I'm Not a Politician. I'm Your Neighbour.

My Story

I moved to Armstrong over 9 years ago because I fell in love with the Okanagan — the open land, the farming community, the pace of life, and the people. My wife's family, the Taylor's, put down roots here over 50 years ago, and this town became home in every sense of the word. My wife is Sarah Zopf (nee Taylor), Nicholas (14) and Adalyn (11) are our kids. Both kids go to school here in Armstrong and my wife works for School District 83 as a teacher. I'm currently the store manager for Designer Brands Canada in Vernon.

I grew up in Walnut Grove, in the Langley Township, and went to Langley Fine Arts School for my early schooling. I successfully obtained a Business Administration diploma in Hotel and Restaurant Management through Kwantlen University and then completed 3 years at UBC Vancouver studying Geology. I recently became a Certified municipal Bylaw Officer, completing Level 1 and 2 at the Justice Institute of BC.  Over the years my work life has been in two distinct industries: Retail and Restaurant Management, and Project Management in Exploration Geology. My experience will be invaluable at Armstrong City Hall with both a business and project manager mindset. Working mostly as a Store Manager for Designer Brands, Starbucks, Best Buy, I will bring over 12 years of Human Resource management, accounting, KPI and Profit/Loss analysis, customer service, training and development for staff, hiring and labour law/WCB experience. Project Manager, Geology assistant and Project co-ordinator roles in Exploration Geology sent me working throughout Canada, Mexico and South America. Managing up to 15 million dollar projects, I was responsible for logistics, planning, budgets, construction of exploration camps, health and safety programs, helicopter and heavy equipment management and studying geology and geophysical testing.

I'm running for City Council because I believe Armstrong needs a variety of perspectives and life experiences. We need a forward thinking council that takes feedback and listens to the community and ensures everyone involved are heard. After all, we are all neighbours, and we have to look out for each other with every decision. I will always represent our community professionally and never take for granted the role that my community (hopefully!) gives me. I am a humble leader who always advocates for the little guy and will always listen to whoever needs to talk. I am excited for this opportunity and have been thinking about this role for a few years now. In fact the reason I took Bylaw Level 1 and 2 was to prepare me for a Councillor position.  I humbly ask for your vote on October 17 and cannot wait to serve my community with pride, energy, excitement and a bit of sarcasm and fun.  Thank you for taking the time to read my platform and have a great day!