Our Team

Mike Murray

  • Executive Director

    Mike has been working with the BRBC since 2003 coming from a background in ecology. He grew up in the Bow Basin exploring the headwaters, foothills and prairies and developing a keen appreciation for the natural environment and the importance of stewardship of this precious resource. The challenges are many, but Mike enjoys working on these issues with all of the partners and members of the BRBC towards solving complex issues together. He has a firm belief that working together in an inclusive and collaborative fashion we can find solutions and help our ecosystems to flourish and ultimately sustain our future and those who will come after us.

Brooke Kapeller

  • Program Coordinator

    Brooke’s passions lie in land and water conservation, landscape management, geospatial tools, and utilizing collaborative tools to achieve common goals. In her role as Program Coordinator, she gets to combine these passions every day. Brooke takes a dual-pronged approach to her work, combining her scientific and technical skills with her passion for community building. She holds a Master of Sustainability, BSc in Geography with a concentration in GIS, and a diploma in Renewable Resource Management. In her free time, Brooke loves to get out and explore the landscapes of southern Alberta and paddle the waters of the Bow River Basin.

  • Watershed Stewardship Coordinator

    Joe is very excited to be a part of the BRBC team and is looking forward to exploring different forms of environmental stewardship within the Bow River Watershed. He has always been passionate about the outdoors and he is very grateful for the beautiful landscapes within Treaty 7 Territory that he can explore so close to home. Science communication is something that Joe finds incredibly rewarding. He has connected with countless youth and members of the public while facilitating a variety of programs, including guided hikes, school programs, science demonstrations, and educational theatre. With a background in Performing Arts from Mount Royal University, Joe is always looking for opportunities to use art as a tool to inspire environmental stewardship.

Medini Prasai

  • Membership and Fund Development Officer

    Medini joined the Bow River Basin Council (BRBC) in 2009 as a Financial and Member Services Officer. He calls himself a bits and pieces player who works mostly in the background. His portfolio includes business planning, fund development, member services, financial management and office administration. Medini has a graduate degree in Environmental Planning from Macquarie University Sydney, Australia. Medini was born and grew up in Nepal. Prior to joining the BRBC, he worked with the government of Nepal as a development planner and with the United Nations as a project officer in Nepal and eastern Europe. Medini moved to Canada with his family in 2004 and since calls Calgary his home. In his spare time, you will find him enjoying hiking and outdoor activities in the Bow basin.

Andrea Czarnecki

  • Publications Editor

    Andrea has been involved with the BRBC since 2001, initially in her capacity as a planner with Alberta Environment and then, starting in 2012, as BRBC Publications Editor. Philosophy and planning shaped her undergrad and graduate studies at the University of Calgary and led her to discover the joys of distilling complex subjects into accessible content. Her role with the BRBC has enabled these joys to take many forms – whether reports, newsletters, bulletins or special releases. While privileged to have worked in Southeast Asia early in her career, home is where the heart is. For Andrea, that home was by the Elbow River growing up and now alongside a coulee near the Bow River, both of which are favourite settings for family gatherings and dog walks.

Our Board of Directors

  • Chair

    While Steve currently sits as the Board of Directors Chair, over the last 20 years he has served two other times on the BRBC Board and been involved with various BRBC committees and projects. In addition to the BRBC, Steve has involved himself with several other environmental groups over the past 25+ years, including the Elbow River Watershed Partnership whose Board he is also a member of. As well, Steve represents the 11 WPACs (including the BRBC) on the Alberta Water Council’s Board. Steve was born in the Bow Basin, and most of his family also resides within the Basin.

  • Liliana Bozic was elected to the BRBC Board in 2018 as a representative of the Commercial/Industrial sector. Since 2001, she contributed to BRBC in various technical and volunteer capacities.

    Liliana is a senior water resources engineer with close to 30 years of experience that spans both municipal and private sector. Her expertise includes watershed management, integrated stormwater management, stormwater reuse, water policy and regulatory issues. She is very familiar with municipal and provincial policies and regulations around water use.

    As a co-founder and past Vice President of Alberta Low Impact Development Partnership, Liliana is firmly committed to watershed protection and better environmental outcomes.

Jason Mogilefsky

  • Jason is the Forestry Manager at Spay Lake Sawmills and has been on the BRBC Board since 2013. He is a professional forester who has been working in the forest industry since 1987. Jason graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Forest Resource Management from the University of Montana in 1994. Spray Lake Sawmills has been operating in the Bow Basin since 1953.

Mark Bennett

  • Originally from Ottawa, Mark enjoyed the privilege of being the Executive Director of the Bow River Basin Council (BRBC) for 20 years (2000 – 2020). In that role he was blessed with the opportunity to work with great colleagues, both staff and volunteers. Mark has experience with an assortment of interesting positions in every province (except New Brunswick), including 14 years in Emergency Management and a role as Emergency Program Coordinator for the City of Winnipeg during the historic flood of 1997. Having travelled a lot in Canada, Mark ranks the Bow Basin as one of the most beautiful parts of our glorious country, and would like for his grandchildren and their grandchildren to be able to enjoy this basin as much as he does.

