Our Team

CPN'sboard members have a wide range of experience in the private and public sectors, with expertise drawn from many fields: law, education, housing, human sciences, computer software, scientific research, farming, manufacturing, and engineering. Their work experience includes environmental law, private business, project management, and the development and administration of co-operatives, non-profits and other large organizations.

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Tony Walker, Treasurer

Tony Walker is a retired Social Sciences teacher with thirty-two years experience overseas and with the Toronto District School Board. Held leadership positions at Junior High and High School levels and set up and administered innovative gifted programs at both levels in west end Toronto schools. Lived in Toronto housing co-op for a number of years and worked at the Board level in the Dachi Co-op.

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Rich Tyssen, Secretary

Rich Tyssen has more than 30 years experience in business development and project management in residential construction. He also has a decade of experience in public policy development, working in both the not-for-profit co-operative housing sector and for the Ontario Ministry of Health. More recently he has developed several microFIT solar projects and helped organize three solar buying groups. He has a BA in social sciences, and a Masters in Environmental Sciences. He helped found Go Green Together in Northumberland County and Sustainable Cobourg in Cobourg, Ontario. He is a member of the Cobourg Planning Advisory Committee. In 2010 he received the Environmental Award from the Town of Cobourg.

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Haig Baronikian

Haig is founder, President and Senior Consultant at eFuel Partners Inc. He has over 35 years of experience in the eLearning, eHealth, telecom and information technology fields. He has held leadership positions in corporate strategy, marketing, R&D, sales engineering, systems integration and software development with Bell Canada. For the past 15+ years, as a management consultant, project leader and training professional, he has led a range of eFuel consulting engagements. He has worked in the private, public, educational as well as charitable sectors. He has been a volunteer throughout his life and has served on various volunteer organization Boards such as, more recently, the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario. Haig is the co-author of the textbook, Leadership in Project Management: Leading People and Projects to Success. Haig holds a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto and is a Professional Engineer.

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Bruce Bellaire

After retiring from full time work at the end of 2010, Bruce was able to devote his time to volunteer activities. As well as sitting on the CPN board, Bruce is on the board of Go Green Together and is a member of the Northumberland Food Policy Council. Bruce is also Chair of the Town of Cobourg’s Environmental Active Transportation Advisory Committee, helps manage Cycle Transitions, and is co-chair of Safe Community Northumberland’s On Road/Off Road sub-committee. Bruce is also an active member of Northumberland Blue Dot and Sustainable Cobourg’s Bicycle Action Committee. Between meetings, he occasionally finds time to ride his bike, paddle, curl, and cross-country ski.

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Jürgen Hanson

Jürgen received an Agriculture Engineering degree in Germany in 1979 and went to the United States to further his agricultural engineering study at the University of Minnesota. He came to Canada in 1981 and ran a farm business for 15 years. Jürgen currently owns and manages a residential rental business. Two years ago he managed the installation of a rooftop solar system on his rental property in Port Hope. He also designed and built his own residential solar hot water heating system in Cobourg.

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Claire Holloway Wadhwani

Claire Holloway Wadhwani is a consultant providing tailored support to diverse non-profit projects in Canada and abroad. Through her company, Small Shop Big Impact, Claire has worked with more than 25 charities and community groups, helping them to build capacity for project design, to respond to funding opportunities and to foster a culture of learning with their organizations. Claire has a passion for grassroots participation and the efficacy of community-based initiatives as both a means of advancing local development goals and in effectively engaging with community allies. She applies her passion for community building and sustainability as an active volunteer here at home with various environmental causes and is thrilled to be more actively engaging with CPN!

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Warren McCarthy

Warren has lived in the region since 1995 and in Cobourg since 2011. He has been a Member of CPN since 2016. For 15 years prior to retiring, he owned a business skills training & consulting firm that helped major IT, Banking and Consulting firms learn and focus on their client’s story. Prior to that, Warren held multiple management roles with Canadian IT firms. His community service has included Big Brothers and Sisters, Youth Justice Committee, Business Advisory Centre Northumberland, Sustainable Cobourg, and 4 Cobourg Council Advisory Committees. In addition to volunteering, he enjoys family, reading, thinking, discussions, travel and golf.

