The OWA Team 

Executive Committee

Matt DeMille, President (Upper Trent Valley)

Nancy Young, Vice President (Lower Ottawa Valley)

Art Shannon, Secretary (Provincial)

Peter Arbour, Treasurer (Renfrew County)

Paul Robertson, Past President (Niagara)

Colleen Drew-Baehre (Bancroft-Haliburton)

Pieter Leenhouts (Lower Ottawa Valley) 

Rick Wilkins (South West) 

Kevin Predon (Huronia)

Kerry Bomberry (Brant)

John Pineau, Executive Director (Near North)

The Executive Committee (EC) has supervision of OWA’s affairs between general and Board of Directors’ meetings. The EC makes recommendations to the Board of Directors and performs other duties as  specified in the constitution. The EC is subject to the orders of the Board of Directors, and none of its acts will conflict with actions taken by the Board of Directors. The EC held 14 meetings in 2021.

Awards Committee

Kerry Coleman, Chair (Lower Ottawa Valley) 

Dorothy Hamilton (Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry)  

Paul Robertson (Niagara) 

Pieter Leenhouts (Lower Ottawa Valley) 

Ian Fife (Brant) 

Matt DeMille (Upper Trent Valley)

Nathan Manion (Limestone) 

Nominate a volunteer who supports the good management of forests in Canada.

The Ontario Woodlot Association (OWA) recognizes outstanding volunteers within the association, as well as individuals externally who have made significant contributions to sustainable forest management in Ontario. 

Read about the awards here, and access the nomination form here. 

Communications Committee

Katrina Van Osch-Saxon, Chair (Kawartha) 

Neil Dunning (Brant) 

Kerry Coleman (Lower Ottawa Valley) 

Matt DeMille (Upper Trent Valley) 

Paul Robertson (Niagara)

Melany Burant, (Kawartha)

Ashley MacRae (Renfrew County)

Olyvia Foster (Kawartha)

John Pineau (Near North) 

The Communication Committee's mandate is:

• Overseeing and advising on the general content, production and quality of all communications media employed by the OWA including The Ontario Woodlander, the OWA  website, e-Newsletter, and all OWA social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Linked-in and X [Formerly known as Twitter]). 

• The continued honing of The Ontario Woodlander – the OWA’s flagship publication. 

• Acting as a sounding board for themes and informational items that warrant inclusion in OWA media. 

• Monitoring communications – internal and external – to ensure that they are reflective of  OWA policies and values. 

• Monitoring OWA communications to ensure that content meets OWA members’ needs and that OWA members can easily navigate OWA communication links such as the OWA website.

• Increasing Indigenous land and resource management articles in The Ontario Woodlander and e-Newsletter. 

• Identifying new avenues to publicize the OWA, especially in terms of attracting new members.

Nomination Committee 

Paul Robertson, Chair (Niagara)

Barbara Clark (Lower Ottawa Valley) 

Colleen Baehre (Bancroft-Haliburton) 

Rick Wilkins (South West) 

The main purpose of the Nomination Committee is to provide the Association with the names of  qualified and willing members, to fill at least the minimum requirement of OWA officers on the  Executive (currently nine). The Committee does this by working with the President and the Executive Director to recruit qualified members to run for office. The Nomination Committee also provides advice to the Board regarding the management of the Association’s overall volunteer resources. The Nomination Committee achieved its main goal by providing enough member candidates to fill the Executive Committee in 2021. 

Growing and using volunteer capacity effectively and strategically will be vital to the future success of  the OWA, and the Nomination Committee will play a key role in ensuring that our pool of volunteers is  deployed and managed in the best possible manner.

Audit Committee 

Andrew Kenney, Chair (Lanark) 

Dorothy Hamilton (Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry)

The Audit Committee (AC) consisted of Andy Kenney (Member Representative) and Dorothy  Hamilton (Board of Directors Representative) recognizing that they were not acting as licensed  public accountants nor exercising the rigour necessary for a formal audit opinion. The AC met  "virtually" on March 28, 2022 to discuss their reviews of the minutes of the Board of Directors  meetings and the audit report from 2021. The committee met virtually with each member of  the staff and the Executive Director on April 4. The primary objective of these meetings was to  review the systems and procedures that relate to the safeguarding of OWA assets, general office  procedures, and the Policies and Procedures of the Board of Directors.

Business Development Committee 

Paul Robertson, Chair (Niagara)

Art Shannon (Provincial)

David Braet (South West)

Marian Petelycky (Quinte)

Jack McFadden (Huronia)

Eleanor Reed (Kawartha) 

Martin Litchfield (Waterloo-Wellington)

Elliott Groen (Waterloo-Wellington)

Erica Dixon (Kawartha) 

John Pineau (Near North Chapter) 

Tim Hudak, Special Advisor (Niagara) 

The purpose of the Business Development Committee (BDC) is to serve in an advisory capacity to the  OWA Board and the Executive Director, providing a forum for developing and implementing initiatives  relating to increasing and diversifying the OWA’s revenues, services and improving efficiencies.