• Lavinia Henderson
• Ruth Copeland-Brunelle
• Karen Mack
• Brenda Christie
• Dorothy Moore
• Melissa Rhodes
• Deanna Keiver
• Sheena Linderman
• Lloyd Johnston
• Loretta Thompson

President: Lavinia Henderson, CLGM

Lavinia Henderson is President of Civic Solutions Inc. She has a proven track record in municipal government for 29 years, having served in urban centers as CAO and Director of Finance for a mid size rural municipality.

Lavinia has also actively promoted and advanced municipal administration through her work as a member of the Board of Directors of the Local Government Administration Association of Alberta (LGAA). While a member of the LGAA Board, she served terms as Vice President and President and was the LGAA representative to the Minister’s Forum on Water (Water for Life).

During her career, Lavinia has been involved in and supported several regional projects and joint initiatives involving regional planning services, waste management, regional GIS, Coalition of Successful Communities and infrastructure management system as well as joint recycling, SDAB, and employment opportunities. In past management roles as CAO and Director of Financial Services, Lavinia has developed extensive expertise in many areas and her key strengths are business planning, budgeting, and finance.
lhenderson@civicsolutionsinc.com

Associate:  Ruth Copeland-Brunelle

Ruth Copeland-Brunelle brings 9 years of municipal management experience and 20 years as a legal secretary / paralegal to Civic Solutions Inc.  She has extensive experience in accounting, bookkeeping, and internal controls.  Ruth’s varied background has seen her in many different capacities, including: CAO, Municipal Clerk, Returning Officer, Director of Disaster Services, Fire-Fighter, FCSS Director, Development Officer, and Commissioner of Oaths.  Ruth enjoys piano, photography, spending time with her family and pets, and living on ‘the warm side of the Rockies’ with her husband in Fairmont, B.C.!
rcopelandbrunelle@civicsolutionsinc.com

Associate:  Karen Mack

Karen Mack brings 15 years of CAO experience in both Saskatchewan and Alberta communities to Civic Solutions Inc.  She developed solid administrative procedures for the Village of Alix, Alberta and established budgets, reserves, and internal controls.  As a small town CAO, Karen has had broad experiences in many areas including FOIP, Elections, Disaster Services, developing policies and procedures, preparing tender documents, and industry liaison.  Karen’s education includes Business, Secretarial, and Local Government Studies.  Karen enjoys being involved in her community and lives with her husband in Red Deer, Alberta.
kmack@civicsolutionsinc.com

Associate: Brenda Christie
Brenda Christie brings over 15 years of municipal experience to the Civic team. In addition to her municipal experience as a Manager of Finance and Administration for the Town of Three Hills, she has also worked for AGPRO Grain, the Calgary Board of Education and the former Alberta Recreation & Parks. She enjoys the challenges offered in this fast paced environment and easily handles multiple projects. Clients benefit from her well honed management skills, broad accounting experience, practical budgeting protocols and extensive proficiency with a host of municipal accounting software packages. No matter your accounting need, Brenda will deliver with sound, practical advice and know how.

bchristie@civicsolutionsinc.com

Associate: Dorothy Moore, B.Ed, MBA
Dorothy's decades of successful business and political experience and her impressive credentials provide exceptional knowledge and insight to municipalities. She has a unique eye for detail, ferreting out implications in contracts.  Each organization has valued her real estate, development, school teaching and administration, and municipal (9 years) background, and has utilized her extensive corporate management and board governance experience and training.  Having been part of designing AUMA's Municipal Sustainability planning process, she implemented wide citizen engagement into Didsbury's MSP process.  Dorothy was instrumental in negotiating and completing the Mountain View Area Partnership agreements, which provide for unprecedented intermunicipal cooperation and cost and revenue sharing.  Dorothy's areas of special interest and expertise include intermunicipal agreements, financial, statistical and data analysis and modeling, MSP processes and plans, board governance, citizen engagement, strategic planning and economic development/marketing.
dmoore@civicsolutionsinc.com

Associate: Melissa Rhodes

Melissa Rhodes was employed by the Village of Champion as Chief Administrative Officer from 2006 - 2008. Melissa graduated with a Bachelor of Management from Athabasca University in 2005. Her studies included a semester abroad in Kajaani, Finland after which she obtained her Accounting Diploma from Lethbridge Community College. Although relatively new to the field, her experience working for a small municipality has given her a broad range of experience in many different areas of municipal government and cultivated a stronger appreciation for small town Alberta sustainability.
mrhodes@civicsolutionsinc.com

