SPEAKERS
Ned Bell
Whether cooking for six or six hundred in his role as Executive Chef at Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver and YEW seafood + bar, Ned Bell’s cooking philosophy is globally inspired and locally created.
He is inspired and passionate about crafting dishes that lean heavily on plant based, nutrient dense ingredients with an emphasis on sustainable seafood.
Ned founded Chefs for Oceans in early 2014 and rode his bike 8,700km across Canada. During his journey, he hosted two-dozen events that featured some of the best chefs in the country striving to raise awareness for healthy lakes oceans and rivers and sustainable seafood.
Ned’s diverse British Columbia upbringing instilled a passion for fresh and locally sourced cuisine. This drive led him to work in some of the country’s top kitchens in Vancouver, Niagara, Toronto, Calgary, Kelowna and Vancouver amassing many great accolades along the way.
From 7 seasons on Food Network Canada’s Cook Like a Chef to Calgary’s Where magazine’s “Best Overall and Rising Star” award” to ownership at Kelowna’s Cabana Grille, and Western Livingmagazine’s 2008 “Top 40 Foodie’s Under 40.”
Just this past December Ned was honoured as the Canada’s “Chef of the Year” recipient for Food Service and Hospitality magazine’s 2014 Pinnacle Awards. Ned recently returned from a four-city culinary tour of China where he represented Canada in the kitchens of Four Seasons Hotels Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
Adrian Glynn & Fringe Percussion
In a Vancouver recording studio in 2012, the members of Western Canada’s premiere new music percussion ensemble, Fringe Percussion, laid down intentionally rough-hewn bed tracks for Adrian Glynn’s album Bruise. Apart from resulting in a sublime, critically acclaimed record, this session also planted a seed in the minds of both parties about possible further collaboration. Since that time, Glynn and Fringe have worked together to develop a more refined fusion of their sounds, with Fringe now taking on the role of the full band, using their full arsenal of percussion instruments to supply bass lines, harmonies, and countermelodies, in addition to the rhythmic drive and exotic sound-world first explored in the Bruise session.
“This is an exciting meeting of musical worlds”, says Fringe leader Danny Tones. “Fusing the Western musical tradition work that we do with Adrian’s lyrical songwriting style is a type of collaboration we’ve never seen before, so we jumped at the idea to create a new sound in this way”.
More about Adrian Glynn:
Adrian Glynn is a Vancouver-based singer-songwriter who has spent the past few years touring Canada extensively as well as through Europe, both as a solo act and as a member of the lauded modern folk group, The Fugitives. It’s been a busy year for The Fugitives, who released a critically acclaimed and folk-chart-topping new record, Everything Will Happen; supported Buffy Saint-Marie across Western Canada; and played a slot at Glastonbury Festival in the UK, as part of their European tour. As a solo artist, Glynn’s first full-length record, Bruise, garnered him a nomination for Emerging Artist of the Year at the Canadian Independent Music Awards and he has been a must-see act at many festivals across Canada as well as at the Dylan Thomas Festival in Wales. His new record, produced by Vancouver favourites The Zolas, is due out later this year.
As an actor, Adrian studied theatre at UBC and New York’s Atlantic Theatre School and is best known in Vancouver for his celebrated performance as the original “Writer” in the Firehall Arts Centre’s award-winning show, “Chelsea Hotel: The Songs of Leonard Cohen”. Adrian has also worked extensively in TV and film, appearing in popular programs ranging from Supernatural and Arrow to Men in Trees and Primeval: New World.
More about Fringe Percussion:
Fringe Percussion is an ensemble dedicated to presenting works from the contemporary Western art music and non-Western repertories. It strives to strengthen the voice of local composers and global musical traditions through innovative programming, artistic collaboration, and dedication to musical excellence.
The ensemble’s repertoire connects to the expressive cultural traditions of Bali, China, Cuba, Japan, Ghana, and India. Fringe Percussion recognizes the vitality, beauty, and artistry inherent to world musics, and wishes to bring them to wider audiences. In so doing, Fringe Percussion’s perspective is especially important. It communicates with many generations and many cultures, connecting well to the multifaceted, multicultural nature of the contemporary music scene.
Ali Romanow is a multi-instrumentalist and music educator based in British Columbia. A natural performer, Ali brings her captivating vocals, original writing and arranging to whatever project she is currently focused on. When she is not on the road playing fiddle with Vancouver indie collective,The Fugitives, Ali balances touring by teaching at music workshops, running group classes and private lessons. Ali is also the founder and director of the FolkHarmonic Orchestra in Courtenay BC, an innovative restructuring of the traditional orchestra to incorporate alternative folk instruments and repertoire. www.aliromanow.com
In the Fall of 2010, Glynn was a much lauded solo act at many of the UK’s finest music and literary events including the Dylan Thomas Festival in Wales and the Word! Festival in Leicester, who described his show as “funny, charming and shockingly brilliant.. The lyrics are poems and the performance astonishing”. Glynn has also toured all over Canada playing numerous folk and pop festivals and was CBC Radio3 host Grant Lawrence’s “act to see” at 2011’s Pop Okanagan festival in British Columbia.
