BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Chamber of Commerce

Accommodation

Kelly Exelby brings more than 10 years of industry experience in the high-end hospitality sector. Kelly commenced her career with Vintage Hotels as Senior Manager of Spa Operations in 2008, and under her leadership the spa was ranked as Number 1 Spa in North America.

Prior to commencing employment with Vintage Hotels, Kelly owned and operated “White on White” a very successful high-end boutique concept retail store in St. Catharines where she achieved many accolades including “Entrepreneur of the Year”. “White on White” was featured in House & Home and Style at the Home magazines and Kelly also made appearances on House & Home with Lynda Reeves on HGTV. Previous to that, Kelly was the Assistant General Manager of Sheraton on the Falls, a 700-room, Four-Diamond Hotel in Niagara Falls. In that role, Kelly was integral in leading the hotel’s construction and renovations from a 370-room property to a 700-room property, as well converting the hotel into a Sheraton brand.

Kelly Exelby

GM, Prince of Wales, Moffat Inn

Kelly Exelby

GM, Prince of Wales, Moffat Inn

David is originally from the greater Montreal and moved in town a little over 10 years ago in pursuit of his own Bed and Breakfast dreams. Owner/operator of Gatekeeper's Retreat, he is also former president of STAY Niagara-on-the-Lake, our local association of Short Term Accommodation providers. Although his experience and knowledge of the Short Term Accommodation world is extensive, his roots in customer service and tourism include previous work related experiences in wineries, special event & weddings management, food & beverage industry service / management, as well as theatrical production and set design.

Through the years, David's advocacy work for the survival and well-being of the various Short Term Accommodation models present in NOTL has been and still is instrumental in supporting this important part of our accommodation sector.

David Levesque
STAY Niagara-on-the-Lake

Agriculture, Restaurants & Wineries

Liberina (Betty) Colaneri is the Promotions and Special Event Co-ordinator of her family owned and operated Colaneri Estate Winery. She has organized many events on the piazza including, Cigars Under the Stars, An Evening with Pavlo and The Haunt to name a few. Liberina loves greeting guests from all over the world, to hear their stories and share her passion for the vineyard, winery and Niagara on the Lake. She has lived on the vineyard for 37 years with her husband and two sons.

A major part of her life has been dedicated to volunteering and coordinating events for organizations including The Catholic Women’s League of Canada. As an active member for 35 years, Liberina has held many executive positions including diocesan and provincial president and is presently serving on the national board.

Liberina has served on the Chamber for the past 2 years.

Liberina Colaneri

Colaneri Estate Winery

Liberina Colaneri

Colaneri Estate Winery

Kim taught Secondary and Elementary school for 18 years. She moved to NOTL nine years ago to raise her four children in this community. Her family opened a restaurant (Sunset Grill) on Queen Street and are involved with many local clubs & sports teams through their children. Kim has enjoyed getting to know her fellow merchants in the Heritage District and started a merchant group to collaborate through the pandemic and beyond.

Kim Hughes-Gauld

Queen St Merchant Group

Kim Hughes-Gauld

Queen St Merchant Group

Enterprise & Community at Large

Recent 30 Under 30 award recipient within the Hospitality and Food Service industry across Canada, Madison Vine is the Channel Marketing Manager for Andrew Peller Ltd.’s Estate Wine Group, East. Madison moved to the Niagara Region for her undergrad and fell in love with the area. She’s been working in and passionate about Niagara-on-the-Lake and everything it has to offer since. In addition to sitting on the board of the Chamber of Commerce, she also volunteers as Vice-Chair for the board of Wineries of Niagara-on-Lake. She is passionate about the tourism industry and aspires to inspire young women in business.

Madison Vine

Andrew Peller Ltd.

Madison Vine
Andrew Peller Ltd.

Passionate about arts education, and a believer that the arts are transformational has led Rima to a career in the not-for-profit arts sector for the past fifteen years. Rima holds a Masters in Art History and Honours Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art degrees. She leads the future development of the Niagara Pumphouse Arts Centre both artistically and strategically in her current position as
Director. Rima was recognized for her achievements and honoured with the Women in Business Cultural Arts Award in 2022, 40 Under 40 Business Achievement Award in 2021 and Spirit of Niagara Award for Community Leadership in 2019.

