Board of Directors

2009-2010 Board of Directors

LIFE Co-op Vision

LIFE's 2009-2010 Board of Directors were elected at our AGM in October of 2009.

Louis Silcox, Chair and President
Rob Yost, Vice President
Yvonne Zyma, Secretary
Tom Rockenfield, Treasurer
Linda Laepple
Dr. Khaled Nigim
Vanya Koleva
Tracey Forrest
Dave Klassen

Louis Silcox is a retired teacher and administrator with experience in advocating for youth research and innovation. He has served as President of Youth Science Foundation Canada after many years as a committee and board member. Louis was the Canadian Space Agency representative to the International Space Camp in 1995. Since retirement he has been program developer for the Waterloo Region Children's Museum, a riding assistant for a Member of Parliament, and is the Elections Ontario returning Officer for Kitchener Centre. Louis will assist LIFE in youth and community education and advocacy, political liaison, and organizational development.

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Rob Yost is the owner of an environmentally friendly property maintenance business, Rob’s Eco Care Property Maintenance RobsEcoCare@gmail.com. His goal is to have a carbon neutral company that offers competitive snow clearing and lawn and garden maintenance mainly using equipment powered by waste vegetable oil. His main business vehicle, a Dodge diesel pickup truck, has been running on waste vegetable oil for a year now, saving over 8 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Rob is also a registered installer of PlantDrive vegetable oil conversion kits for use on diesel vehicles. Rob is a registered Professional Engineer in Ontario and a licensed interprovincial Automotive Mechanic. In his spare time, Rob is actively pursuing the installation of a solar photovoltaic system at his church, Hillcrest Mennonite in New Hamburg.

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Yvonne Zyma is the Library Supervisor of the 3 Wilmot Township branches of the Region of Waterloo Library. She is a strong believer in grassroots initiatives and over the years has volunteered with local groups such as Heritage Wilmot, and the Thrift Centre in New Hamburg. She sits on the board of the Wilmot Horticultural Society. Her guiding principle is Margaret Mead’s motto, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

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Tom Rockenfield holds degrees in theatre and chemical technology and has career experience in both. He immigrated to Canada from the USA with his wife and daughter. Tom's focus at this point in his life is on nutrition, family, and sustainable methods of living and farming. He has been a LIFE Board Member since 2007, acting as Recording Secretary and as well as Treasurer.

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Linda Laepple LIFE's Past President, is a full time organic farmer who grew up in Germany, immigrating to Canada in 1980. Laepple Organic Farm is located near Baden. www.localorganic.ca). She is the cofounder of LOFT Cooperativie, which produces and delivers the largest food box prograrm in Waterloo Region. www.loftmaket.ca Linda self-published a children's book, The Power Quest in an effort to educate consumers about issues around electricity generation. For her efforts, she was recognized by Wilmot Township as a 2008 Citizen of the Year in the Environment category.

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Dr. Khaled Nigim has been a LIFE Board Member since 2007. He has a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Leicester, England and is a registered professional engineer in Ontario (PEO), and a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (IEEE) of the USA. He has hands experience in Photo Voltaic (PV) solar, micro-hydro and wind turbine installation and operation. He developed software for wind data evaluation, which he used to analyze the data collected from the Baden Hill weather station. He is currently on the faculty of the Alternative (Sustainable) Energy Engineering Technology Program at Lambton College in Sarnia.

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Vanya Koleva is an MBET graduate of the University of Waterloo, currently employed at Sun Life in the IT Project Management Office. She has studied and promoted biogas technologies for more than 7 years as a representative of Eisele Co., Germany in her home country, Bulgaria and for 2 years here, in Ontario. She is also a managing partner in DEMIKO Consulting, which is committed to helping farmers willing to adopt anaerobic digestion technology. Through innovative design, smart resource input and efficient operations planning, DEMIKO helps them not to waste their waste, but get money for it.

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Tracey Forrest is the Managing Director, Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy, driving increased energy research and policy development at the University of Waterloo. Prior to UW, Tracey was the Director, Marketing at EnerGXpert, an energy software start-up, and the Director of Energy Management at York University. Her experience also includes municipal energy management and energy consulting, where she won numerous awards for environmental leadership. Tracey is a Professional Engineer and holds a Bachelors in Applied Science (Environmental Engineering) from the University of Waterloo and a Masters in Energy & Economics from ENI Corporate University in Milan, Italy. Tracey also sits on the Board of CREW and acts as an energy advisor.

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Dave Klassen is a Certified Energy Advisor and works for Waterloo Region Green Solutions (WRGS) otherwise known as REEP, as their Energy Manager. Dave has been involved in renewable energy and sustainable development since the early '80s. He has installed solar PV, constructed water catchment systems, built small dams and designed simple hygienic sanitation systems in Congo, Uganda and Nigeria over a period of several decades. Dave lives with his family in Kitchener, is part of the Mennonite community and is working at ways to live more intentionally with people, as a way of hope for a future of climate change and a life with reduced oil.

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