BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Robyn Schell, Board Chair
Robyn grew up in the Maritimes, moving to attend SFU in the distant past.
Jef Keighly, Vice Chair
Jef Keighley grew up on rural Burnaby Mountain and developed his love for the earth while rambling the wilds of the mountain with neighbourhood friends.
Jef spent 2 years teaching Land Surveying and Building Construction at a technical high school in Jamaica in the early 1970s with CUSO – Canadian University Service Overseas. Returning to Canada he was significantly involved in international development education and progressive political organizing, which led him to trade union activism.
Jef worked as a National Union Representative with CAIMAW – Canadian Association of Industrial, Mechanical and Allied Workers union - for 12 years followed by 13 years with the CAW – Canadian Autoworkers union - which included 4 years as the CAW Vice-President of the BC Federation of Labour. Jef served as the Executive Director of the World Peace Forum 2006, which convened some 5,500 people from 78 countries for a 6-day peace forum held at UBC that year.
Throughout his adult life Jef has been committed to progressive political organizing and activism on both domestic and international issues of social, economic and environmental concern. Jef and his wife Jill Wight put down roots on the Sunshine Coast in 2005 and currently live in Kalpalin - Garden Bay.
Mary Louise Hendry, Secretary and Treasurer
Mary Louise lived on the Sunshine Coast from 2015 to 2020 and has now moved back to Vancouver Island where her son lives. While on the Sunshine Coast Mary Louise volunteered with Hospice, the Green Party, Community Services’ Bellies and Babies and Parent and Tot programs and was an ESL tutor, as well as serving on the SCCA Board as Secretary and as volunteer coordinator.
Mary Louise has a B.A. in Political Science, a graduate diploma in International Development and an M.A. in Canadian and Women’s Studies. She was formerly an MP’s Assistant at the House of Commons where she worked for a time with Jim Fulton, Environment critic for the NDP who later became the first Executive Director of the David Suzuki Foundation. Mary Louise volunteered on Elizabeth May’s first and subsequent campaigns in Saanich Gulf Islands and for a time drafted correspondence and processed donations for Ms. May.
Theressa Logan, Director
Theressa Logan is the Executive Director of the Sechelt Downtown Business Association, Board member of Sunshine Coast Tourism and owner of The Castaway (vintage clothing and furniture store in Sechelt). Theressa joined the SCCA with hopes to help create more awareness on the importance of protecting the land and waters in which we depend on to survive as well as ensuring that more Federal, Provincial and Municipal policies are put in place to better protect wildlife from the effects of climate change.
Bill Wareham, Director
Bill holds a B.Sc. in Zoology and an MBA and has worked in the environmental non-profit sector for thirty years. He has worked with the David Suzuki Foundation since 2002. He was a founding member of the SeaChoice program, established to promote sustainable seafood procurement in the Canadian marketplace. Bill previously worked as Executive Director of the Sierra Club of BC and has over 17 years of experience working on terrestrial and marine conservation issues, aquaculture, and fisheries management issues. Bill played an active role in promoting improvement to a wide range of environmental policies, and has represented the environmental sector in many multi-stakeholder processes. Bill has worked with many coalitions and community groups to support local activism for the environment. Bill has lived in Gibsons for the past 25 years with his wife Karen and his two daughters.
Maryann Kamphuis , Director
Being in the natural environment has been part of my life from earliest memory. I grew up on the banks of the Grand River in southern Ontario, with the Grand Island Conservation Area my backyard. It was the ultimate classroom.
Moving to BC in 1993, introduced the natural world to my children, exploring tidal pools and forest floor. Now so grateful to introduce the outdoors to my grandsons. Respecting and protecting these ecosystems for our grandchildren and those generations to follow is a given.
Earning BAs in Interior Design and in Education, my working life crossed diverse fields; from over 30 years of design in architecture, to teaching of art and drawing at secondary and post secondary levels, to marketing and sales in the insurance and battery-storage industries. My love of nature fit best with the design world.
Bringing nature inside, with access to natural light for example, is documented to increase overall well-being and productivity. Nature is important.
Biodiversity, species at risk, watersheds, and old growth forests. An integrated web of connectivity that needs human protection from human destruction. We are part of this web.
The SCCA works in a web with environmental and government groups, advocating for the protection and preservation of ecosystems and biodiversity. The opportunity to collaborate with like-minded people is what brought me to the SCCA. Having lived in ch’atlich and enjoyed the beauty on the coast since 2008, now in retirement I have time and energies to contribute to this valuable work of protecting biodiversity on the Sunshine Coast.
