ECA Board of Directors

Rod Moorcroft, President

Rod was moved to BC by his parents on September 5th 1955 and has lived in Area E all his life except for two years of post secondary in Burnaby and about four years in Sechelt, two years on a boat he and his wife Linda built then two years in a house with the unexpected arrival of their first child.  The last 43 years have been spent back in Area E.

Rod’s working life was 43 years as Instrument Tech in the Port Mellon pulp mill.  He believes if you live in a community you should give back to the community.  Rod coached T-ball for three years, was with the Scouting movement as a leader for 12 years and is currently with Ground Search and Rescue for the past 22 years.  He also served on Area E’s APC during Jim Gurney, Lorne Lewis and now Donna McMahon’s board terms.  While a semi active member of Elphinstone Committee Association for a number of years Rod only became a board member in 2017.

Clint Budd, Vice President, Co-Secretary

Clint came to the Coast in 1998 and spent a few years as a commuter to a job in Vancouver until he retired. Previous to that he had a 25 year career as a teacher and school administrator. He’s been a Board member with the Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives, an active member of the Elphinstone Community Association and on the Boards of the Solar Association and the Elder College

Lucie McKiernan, Co-Secretary

Lucie and her husband moved to the Vancouver area from England in 1975. After enjoying different lifestyles in Richmond and Vancouver they moved to South Surrey-White Rock area where they settled for 21 years. A friend moved to Gibsons and, after one visit, they were hooked and uprooted to Bonniebrook Heights in 2011. No regrets, the Coast is home.

Lucie’s career spanned over forty years as a Human Resources professional. Prior to retiring, she worked with our Federal MP Pamela Goldsmith-Jones as well as our current MP Patrick Weiler. She also worked for a year as Donna McMahon’s Alternate Director on the SCRD. In addition to her commitment to the ECA board, Lucie also volunteers on the boards of the Restorative Justice Program of the Sunshine Coast and the Sunshine Coast Resource Centre.

Trish (Berry) Wray, Treasurer

I am a wife and mother and grandmother to two wonderful grandchildren. I have always been a volunteer. I moved to the Coast in 1970. My parents had a summer place at Mission Point, which drew me and my first husband to the coast. I started my executive experience with the Gibsons and District Kinette Club of which I was Secretary, Treasurer, and President at one time or another. I have been treasurer for many organizations including: The Sunshine Coast Business & Professional Women, The Sunshine Coast Sea Cavalcade Society and The Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives. I ran a group daycare in Gibsons for over ten years before retiring. I love to garden and travel.

Ben Foster, Director at Large

Ben moved to Elphinstone in 2009 because of the large beautiful trees. He first came to the Sunshine coast to scuba dive. Ben was a rancher, cowboy and organic farmer in Alberta. He was also involved in restoring historic buildings in Alberta. He was on the board of directors of several societies. After attending University he travelled around the world for 2 ½ years. He likes the idea of being off grid and self sufficient as much as possible. He collects and burns wood as the main source of heat. He likes to cycle for transportation and hikes on the forest trails. He cares about the environment and regularly picks garbage in the nearby ditches. He considers himself a luddite, having no TV, no cell phone and no computer. He is a voracious reader and is very interested in history of the area.

Tamara Hedden, Director at Large, PAC Liaison

Tamara is a life long resident of our beautiful Sunshine Coast and comes from a large local Family. She is a wife and Mother to a strongly independent 10 year old daughter. She's also the owner of two small local businesses. Tamara has a passion to be involved in the PAC of the schools her daughter attends. Her journey started with Jack & Jill preschool as the Fundraising chair. She jumped into the PAC during her daughter's Kindergarten year at Cedar Grove Elementary School, beginning as class rep for two consecutive years. She has also served as Fundraising chair and Vice chair, and is currently PAC co-chair.

Her passions include active transportation and safer school zones for children, that no child goes hungry in school, and that all children feel safe and respected as themselves in our school environment. Community over competition.

René Mandigo, Director at Large, Membership

René is 19 years retired in Elphinstone (since spring 2004) after years of an interesting and varied career working and studying while on the job in BC and in Ontario. In the past she has been active with the BC Thyroid Foundation (live support line) and with the Vancouver UBC Movement Disorders support group.

Janet Oxley, Director at Large

Janet moved to the Sunshine Coast ten years ago and became involved in local activism around forest and marine conservation. She retired to the Coast after a three-decade career in performing arts, (dance and music) and later in international travel as a teacher of English as a Second Language. A commitment to improving access to trails and shoreline as educational resources for local school children is what drives her involvement in the Elphinstone Community Association.

Brian Thicke, Director at Large

Brian has been an annual summer cottager in Area E since about 1955. When he retired from a career as a mechanical engineer in 2017 he built a permanent home on the old summer cottage property and is now a full time resident.

Brian has interests in mountain biking and hiking the slopes of Mt. Elphinstone. You may see him and his wife out jogging around the community trails and back roads. He is a Streamkeeper on Chaster Creek trying to ensure that Chum and Coho salmon runs have a chance to survive our urban development. The area along Ocean Beach Esplanade including Chaster Park and Chaster House are near and dear to his heart.

David Weintraub, Director at Large, Webmaster

David relocated to the Coast with his husband in the summer of 2020, to escape ascendent fascism in the US and to be near family in Vancouver. His background includes livestock farming, web design and editing, civil rights advocacy and grassroots community organizing, and he is locally interested in adaptation to climate change, particularly active transportation infrastructure and food security. He is currently retired and attempting to "farm" his sunny Elphinstone 1/4 acre. All politics is local.