BCCTS Directors

 

Gregg Dow – President

Gregg has lived and worked on Salt Spring Island his entire life and intimately understands the important role that BC Ferries plays both socially and economically for the well being of Coastal British Columbia. Prior to beginning his career with BC Ferries in 1993, Gregg worked with a small tourist based business. Gregg’s career at BC Ferries, which spans 18 years, has taken some unexpected turns. He was promoted from his catering attendant’s work to spend a year working as Terminal Operations Manager for BCFC. During that time he received extensive management training and assisted in the creation of a new ferry route, Route 9a, as well as managing Inter-Island Services ferry terminals on Bowen Island, Gabrolia/Nanaimo Harbour, Mill Bay/Brentwood Bay, Chemainus/Penelkut and all the Southern Gulf Islands. He also worked extensively on scheduling and home-porting issues for these points of assembly.

In 2004, BC Ferry & Marine Workers’ Union President Jackie Miller asked Gregg to work on the Save Our Ferries Campaign and in late 2004 he became the Chair of that committee. Gregg has also served the Union as its Secretary Treasurer, local president, shop steward and as vigorous safety advocate. Throughout the ensuing years Save Our Ferries has worked closely with different levels of Government and contributed to the following reports:

  • BC Auditor General – Changing Course – A New Direction for British Columbia’s Coastal Ferry System: A Review of the Transformation of BC Ferries
  • BC Comptroller Generals Report – BC Ferries/Translink Review
  • Evaluation of Transport Canada’s Grant to the province of British Columbia for the provision of ferry services – June 2005
  • BC Ferry Coastal Ferry Act Review – BC Ferry Commissioner

When Gregg is not working with the rest of the team on Save Our Ferries, at his employment with BC Ferries or raising his family, he serves as the Chair of the Salt Spring Island Parks and Recreation Commission. During his time on the Commission, which functions in the same way as a municipal Parks and Recreation Commission or Parks Board, he has overseen the development of a dog park, community garden, new public trails and beach accesses. He has also contributed to two different reports, the PARC Strategic Plan and the Parks System Master Plan.

Gregg continues to make Salt Spring Island his home.

Gregg is the President of the BC Coastal Transportation Society.

Jackie Miller – Vice President

Originally from North Vancouver, Jackie first became involved in BC Ferries with employment as a catering attendant in 1973 where she worked at both Horseshoe Bay and Tsawwassen in various classifications and as a first aid attendant until 1978. She returned to a somewhat different BC Ferries in 1988 again at Horseshoe Bay and became active in the Union as a shop steward, something which she continued when she moved to Salt Spring Island with her family in 1996 where she worked as a Terminal Attendant. Jacqueline quickly rose through the Union ranks to become President of the BC Ferry and Marine Workers’ Union in 2003, working closely with the Ships’ Officers’ Component of the BCFMWU. Her six years as President were marked by major legislative changes to BCF and protracted negotiations for two collective agreements both with BC Ferries and with the employees of BCFMWU. She oversaw the relocation of the Union from Victoria to Nanaimo in 2005, a move that required a major renovation to a Nanaimo landmark and transition agreements with the Union’s office staff. Jackie worked with Mike Corrigan of BC Ferries to develop the safety initiative, SailSafe, with BC Ferries following the sinking of the Queen of the North. Jackie sought interested party status for the Transportation Safety Board’s investigation into that incident and was a major contributor to the Union’s submissions. She lead the Union’s Canadian Marine Advisory Council team and worked directly with the International Transport Workers’ Federation with whom she encouraged her Union to affiliate in 2005. Within that affiliation she attended International Maritime Organization sessions for Marine Safety and as an affiliate of Interferry she attended IMO as an industry delegate. The internal Save Our Ferries committee was a mandate carried forward by Jackie from the week she took office in 2003 until she retired in 2008. Mr. Gregg Dow invited her back from retirement to work with some of the original members of SOF, which she continues to do to this date.

Jackie continues to live in Nanaimo, with her husband Dean. She enjoys working in her garden and visiting with her two grown children.

 

Nelle Maxey – Director

Nelle Maxey was born in United States in 1945 and immigrated to Canada in the early 70′s with her young family. She has been a Canadian citizen for 35 years and is currently retired, living near her two grandsons in the beautiful Slocan Valley in the Kootenay region of BC.

Nelle’s educational background is an eclectic one. She spent 3 years at universities in California and Nevada studying in anthropology and psychology, received a diploma in Automotive Mechanics from Grand Prairie Regional College, Alberta, as well as Diplomas in Graphic Design and Electronic Publishing from Selkirk College, BC. She has also obtained Certificates from the Justice Institute of BC in Anger Management with Youth and Peer Counselling/Active Listening, and rounds out her credentials with 9 credits in art courses from Emily Carr and North Island College.

Nelle has raised three children as a single parent working at a variety of jobs, from valve grinding to camp cooking to bar maid to day care worker. As an artist she has illustrated four of Anne Cameron’s books published by Harbour Publishing BC. Prior to her retirement in 2007 she ran her own business, Maximum Graphics, for 18 years from Vancouver, and subsequently, from Powell River. Nelle specialized in the technical writing of educational training manuals with her two main clients who were non-profit associations. The manuals she produced are still being used for training and certification of independent residential heating contractors in BC and in some other provinces. She also functioned as general manager of two associations offering the training. In that capacity she scheduled courses, took course registrations, maintained certification and membership databases, produced the training manuals, organized member and board meetings, paid the bills, answered the phones, managed the websites and she represented her clients before the BC Utilities Commission, among other duties.

