I am delighted to announce the Advisory Board for Purcell Collegiate School

A project of this scale needs great leaders, and we believe we have assembled a team that will accelerate efforts to create a world-class, international education facility in Kimberley, BC.

Our new leaders, who we welcome to the team, are Dave Byng, Dianne Turner, Shanna Mason, Peter Milburn and Pieter Langstraat.

Dave Byng was the former Deputy Minister of Education in BC and now provides strategic advice to a wide variety of private, public and not-for-profit sector organizations. He works as a diplomatic advisor to and representative of the Government of Japan, serving as an Honorary Consul General. He also sits on Royal Roads University’s Board of Governors and acts as a Special Advisor to the President. He is also a Distinguished Fellow with the Asia Pacific Foundation, providing strategic advice on foreign investment, international trade and education strategy.

Dianne Turner is a highly respected educational leader and consultant with an extensive history of executive leadership in the education sector. She was the first Chief Educator of British Columbia and was responsible for setting education policy. She is a strong business development professional highly skilled in Kindergarten through Grade 12 Education, Leadership Learning and Development, Team Building, Vision Development, Literacy, 21st Century Skills, and Strategic Planning.

Shanna Mason is the former Assistant Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Capital Delivery and oversaw new school construction programs of $2.0 billion. She has worked directly with all 60 BC School Districts and many First Nations to revise and modernize building standards, create new priority rehabilitation programs and assisted School Districts in developing successful business cases for future investment.

Peter Milburn currently serves as Board Chair for the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, which oversees over 170 billion of managed assets for British Columbia’s public sector. He brings over 30 years of experience in government, expertise as an engineer, and a long list of leading large capital projects to our Advisory Board. He is the former Deputy Ministry of Finance/Secretary to the Treasury Board for the Province of British Columbia.

Pieter Langstraat has over 30 years of experience in public education. He has worked as a Special Advisor to the BC Ministry of Education in three school districts to conduct evaluations and assist school boards with educational, financial or community matters. He also works with the BC Ministry of Education as an Offshore Schools Inspector and Sector Liaison, Framework for Enhanced Student Learning, and was a member of the Ministry of Education’s COVID-19 Response Team.

We are incredibly excited to have their combined wealth of knowledge and experience assisting us with this project. Their track records on successful projects speak for themselves and we are confident that they will guide Purcell Collegiate into our next phase of development.

I encourage you to learn more about our Advisory Board and other members of our leadership teams by exploring our website and I welcome any questions you may have.