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Patricia Sinnott

Following her hospital pharmacy career in Durham Region, Patricia retired to her roots here in Northumberland. Her paternal grandfather started the Port Hope Dairy on Cavan Street and in 1911, Seymour Electric built the first substation in Port Hope next door. From 2003 – 2010, Patricia was employed part-time as a community pharmacist in Brighton, Cobourg and Port Hope; she became aware of widespread hidden poverty, substance abuse and their negative health impacts. With a special interest in primary care reform, Patricia was appointed by Port Hope Council to the Steering Committee that enabled the Port Hope Community Health Centre (now Community Health Centres of Northumberland) to open in 2008. Patricia believes that we should be the change we want; criticizing without offering solutions is not good enough! To that end, she installed a rooftop solar array in 2011 under the provincial microFIT program and joined Community Power Northumberland (CPN); she has been a CPN board director since January, 2020. Patricia has served on several other community boards including: Community Housing Northumberland, Green Wood Coalition, church committees and municipal council advisory boards. Patricia advocates for sustainable communities, energy from renewables and affordable housing for all residents of Northumberland- Peterborough South. She has been a municipal and a federal election candidate.

Past Team Members

Leslie H. Macloed

Leslie H. Macleod is an Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School and Co-Director of the LL.M. Program in ADR. She is the founder of Leslie H. Macleod & Associates, a firm providing conflict resolution services. Leslie’s current practice includes teaching and training in ADR; facilitation, mediation, and fact-finding/investigation; and conflict resolution system design and evaluation. Leslie has more than thirty-five years of combined experience as a lawyer, as an executive in industry and government, and as a mediator and educator in conflict resolution. She was previously the Assistant Deputy Attorney General responsible for development of Mandatory Mediation in Ontario and for establishment of the Province’s Dispute Resolution Office. Leslie has received several awards for her work in the conflict resolution field including the 2005 Ontario Bar Association Award for Excellence in Alternative Dispute Resolution and the 2011 Osgoode Hall Law School Award for Professional LL.M. teaching.

Rick Nonnekes

Rick is a retired teacher and administrator with thirty years experience in elementary, high school, special education and behaviour classes. He was a principal for fourteen years. Rick is a long term member of Sustainable Cobourg, serving as president for a number of years and is currently a member of its Bicycle Action Committee. He is a board member for Go Green Together and has served as president and secretary. Rick, along with several others, founded and continues to manage Cycle Transitions, a do-it-yourself bicycle repair shop. He is an avid canoeist, hiker, x-country skier and cyclist.

Birgitte Robertson

Birgitte Robertson was the Executive Director of Momiji Health Care Society a community service health provider in southern Ontario with operational budget of 5 million dollars and responsible for 17 million dollars of assets. She has over 30 years of management experience in various institutions from a large national youth organization to supportive housing serving woman and children survivors of violence. Birgitte holds a degree in Social Work (Ryerson University). Birgitte has served as a director of a number of organizations such as mental health to supportive housing for people with disabilities. She has been sitting on various committees in the CELHIN as an advisor and the LTC advisory committee for the City of Toronto. She has been giving educational information sessions for OANHSS, ONPHA and health care providers.

Ross Pigeau

Prior to his retirement in 2010, Dr Ross Pigeau headed a research institute for the Dept of National Defence in Toronto. Besides being responsible for the day-to-day operations of a major research facility with a yearly operating budget of $30 million, Dr Pigeau lead his organization through an intensive 5 year strategic initiative that redefined the organization’s mission and vision, substantially altering both the type of Science & Technology (S&T) conducted and the manner in which scientist interacted. Dr Pigeau brings strategic thinking skills to CPN as well as an appreciation for the value of long term planning.

