Board of Directors and CEO

NVD is fortunate to have a strong board of directors with a diverse set of skills and experience. The board meets regularly to provide oversight and direction to the senior management team and often holds these meetings in either Calgary or Whitehorse. Several members have been with the board since the inception of the company including Piers McDonald, Rich Thompson and Myron Tetreault. Following are brief biographies of our board members.

Piers McDonald

An officer of the Order of Canada, Piers is a founder of the Partnership and led the company as CEO from 2004 through 2009. Piers is past Minister of Education and Past Premier (1996-2000) of the Yukon Territory. He was Chairman of the 2007 Canada Winter Games, the largest event ever organized and held in Canada north of the 60th parallel. Piers is currently the Chancellor of Yukon College and Chair of the Yukon Water Board. He has been Chairman of NVD since inception and has provided visionary guidance for the Partnership. He is a member of the Development and Governance Committees of the board.

Hannes Kovac

Hannes chairs the Development Committee and has been a director since 2009. As President and CEO for OPUS Corporation, Hannes Kovac has been influencing the real estate development market in Calgary for over fifteen years. An industry leader, he has developed a strong reputation by guiding his team to develop over twenty five million square feet of real estate. He was instrumental in landmark developments such as OPUS 8 downtown, the Golder Building and Interplex Business Park, Stampede Station, and the Stantec Centre. Hannes has been awarded the Calgary Downtown Vitality Award as well as the 2008 Leader of Tomorrow Award. He is a member of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) as well as the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO). Committed to giving back to the community, he participates in the Easter Seals Rappel Challenge, Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation Calgary Tower Rappel, holds a board positon with Calgary Economic Development as well as supporting agencies such as the Special Olympics, Inn from the Cold, Meals on Wheels and Kids Cancer Care Foundation. A native of Austria, he graduated with a Masters of Law from the Karl-Franzens University of Graz, Austria, before going on to do post-graduate studies in International Law at the University of Antwerp, Belgium.

Ian McAuley

Ian McAuley is President of Aimbridge Hospitality Canada, a division owned by Aimbridge which is the largest third-party hotel management company in North America. The Aimbridge management portfolio is extensive with more than 100,000 rooms, spanning 44 states and seven countries.

McAuley has more than 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry in both Canada and the United States. Previously, he was the President of American Hotel Income Properties REIT LP, Canada’s largest publicly-traded hotel company with 112 hotels located throughout the United States. Prior, McAuley served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Continuum Health Care Holdings Ltd., where he led the transformation of the company by establishing new strategic direction, improving operational performance and enhancing shareholder value through a series of transactions that culminated in the final sale of the company’s assets to Welltower REIT. Additionally, McAuley was Co-founder and President of Superior Lodging Corp., one of Canada’s largest hotel developers of more than 135 limited and select-service hotel properties.

McAuley currently sits on the Hilton Owners Advisory Counsel for Hampton Inns and has served and currently serves as the director of many boards, including the Hotel Association of Canada, Airline Hotels & Resorts Ltd., Northern Vision Properties Ltd., Hallmark Properties Ltd. And Theater Calgary.

His career accolades include being a co-recipient of the Canadian Hotel Industry Entrepreneur of the Year Award and a multi-time finalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Awards. McAuley received an undergraduate degree from the University of Saskatchewan, a Master of Business Administration from City University of Seattle and a specialized hospitality diploma from the Rotman Institute of Corporate Directors.

Lori Simcox

Lori Simcox, BBA, MBA, CMC

Lori Simcox has a Bachelor of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University and an MBA from Royal Roads University. She is a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) with the Canadian Association of Management Consultants. Ms. Simcox’s graduate consulting work involved First Nation Administration strategic planning. An independent consultant, Ms. Simcox has led several consulting projects for the Federal government, worked on projects for small business and works as an internal management consultant in several sectors for the economic development department of the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation. She sat on the technical working board for the Four Host First Nation’s Olympic Secretariat, is on Executive Board for the Aboriginal Tourism Association of BC as Treasurer, and volunteers with Start-Up Canada. Ms. Simcox was involved in the development of Takaya Tours Inc., an award-winning tourism business and in teaching a course on Aboriginal Tourism at the Canadian Tourism College in Vancouver. Ms. Simcox also provides support and completed marketing contracts for Takaya Developments, a real estate development company, worked as operations manager for Alpha Ashpalt and currently operates Spal General Contructors Inc. as CEO, creating and developing partnerships in the construction industry and winning bid opportunities. In 2010, Ms. Simcox and her business partner, opened the successful Unity Clothing Inc, in Whitehorse, Yukon. Ms. Simcox has made several presentations at leadership and economic development conferences including the National Aboriginal Business Opportunities Conference in Osoyoos BC. Lori is a Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Citizen who joined the NVD Board in November 2017.

Shirley Adamson

A Ta’an Kwäch’än citizen, Shirley is currently president of Little Berry Productions Inc. and Keyah Productions Inc. From 1999-2011 she was CEO of Northern Native Broadcasting Yukon as well as subsidiaries Keyah Productions Inc. and CHON Productions Inc. From 1996 through 1999, Shirley served as Grand Chief of the Council of Yukon First Nations. And before that as the Chairperson of the Ta’an Kwäch’än Council. She is, or has, served as a Director or Trustee of a number of corporations and boards, including being a Director of the Yukon Hospital Corporation and a member of the Board of Governors of Yukon College.

Rich Thompson, CEO

Rich is a founder and a past director of the Partnership and has served as its President & CEO since 2009. He is an Alberta-based entrepreneur who established one of the leading advertising agencies (Parallel) and Multimedia firms (Tiger Media) in western Canada in the 1980 to 2000 period. After selling those companies into the public market, Rich has branched out into a number of real estate, medical imaging and advertising businesses but focuses most of his time on NVD. A longtime member of the Young Presidents Organization, Rich acted as the Canadian representative on the international board of that group from 2006 through 2009, eventually becoming International Vice-Chairman, Functional Committees. He has sat, and continues to sit, on a number of company boards, both private and public. As CEO, Rich provides executive support to the Development, Governance and Hotel Committees of the NVD board.