Updated June 04, 2003,
Most speakers are confirmed.
Review Abstracts of Papers to be Delivered
at 2003 Conference
Keynote Speaker:
Greg MacLeod, founding Director of the Tompkins Institute at
the Cape Breton University, lives by the motto "The
Best Education Is Learning By Doing". This has given him over twenty
years experience in community economic development in Canada, and led
to his being recognized as Canada's foremost authority on the subject.
He is a recipient of the Order of Canada.
Harvey
Johnstone holds a PhD in business from Durham University as well
as a Masters in Philosophy from Dalhousie University. He heads the Small
and Medium Size Institute and is the chief investigator in a major SSHRC
research project on community-based business.
Plenary Session Speakers
Gerard Perron is the manager of the most successful regional
development cooperative in Canada. Over the last few years they have
created thousands of jobs. They specialize in worker-shareholder cooperatives
where the worker cooperatives owns a percentage of the shares.
Ray Hudson is Professor of Geography and Director of the Center
for European Studies at Durham University. His main teaching and research
interests are in political-economic geography, particularly geographies
of production and the politics and policies of territorial development..
Mikel Lezamiz is a staff member at the Otalora management training
center in Mondragon cooperative corporation. He is currently working
on his doctorate thesis in Economic Geography..
Academic Papers
Darryl Reed is director of the Programme for Business and Society
at York University. He was Visiting Fellow at the Indian Institute of
Management in Calcutta. He also spent time in Hungary studying the evolution
of the government from a communist to a free market system.
Doug Davison has built, worked for, and advised organizations in the following areas: development of capital pools, financial services & development investing, energy development and investing (hydroelectric & renewable), and a wide range of government agencies. Until recently Doug has been the Chief Operating Officer & Senior Vice President of the Crocus Investment Fund. He currently offers advisory and consulting services to business organizations, labour leaders, capital pool developers, and renewable energy companies.
In community volunteer work he co-chairs the Board of Directors of Community Ownership Solutions Inc., a Winnipeg not-for-profit development company, and is the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of Assiniboine Credit Union.
Past directorships have been in the areas of energy efficiency marketing (Power Smart Inc.), environmental technology (Canadian Environmental Technologies Association), equipment manufacturing (Carte International), and advanced research & development (Meadow Materials).
Doug was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba where he lives with his family.
Mikel
Cid is a PhD candidate from Mondragon University, Spain. He is
writing his doctoral thesis in Social Economics on His PhD thesis is
focused on researching the value of the social motivation, different
to profit-making motivation asserted as unique by Milton Friedman and
other authors within Chicago School, as the main driving force in making
efficient wealth creation within the global economy. He has a Bachelor
in Business Administration (BBA) from Mondragon University. He received
a Basque Government scholarship for making applied pre-doctoral research
in Social Economy. He is now a visiting researcher in the Tompkins Institute
at the Cape Breton University.
Maureen Woodrow did her doctoral thesis on the problem of depleted
fishing communities in Newfoundland. She has wide experience in the
federal civil service and is now a researcher at Carleton University
in the field of environmental remediation. She and her husband, Herb
Bown, have developed a community business in Change Islands, Newfoundland,
called Stages and Stores.
Herb Bown is one of the inventors of Telidon in the 1970’s,
which helped give Canada leadership in Information Technology. He received
engineering awards for his innovations. He is the president/owner of
Idon East, a very successful company in the field of software development.
Darryl Birkenfeld recently completed his doctorate at U. of California
on perception of environmental problems He works with the Rocky Mountain Farmers
union on a fascinating project to restore the notion of “the Commons”. The Farmers
Union in the United States was formed over 100 years ago to represent the interests
of family farmers.
Wade Locke is Professor of Economics and lead researcher at Memorial
University of Newfoundland.A group of Memorial University researchers, headed
by Wade Locke as the Principal Investigator, has been awarded $495,000 by the
Social Science and Humanities Research Council to investigate the Challenges
and Opportunities of the Knowledge-based Economy in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Paul Wilkinson is Professor in Environmental Studies and Professor of
Economics at Yorke University. His research interests include tourism policy
and planning, resource and environmental management, urban open space planning,
and park/protected area management. He has undertaken research in Canada, Europe,
the Caribbean, and Indonesia.
Workshop Leaders
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Frances Oommen is a professional in the health care field. The
downsizing by the Harris government inOntario brought her to the greener
pastures of Cape Breton, where she now works and reflects on the
alternative ways of developing the Cape Breton economy, especially in
the alternative energy field.
Pierre Dupuis is the Atlantic Director for CEDTAP. This is a Carleton University based project funded by the McConnel Foundation to provide technical services to community business groups in Canada. They have a list of technical specialists and provide funds for community groups to hire advisors for the list.
Charles Davis holds the chair in the Management of Technological
Change at the University of New Brunswick in St. John. Formerly he was
a research director at IDRC in Ottawa and before that was a member of
the Science Council of Canada.
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Ray Merriam has twenty-five years combined experience as an
entrepreneur in business, community economic development, marketing,
and sales. He has successfully operated several of his own business
ventures as well as working as a speaker and consultant. Presently,
Ray Merriam is Marketing and Business Development Consultant for the Millbrook First Nation's 80 + acre Business Park located on Highway 102 in Truro.
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Peter Fritz is Project Supervisor for the Tompkins Institute
with a background in social work advocating for minority groups. He is
presently nearing completion of the MBA in Community Economic Development at Cape Breton University.
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Jim MacCormack is a management consultant at New Dawn Enterprises and has
worked extensively on governance, management and staff issues for the
organization. This follows a forty-year career in public administration.
Rankin MacSween has lectured in Sociology and Criminology and
then became a social-economic activist. He is now President of New Dawn
Enterprises and is responsible for 150 employees and $16 million in
assets.