Rima Boles
Director, Niagara Pumphouse Arts Centre

Rima Boles
Niagara Pumphouse Arts Centre

Heritage, Culture & Attractions

Sarah is the Managing Director/Curator of the NOTL Museum. She is responsible for the day-to-day operations, implementing Board directed strategies and policies, grant writing as well as the management, research and exhibition of the Museum's collection. She has curated a number of exhibitions, including a few digital, on general Niagara-on-the-Lake history, the War of 1812, the First World War, artists, women's history and more. Sarah also enjoys participating on local heritage projects in the community such as the Landscape of Nations (2020 Niagara Region Biennial Award Winner) and the Voices of Freedom Park (2020 Niagara Region Biennial Award Winner and 2020 Lieutenant Governor's Award for Excellence in Conservation).

Sarah Kaufman
Managing Director/ Curator NOTL Museum

Valerie has been with The Shaw for 16 seasons. She has spent her entire career marketing the arts. Valerie spent eight years with LIVENT, a Canadian commercial theatre company. She was a key player in the marketing and the selling of The Phantom of the Opera, Joseph and the Amazing Techicolor Dreamcoat, Kiss of the Spiderwoman, ShowBoat and Sunset Blvd.

She later founded her own company, GSI, an independent sales and marketing firm serving Toronto’s arts/culture sector. She received an Economic Impact Award from Toronto Mayor in recognition of the work achieved by GSI. Valerie also worked at the Royal Ontario Museum as the Senior Director of Sales and Marketing before joining The Shaw Festival. Valerie has presented at several conferences including the Arts Reach conference in both New York City and Toronto, the Canadian eMarketing Conference in Toronto and a panelist at the Tourism Summit.

Valerie Taylor
Shaw Festival

Valerie Taylor
Director of Marketing, Communications
and Sales at the Shaw Festival

Professional, Commercial & Industrial

Jamie Drummond brings more than 20 years of hospitality experience to his role as General Manager of Niagara’s Finest Hotels brand, where he is responsible for the management and operations of seven divisions of the company, which includes four hotels and five restaurants located in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Jamie joined Lais Hotel Properties Limited (LHPL) in 2008 as the Food and Beverage Manager of Pillar and Post. He was also a part of the opening teams for the Millcroft Inn and Spa and the Parlour Inn. Jamie was appointed to the General Manager of the newly acquired Niagara’s Finest Hotel collection in 2018.

Prior to joining LHPL, Jamie held roles of Restaurant Manager, Director of Sales and Director of Conference at the Sheraton Hotel in Niagara Falls.

Jamie Drummond
General Manager, Niagara's Finest Hotels

Andrew Niven
Director of Marketing, Konzelmann Estate Winery

Andrew Niven (Board Chair)
Director of Marketing, Konzelmann Estate Winery

Retail

Born and raised in Niagara on the Lake, Kevin Neufeld grew up on a fruit farm/vineyard and later worked in the hospitality industry for the Vintage Inns and White Oaks Resort. After returning from living in Whistler BC, where he worked in the hospitality industry at the Delta Resort and Whistler/Blackcomb Mountain, he and his wife Jana opened BeauChapeau. Since 1997 BeauChapeau has been on a steadily improving path and today is Canada’s largest hat store and the only one in the country to now offer a full-service hat-restoration shop.

Kevin Neufeld
Beau Chapeau Hat Shop

Official Town Council Representative & Past Members

Wendy is a Niagara on the Lake Town Councilor and Strategic Business Consultant. A pragmatic, experienced business leader specializing in strategic planning, marketing, brand building, needs analysis and identifying key growth drivers for small and mid-sized businesses primarily in the wine, tourism, and hospitality sectors.

As Director of Marketing for the Ontario wine industry Wendy delivered leadership and strategic direction while achieving double-digit growth in sales and tourism visitation over 7 consecutive years. At the heart of the growth was a major strategic shift in focus to consumer engagement and experience. Wendy developed and led the execution of the Council’s marketing strategy using a collaborative approach with over 80 Ontario winery members, industry associations, VQA, the LCBO and the Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation.

In 2014 Wendy launched her own consulting firm and has assisted small and mid-sized businesses to unlock growth and drive revenue with sound strategic guidance and tactical programming.

Wendy is an active community volunteer serving on the Chamber of Commerce, the Library Board, the Niagara Community Foundation Niagara on the Lake Fund, Communities in Bloom, The Pumphouse and several Council related committees.

Wendy Cheropita

Town Councillor

Wendy Cheropita

Town Councillor

Maria has been on a number of boards and committees over the years; Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Niagara Nursery School, Mentor on the Lord Mayors Youth Advisory Council, Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum and Niagara Jazz Festival. Maria owns and operates an organization that raises money for local charities – Anchor Niagara and was the recipient in 2021 of the GNCC – Women in Business Community Impact and Leadership Award.

Chamber of Commerce