For the past 3 years, Glynn has also been a member of acclaimed modern roots music act, The Fugitives. Together, they have released two records, toured extensively both in Canada and abroad and played numerous folk and literary festivals, including the Vancouver Folk Festival, the Hillside Music Festival and the Dylan Thomas Festival: “One of the best events we’ve ever had… right up there with Allen Ginsberg and Ken Kesey”. (Executive Director, Dylan Thomas Festival, UK).
Recently, Glynn starred as “The Writer” in the Firehall Arts Centre’s celebrated new theatrical work, Chelsea Hotel; Featuring the Songs and Poems of Leonard Cohen. Glynn brought his own understanding of the legendary writer’s music and poetry to the stage with “such bruising honesty that he stops the show”. (Georgia Straight).
As a travel writer, Glynn has released a compilation of travel writings from a year spent in India and the Middle East entitled Fish-Skin Memories (2010) and is set to release new music (both Fugitives and solo) in 2013.
Gary Stephen Ross
Over more than 35 years, Gary Stephen Ross has earned a reputation as one of the most admired writers and editors in Canada. He began contributing to Toronto Life while studying English at the University of Toronto, and was soon freelancing for Maclean’s, The Globe and Mail, and Saturday Night, as well as editing books for such legendary mentors as CBC host Peter Gzowski and Saturday Night editor Robert Fulford.
His own journalism has been honoured with half a dozen National Magazine Awards, and he has edited literally hundreds of award-winning articles by other writers. He’s been an editor at Toronto Life and Financial Times, and was editor-in-chief of Saturday Night magazine from 2004 to 2006. From 2006 to 2012 he was editorial director of Transcontinental Media West and editor-in-chief of Vancouver magazine. At the moment he’s an editor-at-large for The Walrus magazine.
As a founding partner of the book publisher Macfarlane Walter & Ross, he shaped numerous distinguished titles, including the No. 1 bestseller Boom Bust & Echo (by David Foot & Daniel Stoffman). His own books include the No. 1 nonfiction bestseller Stung: The Incredible Obsession of Brian Molony, which became the feature film Owning Mahowny, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman. He has also worked as a screenwriter, an advertising copywriter, a teacher, and a writing coach.
As a communications consultant, Gary has helped such clients as Magna International, Fairchild Media, Vancouver Economic Development Council, Southam Inc., Troubadour Foundation, Distinguished Restaurants of North America, The Canada Council, Edelman Public Relations, Toptable Group, and Aquilini Investment Group. His corporate presentation, The Ross Rules: 10 Ways to Communicate More Effectively, has been applauded by academic, nonprofit, and business audiences.
Carolyn Tuckwell
A respected community leader, Carolyn is the President and CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of
South Coast BC (BGC), one of BC’s largest service agencies.
Carolyn’s career has been guided by a passion for children, and working to ensure that every child has the opportunities they deserve to have the best outcomes in life. By staying true to “doing the right thing” and taking a strengths based, optimistic approach to building culture, Carolyn has built strong, high performing teams and driven growth in both revenue and service delivery.
Not content with the status quo, since joining the organization in 2005, Carolyn executed the successful merger of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Vancouver and Delta/Richmond to create a strengthened organization with significantly enhanced service delivery for clients. BGC has also opened three new Clubs (the first expansions in over 20 years) and tripled in size. Now an $11 million organization serving more than 12,000 children, youth and families annually, BGC is on track to advance its position as the Champion of kids.
Never one to sit on the sidelines, Carolyn is a hands-on leader who sets an excellent community example for volunteerism.
Jay DeMerit
JJ Lee
JJ Lee is a broadcaster, National Magazine Award-winning writer and
memoirist. In 2011, his book, The Measure of a Man: The Story of a
Father, a Son, and a Suit, was shortlisted for a Governor-General’s
award. In 2014, he hosted the CBC Radio program, Head To Toe. He is a regular contributor to ELLE magazine.
Jonathan Tippett
Jonathan Tippett is an artist and mechanical engineer with lifelong curiosity for the relationship between humans and machines. He earned his mechanical engineering degree from UBC in 1999 and has since worked in fuel cells, hydraulics and neurovascular implants. He has practices traditional ceramic sculpture since a young age, but his love of machines brought him to explore the intersection of form, function and human skill in the context of engineered and interactive sculpture. Co-creator of The Mondo Spider and co-founder of eatART, he has run the eatART Lab since its beginning in 2007 and is now transitioning to focus on the creation of his next experience based machine, Prosthesis: The Anti-Robot , slated for completion in summer 2016.
Etienne van Eck
Website | Twitter |
Etienne van Eck was appointed as the co-commander of the protection team of President Nelson Mandela following his election in 1994.
Raised in a small rural town in South Africa during the apartheid years, Etienne joined the South African Police after high school, aged 18. In 1990, following Mandela’s release from prison, Etienne was appointed as a commander of security for CODESA, the Convention for a Democratic South Africa. In 1994, following CODESA, he was appointed as co-commander of Mandela’s protection team.
Through his work at the side of Nelson Mandela, Etienne experienced first-hand how Mandela got to understand the hopes and fears of the diverse people of the new South Africa, and how this understanding helped him unite the nation and to build confidence in the country’s future. Tonight he will share his thoughts on how President Mandela did what many at the time thought was impossible.
While in the police, Etienne completed his undergraduate degree in law and LLB.
Etienne resigned from the police in 1999, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. That same year he immigrated to Vancouver, and currently works as the Director of Investigations with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC.