Our Team

Established in 1995, Prairie Wild Consulting, in collaboration with its Associates, brings well over a century of experience to the field of community planning, social research and community development. Each team member brings a complimentary set of skills, understanding and experience to ensure quality service and a successful end product.

Lenore Swystun (MA, MCIP) - Founder
Lenore Swystun is the founder and a principal partner of Prairie Wild Consulting Co. With strong roots still firmly planted in the shores of Redberry Lake on a family farm, she is a community planning and development professional who brings a quality skill set and experience in the fields of: regional and community-based comprehensive planning frameworks; municipal capacity development; comprehensive community planning; local governance; community and civic engagement; facilitation; international development; cultural planning; and related social research.

Lenore is a full member of the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP) and the Association of Professional Community Planners of Saskatchewan (APCPS). She is a former elected representative and an awarded community member – recognized by Planet S for being top Community Advocate in 2004 and 2007; and acknowledged as Saskatoon's top women entrepreneur/business woman in 2009.

Kelley Moore (MCIP) - Director
Kelley joined the company in 2002. Kelley, as a community and social planner, who has worked on projects spanning five different levels of government over the past twelve years. Her work has covered a variety of fields including: town planning; local area planning; inter-municipal planning; international development; social policy development; and human service integration. Kelley is undertaking an Interdisciplinary Master of Arts at the University of Saskatchewan. Her research focus is democracy and development. Ms. Moore is a full member of the Canadian Institute of Planners and has been nationally recognized for her experience in comprehensive planning and citizen engagement.

Prairie Wild Consulting Co. has a hard-working, core team that includes the following members and associates:

Samantha Mark - Community Planning Consultant (supported by the West Central Enterprise Region)
An honours graduate with the Regional and Urban Planning Program at the University of Saskatchewan, Samantha Mark works on numerous Prairie Wild projects. She is from Frontier, SK and is based out of Rosetown. Samantha is a Provisional Member with APCPS and provides leadership and assistance on various aspects of developing regional planning processes and documents including project administration, grants, development of regional planning processes, meeting notes, facilitation, research and editing. Samantha’s dedication to community alongside her impeccable work ethic is much appreciated by our team and the communities we serve.

Megan Taupadel – Community Planning Consultant
Megan is a welcome addition to PW and is a recent honours graduate with the RUP Program at the University of Saskatchewan and is a new Provisional Member with APCPS. She is originally from Paradise Hill and works full-time out of our Saskatoon office. Megan provides project management and assistance on various projects including: administrative support, research, facilitation, and development of regional planning processes, meeting notes, and editing. Megan also brings a wonderful creative and artistic element to the work we do on behalf of communities.

John Gyepi-Garbrah (M.A.) – Geo- Spacial Planning Consultant
John has a Masters in Geography from the University of Saskatchewan. He also has his Bachelor of Science in Regional and Urban Planning of which he obtained in Ghana, his home Country. John leads in creating a number of future land use concept maps and reference maps for numerous regional and local municipal based projects we are working on. He also contributes to overall policy development and facilitation processes. John is based out of our Saskatoon office. John's diverse educational background and planning experience is much appreciated.

Danny Roy – Community Sustainability Planning Student Intern (with support in part by SEIMA)
Danny is in the final stages of finishing his Regional and Urban Planning degree at the University of Saskatchewan. Danny is originally from Ile-A-La-Crosse and provides research, technical (GIS-related) and facilitative support to a number of PW projects. Danny has definitely caught the ‘planning bug' and is proud of it.

Karen Sander (MCIP) - Senior Planning Consultant with Prairie Wild Consulting – Associate Status
Karen Sander is originally from Hanley, Saskatchewan. In addition to a degree in Regional and Urban Planning, Karen also has a Certificate in Urban Design from Simon Fraser University and twenty plus years experience as an Agriculture Producer.

Karen works with PW on various projects in particular co-writing OCP and Zoning Bylaws for various communities e.g. Town of Esterhazy, Town of Carlyle, Inter-municipal plan for the Town/RM of Blaine Lake together with the Village of Marcelin; RM's of Meeting Lake and Douglas. Karen's work ethic and commitment to rural Saskatchewan is impeccable.