Lee Ann Johnson, ex-officio chairperson
Lee Ann Johnson brings a lifelong commitment to the preservation of wild places and sustainable human settlement practices to the SCCA. She has several decades of experience in land-use planning, as a developer of non-profit co-op and rental housing in Victoria and the BC Lower Mainland, as a Municipal Councillor in Gibsons for three terms, and as an Alternate Director at the SCRD. She has served on the Executive of many non-profit Boards, developed and taught workshops on various non-profit organizational topics, and was a Library trustee for eight years. Since climbing Mt. Olympus in Washington at the age of 15, she has persistently worked in many volunteer capacities to encourage and support both individuals and groups in honouring relationships with the natural world and a sustainable human presence within it.
STAFF
Suzanne Senger, Executive Director
For the last 20 years, Suzanne has worked with local, regional and provincial non-profits, First Nations and governments to develop and implement strategic solutions for complex environmental issues. She joined the SCCA as a volunteer in 2007 and has supported the organization in various ways, since. She was recruited as our Executive Director in 2020.
Suzanne believes strongly in collaborative advocacy and supporting grassroots groups to 'punch above their weight.' Before joining the SCCA Suzanne worked as Campaigns Director with BC Spaces for Nature (2013-2020). She was a co-founder and Secretary / Treasurer of the Átl'ḵa7tsem Howe Sound UNESCO Biosphere Region Initiaitive Society (2016-2024); founder and President of the Gibsons Alliance of Business and Community Society (2008-2020).
Committed to "being the change”, inspired by a deep love of the natural world, Suzanne is keen to share her skills, experience and passion working with the SCCA to protect biodiversity in the Sunshine Coast Natural Resource District in the territories of the in the territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, shíshálh, Tla'amin, Klahoose and Homalco First Nations.
Ian Hunt, Administrator
Ian joined the SCCA to lend his experience at working in an administrative role with non-profits after being on the boards of several different non-profits. He values the work done by organizations to make the world a better place for all of us.
A resident of the Sunshine Coast for over 25 years, Ian loves to explore the wild spaces and lend his voice as an advocate for conservation. Working with the SCCA provides him with a greater opportunity to make change here at home.
Formerly the owner of the Roberts Creek Health Food Store, Ian greatly values the health and wellbeing of all, and feels that the natural world is a reflection of our health as a society. As we take care of the world around us, we take care of ourselves.
Dan Bouman, Founder, Former ED, FoundinG Director, Mentor and Friend
Daniel Bouman, founder of the Sunshine Coast Conservation Association (SCCA), Executive Director from 1999 to 2011, and board member from 2017 to 2025, passed away on November 11, 2025. Dan shaped the SCCA from its earliest days and remained a steady source of wisdom, clarity, and courage throughout his life.
Born in Zeeland, Michigan, Dan grew up hunting, fishing, and bird watching—early experiences that anchored his lifelong respect for the natural world. After earning a biology degree and training in medical technology, he worked in laboratory science before making a life-defining decision to become a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War. Dan left the United States and came to coastal British Columbia, where he settled in Narrows Inlet, built a log cabin, and lived simply and closely with the land.
Dan worked a cedar claim, got into tree planting and eventually became a certified silvicultural surveyor.
Immersed daily in the forest, Dan developed a deep understanding of biogeoclimatic (BEC) zones and the patterns of biodiversity that shape coastal watersheds. This passion later became the foundation for the SCCA’s educational program, Understanding Biodiversity in Coastal Forested Landscapes.
Dan’s conservation work began with the Tetrahedron Alliance, where he played a key role in Tetrahedron land resource use plan (LRUP) and the campaign to create the Tetrahedron Provincial Park. He helped found the Sunshine Coast Conservation Association, and later the Sunshine Coast Water First Society, to protect watersheds and biodiversity across the region.
As Executive Director of the SCCA, Dan led efforts to protect the Chapman and Grey Creek watersheds, defend old-growth forests, marbled murrelet and mountain goat habitat, and respond to harmful logging and hydroelectric proposals. Dan believed in the power of informed citizens and strong laws, and he used both to protect the environment. He filed a Health Act complaint to stop logging in a drinking-water source area, worked to protect species at risk through the courts, and insisted on public accountability from government and industry.
After his time as Executive Director, Dan served on Gibsons Town Council where he continued his work to protector the drinking water aquifer from harmful development.
Dan returned to the SCCA Board, I’m 2017 where he continued to guide, question, and encourage. “I’m so grateful that the SCCA is such a good home for an extended family of people who want to effectively pursue environmental protections”, he wrote” for his SCCA bio.
Dan mentored many people on the Sunshine Coast, including his successor and our current Executive Director, who carries forward his commitment to science-based advocacy and community leadership. Dan’s legacy lives on in the watersheds, forests, coastlines and communities he helped protect—and in the people he inspired to continue the work.