Year Started: 2018
Home Office: Vancouver
Makenzie was raised in the forest industry growing up in logging camps and forest communities on BC’s coast. This inspired her career – beginning as a labourer for a logging contractor she continued on to various positions across Western Canada and abroad working in forest stewardship and certification, environmental management, forest ecology, operational planning, communication, relations, policy and leadership. She has worked in both the private and public sectors and has also run her own successful consulting business.
She has a passion for forests and the people and communities dependent on them. As Vice President of Business Development and Indigenous Partnerships at A&A Trading, she is focused on building and maintaining authentic, long-term, relationships with First Nations, communities, governments and others who want to collaborate and share a vision for the future. She also works with governments and industry colleagues on policy with the objective of a healthy environment, economy, and communities with a view that these elements do not need to be traded off but are connected and complementary. Makenzie has a foundational belief that the strength of A&A is its talented team and leadership’s role is to harness and channel that strength to bring value to A&A’s customers, contractors, and partners.
Makenzie has her Bachelor of Science in Forest Business Management from the University of Alberta, a Masters in Business Administration from BI Norwegian Business School, and is a Registered Professional Forester. She has focused her professional development on leadership, conflict resolution, and mediation.
Deeply committed to the well-being of her community, relationships and her profession, Makenzie has volunteered with organizations such as the United Way, Canadian Women in Timber, and her professional association, including being a governor and Chair of Vancouver Island University. She is currently a member of the Practices Committee for FPBC and is a board member and volunteer with the Back Country Horsemen of BC.