Associate: Deanna Keiver
Deanna Keiver worked for Kneehill County for five years, in Finance as an Administrative Assistant, in Planning as a Development Officer and in IT as the Corporate Services/Information Technology Clerk. She was also employed by WCB in such capacities as Claims Information Representative, Cheque Coordinator, Accounts Payable and Clerk Typist/Word Processor. Deanna has developed a wide variety of skill sets and interests in her municipal and provincial government career, particularly in customer service and administrative and planning processes. In her role as Development Officer, she undertook a course of studies in Land Use Planning and Land Use and Subdivision Design through Government Studies - UofA. Deanna has experience with Bellamy, Muniware and PeopleSoft software. Deanna has been extensively involved in grant writing as well as corporate policy development since joining CIVIC.

dkeiver@civicsolutionsinc.com

Associate: Sheena Linderman
Sheena Linderman worked for the Town of Three Hills in the Finance Department for five years progressively holding positions that were more responsible. She started her municipal career as an Administrative Clerk – Taxation and Accounts Payable, held a casual Administrative Clerk position then promoted to Financial Assistant. Sheena’s educational background includes a diploma in Office Administration (Deans Honor Roll) and some courses in the Local Government Certificate Program, Faculty of Extension – University of Alberta. She possesses extensive experience in the support of daily operational and administrative functions. Sheena has demonstrated capacity to provide comprehensive support for executive-level staff and is highly focused and result-oriented in supporting complex, deadline-driven operations. She is able to identify goals and priorities and resolve issues in initial stages. Sheena is proficient in the Microsoft Office suite of programs and has experience in several municipal accounting software programs including Diamond Great Plains, HM Logon/Reflex, Vadim and Bellamy. Since joining CIVIC, Sheena has worked with clients in yearend accounting processes, Tangible Capital Asset inventory and database development.

slinderman@civicsolutionsinc.com

Associate: Lloyd Johnston

Lloyd Johnston served as Chief Administrative Officer for the Town of Fairview for 9 years. His work history includes Alberta Energy in Edmonton and Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development in Fairview. Lloyd strove to maintain strong working relationships with surrounding municipalities and from that belief and commitment a regional landfill, a community owned medical clinic, and regular regional administration meetings evolved. At the community level, he was instrumental in several innovative community projects such as working with CN to subdivide abandoned Right of Way lands for development and leading the public consultation process and negotiation for an indoor aquatic center built on the Fairview College campus. He was a strong supporter of the Municipal Internship Program. Lloyd’s strengths include an inherent ability to work with people to arrive at a common goal, conflict management and training. His people skills support his strong background in human relations and his success in intermunicipal agreements and annexation.

ljohnston@civicsolutionsinc.com

Associate: Ryan Bard

Ryan Bard brings a unique perspective to municipal government, with exposure to a wide range of municipal functions including as Chief Administrative Officer. With a background in commerce, private and public enterprise, and project management, his approach to municipal and organizational issues has provided his clients with lasting solutions rooted in team-building, service delivery, measurable results and the application of new technology. Ryan specializes in organizational analysis, marketing, service and performance standards, educational material design, facilitation and negotiation. Previous works include public consultation frameworks, organization technology redesign, community facility construction negotiation, and multi-municipality major capital projects. He has worked with the Town of Hinton, Municipality of Jasper, Town of Onoway in addition to his municipal and private enterprise consultation clients.

rbard@civicsolutionsinc.com

Associate: Loretta Thompson

Loretta brings 35 years of municipal experience to the table – 20 years as CAO in three different provinces. Her credentials include: Masters degree in Public Administration; Local Government Certificate for Alberta; Urban Class A Certificate for Saskatchewan and Association of Municipal Clerks and Treasurers of Designation for Ontario and numerous federal, provincial and international courses and workshops. She also represented her colleagues on the Board for the Alberta Rural Municipal Administrators Association.

Loretta employed a low profile participatory management style as CAO. A major focus of Loretta’s work as CAO involved working with Council to ensure the seamless implementation of decisions and policies. Her strength in this capacity has included: decision making; implementation and evaluation. Managing staff, report writing, preparing bylaws and policies were important components of this strength.

lthompson@civicsolutionsinc.com