Out go lame ducks, in comes another city spinner

Another day, another hire for the City of Vancouver’s communications department.

The following was sent to staff of the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation on Nov. 24, the same day as the outgoing board met for the last time.

Welcome Michelle Pentz Glave to the Communications Office

From: Margo Harper, Communications Manager

Date: November 24, 2014

Please join me in welcoming Michelle Pentz Glave to the communications office at the Park Board. She started a full time job as a Communications Coordinator on November 24th.

Michelle is an accomplished communications professional with a strategic mind and a passion for park and recreation issues. She brings top quality writing, editing and storytelling skills to our team and has 25 years of experience in the communications/marketing and media business.

Her recent accomplishments include the creation and management of a successful new Media Centre website for the Canadian Tourism Commission and the launch of a “family friendly” travel website for Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts where she was the lead in a product redesign that helped boost traffic and increase sales. Her recent managers describe her as creative, organized and tireless — a triple threat!

Michelle attended Yale University and the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University in New York. Before making the move to communications a decade ago, Michelle was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Germany and a business reporter covering tourism and retail for the Albuquerque Journal. She speaks fluent Spanish and German and is the Board President of the Bowen Agricultural Alliance Society and was instrumental in launching the farmer’s market on Bowen Island.

I couldn’t be happier to welcome her to our team.

Margo Harper

Communications Manager

Michelle Pentz Glave is married to James Glave, who was a writer with public relations agent Jim Hoggan’s DeSmogBlog and now a communications director at Tides Canada’s Clean Energy Canada. (Hoggan’s PR company client roster includes Shell. Tides Canada’s co-founder is Vision Vancouver bagman Joel Solomon, who chairs Vision’s Cortes Island hideaway, Hollyhock.)

In 2013, city hall paid 33 people more than $1.6 million in its communications department, yet citizens and the media frequently complain that city hall is not listening or communicating openly. Read more about city hall’s corporate communications department in this fine feature by Mike Howell of the Vancouver Courier.

For the record, below is the current roster in city hall communications.

Kendall-Craden, Rena	Director	604-673-8121
McGregor, Marnie	Assistant Director, Strategic Partnerships and Outreach	604-873-7039
Smith, Christie	Associate Director	604-871-6914
Ayres, Elaine	Graphic Designer	604-871-6292
Couper, Sara	Communications Coordinator, Media	604-871-6899
Donovan, Thomas	Communications Officer	604-871-6064
Eng, Nancy	Communications Coordinator	604-871-6462
Glave, Michelle	Communications Coordinator	604-257-8438
Harper, Margo	Communications Manager, Parks	604-257-8699
Jiew, Leonard	Graphics Technician (Web Specialist)	604-873-7087
Li, Joseph	Communications Coordinator, Multilingual	604-873-7270
MacNeil, Patricia	Communications Manager	604-873-7397
McCuaig, Amanda	Communications Coordinator	604-673-8185
Miller, Janet	Manager, Internal Communications	604-873-7480
Mitchell, Amanda	Public Engagement Specialist	604-673-8166
Morawski, Kristin	Graphic Designer	604-873-7496
Munn, Holly	Communications Coordinator, Internal	604-673-8408
Murray, Mary Ann	Administrative Assistant	604-871-6254
O’Callaghan, Katherine	Engaged City Program Coordinator	604-873-7394
Pabillano, Jhenifer	Social Media Strategist	604-871-6335
Postma, Tobin	Communications Manager	604-871-6914
Randles, Erin	Communications Coordinator, Internal	604-673-8126
Rasley, Janelle	Communications Coordinator, Internal	604-871-6973
Sutherland, Melissa	Public Engagement Analyst	604-873-7821
Vaughan, Tracy	Senior Public Engagement Advisor	604-871-6106
Watson, Jason	Communications Manager	604-873-7425
Wojnarski, Daria	Communications Coordinator, Park Board	604-257-8440