  • Amanda Halawell is a Lead Planner at Alberta Environment and Protected Areas. Her work supports the department in cumulative effects management strategies for subregional plans under the Land Use Framework. Amanda’s previous work with Cows and Fish and in environmental consulting has given her a lasting appreciation for the importance and diversity of ecosystems in Alberta and the people that value and rely on them. As a member of the BRBC board, Amanda hopes to continue to foster collaboration with the provincial government and advance mutual interests in promoting watershed health.

Chris Manderson

  • Chris Manderson has over 30 years of experience as biologist and environmental planner in both the public and private sector. From 1998 to 2021, Chris worked in Natural Area Management and Planning for Calgary Parks. In that role, Chris led the development of key environmental policies and plans for the City, including a municipal wetland conservation policy, riparian setback guidelines and a municipal biodiversity strategy. Prior to joining the City of Calgary, Chris worked in environmental consulting in Alberta and Ontario, working on issues related to forestry, wetland ecology and municipal development.

Jason Schneider

  • Jason joined the BRBC in the Fall of 2020 as a municipal representative on the Board of Directors, and also serves as Reeve of Vulcan County. Jason was first elected in 2013 to Vulcan County Council and also has the privilege to serve as the Southern Alberta Director on the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) Board of Directors since 2020. He represents a large area that depends heavily on the Bow River for both domestic and agriculture uses. As a 4th generation farmer in Southern Alberta, Jason is reminded daily of the value of water and a healthy river system and it is not something we can take for granted. He is honored to sit as a Board member and hopes we can continue the excellent work that BRBC has done over the years.

  • Nilo is the Manager of Conservation Research at the Miistakis Institute, an applied conservation research institute affiliated with Mount Royal University (MRU). She also serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Biology at MRU. She has been a member of the BRBC’s science committee since 2017, where she has helped organize the Science Forum and served on the groundwater subcommittee. She has a keen interest in aquatics with a background in limnology, paleolimnology and fish ecology. But mostly, she likes to make sure that the science she is a part of is easily understood and readily applicable. Outside of work, Nilo spends most of her time making nature-inspired art and wrangling her two small humans.

Richard Phillips

  • First Vice-Chair

    Richard has been with the Bow River Irrigation District since 1996, initially as the district engineer, and as the general manager since 2004. Previously, he worked on various water resources projects as a consulting engineer in Calgary. He has a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from the University of Alberta (1984) and is registered as a professional engineer in Alberta. He is a vice chair of the Bow River Basin Council.

    Richard serves as chair of the regional water services commission in Vauxhall, Alberta, which operates the regional potable water system.

Scott Taylor

  • Scott is a native Calgarian who grew up floating on the Elbow River and still spends most of his recreation time biking, hiking, and skiing in mountains of the Bow River Watershed.

    He leads the dam safety team at TransAlta ensuring the safe operation of the Companies hydro and mining dams across North America.

    Following the 2013 floods Scott was instrumental in the development of the TransAlta – Alberta Environment water management agreement to change operations of 4 of TransAlta’s dams to improve flood and drought response on the Bow River.

  • Nisha is a project manager and water resource planner with over ten years of experience within environmental consulting, municipal government, academia, and the charitable sector. She currently works at SAIT as an instructor for the Integrated Water Management and Environmental Technology diploma programs. Nisha is also the board chair for Connecting Environmental Professionals Calgary and is the co-chair of the Youth and Young Professionals Committee of the BRBC. She is keen to get outside in the watershed whenever she can, and loves to ski, play tennis, and bike.

Rob Wolfe

  • Rob Wolfe is an Integrated Land Management Specialist with Alberta Forestry Parks and Tourism. He is actively involved with the Bow River Basin Council (Member BRBC Board of Directors and Co-Chair BRBC Legislation and Policy Committee) and serves as the Project Coordinator for the Alberta Environment and Parks’ Bow River Phosphorus Management Plan. Rob is a Professional Biologist with a Master’s degree in Environmental Management from the University of Calgary and a Master’s Certificate in Watershed Management from the University of British Columbia. Rob has been working with the BRBC for over 20 years.

Pablo Pina

  • Second Vice-Chair

    Pablo is a former biologist with a passion in complex systems theory, natural resources management, and sustainability. In his current role as the Endowed Chair for Sustainability at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), he develops and manages a complex portfolio of contemporary talent programming and the development of a centre of excellence in water sustainability.

    In 2019, Pablo joined the BRBC as a Board member and a Chair of the Youth and Young Professionals Committee where he brings a perspective of science and education.

    During his spare time, you will likely find Pablo hanging out with his family on a bike ride or walk along Calgary' river valleys, or somewhere in the beautiful Bow River Basin. One of his passions is photography but nowadays he finds himself daydreaming about mixing music.

  • Megan Van Ham leads the Environmental Programs team at the City of Calgary. In this role and through prior work as a water management consultant, Megan has been actively involved in regional integrated water management and environmental initiatives in many of Alberta’s major river basins for over 15 years.