Dwayne Keir – Community Planning Intern and GIS Support
Dwayne comes to us originally from the Tisdale area. In addition to providing GIS services to Prairie Wild Consulting Dwayne is also contributing as a Community Planning Intern (Provisional Member with APCPS) with a passion for comprehensive community based planning. Dwayne belongs to a number of community based organizations in Saskatoon and is a coach in the Minor Hockey League. Dwayne is a dynamic addition to our team.

Senior Research Associates

Heather Bernardin (M.A. Geography, GIS post-graduate certificate)
Her work experience ranges from being involved in community health and community indicator projects, to projects focused on quality of life indicators, housing affordability indicators and neighbourhood demographic projects. She is involved with Prairie Wild on projects related to the development of indicators for the Institute of Wellbeing.

Bill Holden (MCIP)
Bill works as a Senior Planner with the City of Saskatoon; Co-Chair of CUISR (Community University Institute for Social Research) and is currently working with Prairie Wild on the development of indicators for the Canadian Institute of Wellbeing.

Senior Planning Associates

Dr.Jill Gunn (MCIP, Regional and Urban Planning Professor, University of Saskatchewan)
Specializes in Environmental Planning. Provides advice and feedback on various planning projects; specializes in environmental planning.

Livia Kellett (MCIP, Community Planner, City of Edmonton, Alberta)
Provides advice and feedback on various planning projects; specializes in local area planning and facilitation.

Tim Cheesman (MCIP)
Mr. Cheesman brings extensive experience at various scales of planning and management, community capacity development, environmental and resource management, and municipal policy development. Strong emphasis on rural and urban planning, socio economic impacts and integrated community and resource management. Tim is also a full member of SK Institute of Agrologists (P.Ag).

DGMercer Eco Research
DGMercer Eco Research formed in March 2007 and is the company of Dwight G. Mercer (Provisional Member, CIP) from Regina. Based on 30 years experience, the company restricts its consulting services to: small urban and regional strategic land use planning, municipal capacity building, sustainable development and sustainable subdivisions, solid waste management with emphasis on waste minimization, and aquifer protection and comprehensive floodplain management.

Joy Stang (B.A. Hons. Regional and Urban Development)
Ms. Stang returned to University for an Honours degree in Regional and Urban Development from the University of Saskatchewan, after working in various administrative positions in Yellowknife before moving with her husband to Meadow Lake. After convocation, she worked in Meadow Lake at the Northwest REDA, primarily as the Coordinator of the Northwest Industrial Training Program. During her spare time these past eight years while raising three young children, she has sat on the panel of the pan-national Multidisciplinary Collaborative Primary Maternity Care Project, based out of Ottawa, and volunteers locally as an advocate for second language learning opportunities. Joy is based out of Meadow Lake, SK and provides input and feedback on various Prairie Wild Consulting projects.

Alex Thumm, Junior Associate
Alex Thumm's niche is in politics, community engagement, and organizing. He is closely mentored by Lenore. Alex's youthful innovation and speaking skills are being employed in regional community planning and related PW projects. Alex is based out of Ottawa, Ontario.

Collaborators

Our collaborative has developed a partnership with a number of academic and professional planners from across Canada.

Project for Public Spaces (PPS)
Since its founding in New York City in 1975, Project for Public Spaces, a not-for-profit, has worked in over 2500 communities in 40 countries, building capacity and local leadership around Placemaking and growing and implementing bold new visions for the public realm of communities. The powerful, common sense ideas that underlie their work represent a fundamental change in the way cities are approached. Rather than looking to any specific discipline to produce “expert” driven solutions to dynamic urban problems, PPS facilitates a collaborative process that enables a stakeholder dialogue ultimately grounded in the needs and vision of the local community.

PPS's staff is trained in environmental design, architecture, urban planning, urban geography, urban design, environmental psychology, landscape architecture, arts administration and information management. The staff also collaborates on projects with architecture, landscape architecture and engineering firms, graphic design firms, transportation consultants, retail planners and community organizations. All of PPS's members are committed to the cause of sustainable communities throughout the United States and abroad. PW is especially appreciative of our collaborations with Vice Presidents, Cynthia Nikitin and Ethan Kent.

Acacia Consulting & Research

Michel Frojmovic MCIP, RPP and his team advises municipalities and community- based organizations on how to make better use of data, information and knowledge. Services include Research, Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation and Capacity Building. Acacia works with public, private and non-profit sector clients in Canada and overseas since 1999. PW is especially appreciative of our international collaborations with Acacia with support from the Canadian Institute of Planners. More to come on this front in the near future.