Biographies of our Guest Speakers and Communications Experts

Glenn Chamberlain
Regional Director, Regional Communications (N.S.)
Treasury Board Secretariat

Glenn Chamberlain is the Regional Director of the Government of Canada Regional Communications Office in Halifax, part of the Treasury Board Secretariat. He honed his communications skills as a Public Affairs Officer with the Canadian Forces over 21 year military career, serving across the country and internationally telling the stories of Canada’s sailors, soldiers and airmen. In 1998, just after helping coordinate the media relations effort related to the crash of SwissAir Flight 111, he headed to Bosnia for a tour as lead spokesperson for NATO forces in Sarajevo. Following his retirement as Senior Public Affairs Officer for the Navy in Halifax, he became a proud public servant, serving with Justice Canada, Communications Canada, the Privy Council Office, and now the Treasury Board Secretariat. Glenn is a graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada, and he got married this summer, honeymooning in France. He is the father of three.

Ryan Demings – Bridged Student
Communications Officer
Canada Revenue Agency

Ryan Demings is currently employed as a Communications Officer with Canada Revenue Agency – Atlantic Regional Office. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Social Anthropology from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor of Public Relations from Mount Saint Vincent University. Originally from Shelburne, Nova Scotia, Ryan currently resides in Halifax.

Richard Gauthier
Communications Coordinator, Parliamentary Affairs/Media Relations
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

Richard is currently Communications Coordinator for Parliamentary Affairs and Media Relations with the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), a federal government regional development agency headquartered in Moncton. Richard has held similar Communications positions with VIA Rail Canada and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) in both Toronto and Halifax over the past twenty years.

A native of Ottawa and a graduate of Carleton University’s Bachelor of Journalism program, Richard began his first career as a broadcast journalist for a small, private radio station in Moncton – the French language equivalent of WKRP.

He quickly realized that working on the other side of the microphone in Public Relations would offer more challenging and hopefully lucrative career possibilities. Joining VIA Rail Canada’s public affairs team in Toronto in the late 1990’s, he was quickly introduced to the world of special events planning and management, internal communications, community and stakeholder relations, media relations and lots of crisis management.

Over the past decade, Richard has worked primarily in issues management, parliamentary affairs and media relations with ACOA.

And he still hasn’t given up his love of sports broadcasting having produced and hosted a weekly cable television sports show as well as weekend duties as public address announcer for both stock-car racing and junior hockey in the Moncton area.

Richard and his wife Denise are also busy parents of three school-aged children.

Pamela Gautreau
Acting Communications Manager, Atlantic Region
Parks Canada

Pamela Gautreau has been working in the public relations field for more than twenty years. Following studies towards a business degree, Pamela discovered her true calling while working as an office clerk in the Public Affairs Office with a municipal government. Next it was off to MSVU to complete a PR degree; while there, Pamela was the student representative for IABC and, in her final year, was co-president of the Student’s PR Society.

Although not in the coop program (optional at the time), Pamela was able to land summer jobs in her field. However, she considers that one of her best investments was a summer French immersion program at Laval, where she gained a beginners’ knowledge of French and a thirst for learning the language.

After receiving her Public Relations degree, Pamela secured a number of temporary positions with Parks Canada before being hired as Visitor Activities Specialist, managing the commemorations program for the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada in the Atlantic Region. In this job, Pamela was able to work closely with local communities to celebrate examples of Canada’s most significant stories. Several years later, Pamela moved with Parks Canada to New Brunswick, where she was responsible for marketing that province’s national parks and national historic sites while working collaboratively with various levels of government and community groups.

A husband and two children later, Pamela took a leave of absence and moved to Walnut Creek, California, where she served as a volunteer on the Board of the city’s longest running cooperative preschool and as hospitality coordinator for Walnut Creek Elementary. After five years, her family returned to Nova Scotia, and following short stints at Statistics Canada and Service Canada, Pamela rejoined Parks Canada where she is now working in a term position as the Communications Manager for the Atlantic Region.

David Jennings
Communications Officer
National Research Council of Canada, Institute for Marine Biosciences

Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Mr. Jennings was taken by his parents at an early age to India, as they were missionaries for the United Church of Canada. Raised in both the Himalaya Mountains and the plains of central India, he had a private Christian boarding-school education before returning to Canada to pursue (while never quite catching) his university education at Mount Allison, where United Church preacher’s kids got a $100 discount from their tuition.

