Our April Meeting is our AGM. Please watch your inbox in March for important documents that we will be voting on, including the CFUW National resolutions, our Proposed Club Budget and the Charitable Fund Draft Allocations. Please take the time to read them before April 11 to be held at Trillium United Church, 415 Linwell Road, St Catharines.
Our speaker will be Guy Graveline, President & Founder of ihiveLIVE Sharing.
Born and raised in Welland, Guy has over 35 years of experience in senior-level positions in the private and public sectors in Canada. He has extensive expertise in strategic planning and delivering high-impact, complex marketing and business initiatives involving stakeholders, partnerships, and alliances.
The advent of the Canada Summer Games being held in the Niagara Region caused great excitement for many of us. Then, the change of the location for the Mountain Bike racecourse and its construction in the 12 Mile Creek ravine alerted concerned residents that something was amiss. Guy started asking questions to all parties involved, filing Freedom of Information requests, making presentations, and producing detailed written “letters of correspondence” to the NPCA, Niagara Canada Summer Games, and to St. Catharines City Council, amongst others. He was met with inaccurate information and explanations, public dismissal, and political interference. When all his efforts were rebuffed, he created a “Friends of 12 Mile Creek” website and a change.org petition page that documented what was happening, including pictures and video evidence.
Guy believes that there is a better way for citizens, elected officials, and local governments to work together on issues of importance to their community. He has extensive knowledge of how government works and ran for city council in the fall of 2022. He will tell his story and describe better ways to improve community engagement, citizen advocacy, and communication between citizens and government used by other municipalities. Guy believes that a new community-led structure and process needs to be established that will lead to better outcomes in preserving, protecting, and enhancing our remaining natural environments.
More about Guy: After graduating from Ottawa’s Carleton University, Guy worked on Parliament Hill for almost seven years for various Members of Parliament including as campaign manager for several political candidates and as part of the PC leadership team that elected Kim Campbell as Leader, and first female Prime Minister of Canada.
He established his own marketing and communications firm in Ottawa and was recruited by one of his clients which allowed him to move back to Niagara. He later accepted a position as Director of Marketing and Economic Development which included responsibility for the branding of Niagara as a premier tourist destination, and investor attraction. He has won numerous awards and served on several Boards and Advisory Committees, including with the inaugural Tourism Partnership of Niagara.
Guy is co-founder of ihiveLIVE, an online consumer shopping portal that shares revenue with its members and the charities and causes they support.