DIRECTOR
JACK BELL
Williams Lake, B.C.

Jack Bell, who served for 25 years on the Board of Directors of the Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association of British Columbia (RVDA), was awarded the national industry's greatest honour, The Walter Paseska Canadian RV Dealer of the Year in 2004.

Jack grew up on a Saskatchewan farm before moving to Williams Lake in 1966. After several years working in auto parts, collision and auto glass services, he started selling Recreation Vehicles in 1976. This eventually became Chemo RV - a new dealership in Williams Lake in 1981 and a Quesnel branch which opened in 1988. Now semi-retired, he's engaged in moving the Williams Lake operations to new and enlarged facilities at nearby 150 Mile House.

Chemo RV is active in sponsoring numerous events throughout the BC Cariboo region, including the famous Williams Lake Stampede, Billy Barker Days in Quesnel, Canada Day music festivals, fishing derbies, four major golf tournaments in the Cariboo and fundraisers for the less fortunate. Chemo RV has donated to the building funds of the civic sports complex in Williams Lake and to the new arena complex in 100 Mile House. Jack and his wife Leslie have a daughter, Heather and a son, Jason, who now runs the business.

DIRECTOR
MANSE BINKLEY, CA
Kelowna, B.C.

A past-president of the Manitoba Motor Dealers Association and Chairman of the New Car Dealers Association of British Columbia, Manse Binkley grew up in the auto business. Born in Saskatoon, he moved to Brandon, Manitoba when his father bought a Chrysler dealership in 1954.

After obtaining a Commerce degree from the University of Saskatchewan and subsequent accreditation as a Chartered Accountant in Toronto, he returned to Brandon to take over the operation of Binkley Motors, which he sold in 1991. Manse then joined the Don Folk Group in Kelowna, from which he purchased the Folk Honda dealership in 1999, to become Harmony Honda. In 2007 he acquired the Acura dealership in Kelowna, now Harmony Acura.

A past member of the Board of Governors of Brandon University, he and his wife Anna have been active supporters of numerous charities in Kelowna. In 2006 they established the A.W. Hunt, QC, Student Emergency Assistance Endowment Fund at UBC Okanagan, with a $100,000 donation. The Binkleys have three sons, presently at university.

During a 15-year tenure as President and Chief Executive Officer of the British Columbia Automobile Association, Bill Bullis established a new era for the 775,000-member organization. He was instrumental in the evolution of sophisticated governance, dynamic business practices and enhanced member services. In 1995, he brought to the BCAA a vast business background: a former Executive Vice-President of CUC Broadcasting, a diversified telecommunications company with operations in Canada and the UK; various executive positions within the Pillsbury Company, including President of Burger King Canada; and Vice-President, Operations, for the St. Lawrence Sugar Company. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington and subsequently completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University.

DIRECTOR
AL CAMERON
Parksville, B.C.

A Nova Scotia native who relocated to British Columbia in 1995, joining the Jim Pattison Auto Group in Victoria and Duncan, Al Cameron and his wife Bea founded their own business, Bluenose Motor Co., in Parksville in 2003. A Director of the Independent Auto Dealer’s Division of the Automotive Retailers Association, he was proud that his company was voted Parksville's "Small Business of the Year" in 2007. Al says the car business is in his blood, a legacy from a favoured uncle and mentor who operates the largest independent auto dealership in Atlantic Canada.

He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Parksville & District Chamber of Commerce, an active Rotarian with the Parksville AM Club and a volunteer with Project Literacy. Al and Bea live in Nanaimo with their two children.
 

John Chesman is the immediate past-Chairman of the New Car Dealers Association of British Columbia (NCDA), and General Manager of MCL Motor Cars (1992) Inc. He became prominent in British Columbia while serving for 15-years as Vice-President, Finance and Administration, for Northwest Sports Enterprises Ltd. (The Vancouver Canucks). Prior to that, he had been Chief Accountant for Dillingham Corporation and Controller/Treasurer of HB Contracting Ltd. His introduction to the motor dealer industry was with the Jim Pattison Group as Vice-President of the Automobile Division.

Rebecca Darnell graduated from UBC Faculty of Law in 1994 and was called to the Bar in British Columbia in May of 1995. She articled with the Ministry of Attorney General in Victoria, BC, during which time she represented the Crown in civil, criminal and administrative proceedings throughout British Columbia and also did a rotation at Legislative Council where she observed and assisted in drafting new and amended legislation. On completing the articling term, Rebecca immediately opened a firm in Langley. That firm has now grown to five lawyers and eight full time staff with a broad practice focus including both solicitor and barrister work.

