New Board Directors at YPK!

Pitt Meadows Airport Society is excited to announce the appointment of five new Directors to its Board: Cyrus Ameli, Patricia Gordon, Dave Harkness, Scott Hartman, and Andrew Westlund.  Their unique backgrounds and diverse experience will make them a great asset to the Board and organization.  Mark Roberts continues to serve, but now as president, and completes the six-person Board.

Departing the Board are Mayor Bill Dingwall, Mayor Mike Morden, Councillor Al Horsman, Councillor Nicole MacDonald, and Councillor Gordy Robson.  We thank them for their tireless efforts and dedication to serving the airport community.

Meet the Team:

Mark Roberts, President

Mark has been employed by the City of Pitt Meadows since 2013, first as the Director of Finance and Facilities and then, starting in 2015, as the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO). As the CAO, Mark works closely with Council to set the overall strategic direction for the City and manages its day-to-day operations. Mark has worked in municipal government since 1999, in a variety of roles including procurement, finance, facilities, IT, and risk management. He is a respected, highly motivated leader who demonstrates his commitment to developing and guiding high-functioning teams to deliver on bold, comprehensive goals that best serve the community.

Mark is a member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of B.C. and the Certified Payroll Association.

First appointed to the Pitt Meadows Airport (YPK) Board in 2019, Mark is currently serving a second term as its President.

For the past 10 years, Mark has volunteered with the Finance Committee and previously the Advisory Planning Commission for his hometown.

Cyrus Ameli, Vice President

Cyrus Ameli has over 25 years of leadership experience in strategic organizational development, finance, and communications.  Cyrus has served as a senior officer and board director of several publicly traded and private companies, with development projects around the world. Through his consulting practice, Reflective Management Ltd., he works with organizations in a broad cross-section of industries to help develop their sustainability along four key dimensions - environmental, social, governance and economic.

He holds an MBA degree, CAPM certification from the Project Management Institute, an ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors and a GCB.D designation with the Competent Boards ESG program. 

In addition to his corporate and consulting roles, Cyrus serves as a member of the Board of Governors for Scouts Canada, and is board member of Braintrust Canada, a non-profit organization focused on the prevention of and recovery from traumatic brain injury, in the roles of Treasurer, Chair of the Governance and Finance Committees, and member of the Nomination Committee.  He also serves as a member of the Active Transportation and Economic Development Committees for the City of Pitt Meadows.

Dave Harkness, Treasurer

Dave Harkness is Manager of Parking and New Mobility with the City of Surrey’s Engineering Department, where he is responsible for revenue generation activities and policy development/testing for New Mobility transportation forms, including Electric Vehicles, Automated Vehicles, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, and shared mobility devices.

He has a long span of volunteer activity focussed on public transportation policy:

• Since 2019 he has been Chair of Translink’s New Mobility Committee, providing recommendations on new transportation forms to Translink’s Regional Transportation Advisory Committee

• In 2021 he was appointed Co-Chair of BC Hydro’s Electric Vehicle Peer Network, comprising transportation planners and Electric Vehicle experts from 60 BC communities and institutions.

• From 1992 to 2011 he chaired the Downtown Vancouver BIA’s Transportation and Urban Policy Committee.

• He is a past Director of the BC Building Owners Managers Association, with a role as liaison to the Environmental sub-committee.

He is a graduate of Simon Fraser University’s Next Generation Transportation Program as well as Business Communications and Management programs at SFU and the BC Institute of Technology.

Past airport-related roles include Director of Groundside Operations at Vancouver International Airport from 2007-2011.  

He is a regular donor with Canadian Blood Services (with over 120 blood/platelet donations to date), a volunteer with Langley Animal Protection Society and a member of Vancouver Fairview Rotary Club.

Patricia Gordon, Director

Patricia is a Medical Laboratory Scientist who retired after 40 years of working in both the public and private sectors. She has lived in Pitt Meadows since 2011.

Her volunteering interests have ranged from being involved in community groups and boards that support children with special needs to a BC Provincial Government steering committee that authored the ‘Colony Farm Land Use Plan’ creating the Metro Vancouver ‘Colony Farm Regional Park’ thus removing it from the speculative market.

Here in Pitt Meadows, she is active in the arts community and art gallery, local neighbourhood issues as well as a member of the newly formed Pitt Meadows Economic Development Advisory Committee which will include a new Tourism component.

She looks forward to being on the Pitt Meadows Airport board during these exciting times.

Scott Hartman, Director

Scott Hartman is the Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Maple Ridge. He joined the City in March 2021 as the General Manager Parks, Recreation & Culture and was recently promoted to his current role. Scott has a considerable track record of successful leadership in both municipal government and the private sector, particularly in the areas of economic and community development, including positions at the Township of Esquimalt, City of Kamloops and the Comox-Strathcona Regional District. Scott also has experience as an organizational performance consultant, facilitator and executive coach.

Andrew Westlund, Director

Bio to follow.