His continuing education included a diploma in broadcast announcing from NSIT, a trade he put to work in a practical way in the broadcast industry and in his communications career.

Work life has included stints with Katimavik, Canada World Youth, as a newsman on CHNS Radio in Halifax, and CHSJ Radio and TV in Saint John, NB, managing two natural foods retail outlets (Sackville, NB and Halifax), and serving as a communications professional with various Government of Canada departments such as:

Statistics Canada,
Public Works Canada,
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans, including
The Canadian Coast Guard, and
The National Research Council..

Through the years his work has been recognized for his excellence in the management of front-line issues through his work with media and community organizations, with two Deputy Minister Commendations (“MV Estai” and Hurricane Juan) and a Merit Award (Media Relations Training), in addition to a Certificate of Appreciation for his work in keeping Canadians up-to-date on the whereabouts and activities of the CCGS Sir William Alexander as she plied the Gulf of Mexico to help support the US recovery from Hurricane Katrina, which resulted in the ship’s mission being cited as one of the top ten news events of 1995 in the yearly wrap-up issue of the Globe and Mail!.

Mr. Jennings was also instrumental, along with fellow CafeComm 2007 presenter Scott Verret, in developing DFO Maritime Region’s own media training module, the implementation of which has greatly improved the department’s ability to connect with its clients and partners through the utilization of everyday relationship building and accurate news media coverage. The results of this training initiative have been shown as s significantly improved media profile for the Department, compared to its traditional role as one of the most unpopular, and misunderstood, departments amongst stakeholders and Canadians at large.

Issues management, both behind-the-scenes and on the frontlines, has been a major part of Mr. Jennings’s career with the GOC. Public affairs and corporate communications staff are tasked to support the development of, and reinforce decisions and policy approaches to, such issues as resource sharing and conservation that are almost guaranteed to be unpopular with someone in the fishing community, a group that has ready access to media outlets and know how to attract attention when they need it!

This is particularly the case with DFO, the only government agencies that prevents people from taking money out of the water with nets and hook and line. Issues in DFO’s bailiwick can also include; small craft harbours and divestiture of wharves, lighthouses, search and rescue, international fish stock management, security, fisheries enforcement, the seal hunt, resource management and many others.

Mr. Jennings’s other interests include: record (LP) collecting, live musical performance, photography, motorcycles and old-fashioned analog stereo equipment, tennis, and slo-pitch softball. He speaks English, French, Hindi/Urdu and Bahasa Malaysia.

Suzie Keténé
Communications Officer, Communications Atlantic
National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP)


Kathy Lusk
Senior Officer, Specialized Recruiting Programs
Public Service Commission

Kathy has worked for the Public Service Commission for five years, three of which were spent managing the Post-Secondary Recruitment program nationally. She is now the Sr. Officer, Specialized Recruitment and Special Projects for the Atlantic region.

Chastity McKinnon
Communications Manager/Program Advisor
Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Chastity has worked for Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), Maritimes Region for over seven years and is currently the Acting Senior Communications Advisor.

In this role she has a variety of responsibilities including media relations, media monitoring, communications planning, and human resources management. In 2000, Chastity joined DFO as the Manager of Internal Communications. She has also worked as the regional Communications Manager for Fisheries and Aquaculture Management, the Communications Manager for the Species at Risk Program and a Program Advisor to the Species at Risk Program.

Chastity’s government communications career began with her first work term with Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. She also has experience working in a communications capacity with Human Resources and Social Development Canada, Environment Canada and the NS provincial government.

Chastity graduated from MSVU’s Public Relations degree program in 1999 and is currently working part-time on her Masters in Public Administration at Dalhousie University.

Aundrea Morrison
Programs and Resourcing Advisor
Public Service Commission

Aundrea has been with the Public Service Commission for appropriately 1 year. She has a several years experience in staffing and recruitment and now works as a Resourcing Advisor in Specialized Recruitment Programs, where she advised departments, students, and the general public on employment and recruitment programs.

