Ian Hanomansing

Broad Cast Journalist

Ian Hanomansing is one of Canada’s most respected and experienced broadcast journalists. His talks are known as “both informative and entertaining.” In 2008, he won a Gemini award for the Best News Anchor in Canada and is currently the host of CBC News Vancouver at 6.

His broadcasting career began thirty years ago at CKDH in Amherst. In the summer of 1979, he filled in for just about everyone at the station, from the receptionist to the night time deejay. While attending Mount Allison University in his hometown of Sackville, New Brunswick, he moved on to CKCW and CBC Radio in nearby Moncton and then went to Halifax, where he continued to combine his university studies (at Dalhousie Law School) with his love of broadcasting (at CHNS radio and later CBC Television).

In 1988, he relocated to the west coast, where he is currently an anchor and reporter for CBC Television News. Over the years, he's had a wide variety of assignments, from the Los Angeles Riots in 1992, the Hong Kong Handover in 1997 and five Olympic games, including last summer in Beijing. Among his awards: In 2008, he won the Gemini for Best News Anchor in Canada and in 2005 received a Justice Award from the Canadian Bar Association for Excellence in Legal Reporting. Ian lives in Vancouver with his wife, who is also a Dalhousie Law graduate, and their two teenage sons.

He is also an entrepreneur with his own board game Big League Manager. He is very pleased to be back in the Maritimes. Prior to his current job as the host of News Vancouver at 6, Ian anchored Canada Now, the half-hour national news show watched by thousands of Canadians coast to coast each weekday evening. He also hosted CBC’s Feeling the Heat, which explored environmental issues & solutions.

He draws on his wealth of exposure in national and international affairs, to provide a refreshing perspective on current events and their relevance for Canadians.
 

Agenda items: Awards Night

Barb Stegemann

Journalist

As a journalist, business professional and motivational speaker, Barb Stegemann includes her ideals on philosophy in all aspects of her life. She continually works on self discovery in leading a prosperous lifestyle through visualization and the power of philosophy. 

Guided by a vision that she can make a difference, nothing has prevented Barb from reaching her goals. She founded Acclimatize Communications Corp., a company that has helped large corporations and government organizations adapt to their changing environments. She gives talks to women and business professionals on economic development and delivers talks to youth on visualization. She’s made it her life’s work to empower people to realize that they can be or create a solution. 

Barb believes that until equality is achieved, there will continue to be issues in the world. She asserts that throughout history, philosophy has been a male-dominated field of thought that has served male leadership in business and government and that more and more, women are moving toward key roles in all levels of society. This vision comes alive through her book, The 7 Virtues of a Philosopher Queen, which brings a women-centered leadership model to the forefront.
 

Agenda items: Growing Together

Jon Steinman

Food Journalist and Producer

Behind the creation of Deconstructing Dinner is B.C. resident Jon Steinman. Starting his career in radio as a CJLY technical operator and host of Nelson Before Nine, Jon was opened up to the potential of radio as a powerful medium by which to disseminate information.

After spending almost two years in Southern Ontario, and one year in France, Jon arrived in British Columbia in 2004. Exposed to the world of food, while studying at the University of Guelph, Jon believes food deserves far more attention than it receives and that we owe it to this planet to fully understand the implications of our choices.

Jon is no stranger to publicly sharing his views on food and drink. While composing a column in PULSE Niagara, Jon focused his writing on independent and family-operated producers and retailers. Today, he writes a weekly column for a number of Canadian periodicals. He sits on the board of the Kootenay Country Store Co-operative and is a member of the Kootenay Country Store Co-operative. Jon is also involved in the creation of Community Food Matters - a coalition of residents who are inspired to foster a foodsecure community.

Jon is in increasing demand as a public speaker and graciously offers remarks at many food security and agricultural conferences and events.

www.deconstructingdinner.ca 
 

Agenda items: Deconstructing Dinner

Chef Michael Howell

Chef

Raised in Chester, Nova Scotia, Michael Howell became an honors graduate from the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago. He returned to his native soil after 20 years of travel and life around the globe.

As a father and a husband, Michael has a commitment to using only sustainably harvested or farmed seafood. He also supports Annapolis Valley producers whenever possible.

Michael is a “Maitre Rotisseur” of the Chaine des Rotisseurs and a member of the Nova Scotia Association of Chefs and Cooks. He is a director on the Boards of: Slow Food Nova Scotia, the Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia, and Taste of Nova Scotia and is a co-founder of the Valley Pumpkin Festival. He also sits on the Nova Scotia Tourism Partnership Council.

Articles about Michael and his cuisine have been published internationally in dozens of magazines and cookbooks. He has regular appearances on CBC Radio’s Maritime Noon, has been seen on Global Noon, Living Halifax, Breakfast Television, and Opening Soon. He can be seen in Lifestyle Maritimes Magazine in his long running regular column – “Our Culinary Treasures.”
 

Michael Jones

Facilitator and Concert Pianist

As a speaker, a facilitator, a pianist/composer, a storyteller, a coach, a mentor, a writer and a communicator, Michael Jones has a long and impressive list of accomplishments. His unique approach to exploring artistry, leadership and community has enchanted many, leading him to be a featured presenter in a variety of forums such as The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership among many others.

Michael has several identities - as a leadership fellow, an associate faculty member, a charter-consulting member and a senior fellow. He was a senior associate for many years with the MIT Dialogue Project and the Cambridge facilitating programs on The Art of Thinking Together.

Now living north of Toronto with his partner, Judy, Michael has encompassed over thirty years of experience. His perspective as a multi-talented leader has received special mention in Fast Company, Personal Excellence, Business Spirit, Across the Board, Management Review, The Washington Post and The Dutch Financial Times.

Michael’s Creating an Imaginative Life (1995) novel, received The Body Mind and Spirit Books To Live By, Award of Excellence and Artful Leadership, as did Awakening the Commons of the Imagination (2006). He has also contributed essays including Leadership, Servant Leadership for the 21st Century, The Dance of Change and others.
 

Agenda items: Exploring Community

The Honourable Percy Paris

Minister of Economic and Rural Development

The Hounourable Percy Paris started out in Windsor, Nova Scotia. His education took him to Saint Mary’s University where he received his Bachelor of Arts. Prior to Minister Paris’s political career, he was employed as Professor and Director, Diversity Initiative at Dalhousie University. He was also president and majority owner of an investment and holding company and a hockey scout with the International Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Being first elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2006 and re-elected in 2009 has kept him busy. His list of political responsibilities include: the Minister of Economic and Rural Development, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Heritage, the Minister of African Nova Scotian Affairs, the Minister responsible for Nova Scotia Business Incorporated, the Minister responsible for the Heritage Property Act, the Minister responsible for the Innovation Corporation Act, not to mention MLA for Waverley-Fall River-Beaver Bank, his home constituency.

Minister Paris likes to spend his spare time with his wife, two sons, and daughter.

 

Agenda items: The Honourable Percy Paris