Executive Bios

The Honourable Charles Lapointe was appointed to the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Tourism Commission in December 2002. Mr. Lapointe has been President and CEO of the Greater Montreal Convention and Tourism Bureau since 1989. Before his recent nomination, Mr. Lapointe had also served as the Quebec private sector representative on the Board of Directors of the CTC since 2001 and from 1995 to 1998.

Previously, he was President of IACO (International Aeroplane Co., Ireland), and Vice-President, Business Development, at Lavalin Ltd. in Montreal.

Mr. Lapointe was first elected to the House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for Charlevoix, Quebec in 1974. He was appointed to the Privy Council in 1979, and served as Minister of Supply and Services and Receiver General from 1983 to 1984; Minister of State, External Relations from 1982 to 1983; Minister of State (Small Business and Tourism) from 1980 to 1982; and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport from 1977 to 1979.

In 1976, Mr. Lapointe was the Canadian Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly.

Michele McKenzie was appointed President & CEO of the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) January 1^st, 2004.  Industry-led, market-driven and research-based, the CTC is a Crown corporation that works in partnership with the tourism private and public sectors to market Canada as a four-season destination.

Prior to her appointment as CTC President, Ms. McKenzie was Deputy Minister of the Department of Tourism and Culture for Nova Scotia.  She joined the department in 1986 as Manager of Market Development and held a number of positions in the tourism portfolio including Executive Director of Tourism and Executive Director of Marketing. 

During her tenure as Deputy Minister, she served as the Newfoundland/Nova Scotia public sector representative on the CTC Board of Directors.  In addition, she served the CTC as Chair of the Corporate Governance Committee and a member of the Executive and Human Resources Committees.

Ms. McKenzie has held positions on a number of Boards including the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Museum. 

She began her career as an independent event-planning consultant, working for a number of national and international associations holding events and conferences in Nova Scotia.

Ms. McKenzie holds a degree from Dalhousie University.

Karin Zabel has served as Vice-President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer with the Canadian Tourism Commission since 2001.  She has over 20 years of experience as a financial executive in both the public and private sectors.

Previously Ms. Zabel was Vice President Corporate Services and  Chief Financial Officer with Defence Construction (1951) Limited. Additionally, she held financial positions with Cineplex Odeon, Canadian Media Corporation and Clarkson Gordon.

Ms. Zabel is Director of the Board and Chair of Audit Committee of Tradex Management Inc., and a past President of Big Sisters of Ottawa Carleton.

Ms. Zabel is a chartered accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McMaster University.

Chantal Péan was appointed Corporate Secretary to the Canadian Tourism Commission Board of Directors in October 2000 and Senior Vice-President of Corporate Affairs in February 2001.

As Corporate Secretary, Ms. Péan ensures the Commission meets its legal obligations. As Senior Vice-President of the Corporate Affairs, she is responsible for Corporate Communications, Human Resources and for ensuring strategic linkages with federal, provincial, territorial and other Canadian and international governments, Canadian industry associations, and international organizations to foster collaboration in tourism development.

Since joining the Commission in 1991, Ms. Péan has also served as Director of Industry Issues (1997-2000) and Director of Industry and Corporate Affairs (2000). She thus has extensive experience with legal and other issues affecting the Canadian tourism industry. She co-chaired the Transition Legislation Committee in charge of managing the legislation establishing the Canadian Tourism Commission as a Crown corporation and was instrumental in implementing new requirements under the legislation.

Ms. Péan holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Manitoba and a Bachelor of Law, a Notary Diploma (Droit notarial) and a Master of Business Administration, all from the University of Ottawa.
 

Mr. Clark has held a range of management positions in a variety of locations throughout Canada over the past 20 years. Raised in Calgary, he graduated from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology's Hotel and Restaurant Management program in 1985. Mr. Clark started his career in the restaurant business in Calgary, moving to food and beverage management and ski resort operations in Kananaskis Country. He returned to Calgary in 1989 to join Westin Hotels & Resorts, a Starwood Hotels & Resorts brand. Transferring to Toronto in 1996 and Vancouver in 1999, Mr. Clark held a variety of sales management positions in city, resort and convention hotel environments with Starwood.

In 2000 he returned to Alberta to join Fairmont Hotels & Resorts as Regional Director of Sales and Marketing for Alberta, and was subsequently appointed Regional Director of Sales and Marketing for Western Canada, with responsibilities for Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Alberta and British Columbia. He was then promoted to Executive Director of Sales for all Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. Most recently Mr. Clark held the position of Vice President and General Manager of  Sunshine Village Ski & Snowboard Resort in Banff, Alberta.

He is a former member of Travel Alberta's Strategic Tourism Marketing Council, the Canadian Tourism Commission's US Leisure Executive Committee, Tourism Vancouver, Tourism Toronto's Marketing Committee, the Toronto Events Promotion Association, the Calgary Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.

Active in the community, Mr. Clark is a former member of the Calgary and Toronto branches of the Rotary Club, the Canadian Progress Club's Calgary Bow River chapter, and the Toronto Board of Trade. He is an honorary life member of the Canadian Ski Patrol System, and is currently a member of the Skal Club of the Canadian Rockies.

He has been married for 19 years to Stephanie; they have two sons, Matthew (12) and Daniel (10).

Greg Klassen was appointed to the position of Vice President, Marketing in July of 2005 and is responsible for all aspects of marketing of the Canada brand domestically and around the world. Since joining the CTC in November of 2001, Mr. Klassen has held the positions of Executive Director, E-marketing and Executive Director, US Leisure marketing. As well, in the past, he has taught marketing at Algonquin College, and has held various strategic marketing positions in the telecommunication industry with AT&T and Telus.

Mr. Klassen holds an MBA in International Management from Thunderbird: The Garvin School of International Management in Arizona and an undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of Victoria.