Our Team
Board of Directors
Dave Taylor
Chairperson of BCDA
VANCOUVER ISLAND
Holger Schwichtenberg
Vice Chair
MAINLAND
John Kerkhoven
Treasurer
MAINLAND
Paul Davidson
Secretary
NORTHERN BC
David Janssens
MAINLAND
Phil Owen
SOUTHERN BC
Louis Schurmann
DIRECTOR-AT-LARGE
Stan Van Keulen
MAINLAND
Jared DeJong
MAINLAND
John de Dood
SOUTHERN BC
BC Dairy Association Staff
Joel Barohn, MS, RD(CAN/USA), Chef
Nutrition Educator
As one of the registered dietitians at BC Dairy Association, Joel contributes to the mission of promoting health in BC through leadership and innovation in nutrition education. This includes developing, evaluating and presenting programs and resources to teachers, health professionals and the general public throughout BC.
Milai Burnett
Accountant
Milai is responsible for the Association’s payables.
Paul Hargreaves
General Manager
Paul is responsible for the overall management of BC Dairy Association, including BCDA’s financial reporting and budget management.
Trevor Hargreaves
Director of Producer Relations and Communications
As the Director of Producer Relations & Communications, Trevor Hargreaves represents all dairy farmers in British Columbia. Together with the BCDA Executive Director & CEO, he is an advocate for the dairy industry with all levels of government, media, special interest groups, environmentalists, and other industry associations. He is also the strategic lead for a variety of industry programs ranging from innovation, research, industry education, and public outreach.
Cecilia Ho
Communications Manager
As the Communications Manager, Cecilia assists with the planning and execution of internal and external communications. Cecilia manages the Mobile Dairy Classroom Experience and is involved in the planning, organizing and supervision of all dairy classroom events.
Wendy Kwok
Program Manager
As the Program Manager, Wendy communicates the delivery of nutrition education programs to teachers and schools in BC. In addition, Wendy supports and provides resources and tools to schools registered with the School Milk BC initiative (schoolmilkbc.ca).
Wendy Kristoff
Executive Assistant
Wendy provides administrative assistance to the Association’s Executive Director and to the Association.
Kristine Louie
Marketing Manager
As a member of the marketing team, Kristine contributes to the promotion of milk consumption through BCDA's provincial marketing initiatives and represents BC as part of Milk West. Kristine leads the provincial We ♥ Local initiative and BC Dairy Industry Conference in addition to Milk West campaigns such as Snack Time and Milk Slam. Additionally, Kristine provides graphic design and production services to all departments of the Association.
Sydney Massey, MPH, RD
Director of Nutrition Education
As one of the registered dietitians at BC Dairy Association, Sydney contributes to the mission of promoting health in BC through leadership and innovation in nutrition education. This includes developing, evaluating and presenting programs and resources to teachers, health professionals and the general public throughout BC.
Sarah Mawji
Marketing Coordinator
As a Marketing Coordinator, Sarah contributes to the promotion of milk consumption in BC. Sarah leads several provincial marketing initiatives and specializes in digitial communications which she oversees for the association.
Lynne Sawchuk, MPE, RD
Nutrition Educator
As one of the registered dietitians at BC Dairy Association, Lynne contributes to the mission of promoting health in BC through leadership and innovation in nutrition education. This includes developing, evaluating and presenting programs and resources to teachers, health professionals and the general public throughout BC.
Cora Schouten
ProAction program coordinator
As a program coordinator, Cora works on the day-to-day administration of the proAction program. This includes producer training, farm follow-up and on-farm technical support visits. Cora is also involved with the development of proAction's environment pillar.
Elizabeth Schouten
Director of Policy and Sustainability
Elizabeth is responsible for the strategic development and implementation of dairy policy including proAction, our national sustainability initiative. Her expertise includes animal care and livestock traceability.
Carla Soutar
Producer Services Coordinator
As the Producer Services Coordinator, Carla is responsible for the province-wide delivery of the Canadian Quality Milk Program (CQM), which is an on-farm food safety program designed to help producers prevent, monitor and reduce food safety risks on their farms.
Nicole Spencer, MEd, RD
Nutrition Educator
As one of the registered dietitians at BC Dairy Association, Nicole contributes to the mission of promoting health in BC through leadership and innovation in nutrition education. This includes developing, evaluating and presenting programs and resources to teachers, health professionals and the general public throughout BC.
Jennifer Woron
Director of Marketing
In her role as Marketing Manager, Jennifer is the lead for all of BCDA’s provincial marketing initiatives which contribute to growing milk consumption in BC. Jennifer represents BC as part of Milk West and the Strategic Milk Alliance which is responsible for developing and executing campaigns such as the Milk Every Moment campaign, Powered by Chocolate Milk program, Snack Time youth initiative and the Milkmobile community event and sampling program.
Mariah Schuurman
PROACTION PROGRAM COORDINATOR
As a program coordinator, Mariah works on the day-to-day administration of our on-farm proAction program. Her duties include producer training, farm follow-up and on-farm technical support visits.