye populations for many years.
Ryan Miller
Treasurer (2023 - present)
Ryan has worked in the investment industry since 2003, providing wealth, estate and tax advisory services to high worth clients, businesses and charities in North America. Ryan holds a Bachelor of Business and Economics from Flinders University in South Australia; a Masters in Business Administration (Finance) from Edinburgh Business School and a Bachelor of Laws from Queensland University. Ryan has completed all levels of the CPA In-Depth Tax Course, a 3 year program focusing on Canadian taxation, as of 2022. Most recently, he will be completing the ICD Directors Education Program through the Rotman (University of Toronto) School of Management for 2024 to achieve the ICD.D. Over the years Ryan has been actively involved in the not-for-profit sector for a number of organizations in Vancouver in the role of Chair, Vice-Chair and member at large. Ryan looks forward to continuing to assist the Loon Foundation and its initiatives over the years ahead.
Samuel Beaton
Director (2021 – present)
Samuel was born in Comox, BC, and grew up on Canadian military bases across Canada and Europe. He spent two years as a volunteer missionary in France and Switzerland before heading back to university, later graduating from Simon Fraser University with a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology. He then spent the next 26 years working for the Correctional Service of Canada, during which time he also volunteered for eight years as an Auxiliary Constable with the RCMP. Sam and his wife moved to Pender Harbour in 2011, where he is currently employed by the Madeira Park RONA (Coast Builders) as their “tool specialist”, and volunteers with the Pender Harbour Fire Department as a medical First Responder. Upon retiring, he pursued scuba diving as a hobby and is now a registered PADI Divemaster. He is in/under the water, with his dive buddy Vince, four days a week around Pender Harbour.
Ted Chamberlin
Director (2022 - present)
Ted was born in Vancouver and has studied at the universities of British Columbia, Oxford, and Toronto. He is a Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto, where he has served on the faculty since 1970, and has traveled around the world to study stories and songs of people such as the Indigenous peoples of North America, the hunters of the Kalahari, and the herders of Mongolia. Ted worked on the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry and the Alaska Native Claims Commission, was Senior Research Associate with the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, and has worked extensively on native land claims in Canada and across the globe. His books include If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories?, Horse: How the Horse Has Shaped Civilizations, and The Banker and the Blackfoot. Ted also served on the board of the McLean Foundation for 45 years.
Russell Cameron
Director (2022 - present)
Russell has always lived in Pender Harbour, save a few semesters at Simon Fraser University. He has been in the commercial fishing industry throughout his life, spending summers on a north coast fishing camp since he was a baby. He has a 29-year run of research fishing contracts for the International Pacific Halibut Commission, and has been a member of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union since 1976, serving as a leader in the local board, and often on the General Executive Board, of the union. He is also currently on the General Executive Board and sitting in a union position on the Halibut Advisory Board.
Rhian Piprell
Director (2022 - present)
Rhian is originally from the UK, then married and came to Canada in 1998. She is now retired, after having worked as a teacher and librarian in Britain, the Middle East, Canada, and Myanmar. Over the years Rhian has always been active in the communities she has lived in, serving on many boards including the Sechelt Library Board which she currently sits on. Rhian and her husband are enthusiastic, active volunteers with the Loon Foundation monitoring program. They have been coming to the Sunshine Coast since 2003, own a lot in Pender Harbour, and moved to Sechelt in 2020.