Jennifer Morrison
Senior Communications Advisor
Canada Border Service Agency

Over the last 19 years, Jennifer has held a variety of positions in the federal public service. Jennifer is currently with the Canada Border Services Agency - Atlantic Region as a Senior Communications Advisor.

Jennifer began her career with Canada Customs as a customs officer and program officer. In 1997 she joined the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency as a Communications Advisor performing a variety of communications functions including managing several communications projects. She also worked as a Senior Communications Advisor for Environment Canada.

Jennifer graduated from Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax with a Bachelor of Public Relations Degree, and is a member of the Nova Scotia Federal Communications Council.

Melanie Reasbeck – Bridged Student
Communications Officer, Program Communications
Canada Border Service Agency

Melanie Reasbeck is a recent graduate of the BPR program at Mount Saint Vincent University. Although raised in rural Ontario, she has been living and working professionally in Ottawa for about 10 years, with a three-year hiatus in Halifax for school. In her early thirties and mostly married, Melanie developed a savvy for public relations, writing and current events after working for a national not-for-profit organization promoting recreation opportunities and healthy living for Canadians. She also holds a diploma in Business Administration (Marketing). When not sitting in front of her computer, Melanie enjoys the outdoor life, and romps with an international medieval recreation society, the Society for Creative Anachronism (www.sca.org).

Judith Scrimger
Chair, Public Relations Department
Mount Saint Vincent University

Judith Scrimger, an accredited member of the Canadian Public Relations Society, is associate professor of public relations and department chair at Mount Saint Vincent University. She has taught a wide range of subjects including interpersonal and organizational communication, media relations, public speaking, public relations management, and writing. Her research interests include gender and public relations management, communications in the health care setting, and media coverage of controversial issues. She has worked in both print and broadcast journalism and public relations in the area of internationanal development. She has conducted workshops in media relations for both federal government departments and for not-for-profit organizations and has been an invited speaker at national and international conferences.

Elizabeth Seymour
Executive Director
Communications Community Office

Elizabeth Seymour has worked in various government communications jobs for the past 25 years. She is currently the Executive Director of the Communications Community Office which is the functional community office that works on behalf of the over 3,000 communicators in the federal government.

Karen Shewbridge
Group Leader, Information Services
Defence Research and Development Canada

Karen Shewbridge has been Group Leader Information Services at Defence R&D Canada-Atlantic (DRDC Atlantic) for four years. DRDC Atlantic is one of seven research centres operated by Defence R&D Canada, an Agency of the Department of National Defence. DRDC Atlantic does all the research for the Canadian Navy on both coasts and has world-leading expertise in antisubmarine warfare, mine and torpedo defence, air and naval platform technology, maritime information systems, emerging materials and signature management.

Karen is responsible for all internal/external strategic communications advice, planning and implementation as well as media relations. She is also responsible for the management and operation of the Research Library, Graphics Services and the Central Registry Records Management system. She manages all communications and public relations at DRDC Atlantic’s main site in Dartmouth, N.S. as well as sites at Esquimalt, B.C., Ottawa and the Halifax dockyard lab. She is the first point of contact for all media inquiries and coaches senior managers, spokespersons and subject matter experts prior to media interviews. She also acts as spokesperson as required and is responsible for all media planning and analysis, press conferences and communications support to regional, national and international scientific research and sea trials. Karen advises on all classified and sensitive media issues including effects of sonar on marine mammals, and DRDC submarine accident investigation and repair work. She oversees development and content management of the Internet website and also created and developed DRDC Atlantic’s dynamic, interactive Oracle portal-based Intranet website ‘echo’.

Prior to working at DRDC and with the federal government, Karen was Director of Communications for the Healthcare Corporation of St. John’s, the largest health board in Newfoundland and Labrador responsible for all hospitals in the St. John’s area. She was also Director of Communications with the St. John’s Nursing Home Board and Information Officer (Research) with Memorial University, the largest university in Atlantic Canada.

Before moving into a career in Public Relations, Karen worked in both private and public radio and television as a Broadcast Journalist for twelve years, primarily in News and Current Affairs as reporter, news anchor, morning show host, producer, line-up editor and writer. She also wrote a regular book review for several years for The Telegram daily newspaper.