Nelle became involved with Save our Ferries at its inception while living in Powell River. While in Powell River, Nelle also wrote and published brochures for the Powell River Raging Grannies which contained information on the implications of the changes to our ferry services.

For a number of years Nelle has produced cumulative financial charts on a quarterly basis to assist MLA’s, journalists and the public in understanding what is happening financially at the company, BCFS Inc.

In 2005, Nelle authored a report for the Auditor General of BC on the transition of BCFC to BC Ferry Services and the financial and social implications of that change. The report was the brainchild of the Save our Ferries group, then under the mantle of the BC Ferry and Marine Workers Union. Jackie Miller wrote the section of the report on safety and environmental concerns.

 

Jon Suk – Director

Jon, originally from Seoul, Korea, moved to Canada with his family in 1975. An avid athlete, he studied Tae Kwon Do as a youth and participated in competitive swimming and road cycling. Jon continues to participate in amateur sports and is a dedicated speed skater, having trained extensively at the Richmond Olympic Oval and competed at the Fort St. John Oval and Calgary Olympic Oval. For his training and recreation he cycles, plays hockey, runs, skies, snowboards, and swims.

Jon attended university in Vancouver as an English major before starting up a graphic design and print production business in Richmond and settling in the Steveston area. Jon has gained extensive experience in communications, including creative design, commercial photography and print project management.

Having started a family and with a desire for a more rural lifestyle, he and his young family moved to Salt Spring Island in 2001, where has formed his own company, Borealis Networks,  focusing on website development and hosting, and information technology consulting.

“The business that I operate in, the information technology industry, always has had me on the go, in dynamic environments and mission-critical situations. The primary skill that I offer is the ability to adapt to changing conditions and time lines with good communication skills, problem solving and logistics management: planning ahead, while recognizing that not all things go according to plan.”

Jon was able to partner both his interests in information technology and his love of sport when he was asked to work with the Korean Olympic Committee during the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

When Jon isn’t busy with his work or his personal training and sports he volunteers as a youth soccer coach, a minor hockey coach and a safety trainer. He is also a committee member of Salt Spring Island Parks and Recreation Commission and a member of the founding executive of Richmond Rockets Speed Skating Club. Jon also works with Gulf Islands Water Taxi.

Along with all of his other activities Jon especially enjoys spending time with his son Aidan, who is now 11 years old. When they aren’t at the hockey arena, they are down crabbing at Fernwood dock on Salt Spring.

Jon has been involved with Save Our Ferries for several years and is a founding member and Director of the BC Coastal Transportation Society.

 

Captain Dan Clements, BSc, MNI – Director

Captain Dan Clements grew up in Coquitlam. In the fullness of time he studied biology and archaeology at nearby Simon Fraser University. After graduation he worked at North Vancouver’s Hooker Chemical plant and for some years at the Forensic Psychiatric Institute in Port Coquitlam. He married in 1978 and subsequently emigrated to Salt Spring Island, where he began building a house with the help of his father.

Soon after his arrival he joined BC Ferries as a deckhand. Having later also worked on the ships as a catering attendant and as an engine room oiler (in which capacity he also sailed briefly on the Queen of the North), he determined to pursue a career as a deck officer. This he undertook primarily on Salt Spring, sailing also out of Swartz Bay and Thetis Island – plus a summer spent on the Bella Coola run. He received a Master’s certificate in 2001 and finished his career with BC Ferries as Captain on the Howe Sound Queen out of Vesuvius Bay. Throughout, he worked for the BCFMWU as a shop steward and safety advocate. He joined the Save Our Ferries team shortly after its inception.

After thirty-one years with BC Ferries, Dan is now happily retired with his wife and Labrador retriever (that house is nearly finished), and currently serves as a Director on the Salt Spring Island Parks and Recreation Commission.

 

Captain Willie Cursiter – Director

Captain Willie Cursiter was born in the Orkney Islands, Scotland where he grew up on an island with a population of 600. His father was the Island Harbour Master. He enjoyed boating and lobster fishing from an early age. After High School Navigation and Seamanship training he went to Leith Nautical College, completing training as Efficient Deckhand. He worked on cargo vessels between Europe and the Far East for 2 years, then working for 4 years on the Orkney Islands Ferries.
In 1977 Capt. Cursiter immigrated to Alberta before moving to Vancouver, BC. He attended college to obtain a Watch-keeping Mates’ Certificate in 1980 and his first assignment was as 2nd Officer with Northern Transportation in the NWT. He then obtained his Master’s Certification in Canada and he later completed a Class 2/1 Certificate at South Shields Nautical College UK. His career as a Navigation Officer and Master has included assignments with BC Ferries, Canadian Coast Guard Lighthouse supply and Buoy tending, Canadian Coast Guard Search and Rescue Vessels, Oil Spill Clean up Tug, Oil Rig Control Room Operator, P&O Scottish Ferries, North-link Ferries, Dundee Harbour Tug Master and Offshore Supply and Anchor Handling Tugs in the North Sea.
He and his wife moved to Scotland in November 1996 so his wife could nurse her mother who had Alzheimer’s and subsequently returned to Salt Spring Island in 2004 and he was again employed by BC Ferries.Capt. Cursiter has worked on over 20 vessels in BC Ferries including 12 as Master and has actively promoted safety as part of his working ethic, trying to encourage BC Ferries Management and the BCFMWU to improve conditions on our vessels. He has used the VISOR process to improve lifesaving evacuation from ferries in BC.

Capt. Cursiter recently retired from BC Ferries. He now lives in the Comox Valley enjoying life with his wife and family, diy, fishing, gardening, his continuing interest researching safety at sea and he has become the newest Director of the British Columbia Coastal Transportation Society.