About CDS - Personnel
- Executive Director
- Lori Kovacs
- Project Coordinator
- Gwynneth Butler
- Housing Manager
- Ben Kawaguchi
Meet our personnel...
Lori Kovacs - Executive Director
Raised on a farm in Saskatchewan, Lori grew up curling, playing baseball and going to Saturday night dances, in a community where everyone had multiple roles to play (her grandpa delivered bulk oil, cut hair and pulled teeth). This reinforced her belief that everyone in a community has something to offer! Lori moved to Alberta for her B.A., Bachelor of Social Work and her certification in Divorce and Family Mediation.
After a number of years and positions with Child and Family Services, Lori moved into community development where she thought she could create the greatest ruckus. She was responsible for instigating CDS and has since found that helping community members build strong and connected communities is her passion.
Working with the community has been an endless source of creativity, engagement, connectedness and fun. Lori's past accomplishments include: founding committee member of the Provincial "Parenting After Separation" course, Phase 2 Design Committee for the Spray Lakes Recreation Centre and co-founder of "Footstock (2001), Western Canada's Premier Race Weekend" One day, Lori hopes to be involved in a protest march, but for time being, she is in the middle of raising two wonderful teenagers.Gwyn Butler - Project Coordinator
"Gwyn" has been shaped by her diverse cultural experiences. She was born in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and when she immigrated to Canada as a child, was literally flung "from the frying pan into the freezer". Her family ended up in Edmonton which is where Gwyn spent most of her youth.
Gwyn graduated from U of A with a B.A. in Recreation Administration and shortly after, she and husband, Rick, moved to the NWT to work with remote eastern arctic communities in community and leadership development. For the next 14 years the north "held its spell" and drew Gwyn into a wide variety of work and volunteer positions including advocacy for disabled persons, employment creation, historical preservation, recreation and child development. With a keen interest in world cultures, Gwyn and her husband made it a priority to travel for the next 18 months before settling further south to have a family.
After the birth of their two daughters, Gwyn worked part time on a child care task force, family resource centre and community health council. Since joining CDS in 2005 her focus has been strategic planning, seniors' housing, and grant writing. Gwyn lives on an acreage southwest of Cochrane for the past 11 years. Her personal interests revolve around her volunteer commitments with church and school and an undying love for horses.Ben Kawaguchi - Housing Manager
Ben grew up in what was then known as a farming and fishing community of Richmond, BC and has spent the majority of his working life living in Northern BC and Southern Alberta where he worked as a school teacher, principal and school superintendent when he was honoured by being adopted as a member of the Gitksan Wolf Clan and later being made an honorary chief of the Peigans. His consulting work in education led him to his most recent career in Calgary's home building industry where he led the development of the industry's youth employment strategy and gained national recognition for his work. Besides the technical skills he learned in the home building industry he has invaluable project management skills and leadership with new organization start ups. Ben's demonstrated leadership, his knowledge of the local home building industry and his project management skills will provide a valuable asset to the development of our senior housing project.
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