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IAF announces new executive

July 5, 2011, Victoria,
BC – The Investment Agriculture Foundation of B.C. (IAF) recently announced the
appointment of its executive committee with Stuart Wilson as chair, Peter
Levelton as vice chair, Jens Larsen as treasurer and Gay Hahn as secretary.

July 5, 2011, Victoria,
BC – The Investment Agriculture Foundation of B.C. (IAF) recently announced the
appointment of its executive committee with Stuart Wilson as chair, Peter
Levelton as vice chair, Jens Larsen as treasurer and Gay Hahn as secretary

The new executive committee includes:

Stuart Wilson, who
represents the post-farm gate sector, joined the IAF board in 2006. Prior to
taking on the role of chair in 2008, Wilson served as the foundation’s
treasurer. Early in his career, Wilson spent time at Sun Rype Foods, Dairyland
and Lipton Puritan. He also had a career spanning 32 years with the federal
government, working for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency (CFIA) in Burnaby, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Victoria. He served as
regional director with CFIA, the position from which he retired. Wilson
represented Canadian agriculture on trade missions to France, the Netherlands
and the United Kingdom and has served on the executives of Canada/U.S.
organizations aimed at resolving regulatory issues surrounding the movement of
agricultural commodities to and from B.C.

Peter Levelton joined
the IAF board in 2007 as a representative of the greenhouse, floriculture and
nursery sectors. Levelton assumed the role of treasurer in 2009 after serving
one year as secretary and is currently the foundation’s vice-chair. Since 1987,
Levelton and his wife Jane have owned and operated East Richmond Nurseries, a
supplier to landscapers, garden centres and wholesale nurseries throughout B.C.
and the Pacific Northwest. Before joining the IAF board, Peter spent six years
as president and vice-president of the BC Landscape and Nursery Association. He
has also served on the executives of the Kinsmen Club of Richmond and the
Richmond Youth Soccer organization. Peter understands first hand the need to
keep farming current within an evolving global market.

Jens Larsen is the IAF
board’s longest-serving member. He first served on the board from 2002 to 2008,
representing the beef cattle industry. After a one-year hiatus, Larsen returned
to represent livestock sectors other than beef and dairy cattle and has now
assumed the role of treasurer. He was born and raised on a farm in Europe and
has spent all of his life farming and ranching. He worked on farms in Denmark,
Australia, California and Alberta before moving to Merritt where he managed a
ranch for 16 years, acquiring his own 12 years ago. Jens is a former director
of the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association, a past president of the local stock
association and a past vice chair of IAF.

Gay Hahn joined the IAF
board in 2007, representing the post-farm gate sector and assumed the role of
secretary in 2009. Born and raised in Vancouver, she began working for Avalon
Dairy in 1980, working her way up to CEO of Avalon Dairy and Valley Pride. She
is a founding member and chair of the B.C. Food Processors Association, as well
as chair of the board for the B.C. Dairy Foundation and an active member of the
B.C. Organic Association. Hahn is also involved with a National Seafood Sector
Council initiative to define the human resources and training needs of the
agri-food processing sector. She has developed one of the largest annual
community dairy celebrations, Avalon Dairies Community Days, and won several
community service and marketing awards, including the Barichello Award and Farm Credit Canada’s Rosemary Davis Award.

Irmi Critcher, who
joined the IAF board in 2008, served as vice-chair from 2010 to 2011 and will
continue to serve actively as a director.

“We are thankful to Irmi
for her service on the executive committee and look forward to her continued
contributions as the board’s representative for grains and oilseeds,” said
Stuart Wilson.

The executive committee
is appointed by the IAF’s board of directors. Working closely with the
executive committee and the board and representing IAF’s funding partners are:
John Berry, the B.C. regional director with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
and Lindsay Kislock, the assistant deputy Minister of the Agriculture, Science
and Policy Division of the BC Ministry of Agriculture.

IAF is an industry-led
not-for-profit that strategically invests federal and provincial funds in
support of innovative projects that benefit the agriculture and agri-food
industries in B.C. To learn more about the Investment Agriculture Foundation
and the funding programs it administers, visit www.iafbc.ca.