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Board of Directors

Public Interest Alberta is governed by a Board of Directors drawn from our member organizations. The Board is elected by the membership at our Annual General Meeting.

PIA strives to have a Board of Directors that reflects the diversity of Alberta and our member organizations, with balanced representation from around the province.

The 2008-2009 Board of Directors are:

Larry Booi, President

Larry is the former President of the Alberta Teachers’ Association and was a member of the Executive Board of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation. He is also currently on the Board of Directors of Canadian Council on Learning. He has played a central role in the establishment and growth of Public Interest Alberta and is Chair of the Democracy Task Force.

Carol Lawson, Vice President
Health Sciences Association of Alberta

Carol is Chair of the Liing Wage Task Force for PIA. She has been employed by the Calgary Health Region as a social worker for the past 23 years and has sat as a board member of the Airdrie Family Services since 1994. She is also a member of the Parkland Institute and Friends of Medicare. Carol has been a member of Health Sciences Association of Alberta for the past 22 years and has served as a board member for the last six years.

Dennis Theobald, Treasurer
Alberta Teachers’ Association

Dennis is the Alberta Teachers’ Association Coordinator of Communications. In this role, he assists with the planning and implementation of the Association's communications and lobbying strategy as well as is responsible for administering the Association’s initiatives to promote teacher engagement in the political process. Dennis’ primary interest is in issues relating to the K-12 Education sector, but he is also involved in promoting the public interest as it relates to post-secondary education and democratic governance in Alberta. He played a key role in establishing Public Interest Alberta.

Noel Somerville, Secretary
Seniors' Action Liaison Team

Noel is the Chair of the PIA Seniors' Task Force. After a 33 year second career in education, Noel retired as Executive Secretary of Edmonton Public Teachers, Local 37 of the ATA in 1997. Since retirement, Noel has been active in SALT, an organization for which he has written numerous pamphlets on issues related to healthcare, deregulation, education and social justice. Noel has also served on the City of Edmonton Subdivision and Development Appeal Board.

Heather Smith, Director
United Nurses of Alberta

Heather is the President of the United Nurses of Alberta, a position she has held since 1988. Born and raised in Ontario, she came to Alberta to work as a nurse at the Edmonton General Hospital. She quickly became involved in her union and served as President of her Local for two years. She also sat on the provincial negotiating committee during the 19 day illegal strike in January of 1988. Heather has been a key figure in political action to defend public health care in Alberta including campaigns to oppose Bill 37, Bill 11 and the Third Way.

Nancy Furlong, Director
Alberta Federation of Labour

Nancy Furlong is the Secretary Treasurer of the Alberta Federation of Labour and has been active in the trade union movement for over 30 years. She began her labour career as a union steward for the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) in 1976 and progressed to holding office in her local. From there she joined the staff of AUPE and in 1993 she became the Executive Director. In 1998 she went on to work for the Non-Academic Staff Association (NASA) as a Labour Relations Officer and became a member of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 1158. Nancy is a strong supporter of networking and coalition work and an advocate for social change.

Jake Kuiken, Director
Alberta College of Social Workers

Jake worked for the City of Calgary for nearly 41 years as a social workers in numerous roles, raning from welfare, family counselling, community development, child care services, social policy and management. He has been Chair of the Calgary Taxi Commission and the Acting General Manager of Calgary HandiBus. Since the early 1980's Jake has been involved with ACSW in various executive positions including eight years as president during which time social work gained full professional recognition. Jake is the current ACSW representative on the Board of the Canadian Association of Social Workers. He is a PhD student at the University of Calgary, Faculty of Social Work, where he serves as a sessional instructor.

John Nicholls, Director
Confederation of Alberta Faculty Associations

John is the Executive Director of the Confederation of Alberta Faculty Associations (CAFA), which has been a member of PIA since its inception. He has played an active role on PIA's Post-Secondary Task Force, and previously sat on the PIA Board of Directors when he served as Research and Liaison Officer for the Alberta Colleges and Institutes Faculties Association (ACIFA). John is passionately committed to the principles of accessibility, affordabiltiy and quality in post-secondary education in Alberta.

Jason Heistad, Director
Alberta Union of Provincial Employees

Jason Heistad is a vice president with the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees. A long-time activist in their education sector, he chaired the Local for non-academic employees at Olds College and was a member of the union's political action committee. Elected to a second term on Innisfail's Town Council, he sits on the council's committees on general government development services, transportation services and recreation, culture and education. Jason works as an Instructional Assistant at Olds College.

Dorothy McKenna, Director
Womanspace Resource Centre

Dorothy is the Executive Director of the Womanspace Resource Centre in Lethbridge. Womanspace has focused its research and action on various policy issues affecting women. Since 2000, Dorothy has acted as co-chair of the South West Alberta Coalition on Poverty, which has initiated a number of innovative projects related to the role of poverty in creating social exclusion, and as a major social determinant of health.

Gerald Wheatley, Director
Arusha Centre

Gerald is the Coordinator of the Arusha Centre's InfoActive Resource Centre, which brings community activists together on a variety of social justice and environmental issues since 1972. He is a founding member of Calgary Dollars, a complimentary currency system. Gerald is also the producer of the Hold Your Ground music compilation, which has produced four volumes of songs from Alberta musicians to raise money for community organizations. He has contributed to the creation of Calgary's two car sharing initiatives and is the volunteer organizer of Calgary's first pesticide-free park, New Edinborough in Sunnyside, which has supported the City's move toward eliminating cosmetic pesticides. He has a BA in International Relations and is currently completing a Master's Degree in social research.

Noreen Murphy, Director

Noreen is the Executive Director of Churchill Park Family Care Society, a large not-for-profit child care agency in Calgary. In this position she has worked tirelessly to improve the Alberta child care standards and to ensure that high quality child care is accessible to all families. She has worked for social justice and responsible change for decades in various movements and is a respected advocate for families and children.