In addition to her career as a journalist and communications professional, Karen’s passion is the theatre. She worked for a time professionally and was nominated in 2004 for an ACTRA award for Outstanding Performance Female in the small independent film The Cab Driver.

Alex Smith
Director, Communications and Outreach
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (Nova Scotia)

Covering city hall debates on public housing was the last place Alex Smith thought he’d wind up when he naively strolled into the offices of a community newspaper to volunteer the services of a good friend. Nearly 30 years, and many tens of thousands of words, later he’s still trying to get it right.

Along the way he’s been a small part of some great regional and national stories - the Atlantic Film Festival, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the Canada Council for the Arts, the International Centre for Ocean Development.

He’s also had the chance to help other people tell their stories here at home and around the world. One of his greatest thrills as a freelancer with CBC was signing off with the words – “For Radio Canada International, I’m Alex Smith In Halifax.” – and wondering how our Nova Scotia stories were being received in other parts of the world.

As he drove by the big shortwave towers on New Brunswick’s Tantramar Marshes earlier this week, he dreamed of those days he made words that skipped across oceans and continents.

Alex is currently the Director, Communications and Outreach for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency’s Nova Scotia office and the Chair of the Student Networking Café’s Coordinating Committee.

Jon Stone
Regional Communications Advisor
Citizenship and Immigration Canada

Jon Stone began his career as a communicator at the age of 18 the moment he stepped off the back of a live blue whale trapped in ice off the coast of Newfoundland. The urge to tell the story resulted in him having the very first front page story on the very first edition of the Bedford-Sackville news which eventually grew into today’s Daily News.

Working as a part-time reporter for the Chronicle Herald while attending Mount Saint Vincent before the days of the formalized public relations program there, he created his own “co-op” education program. After the Mount he worked for a number of years as a journalist with local media including the Halifax Herald, the Dartmouth Free Press, CHNS Radio and CBC. He joined the Government of Canada in 1982 and has worked in progressively more responsible positions in several federal departments and agencies.
He currently is the Regional Director, Communications for Citizenship and Immigration Canada in the Atlantic Region.

Scott Verret
Regional Communications Advisor, Atlantic Region
Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Scott Verret first began his service with the federal government at 16 years old as a member of the army reserve in his home town of Middleton in 1978. In 1980, just before his 18th birthday, he joined the regular force to train as a naval officer. Following training in various classes of ships, he earned his Bridge Watchkeeping qualification and Certificate of Competency aboard HMCS Athabaskan in 1985.

Upon leaving the Navy in 1986, he began studies at Mount Saint Vincent University in pursuit of a Bachelor of Public Relations. During his two years at the Mount, he played for the Mystics basketball team and worked as an editor for the Picaro student newspaper. He graduated in 1988 on the Dean’s List.

After graduation he pursued employment with both private and non-profit organizations before taking a position as a civilian public affairs specialist at the Navy’s headquarters in Halifax in 1991. He spent five years at Maritime Command Headquarters involved in various duties, including internal and external communications, strategic planning, media relations and stakeholder relations.

During this period, Scott put his uniform back on to serve as a naval officer with HMCS Scotian naval reserve division in Halifax. Later, in 1999, he left operations and became a military public affairs officer to support outreach activities. He retired from the Armed Forces in 2004.

In 1995, during the government’s Program Review, a decision was taken to move the Navy’s headquarters to Ottawa and Scott accepted a deployment offer to be Atlantic Regional public affairs manager for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, looking after media and community relations activities.

Only a year later, he accepted a promotional assignment to be Communications Manager for the Canadian Coast Guard in the Maritimes. The assignment later became a permanent appointment. With the Coast Guard, Scott participated in numerous emergency response exercises and was the primary Coast Guard communicator following the crash of Swissair 111 in 1998.

Following a promotion in 2001, he became Team Leader for the Communications Branch at Fisheries and Oceans Canada, managing a team of communications professionals serving the various operational branches of DFO. He also coordinated business planning and performance management for the Communications Branch.

In 2002, Scott accepted an opportunity to join the RCMP as a civilian member and help coordinate communications activities across the Atlantic Region. In his current role, he reports to the RCMP’s Deputy Commissioner for Atlantic Canada and serves as Communications advisor on the regional executive team.

