MUNICIPAL COMMUNICATIONS

Working with the media
Kevin Sack

Understanding the media
David Sieger

Media relations for municipal leaders
Mark Bilawchuk

Evaulating the effectiveness of communications
Alan Chumley

Unique challenges in developing a pre-Olympic communications strategy
Catherine Clement

New media and your municipal portal
Boyd Neil

Communicating in a crisis: The communications plan
Tim Tuck

Effectively communicating during times of transition and reorganization
Ghislain Lamothe

Internal communications for municipalities
Patrick Casey

As a Senior Vice-President and National Practice Director, Corporate Communications at Hill & Knowlton, Boyd Neil uses his more than 25 years experience in the public and private sectors as a communication strategist to provide senior-level counsel to a variety of clients. He has held senior communication positions in government, trade associations and consulting firms with practices in public consultation, community relations, issues management and stakeholder engagement. He has provided counsel for public communications during EA processes with respect to the expansion of landfills in Warwick and Richmond, Ontario, and the re-opening of nuclear reactors at an Ontario nuclear facility. He has worked on community relations issues around water quality for a Crown corporation and air quality problems in the City of Guelph. He has recently developed and implemented issue management, public consultation and communication programs on behalf of the Town of Markham, the Town of Richmond Hill, the Region of Peel and the Halton Peel District Health Council.

Paul Thomson is Director, Corporate Communications with the City of Moncton. He is responsible for the city's internal and external communications programs and strategy including media relations, issues management, executive messaging as well as the city's corporate brand and corporate marketing initiatives. He is one of the city's key spokespeople with both the French and English media. He has spent over 15 years in communications and has previously worked for The Conference Board of Canada, Molson Canada, and Husky Injection Molding Systems.

Jillian is a graduate of Mount St. Vincent University's well-respected Bachelor of Public Relations program, and has had the opportunity to serve as an intern with Maritime Life and later as Event Coordinator with the Atlantic Journalism Awards. In her current role as Communications Officer with the City of Moncton for nearly 4 years, she thrives on the fast-paced demands of media relations, communication planning, speech writing, event coordination and more. In addition to her regular duties she has also served as a valuable member of the communications team for major events at Moncton's Magnetic Hill concert site, including "Country Rocks the Hill 2006" as well as one of the largest stops on The Rolling Stones "Bigger Bang" Tour.

Kevin Sack is Director of Toronto's newly-created strategic communications division, which aims to ensure that the public, employees, media, national and international audiences have a clear understanding of the City of Toronto's policies, priorities and programs. Kevin also assists the mayor, members of council and City divisions in informing the public about City programs, services and emerging issues of interest, and works to encourage civic participation in municipal government.

David Sieger is Vice President, Communications at Enterprise Canada. He is a former national broadcast journalist and political advisor, with a strong background in corporate and political communications. Since joining Enterprise Canada in 1995, he has also served as writer/editor of Ontario Legislative Highlights, a weekly newsletter providing information and insights about Ontario politics. His writing skills and understanding of the media were honed during a ten-year career as a radio journalist in three provinces.

As a Communication Advisor for the City of Calgary, Mark Bilawchuk shares the responsibility for media relations and internal communications for one of the most dynamic municipalities in Canada, media monitoring and reporting. Prior to working at the City, he was responsible for media relations and member communications for the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.

Patricia MacDonell has worked in corporate communications for the City of Toronto since 1999. Until recently, she was the communications manager responsible for the City's main information and referral service, Access Toronto and for the City's multilingual services unit, which provides translation and interpretation advice and service to all City divisions. In this position, she developed the City of Toronto's Multilingual Policy - a first for a Canadian municipality.

Patricia recently accepted a secondment to the Strategic Communications Division to research and develop a comprehensive set of communications policies and procedures for the City. She has also very recently accepted to participate on the Province of Ontario's Information and Communications Standards Development Committee.

Patricia has a Bachelor of Public Relations from Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Alan Chumley is the Vice-President of Business Development at Cormex Research, a Toronto-based media content and analysis company.

Prior to joining Cormex, Alan held increasingly senior positions in corporate communications on both the client and supplier side. Past positions have included: the Director of Media Intelligence Services at Canada Newswire, Associate Director of Corporate Communications at Bell Canada, and Marketing Communications Specialist at ING Canada.

Alan is a graduate of the University of Waterloo, holds a post-graduate certificate in public relations from Ryerson University and a Master's degree in communications from York University, with research focusing on media effects and uses; audience and reception studies and best practices in PR management and measurement; a topic that he speaks on frequently at industry events.

Catherine Clement is Director of Communications for the City of Vancouver, the future host city of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. She has 15 years experience in the communications field. In the next few years, she will be responsible for city communications, outreach and media relations for the 2010 Winter Games. Last year, she accepted a United Nations World Summit Award that recognized the City of Vancouver's Web site, www.vancouver.ca, for excellent content in the e-government category.

Tim Tuck is the Communications Officer for the City of Hamilton.

Ghislain Lamothe is the Manager of Corporate Communications and French-language Services for the City of Greater Sudbury, and leads the municipal government responsible for internal and external communications. He has spent the majority of his career providing communication services to municipal governments including the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton and the City of Ottawa. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Le Théatre du Nouvel-Ontario, a professional French-language theatre company, and is a member of Le Club Richelieu, a charitable organization that provides opportunities to underprivileged youth.

As Director of Corporate Communications, Patrick Casey is responsible for external and internal communications at the Regional Municipality of York. Reporting directly to both the Regional Chair and CEO and the Chief Administrative Officer, he is a former award-winning community journalist who joined York Region in 2001 following more than a dozen years in the private sector.