Staff
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| Senior
Partner
Don Ference is President of Ference Weicker
& Company, with primary responsibility for marketing and brand
development. Under his
leadership, Ference Weicker & Company has developed from a small
management consulting firm to one of the leading independent
management consulting firms in Western Canada. For
his efforts, Don Ference was awarded the "Entrepreneur of the Year"
Award by the Institute of Certified Management
Consultants of BC.
Don
has a Masters of Business Administration degree and is a
Professional Engineer.
He is also a Certified Management Consultant and is past
President of the Institute of Management
Consultants of BC,
which was established to ensure and maintain a high degree of
professionalism in the industry. Don Ference has over 30
years of consulting experience. Prior to establishing the
firm in 1979, Don Ference was a Senior Consultant with Ernst &
Young in Vancouver. In his practice, Don has
specialized in the area of feasibility studies, development of
alternative service delivery models, government divestitures,
business process improvement, financial analysis, business
valuations, market research, and business
planning.
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Senior Partner
Ted Weicker is a Senior Partner of Ference
Weicker & Company, with primary responsibility for staffing and
managing the wide range of assignments undertaken by the firm. Since
graduating very near the top of his MBA class from the Ivy School of
Business at theUniversity of
Western
Ontario
in the early 1980s, Ted Weicker has established a prominent career
as one of the leading management consultants across a variety of
practice areas.
In the area of small business development,
he has undertaken extensive research projects that directly impacted
on the design and delivery of key small business programs and
initiatives at all levels of government ranging from Community
Futures and Canada Business Services Centres to regional business
development centres. He
designed and developed a number of ground breaking software
products, including the award winning Interactive Business Planner,
the Small Business Checkup, and the Interactive Exporter. He has been involved in the
sale of these products to organizations in the United States and Europe.
He is a leader in the area of science &
technology, where he has conducted cluster studies and prepared
industry development strategies as well as marketing and strategic
plans for high tech companies.
He has worked across a wide variety of sectors including fuel
cells, life sciences, biotechnology, functional foods, alternative
energies, environmental technologies, ICT, new media and oceans as
well as in more traditional sectors including tourism, agri-food,
wood products, education, healthcare, manufacturing and
distribution. He has
prepared regional economic development and investment attraction
strategies as well as strategic plans for industry associations and
development organizations.
Over the past 20 years, Ted Weicker has
established himself as a leading authority in the area of program
evaluation, where he has led evaluations of a broad range of
programs including social, economic development, cultural, energy,
and crime reduction programs for federal, provincial, regional and
local government clients as well as utilities and non-profit
organizations.
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| Principal
Bryan
Kingsfield is a Principal with Ference Weicker & Company and the
Manager of our Victoria office. He has a Masters
of Public Administration (First Class) Degree from the University of
Victoria and is
one of the best-known members of the economic development community
in BC. Bryan’s
primary focus is economic development, investment attraction, and
feasibility studies.
Ference Weicker & Company recruited
Bryan
from the
Government of BC, where he served as a Director with the Science
Council of BC and, prior to that, in a variety of economic
development portfolios.
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Steve Lindmayer is a Senior Consultant with
Ference Weicker & Company.
Prior to joining Ference Weicker & Company several years
ago, Steve had a long history as an economic development
professional who worked with organizations in the interior of BC,
the
Fraser
Valley
and in
Vancouver
as
well as with the Federal Government and the Provincial
Government. Steve most
recently served as an Enterprise Development Advisor for Partners
for Economic and Community Help, where he played a key role in the
development of a community economic revitalization strategy for the
Downtown Eastside. With Ference Weicker
& Company, Steve has focused on developing his practice in the
areas of economic development, business planning and program
evaluation.
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Consultant
Colette Kime was recruited by Ference
Weicker & Company out of the Asper School of Business at the
University
of
Manitoba
, where she graduated
with Honours and a double major in marketing and small
entrepreneurship management. Having lived in 5 different
Canadian provinces including
Quebec
, Colette brings to the company her
knowledge and experience of
Canada
’s various
cultures. To date,
Colette’s focus has been on program evaluation, covering topics as
diverse as unclaimed property, quality improvement in psychiatric
care, prevention programs related to the exploitation of youth, and
employment programming for persons with disabilities.
