Barb Bowen | Chairperson

Manager, Special Programs
Manitoba Aerospace

What I love about Career Trek: Youth get a chance to learn about different career opportunities and can expand their vision of their futures.
Why Career Trek is important: The program encourages youth to finish Grade 12 and get a post secondary education. It helps youth and families understand the importance of education.
If I could travel anywhere, I would go to: Europe.
If I had a million dollars, I would: Pay off all my bills, help out my family and travel.
Something most people don’t know about me: I wish I had become a pilot.
My friends say I’m: Fiercely loyal.
Something that drives me crazy: Lousy drivers.
My favorite movie: Thelma and Louise.

Colin Russell | Vice-Chairperson

Registrar
University of Winnipeg

The best part of my job: Getting to interact with students at all levels.
Why Career Trek is important: It gives participants experiences to help them make decisions and to add to their sense of engagement in education, career, and society.
When I’m not working, I’m: Cycling.
The key to happiness: Doing something you love and being part of a caring community.
The last book I read: The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America, by Thomas King.
My first pet: A Dalmatian named Sebastian.
What makes me laugh: My kids.
My collect: Books.

Victor Bellay | Treasurer

Senior Crown Counsel, Department of Justice
Province of Manitoba

Gord Hannon | Secretary

General Counsel, Department of Justice
Province of Manitoba

Career Trek has taught me: Enthusiasm is contagious.
Why Career Trek is important: Because everyone needs an equal chance to succeed.
If I had a million dollars, I would: Donate a sizeable portion of it to Career Trek because the money will be put to good use.
Something most people don’t know about me: I am obsessed by the weather.
My favourite song: Beautiful Day, by U2 (It was a sunny, late-Winter day when I wrote this!)
Something that drives me crazy: Opinions expressed without logic or evidence.
Something I like about myself: I think I am good at helping people to solve problems.
Who I admire: Nelson Mandela.
My mantra: Understand your core principles and apply them in life.

Gord has had the pleasure of serving on the Board of Directors of Career Trek since 2000 and has been Secretary since 2001. Gord is employed with Manitoba Justice since 1984, appointed General Counsel in Legal Services Branch in 2004, and is Team Leader of the Aboriginal and Natural Resources Law Team of lawyers.

Greg Link

Educator
Technical Vocational High School

Ricky Lawrence

Director, Training and Development
New Flyer Industries

What I love about Career Trek: It engages young people.
Why Career Trek is important: It provides young people a chance to make decisions on their future. It also gives them a voice.
If I could travel anywhere, I would go to: Bora Bora.
If I had a million dollars, I would: Retire and travel.
My favourite song: Come up and see me sometime, by Steve Harley and Cockney rebel.
The best advice I’ve ever received: Always pay your bills first (My Dad).
The key to happiness: Relax and enjoy the ride, you never know when it is over.
My first pet: Syndey (German Shepherd).

Betty Harrylal

Director of Operations
Valeant Pharmaceuticals

Career Trek has taught me: To understand and appreciate how a Non-Profit organization operates.
How Career Trek has changed me: To view my world through another lens.
Something most people don’t know about me: I love to experiment with cooking new dishes – an extension of my scientific passion.
The best advice I’ve ever received: Don’t confine yourself, go out into the world and learn – always.
Something that drives me crazy: Houseflies.
Who I admire: My mother.
The last book I read: The Shack by WM. Paul Young.
My mantra: Always try to see the glass as half full and work towards filling it to make things better.

Thomas Restiaux

Project Manager and Business Development Manager
Manitoba Hydro International (MHI)

The best part of my job: Giving back to a program that gave so much to me.
Why Career Trek is important: It instills confidence in young minds and demonstrates that anything is possible.
If I could travel anywhere, I would go to: Somewhere obscure, dangerous, and off the beaten path (sorry Mom!)
When I’m not working, I’m: Reading dystopian novels.
Something most people don’t know about me: I’m a graduate of Career Trek.
The best advice I’ve ever received: Everyone is weird, some are just a little better at hiding it than others.
Something that drives me crazy: People who litter.
My favourite movie: The Hunt for Red October.

Carly Savoie

Marketing Coordinator, Events
United Way Winnipeg

Career Trek has taught me: The ongoing importance for career exploration and learning. 
Why Career Trek is important: It empowers young people to dream.
When I’m not working, I’m: Making handmade pottery.
Something most people don’t know about me: I have a motorcycle and love driving it.
My friends say I’m: Very busy! 
Who I admire: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
My secret talent: Finding jobs for people around me.

Rob Penner

Associate Vice-President of Community & Industry Solutions
University College of the North

The best part of my job: I get to work with enthusiastic, talented, caring people.
Why Career Trek is important: So many careers and so little information! Even at my advanced years, every day I learn of careers that I didn’t know existed; think how important the work of Career Trek is to helping youth learn of all those careers, the visible and the less-visible
If I could travel anywhere, I would go to: Patagonia, Iceland, Norway, and …
When I’m not working, I’m: camping, kayaking, motorcycling, fishing, playing in the snow, canoeing, hiking, skiing, and traveling.
The best advice I’ve ever received: Read it on the side of a building (I think it was the WAG): “Impossible is not a declaration – it’s a dare!”
The last book I read: Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
What every Trekker needs to know: see “best advice I’ve ever received” above.
My first pet: a yellow lab named Duke
What makes me laugh: large dogs that think they are still puppies (see “first pet” above)

David Amorim

Associate & Structural Engineer
Dillon Consulting Limited

What I love about Career Trek: That Career Trek programming has the potential to spark a child’s interest and instill a passion in an area that they may never have otherwise discovered.
How Career Trek has changed me: My experience as a participant with Career Trek’s Wonder of Work program when I was in Grade 5 or 6 is one of my earliest memories of realizing that I wanted to become an engineer when I grew up. I vividly recall the lesson on mining engineering in which we had to mine chocolate chips out of cookies, strategically having to purchase different types of cookies, mining tools, etc. all in order to maximize the amount of chocolate chips extracted. Today, I’m a Professional Engineer specializing in bridge engineering and I wouldn’t rather be in any other profession!
If I could travel anywhere, I would go to: Antarctica, Japan, Morocco… I love to travel and the list of places I want to visit is truly endless.
If I had a million dollars, I would: Pay off my debt and splurge just a little, likely on a family vacation and funding my various hobbies. 
When I’m not working, I’m: Trying to be the best husband and father I can be. As a father to a young daughter, I want her to grow up knowing that she can do and be anything that she aspires to!
My friends say I’m: Passionate. When I get into a new hobby or develop a new interest, I usually throw myself into it, researching, doing, day-dreaming, etc. 
Who I admire: Anthony Bourdain – the man is a legend. His work was truly remarkable.
I collect: Watches! I’m always on the hunt for a new watch, whether it is a brand new release or a vintage find that’s new to me. There’s something about watches that makes me tick! 😉