John Atkin – Director
John is a civic historian, writer, walking tour guide and heritage consultant. As a consultant, John has written the Chinatown Lighting Strategy for the City of Vancouver [2008], the City of Vancouver’s successful nominations for the Lee Kuan Yee World City Prize [2011] and the Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation [2012], John co-authored, with Jeannette Hlavach, the successful 2010 application for Chinatown’s National Historic District status. He is a board member and chair of the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC.
Kevin Bowers – Director
Kevin Bowers was born and raised in Vancouver and has a keen interest in Vancouver history, with a special interest in historical photographs and videos. As a former IT Manager with the City of Vancouver he helped the Archives get funding to support their digital initiatives.
Michael Diack – Director
Michael is a Library Technician at the Vancouver Public Library Central Branch. He works in Information Services, providing Reference, Reader’s Advisory and other library services. He has volunteered at a wide variety of Vancouver events – from ticket taker at the Vancouver Fringe Festival to promoting donations & memberships as a volunteer on the Membership Committee at the Vancouver International Folk Festival. His first job was as a Vancouver Sun newspaper boy. His second job at the PNE Michael deeply values the collective history & memory of Vancouver. And looks forward to helping share and spread awareness of the treasure that is the Vancouver City Archives.
Norm Flockhart – Director
Norm has worked in Vancouver residential real estate for over 35 years. Born in Vancouver, Norm loves the story of the City and first visited the Vancouver City Archives when researching the history of his 1912-built home. He has been a volunteer in the research and transcriptions of the historical City permits for Heritage Vancouver’s Historical Vancouver Building Permits on-line database. Norm has been a Board member at the Condominium Home Owners Association (CHOA), Vice-President of a Kitsilano strata council, and a volunteer in various youth sports organizations here in the City.
Neal Jennings – Treasurer
Neal is a CPA, CA running a home-based tax practice and accounting education consulting business. He has a bachelor of accounting from Brock University, where he served on the board of his student union and as president of the campus pride organization, Brock Pride. He has long had an interest in local history, and is particularly interested in supporting meaningful access to it through the Archives’ digitization process.
Jill Kelly – Chair
Jill has lived in Vancouver since 1970 She is currently a member of the Grandview Heritage Group. She first visited the Archives 25 years ago, while researching the history of her home (built 1912). She hopes to learn more about the Archives and its holdings. She has a background in charities governance and is a Certified General Accountant.
Merrilee Robson – Director
Merrilee Robson is a Vancouver writer. Her first mystery, Murder is Uncooperative, is set in a Vancouver housing co-op. She has also published short stories and nonfiction. Her interest in Vancouver history comes from living in a house built in 1911 and from work on a historical mystery. She has experience in communications for non-profit organizations, including as program manager of national communications and government relations for the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada. Her governance experience includes terms of the boards of Crime Writers of Canada, the Co-operative Housing Federation of BC, the PNE, the BC NDP, and other non-profit organizations.
Scott Ashton Swan – Director
Friends of the Vancouver City Archives 