Conversations for Responsible Economic Development (CRED) is a non-profit society founded in 2013.  We are a non-partisan collection of business owners, academics, landowners and everyday residents of British Columbia who support responsible economic development. We are led by a team of volunteer advisors from a diverse range of sectors.

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ADVISORS:

Bradley Shende, M20 Digital Agency

Bradley is a creative technologist, filmmaker, digital producer and strategist who has been living and working in Vancouver for the past 15 years. He is the founder of the digital agency M2O and past producer of the award winning technology show “Dave Chalk Computer Life”. As an analyst and commentator on technology and media trends for CTV, Global, CKNW and Discovery’s How Stuff Works he reaches a global audience demystifying all things digital. He sits on the Advisory Board and Instructs the New Media Design Program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology.

Dr. Erica Frank, UBC University Neighbourhoods Association

Dr. Frank is the Tier I Canada Research Chair in Preventive Medicine and Population Health, and a Professor in the School of Population and Public Health and in the Department of Family Practice in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. She is also Founder, President, and Executive Director of NextGenU.org (the world’s first free university) and was 2008 National President of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Dallas La Porta, realtor

Dallas is a licensed certified realtor with La Porta Properties, specializing in high-end West Vancouver real estate. He is known for real estate photography highlighting the West Coast lifestyle to buyers of luxury real estate. Dallas has also co-hosted the new TV show Dream Homes, which showcases luxury homes throughout Canada. He is currently pursuing a degree in Urban Land Economics at UBC and learning Mandarin. He has lived on the North Shore for the last 27 years.

Meeru Dhalwala, restauranteur

Meeru is the co-owner of well-known South Granville restaurants Vij’s and Rangoli and the chef-owner of the new Seattle-based restaurant Shanik. She is also founder and organizer of the annual Joy of Feeding international food festival hosted at the UBC Farm and an author of two cookbooks: Vij’s—Elegant and Inspired Indian Cuisine and Vij’s at Home: Relax, Honey. She is a passionate advocate for local, sustainable and healthy food systems.

Dr. Rashid Sumaila, UBC Fisheries Economics Research Unit

Rashid is Professor and Director of the Fisheries Economics Research Unit at UBC Fisheries Centre. He has been internationally published on fisheries and natural resources, including oil spill economic impact studies, and has experience working in fisheries and natural resource projects in Norway, Canada and the North Atlantic region, Namibia and the Southern African region, Ghana and the West African region and Hong Kong and the South China Sea. He specializes in bioeconomics, marine ecosystem valuation and the analysis of global issues such as fisheries subsidies, IUU (illegal, unreported and unregulated) fishing and the economics of high and deep seas fisheries.

Tarah Stafford, Monserrat Ink

Tarah is a screenwriter, producer and sustainability advocate. She has many feature film and television screenplays to her credit and has also worked as a script editor, in casting, as a glass blower and has written, directed and produced music videos, PSA’s, educational webisodes, reality programs and commercials. She has sat on boards and worked with different organizations including: John Denver’s Windstar, Columbia Pictures Sustainability program, the UN Environment Program and TD Canada Trust’s Friends of the Environment. As the founder of “Cool Neighbourhoods”, she was recently given a Community Award in West Vancouver and was also honored to speak and receive a Global Green City Award at the United Nations.

Ridge Frank-White, student

Ridge is a student of Public Policy at Colorado College. He is also the co-author of “The Effect of Dietary and Transportation Choices on Climate Change” [2011, Food and Nutrition Sciences]. Ridge believes that climate change is one of the most pressing issues for today’s youth, and supports CRED’s educational mission.

 

Wes Regan, Hastings Crossing Business Improvement Association

Wes is Executive Director for the HxBIA, a BIA in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. He is also a community economic development consultant focusing on social impact purchasing, hiring, social finance and green collar job creation. Passionate about food security and the environment he is co-founder and Vice-President of Urban Stream Innovation, an award winning green tech firm specializing in sustainable food systems technology, and a founding board member of the Vancouver Urban Farming Society.

Peter Holt, PraxisPoint Consulting Group

Peter Holt is a Chartered Engineer and former British Royal Navy engineering officer, and has held senior management positions on major aerospace programs across Canada. Since leaving the corporate aerospace industry, Holt has operated as a consultant and also served as the CEO of the Surrey Board of Trade. He is a partner with PraxisPoint Consulting Group and is currently active on a number of initiatives that support a future economy based on greatly increased resource productivity rather than growth using only capital and labour productivity.

Noam Dolgin, Sustainable Real Estate

Noam is a Realtor in Vancouver with a focus on sustainable living. His expertise involves helping clients navigate the social, environmental and economic implications of real estate to ensure sustainable triple bottom decision making.  Before entering real estate, Noam spent more than a decade teaching and consulting across North America and Europe on sustainable living practices and the ethical imperatives to make sustainable economic decisions. Noam was born and raised in Vancouver, BC wants to see his home city and province grow is an manner that is good socially, environmentally and economically.

Liz McDowell, consultant

Liz was one of CRED’s initial advisors and acted as founding Executive Director. She was previously the founder of the Otesha Project UK and the Youth Funding Network, the former chair of the East London Green Jobs Alliance and a fellow at the UN Institute for Training and Research. She holds a finance degree from McGill University. Liz grew up in Chilliwack and Langley and currently lives in East Vancouver. 

OUR TEAM:

Andrew Grant, CRED Program Director

Originally from Vancouver Island, Andrew is an executive and advisor with more than twenty years of leadership in building partnerships and helping organizations to grow. He has advised international development agencies, the energy sector, First Nations and governments in over 40 countries.  Andrew is part owner of a Vancouver-based renewable energy company. He has a Masters in Corporate Social Responsibility from the University of Barcelona, as well as a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Victoria in Spanish and Economics. Contact Andrew

Felicity Lawong, CRED Project Coordinator

Felicity joined CRED in February 2014. She comes from a TV background, where she has 10 years experience coordinating productions for video, television, and digital media. She has worked on many locally shot Lifestyle TV series, and is passionate about sustaining a responsible and healthy economy in BC. Felicity currently lives on the North Shore. Contact Felicity

Want to know more?

In this short video, CRED’s advisors explain why and how the group came together: