Our Board and Staff
When board member positions are open, you can apply by filling out our nomination form and emailing it to info@albertanativebeecouncil.ca. Voting will occur during an Annual General Meeting.
Board Members
Lisa Neame
President
Lisa works at the science-policy interface, with a focus on biodiversity. Her graduate work at Simon Fraser University investigated pollinator diversity and pollination services in natural and agricultural ecosystems.
Charity Briere
Director
Charity studied entomology at the University of Alberta, completing her BSc in 1999. She kept herself entomologically-engaged as a stay-at-home Mom by taking aquatic invertebrate identification contracts, teaching casually at Red Deer College, and taking up beekeeping. Charity has since given up on beekeeping, shifting her interest to the ecology of wild bees. Currently, she is completing an MSc thesis on how bumble bees may be impacted by hobby beekeeping in Red Deer. Charity is re-landscaping her front yard to create wild bee habitat just in case some bees want to move in. So far it looks like they do!
Sydney Worthy
ANBC Taxonomist (volunteer)
Sydney is a graduate from the University of Alberta who completed her MSc research on the native pollinators of southern Alberta, specializing in wild bees. Sydney has been a member since 2018 and was formerly on the board, but now works as an Entomologist in Saskatchewan. She continues to work towards the protection and appreciation of wild bees. In her free time, Sydney likes to draw, hike, and photograph wildlife. She has contributed her photography and artwork to the ANBC stickers, tea towels, enamel pins, colouring pages, and the Bumblebee guides.
Sydney identified over 12,000 bees for the 2018 monitoring project and is helping with the 2024 monitoring project. Sydney also helps with social media management for the ANBC social media platforms.
Caroline Whitehouse
Treasurer
Caroline is a forest entomologist, chicken herder, and drinker of fermented things. Lola the dog, though sometimes skeptical, supports her human in these endeavours.
Mathias Fenton
Secretary
Mathias is an Ecology and Biology instructor at Mount Royal University. He has a passion for observing and listening to nature, with a particular interest in insects, birds, wildflowers and trees. For his MSc at the University of Calgary he studied the acoustics of mountain pine beetles and lodgepole pine. To promote the conservation of native bees he raises awareness for them among his students and friends, and he frequently contributes to citizen science.
Alexandria Farmer
Director
Alex is a Biology Instructor at MRU where she's taught for over 25 years. Alex has an MSc in Ecology focused on how bumble bee species respond to clearcut logging in the landscape. During her down time you will find her bee-watching in her abundant flower gardens, or off enjoying nature in the backcountry.
Brandon Allen
Director
Brandon is a senior terrestrial ecologist with the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute. His focus is on analyzing complex ecological data to develop provincial scale landscape and biodiversity indicators for land-use planning initiatives.
Ron Miksha
Director
Ron has kept honey bees since childhood but became concerned about the impact honey bees may have on native bees. He spent four years at the University of Calgary researching this complex relationship. Ron now teaches beekeepers how to mitigate environmental harm and foster native bee success. The photograph shows Ron collecting pollen from honey bees, which he compares to native bee pollen to determine resource competition.
Adele Beaudoin
Director
Adele recently completed her BSc in agriculture, majoring in sustainable agriculture systems from the University of Alberta. She is working on her MSc, focusing on agriculture entomology. Her love of bees started a bit rocky - she was afraid of them when she was young! That fear quickly became an unshakeable fondness when her mom decided to take up beekeeping. Now, Adele loves bees and is excited to learn about the best ways to sustain native populations. When she’s not studying, Adele can usually be found helping out on her parent’s bison farm or enjoying a plethora of hobbies including, but not limited to, reading, camping, hiking, and spending time outside.
Tiffani Harrison
Director
Tiffani loved following bugs around with a camera as a teenager. Since then, she has pursued a degree in Environmental Management and a MSc in Environmental Science. Tiffani has spent most of her professional career on the monitoring, recovery, and community engagement for at-risk bumble bees across Canada. Currently, she works as a Conservation Coordinator with the Otipemisiwak Metis Government, assisting with the Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area initiative, and leading the Native Bee Conservation Program. Tiffani is also a member of various pollinator task forces and is an active identifier on Bumble Bee Watch and iNaturalist.
Staff
Megan Evans
Executive Director
Megan holds a degree in Environmental Science and a master's degree in Ecology from the University of Calgary. She became interested in bees when she worked as a summer student on a pollinator research study with Agriculture Canada. Megan joined the Alberta Invasive Species Council as their Executive Director in 2000, after spending five years with the provincial government. Megan has participated as a Board Director for the Alberta Invasive Species Council; the Entomological Society of Alberta; and co-founded the Alberta Native Bee Council in 2017.
Ilan Domnich
Native Bee Stewardship Specialist
Ilan is an entomologist who completed his MSc at the University of Alberta examining entomology extension in agriculture in AB. Along with a BSc in animal biology, as well as a BCom in finance, Ilan also works as an artist, including scientific illustrations. His passion for science communication is evident with his work on the Bugs 101 MOOC, volunteering at the Royal Alberta Museum Bug Room, and in his role as the Outreach Director for the Entomological Society of Alberta since 2020. Ilan hopes that his passion for insects will get more people to care about native bees.