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Consultant
Omar has a Masters of Business
Administration in marketing and international business from
Simon
Fraser
University
. Prior to joining Ference
Weicker in 2005, Omar served as a key researcher for the Vancouver
Economic Development Commission, BC Ministry of Competition, Science
and Enterprise, Pivotal Corporation, and J Walter Thompson. With Ference Weicker &
Company, Omar has undertaken extensive research on key economic
sectors, investment attraction, marketing of wood products, hydrogen
and fuel cells, and the agri-food industry.
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Consultant
Janine Bedford graduated from St. Andrews University with a Masters of Research, specializing in qualitative and quantitative analysis. Prior to that, she spent two years at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences teaching, editing and evaluating research projects. With a background in survey design and implementation, Janine brings her enthusiasm for research to Ference Weicker & Company. To date, her focus has been on program evaluation and research, covering topics as varied as BC’s high tech sector, manure storage capacity and prevention programs related to the exploitation of women and youth gang involvement. |
Consultant
Slavica has MA in Social Science with specialization in Immigration and Settlement Studies from University of Ryerson, Toronto. Slavica brings to the company international experience and knowledge of the non-profit sector. Prior to joining Ference Weicker & Co, Slavica conducted a review of the educational pilot project for adult learners for Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities in Toronto. She specializes in government policy, and program evaluation & analysis in the areas of immigration, settlement and education.
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Chief Data
Analyst
Kyle Ference has a Bachelors degree in
environmental planning with a self-directed theme in Urban
Conservation and Regeneration.
He recently attended the University of Dundee, Scotland for
one year where he undertook self-directed theme course work in:
Urban Conservation and Rehabilitation, and Conservation of Buildings
of Architectural and Historical Interest. With Ference Weicker
& Company, Kyle’s primary responsibility is managing our data entry
processes, running detailed research reports, and conducting
statistical analyses.
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Market
Research Leader
Ross Mayo is the leader in our market
research department.
After attending Concordia and McGill, Ross worked in
corporate and management accounting for a variety of firms. Over the past 15 years, Ross
has specialized in market research. He has administered surveys
across a wide range of economic sectors, with a particular focus on
small business. Unlike
most management consulting firms, Ference Weicker & Company has
an in-house survey staff that are responsible for undertaking large
scale surveys.
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Researcher
Sharon Hope has over 30 years experience in
research and holds a Ph.D. from the
University
of
British
Columbia
. Sharon has specializes in
market research and has worked with Ference Weicker & Company on
a wide range of assignments during the past five years including
market studies, program evaluations, marketing studies, and industry
surveys. Prior to her
consulting career,
Sharon
worked for the Research
Branch of the BC Ministry of Forests for 14 years.
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Associate
Calvin Shantz assists Ference Weicker &
Company on a variety of studies related to science &
technology. For 14 years, Calvin served as the Executive Director,
Science and Technology and Communities within the BC Ministry of
Competition, Science and
Enterprise.
He held various
responsibilities during his tenure including: Program Development
and Delivery, Science and Technology Policy, Program Evaluation,
Federal Provincial Relations and Telecommunications Policy,
Regulations and Infrastructure. Prior to
that, he served as the Executive Director of Labour Market Programs
and Apprenticeship Training.
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Associate
Doug Boyce contributes high level marketing
expertise to our consulting assignments, assisting in the
development of detailed promotional strategies and serving as a
creative director for specific projects. Earlier in his career,
Doug served as the Associate Director, Sponsorships & Events for
Bell
Canada
, the Director of
Marketing for Radiant Communications, and the Director of Marketing
& Communications for the Knowledge Network. Doug holds a Masters of
Business Administration degree from
Dalhousie
University
and
a Bachelor of Arts degree
(Psychology) from Queen’s University.
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Researcher
Amy Morris is researcher with Ference Weicker & Company. She has a degree in criminology from Simon Fraser University and has worked primarily on program evaluation studies with a justice, Aboriginal, or entrepreneurial focus. Prior to joining Ference Weicker & Company, she worked with Statistics Canada, BC Provincial Corrections, and as a Lead Instructor for the Venture Challenge.
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