Organic Islands - Festival Team

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Festival Team

Debra Morse, Festival Founder, Director and Co-Producer

Debra Morse, Social Entrepreneur, has two decades of experience consulting to and working with the public and private sector in the areas of the environment, law, real estate and academia. She is at ease managing innovative large scale projects and community initiatives, and has expertise in business development, project management, group facilitation, and board governance. Her eclectic background includes professional writing, artificial intelligence, graphic design and llama training.

After completing her Bachelors degree in English with distinction, she furthered her education in business development, communications and governance, and expanded her network by attending courses and conferences throughout North America. Her passion for the environment and entrepreneurism lead her to create and launch an acclaimed marketing company in 2005 delivering live and virtual experiences to motivate audiences and activate brands for forward thinking environmental businesses and community organizations eager to inform and educate consumers about alternative products and business practices.

Debra went on to develop and produce, in a 10 acre garden venue, Canada's largest outdoor organic festival and environmental expo attracting 5,000 attendees and 125 exhibitors from across North America. Debra's success is due, in part, to her ability to identify and engage business and community leaders and collaborate with values-based businesses and environmental organizations including educational institutions, real estate developers, fair trade associations, and organic food supply chain constituents. She excels at bringing organizations and people together in an innovative way to inspire social and environmental change.

Debra's passion for collaboration has inspired her to cultivate communication strategies fostering understanding, respect and compassion. As a facilitator and trainer in governance systems and compassionate communication, she has energized organizations to advance democratic decision making and creative thinking, and improve team work and organizational efficiency.

Debra enjoys exploring Gulf Island communities, hiking in wilderness areas and shopping at farmers markets. To keep her body and mind nimble, she practices yoga, origami and Sudoku.

To find out more about Social Entreprenuers visit: Wikipedia

James Cowan, Production Manager

James Cowan is in his third year of production management for the Organic Islands Festival. James has over 10 years experience in the concert and event industry working on many events such as the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, The Western Canadian Music Awards, The Vancouver International Jazz Festival, The Vancouver International Film Festival Surrey Canada Day, and many more tours, festivals, concerts and community events. James' other passion is organic gardening/farming and building community. He and his family are part of an ecovillage project on Salt Spring Island called EcoReality where they are building a model for sustainable land use and public outreach.

Working on the Organic Islands Festival is a chance for James to combine the skills acquired from the event industry and the passion of sustainable living and organic growing. When not being a stay at home dad James also works part time as a paramedic for BC Ambulance, gets outside as much as possible, paddles and swims, does yoga and is working on landing a backflip.

Deb Beaton-Smith, Logistics Manager/Exhibitor Liaison

Deb Beaton-Smith is in her first year as the Logistics Manager and Exhibitor Liaison for the 2010 Organic Islands Festival and Sustainability Expo. Deb has a range of experience coordinating promotional events, working on festivals, and developing and implementing large scale conference exhibits. At the University of Victoria Deb was the Manager, Marketing and Communications for 5 years on UVic's ocean sciences project known as the VENUS Project. She has been the Admin Manager and Artist Liaison for Victoria's Rifflandia music festival since it was founded, is the Food and Beverage Manager for the Olympics Yaletown LiveCity site, worked at JunoFest and was the Production Coordinator for the `05 Island Music Awards. As a volunteer she has coordinated numerous activities contributing her time as a Parent Advisory Council (PAC) President and to the World Conference on Breast Cancer. Deb is a graduate of the Leadership Victoria program, has an Education degree from UBC and is completing through her Public Relations Certificate at UVic.

Growing up her family way of life was about reuse, repair, recycle and compost. Don't over buy, when it doesn't fit - donate it, when it's broken - fix it, when it can't be fixed - give it to someone who can use parts, when you can't do that - drop it off at a recycle depot, when it can be composted …do it.

Sonya Kofler, HR/Volunteer Manager

Sonya Kofler is in her first year as HR/Volunteer Manager for the festival. An HR Consultant specializing in organization and employee development, she has over 17 years of experience consulting on strategic and cultural change and transition initiatives involving organizational structure redesign, work process and job redesign, process facilitation, and educational program design and facilitation. She has worked with organizations in the private, non-profit and public sectors.

Sonya appreciates how every person is moved by an instinct capacity to create, connect and transform. She sees the green community as a vibrant and thriving model of what can be achieved when our visions honor the earth and our interconnectedness as we find ways to recreate our workplaces, our communities and ourselves. She has a master’s degree in Transpersonal Psychology from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University of Guelph. Her daily walks in Victoria’s beautiful parks with her two chocolate labs, writing, gardening, yoga and meditation are her sources of grounding and inspiration, and she is a member of the BCHRMA, the local Iyengar Yoga Center and the C.G. Jung Society.