She is very active in her profession and the community. Rebecca was President of the Langley Community Services Society from 2001 to 2008; a Past-President of the Fraser Valley Bar Association; an elected Member of the Canadian Bar Association Provincial Council since 2008; and a Life Member of the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund. She has a special interest in board governance and legislative reform.

DIRECTOR
MICHAEL FAULKNER
White Rock, B.C.

Michael Faulkner is a senior administrator with over 35 years of public service in the fields of finance, secondary and post-secondary education.  He was the Corporate Secretary and Senior Financial Officer for Alberta Treasury from 1981 to 1998; a period of significant challenge and change in that province’s history. More recently, he was Vice President of Alberta College in Edmonton during its merger with larger post-secondary institutions and then Vice President of Fairview College in Northern Alberta as it merged with the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.

Michael has served on numerous Alberta Government councils and regulatory authorities during his working career.  Since retirement in 2004, he has served on Alberta’s degree accreditation council, at its inception, and was a Public Member on the board of the Alberta College of Pharmacists.  He is an avid and accomplished cyclist and now makes his home in the White Rock area.

DIRECTOR
MORAY KEITH
Delta, BC

BIO to be added
 

DIRECTOR
DON NIXDORF DC
New Westminster, B.C.

Dr. Don Nixdorf has been among Canada's most prominent health professionals for more than a generation, a member of national and provincial agencies and a participant in many studies and Commissions. A Vancouver native and graduate of the Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, he has been Executive-Director of the British Columbia Chiropractic Association and the College of Chiropractors of B.C. since 1985.

He is also a veteran of countless encounters in all forms of media on behalf of his profession, including his own open-line radio health program, and the co-author of the 2005 book Squandering Billions, which analyzed health spending in Canada. Don's work keeps him in frequent contact with health ministers, other professionals, media, insurance companies and community organizations. He currently serves as a medical member on the federal government's Disability Pension Review Tribunal. He and his wife Carol reside in New Westminster.

DIRECTOR
GRAEME ROBERTS
Nanaimo, B.C.

A former Mayor of Nanaimo and among the city's prominent business personalities for more than a generation, Graeme Roberts has served in senior executive and Board of Directors positions for a succession of public and private sector entities, local, regional and national. He is a past Chairman of the British Columbia Public Service Commission and also served on the Boards of Air Canada Jazz, its predecessors and the B.C. Ferry Corporation. He is a former District Governor of his service club organization, Gyro International. Graeme is a member of the Board of Directors of the Victoria Airport Authority. His business background includes the ownership of Toyota and Honda dealerships in Nanaimo. He is a past-president of what is now the New Car Dealers Association of B.C.

Among his private passions has been 20 years of volunteer work in amateur sport for youth, seniors and people with disabilities through the B.C. Games Society. In this cause he has attended close to 60 Games in more than 40 B.C. communities. Graeme and artist wife Kathryn Amisson reside at Brentwood Bay near Victoria.
 

DIRECTOR
GORD VALENTE
West Vancouver, B.C.

Gord Valente, the proprietor of West Vancouver's Auto Depot Ltd., is President of the Automotive Retailers Association (ARA) and Chair of the ARA Licensed Motor Dealer Division. A Montreal native who grew up in Saint John, N.B., he completed his formal education at Vancouver College and the British Columbia Institute of Technology. He spent 20 years in the new car business working with prestigious industry names such as Wolfe and Carter, including several years as dealer principal of Carter Dodge Chrysler in New Westminster, at one time the third highest volume Dodge Chrysler dealer in Canada.

Gord was owner - operator of Westminster Chev-Geo-Olds. Ltd.  from 1992 until 1997, when the dealership was sold back to General Motors. Auto Depot Ltd. was founded in New Westminster in 1997 specializing in the sale and lease of preowned import vehicles. In 2004, the dealership relocated to West Vancouver. During his many years in the Royal City, Gord Valente became active in numerous community pursuits, including directorships of the Westminster Club, the New Westminster Salmonbellies Senior Lacrosse Club and the St. John Ambulance Society.  

Terms of Reference for the VSA Board of Directors (pdf)

VSA Board of Directors Guidelines (pdf)

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