Team

Dan Williams

Dan began his career in the forest industry in 2000 as a junior engineer for Tashwin Forest Service and subsequently Hayes Forest Services. This role included cut-block and road layout and design, traversing and GPS data collection, various assessment, silviculture surveys, Arcview mapping and Road Eng data entry.

After 5 years in that role, Dan went to work for Khowutzun Forest Services for the next 9 years as assistant manager and safety coordinator. He prepared bid proposals and tender packages, designed training programs, designed and implemented a health and safety program that achieved SAFE certification, managed firefighting contractors, assisted with administration of logging operations and contracts, and managed all phases of silviculture
contracts with BC Hydro, various forest companies, and several municipalities.

For the last 5 years, initially as an employee and now as a consultant, Dan has had the roles of estimating, forestry operations manager, and safety coordinator for Copcan Civil Ltd in Nanaimo. He has been heavily involved in all aspects of company safety including annual audit submissions for maintaining the Copcan’s SAFE Certifications for both the BC Forest Safety Council and the BC Construction Safety Alliance, as well as project managing
forestry road building, bridge building, harvesting operations, BC Hydro contracts, and Fortis contracts, coordinating equipment and crews, project estimating and customer relations.

Dan is also currently the vice president of the Coastal Invasive Species Committee where he also sat as president for 3 years. He is certified as an internal auditor through both the BC forest Safety Council and BC Construction Safety Alliance, a certified Radiation Safety Officer and has been ticketed in many other practices including incident investigation, management, supervision, due diligence, EMS, hazard identification and fire fighting to list a few.

Ted Williams

Ted began his career in civil construction as a crew member for Khowutzun Pipeline Constructors Ltd, owned by Cowichan Tribes. He quickly moved his way up to foreman, supervising commercial and residential natural gas pipeline installations. This included directing crews, coordinating materials, ensuring utility locates were done, completing as-built drawings, site safety and liaising with municipal engineers and inspectors. Ted went on to become construction manager of the natural gas division of Khowutzun Mustimuhw Contractors LP (KMC), also owned by Cowichan Tribes. In this role, he had overall responsibility for safety, permitting, municipal relations, subcontractor management, cost approval, and reporting to KMC management.

For 5 years, Ted was the business development officer for Khowutzun Development Corporation, involved in all aspects of business research and development. For a further 5 years, Ted was project manager within the BC Ministry of Economic Development. In this roll he undertook a comprehensive analysis of First Nations economic development in the province, assigned Economic Development Officers to specific projects, and oversaw those projects.
For the last 6 years, Ted has been self employed in structural and civil construction in the Cowichan Valley. He has done everything from site preparation, to approval of drawings, to detailed project management.
Ted has a Business Development Diploma from Chemainus Native College, as well as a Class 1 drivers license with air brake endorsement. He is a director of the Aboriginal Aquaculture Association for 11 years.

Kathy Parkinson

Kathy began her career in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry in 2003 working at the Quw’utsun’ Cultural and Conference Centre. Over the next 10 years she worked her way to become the Operations Manager of the facility overseeing the day to day operations of the business offering conference/catering events, First Nations cultural experiences, restaurant, and retail services. During her time in management she took great pride in creating sustainable and supportive employment for Cowichan Tribes band member

In 2012 Kathy move to Northern BC where she acquired a position with the McLeod Lake Indian Band. This position was working with the Tse’khene Elders, it was a great introduction to the community where she learnt the cultural ways and built a strong foundation in the community. In 2014 Kathy was offered to the opportunity to expand her skills and training and was mentored by the CFO over the next five years. During this period, she learnt how to process the full accounting cycle, prepare annual budgets, yearend audit, and financial statements. Kathy was given the opportunity in the Fall of 2019 to take on the Finance Director role, and enrolled in the AFOA Certified Aboriginal Financial Manager Designation which she continues to work on with long term goals of also obtaining her Chartered Professional Accountant Designation. 

In the Fall of 2020 Kathy was invited by Ted and Dan to join the Porlier Pass team as their CFO. There is great opportunity on the horizon, and she looks forward to assisting in the successes.