Current
I am the Director of Community Enrichment at Menno Place, one of the largest campuses of care for seniors in British Columbia. I have been working in this position on the Executive Team since 2012. I began in 2011 at Menno Place as the director in a key marketing initiative for Primrose Gardens, 105 Independent Living Apartments. 75 apartments were leased up within 18 months of my arriving to join the team. It was at a time when other private-pay Independent Living apartment buildings were foreclosing.
In my work at Menno Place, I’ve had the privilege of developing a leading-edge Life Enrichment Program that ensures a cycle of communication, support and service excellence for more than 700 residents and their families who call Menno Place their home. I’ve also created communication strategies and channels that reach out to residents, families, friends, staff and the public with incredible engagement.
During the COVID pandemic lockdowns, I created effective and timely interactive communication that ensured connection with the family and friends who were not able to connect in person.
My life is surrounded by elders who are steeped in life experience, wisdom and extraordinary experiences that are outside of my realm of imagination such as being a teenager and seeking to serve in World War II or being a young girl who helped her father blast out hundreds of cedar stumps with dynamite sticks to clear the land for farming.
Writings
For four years, I was a monthly columnist with The Light Magazine (BC and Alberta) writing on the concerns and issues of elderly seniors. These articles are also published by the The Abby News and BC Care Providers. I have more than 70 articles in my library of writings.
Radio
For two years, along with four others I hosted a unique weekly radio show on Vancouver Co-op Radio, Death Matters Live that is entirely focused on the topic of death and dying.
Leadership
I served as the Moderator for the British Columbia Mennonite Brethren Conference (BCMB) for 6 years, completing my term in 2022. Since 2015, I have served on several boards, including as Vice-Chair of the Mennonite Central Committee, British Columbia (MCCBC), and Vice-Moderator of the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren (CCMBC) I am currently the president of the Canadian Mennonite Health Assembly (CMHA) and member of the founding team of the Global Anabaptist Health Network (GAHN).
Experience
Prior to coming to Menno Place, I was a partner in Stir Communications Group, (2003 – 2011) an internet marketing and strategic consulting agency. My hands-on experience as a web-designer, site architect, e-zine editor and usability director laid the groundwork for my ability to synthesize complex situations, apply expertise and deliver defined pathways to successful internet presence and communications.
Our online solutions include: web design and usability; increasing traffic to a site; conversion optimization; data collection and lead generation; email marketing; paid advertising, and social media marketing.
I have enjoyed the opportunities to train teams in how to use online communication tools and grow an online marketing campaign. At one point, I remotely managed a team of 17 summer interns (located in Los Angeles) for 8 weeks as we used the internet to seed information about a movie’s theatrical release (Eye of the Dolphin).
Speaking
I have twice been invited to speak to influential groups of movie directors about online communication and online personal reputation. I spoke first to the Director’s Guild of America in their building on Sunset Boulevard (Women’s Steering Committee). This led to another speaking engagement to the Alliance of Women Directors. During that time, I met with more than 40 members of these two groups to provide direction and consultation for building their personal online reputation as well as laying the foundation for marketing their movies.
It was my privilege to be invited to inspire the 2022 grads of Columbia Bible College as their Convocation speaker.
Family
I have been married to Gary Simpson since 1988. We have four children: two married and three grandchildren.