Barbara joined Downtown London in February 2020. She often spent time in London when she was younger and has enjoyed getting reacquainted with the city. What she loves the most about the downtown is its diversity of commercial and cultural destinations, as well as retail, culinary and entertainment options all within walking distance.
In Barb’s career, she has worked in diverse roles including technical and scientific, as well as business and Economic Development at the City of Guelph. She is a strong community builder and advocate and has led and implemented a number of strategic plans, marketing and business plans as well as business start-up and mentorship programs.
Early in Barb's career she worked in the agriculture and food industry in research and development at Nabisco and Kraft and was a product developer and industry trainer with Guelph Food Technology Centre at the University of Guelph, before leading their business development division. She held board positions on local business support agencies including BioEnterprise and Business Centre – Guelph-Wellington and volunteered her time on many community committees.
Growing up in Chatham-Kent just outside of Thamesville, Barb left to attain a Bachelor of Applied Science Honours Degree – Consumer Studies from the University of Guelph. She also has a graduate certificate in Leadership from Western University and completed the Economic Development Association of Canada –Level 1 course at the University of Waterloo.
Barb loves being outdoors, taking long walks and hikes and in the spring and summer you will often find her working in her gardens. She enjoys traveling and discovering new places, going to concerts, sporting events and generally being out and about. She is married to Curtis and together they have two adult children, Michael and Laura and two fur babies, Crosby their dog and Izzy their cat.