A total of 23 years working in the federal government has given Scott the opportunity to see much of Canada from Vancouver Island to Sable Island, Resolute Bay to northern Labrador, and many cities in between, not to mention occasional trips overseas. However, Scott has been fortunate to have served almost entirely in his native province and now calls Fall River home with his wife and young daughter.

Gary Warnock
Director, Conferences and Special Events
Canada School of Public Service

Gary Warnock has been a federal public servant for his entire career. Now in his 21st year, Gary has worked in a number of departments on both the East and West Coasts of Canada and is now based in Ottawa.

He began as a co-op student with the then Department of Communications in 1986 in Vancouver and became a full-fledged public servant in 1987 when he became that Department’s first regional Public Affairs Assistant. Since then, he has worked with Industry Canada and its previous incarnations (Regional Industrial Expansion and Industry, Science and Technology Canada) at increasing levels of responsibility, finishing as Regional Public Affairs and Marketing Advisor before moving to Health Canada to become their Senior Communications Advisor in 1999.

In 2000, Gary moved from the West Coast to the East Coast to open the newly-formed regional bureau of the Canada Information Office (CIO) as its Regional Director, staying through its transformation into Communication Canada, before moving to Ottawa with that organization in 2003. When Communication Canada was disbanded in 2004, something Gary had absolutely nothing to do with, he went on assignment to the Communications Community Office as Manager of Regional Liaison and Coordinator of the 2005 Government of Canada Communicators Conference. Just before the Conference, however, he was called back to his home department of Treasury Board Secretariat to assume responsibilities as Director of Communications Policy and Federal Identity Program.

Having covered a lot of ground in his first two years in Ottawa, Gary has finally settled into a position that draws on his passions and skills long enough to actually achieve something substantial. In December, 2005, he joined the Canada School of Public Service as its Director of Conferences and Special Events where he leads a creative and dynamic team of professional event designers and planners in bringing a range of large- and medium-scale learning events to fellow public servants across the country.

Gary remains committed to his chosen profession of public service communicator and vows never to lose his regional perspective, despite living and working in Ottawa.

Wendy Williams
Communications Manager/Special Advisor
Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Wendy has worked for Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), Maritimes Region for over seven years and is the Communications Manager, Internal Communications/Senior Advisor, Integrated Risk Management.

Her career began managing a project to improve communication between the fishing industry and DFO. In 2000, Wendy joined DFO and was responsible for external communications and media relations for the Fisheries and Aquaculture Management Branch. Much of her time was spent working on issues related to the aboriginal fisheries and fisheries enforcement. In 2006, Wendy shifted focus and took over the internal communications file. She is also working on the development of an integrated risk management program for DFO.

Wendy graduated from Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Political Science and from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario with a Master of Arts in Canadian Studies.

Debbie Windsor
Chair, Nova Scotia Federal Council
Vice President of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

Deborah Windsor is Vice-President (Nova Scotia) for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA). Ms. Windsor has over 25 years of government experience, including ACOA and the provincial departments of Finance and Energy. She joined ACOA in 1988 and has occupied the positions of Director General, Programs and Operations; Director General, Economic Development; Director, Federal-Provincial Relations; Director, Corporate Services, and Director, Programs.

Ms. Windsor plays a leading role in the economic development of the province. She assists in fulfilling the Agency’s mandate to improve the economy of Atlantic Canada, promoting leading-edge innovation and sustainable communities. Ms. Windsor is committed to building strong partnerships among governments, businesses, educational and research institutions, and communities. She serves as Chair of the Nova Scotia Federal Council, which is an organization that brings together all the senior federal officials in Nova Scotia to collaborate on policies and services of common interest to Canadians. Ms. Windsor co-chairs, with the Province of Nova Scotia, federal-provincial committees on economic development, innovation, prosperity and productivity, and infrastructure.

Born in Cape Breton, Ms. Windsor obtained a BSc in Mathematics and Chemistry from Dalhousie University and pursued graduate studies in statistical analysis. She is an active leader in her community serving on a number of volunteer boards, including President of Banook Canoe Club; Secretary, Dartmouth Whalers Swim Club; NovaKnowledge and the Centre for Entrepreneurship, Education and Development.

Ms. Windsor has four children and, with her family, lives in Dartmouth.