My Bologna has a first name, it’s E-M-I-L-I-A.

Next month I’m going to Bologna, Italy. Not on vacation, but on a business trip.

Why is the Web Director at a Vancouver-area credit union going to Italy on business? Good question, and in answering I will be asking you for help.


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University of BolognaMy trip will be to Bologna, which is the capital of Emilia Romagna, whose economy is driven in large part by cooperatives. Agricultural cooperatives, cooperatives delivering social services, artisan cooperatives and so on. Vancity has been sending delegates to this region to learn from other cooperatives and, in particular, from Professor Stefano Zamagni, Professor of Economics at the University of Bologna for several years. This year they opened it up to a dozen or so employees from across the organization, and I was lucky enough to be chosen.

My task is to bring the knowledge, ideas and inspiration about what it means to be a financial cooperative back to my work at Vancity, to our employees and to our members. I believe that by combining the web, which is essential to the future of our company, with our cooperative roots we can more fully live up to our potential as a credit union.

I reach out to you because many of my readers work at cooperatives, especially financial cooperatives. The sixth principle of the Seven Cooperative Principles is:

Cooperation among Cooperatives
Cooperatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the cooperative movement by working together through local, national, regional and international structures.

One of the things I am excited about in going to Bologna is that I get to reach out to you, my blog readers and have a conversation with you all about what I am learning and experiencing. And what I want from you is to participate. Comment, leave your thoughts, tell me what you think.

Vancity is embarking on a new vision: Redefining Wealth. It is an evolving mandate to look at how we create wealth in our communities and how we can do that in a way that is sustainable and equitable. I look forward to hearing from you about this journey I am on to better understand our vision and interpret that vision for our members and explore what it means (and doesn’t mean) with you.

So that’s my invitation. What do you think? Will you help me?

BarCampBankBC2 is coming in September.


I was thinking about whether or not we’d want to do another BarCampBankBC this year.

What’s a BarCampBank?

The aim of BarCampBank is to foster innovations and the creation of new business models in the world of banking and finance.

Budgets are tight, and the industry is in a very different place from when we were organizing the event last year. So I reached out to Tim McAlpine and Gene Blishen, my partners in crime from last year, to discuss.

We wondered if a smaller, scaled-back event, with a more local flavour might be a nice idea. No sponsors, no fancy meals, just a place to brainstorm about banking innovation and some amazing people to do the brainstorming.

I am very excited to announce that BarCampBankBC2 is on! It’ll take place on Saturday, September 26th from 9am to 5pm at Vancity’s Head Office. I especially want people at local banks and credit unions to attend and join the conversation.


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We’re charging $10 (CDN) to cover a pizza lunch and to ensure people will actually show up if they say they will. You can register for the event now.

If you’re coming, please add your name to the wiki.

10 years ago today.

I’m in a reflective mood today. Ten years ago today I finished shooting what would be my last film.

The Engagement Party is a full-length comedy about a young couple trying to maneuver through a disastrous engagement party their families have thrown for them. I wrote, co-produced, co-edited and directed the film. I raised the money, I worked hard to try and sell it to a distributor. I spent several years of my life working on it from the beginning of the creative process of screenwriting to the nuts and bolts business side of negotiating a deal.

It’s funny the course life takes. Looking back, I can see how making The Engagement Party led me on the journey I am now on.

I became disenchanted with filmmaking after producing that film. It was heartbreaking pouring so much of myself into a project that fizzled out. It fizzled out because of the competitive nature of the business, because of the lack of household name talent, because of the digital format, and, in the end, because it wasn’t all that good (believe me, it wasn’t). Film is such a precarious business, and I became frustrated with having to prove myself repeatedly.

The Engagement Party was a very early digital feature and experimenting on new digital formats and taking on a pioneer role opened up opportunities for me that led me deeper into new media, emerging technologies and the web, and onto my current career path. I would not be where I am if it wasn’t for that film.

I was a mediocre filmmaker, but I’m a great producer. I’m good at bringing people together, getting them on the same page, inspiring them and getting them focused and all rowing in the same direction. My talents as a producer continue to serve me exceedingly well. And I love taking the entrepreneurial attitude and approach, which is a prerequisite for being a filmmaker, and applying it inside an organization I care about. Being an intrapreneur.

I wonder what I would have thought if you had told me then that ten years later I would be working at a financial institution. I probably would have been disappointed. And yet I love my job. I look forward to coming into work every day, and relish in the challenges, successes and occasional failures. I am a very lucky person to have what I have, and to have had all the experiences that brought me to this point.

Including making a digital feature film in Seattle in April of 1999 called The Engagement Party.

PS: I just realized that I have the words Director and Engagement in my title, so it’s not all that different really.