Meet Our Team
Tanya Edwards – Executive Director
Meet Our Executive Director
Suzanne Dooley – Conservation Director
Meet Our Conservation Director
Mikaila Bickford – Ocean Conservation Manager
Meet Our Ocean Conservation Manager
Kristen Butt – Ocean Conservation Coordinator
Meet Our Ocean Conservation Manager
Hannah Hynes – Marine Engagement Coordinator
Meet Our Marine Engagement Coordinator
Caitlyn Simmons – Conservation and Communications Coordinator
Meet Our Conservation and Communications Coordinator
Meet Our Team
Tanya Edwards – Executive Director
Meet Our Executive Director
Suzanne Dooley – Conservation Director
Meet Our Conservation Director
Mikaila Bickford – Ocean Conservation Manager
Meet Our Ocean Conservation Manager
Kristen Butt – Ocean Conservation Coordinator
Meet Our Ocean Conservation Manager
Hannah Hynes – Marine Engagement Coordinator
Meet Our Marine Engagement Coordinator
Caitlyn Simmons – Conservation and Communications Coordinator
Meet Our Conservation and Communications Coordinator
Meet Our Team
Tanya Edwards – Executive Director
Meet Our Executive Director
Suzanne Dooley – Conservation Director
Meet Our Conservation Director
Mikaila Bickford – Ocean Conservation Manager
Meet Our Ocean Conservation Manager
Kristen Butt – Ocean Conservation Coordinator
Meet Our Ocean Conservation Manager
Hannah Hynes – Marine Engagement Coordinator
Meet Our Marine Engagement Coordinator
Caitlyn Simmons – Conservation and Communications Coordinator
Meet Our Conservation and Communications Coordinator
Meet Our Board Members
Dan Ficken – Chair
Dan has been a member of the CPAWS-NL board for more than a decade and is an avid enthusiast of the outdoors. Seeing our areas of wilderness protected and managed in a sustainable way is of upmost importance to Dan, as being outdoors in forests, coastlines, and on mountainsides is to be in his happy place. Dan has always been an avid admirer of nature and spent much of his childhood observing the natural world clambering on rocky beaches, walking up rivers in rubber boots, or collecting grasshoppers and spiders in grassy fields. He was interested in protecting the environment as a teenager and learning about sustainability as a young adult and thus earned a B.Sc. at MUN in 2003 and an advanced diploma at the Marine and Fisheries Institute in 2005.
Dan’s career, which has included periods working in the non-profit sector for many years, has always been focused on environmental protection and sustainable resource and fisheries management, and his background supports his current interest in being involved with CPAWS. Beyond exploring the outdoors and experiencing the true Newfoundland and Labrador fresh air, Dan’s hobbies and favorite things to do include landscape photography, birdwatching, visiting parks, plotting routes on maps, playing guitar, growing flowers and veggies, skiing and snowshoeing, drinking coffee, and having fun with his young son.
David Rendell – Secretary
David Rendell is a retired Professor of Physics from Memorial University where he started as an undergraduate in 1951 and where he spent his full professional career after graduating from Dalhousie University (B.Sc (Hon), M.Sc.) and University of British Columbia (Ph.D.). He and his wife, Joan, have three grown children, and enjoy the times spent with five grandchildren. He has always been active in a wide range of volunteer activities, following a long-standing family tradition of such contribution to the community.
Over the past 55+ years, these have ranged from the Jeunesses Musicales of Canada, (St. John’s Centre), Anglican Homes Inc. (seniors housing), Nfld. and Labrador Computer Services Ltd., Avalon Consolidated School Board, Eastern Newfoundland Science Fairs Council, Newfoundland Natural History Society, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (National Board of Trustees 1985-92), Youth Science Foundation of Canada, and Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society – Newfoundland Chapter. He is also active in the Baha’i community, both locally and nationally.
Simone Cominelli – Vice Chair
Simone was born and raised in northern Italy and is a PhD student in Geography at Memorial university. He has worked in the field of marine mammal conservation as a researcher, consultant, and volunteer in Europe and across Canada. His research focuses on understanding the impacts of noise pollution on marine species, including the endangered Southern Resident killer whales of British Columbia, and, more recently, North Atlantic right whales.
Since moving to Newfoundland in 2015, he became a keen hiker and an active volunteer, grew a passion for wildlife photography, and met his better half while walking on Signal Hill on a foggy day.
Elizabeth Dollmont – Director
Elizabeth is a current student at Memorial University who is working towards a Bachelor of Science in Biology with a specialization in Ecology and Conservation. She is from a small town called Freshwater, NL but has lived in St.John’s for the past 4 years. Elizabeth was recently a member of the Memorial University Biology Society as a General Representative and she looks forward to becoming a member of the CPAWS-NL team!
Evan Edinger – Director
Evan is a professor of Geography, Biology and Earth Sciences at Memorial University, specializing in marine geology, marine biology, palaeontology, and marine conservation. He loves outdoor sports, Newfoundland music, and wilderness. He lives in Torbay with his wife and three children.
Stanley Oliver – Director
Stanley Oliver was born and raised in Labrador. Stan is an Inuit who is an avid hunter, fisher, and outdoorsman. He currently holds the position of Manager with the Labrador Office of Indigenous & Northern Skills Trades. He holds a Diploma from Memorial University as Resource Technician, a Certified Engineering Technician with the NL Association of Engineers and numerous certificates in Indigenous Governance and Administration.
His in-depth knowledge of Labrador and Indigenous rights is often requested on the local, provincial, and national level. He currently sits on the National Indigenous Advisory Committee for the Canadian Environment Assessment Agency and the NL Provincial WERAC.
He will tell you his philosophy “is to create free-detailed oriented work environments, that focuses on positive collaborative partnerships with government and business with out loosing sight of grass roots concerns.”
On the personal side, Stan is the father of a thirty-one-year daughter and the foster parent of a First Nations eight-year girl. He continues to volunteer in his community and province for the last thirty-five years.
Jeannine Winkel – Director
Jeannine was born and raised in Germany. Following receipt of her M.Sc. (Biology) from Ruhr University Bochum in 2008, she spent a year in Iceland working on horse and sheep farms and another year in Canada (in Kelowna, BC and Rocky Mountain House, Alberta) before moving to Newfoundland for her summer job as an interpreter on Molly Bawn Whale and Puffin Tours in June 2010. Because she fell in love with the land, the people, the scenery and whales and other wildlife of Newfoundland, she moved here permanently in 2011. Currently, Jeannine works as an interpreter for Molly Bawn every summer and as a seabird observer for CWS, going offshore for weeks at a time to count and identify all the birds the ship is passing. She has been a board member with CPAWS since 2014 and volunteers with the Puffin and Petrel Petrol and the Atlantic Shorebird Survey. Her favourite way to monitor the birds is on the back of Newfoundland Pony Woody.
Marjorie Evans – Director
With a BSc from Carleton University, Marjorie worked as a geologist before moving to St. John’s in 1982 and retiring early. Since joining the Wilderness Society she served on a succession of other ENGOs here, including NLEN since 1993. Her particular interests are preserving “wild” areas, waste management, transportation, and supporting all ENGOs. She is also involved with the Women’s Association of MUN and enjoys walking, gardening, and reading.