Gudrun Ludorf-Weaver

Gudrun Ludorf-Weaver settled in Cobourg in 2005 after a fulfilling career in education in Toronto. She obtained a Master’s Degree in Sociology from The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education early in her career. in that career she was a writer, a workshop leader, and an editor, as well as classroom teacher and later, administrator. As a resident in Toronto she helped to create a community organization called “Urban Harvest” that worked to build a safe community and develop a festival connecting youth to artist mentors. Here in Cobourg that commitment to community building continued and expanded.Taking actions to promote Green energy initiatives lead her to like-minded people who presented the original idea of creating ‘Community Power Northumberland’. In addition she helped develop the NGO, ‘Sustainable Cobourg’ and is currently its president. She has also given talks and seminars on ‘Sustainability 101’ to the Town of Cobourg at the request of its Planning and Sustainability Advisory committee, as well as for The Ontario Association for Committees of Adjustment. She was honoured to receive the Town of Cobourg’s Civic Award. She is a firm believer that the environment and its health should be a primary concern for all that inhabit it, and that as stewards of this country and planet we need to support measures that protect it.

Carol McCann

Carol McCann retired in 2009 as a senior defence scientist with the Dept of National Defence (DND). Employed for her whole career at Defence R&D Canada in Toronto, she conducted and managed research in the human sciences. This entailed leadership of scientific teams spanning a range of disciplines, extensive interaction with Canadian Forces members, DND itself and other federal Departments. Over her career, she also represented aspects of the Canadian defence research program in international fora, including NATO. More recently, she has worked with Duegood, a social marketing firm in Toronto, as well as volunteering with Culturelink, a mentoring service for new Canadians. Ms McCann brings organizational, leadership and communication skills to NCPC.

Garth Holloway

Retired from Toronto District School Board, Garth was a social science high school teacher for over thirty years. Many years of leadership experience which included the management of curriculum teams of over twenty teachers. He also brought with him years of experience with co-operatives which included the set up of daycare and student housing co-operatives. Garth lived in Cobourg for ten years and also served on the Treasurer of the Board of Directors with Northumberland Players, a local, successful amateur theatre group.

Judy Smith-Torrie

Judy is a versatile and highly motivated project manager with a broad range of experience in the development and implementation of policy on energy and environmental issues. She is a public participation expert at federal and local levels and has formal education in environmental studies and graduate studies in natural resource manage­ment. Judy was the Coordinator (2009-2013) and co-founder of the not-for–profit Go Green Together Northumberland in Cobourg ON, established to implement energy and water efficiency and climate change moderating strategies in Northumberland County. She is also a partner and co-founder of Torrie Smith Associates Inc. an environmental consulting firm.

Neil Hamilton

Neil Hamilton is a Mechanical Engineer with 30+ years of manufacturing experience in positions ranging from Project Engineer to Plant Manager responsible for staffing levels up to 135 and budget levels to $16 million. He is a recent graduate from Durham College as a Renewable Energy Technician. He is an Energy Advisor for Go Green Together. He is the owner /operator of “Innovative Energy Services Inc.”, a company that helps individuals and organizations save energy.

Robert Fishlock

Robert is a former environmental lawyer who lives in Port Hope. Robert had over 27 years experience with a major national law firm and between July 2012 and December 2021 was Senior Legal Counsel to Canadian Nuclear Laboratories and the Port Hope Area Initiative, which is charged with the over $1 Billion clean-up of historic low level radioactive waste located in the former Town of Port Hope. He is also a past President and current board member of the Northumberland Land Trust and a longtime member of CPN, the Willow Beach Field Naturalists and Ontario Nature.

What to read next:


  • Our Story

    Read about our accomplishments in our first decade as a co-op. and where we are headed. READ MORE >>

  • Mission & Vision

    Learn more about our guiding mission as a co-op and our vision for Northumberland. READ MORE >>