Anne spent her childhood in Charlottetown - a member of an extended family with long roots in the red island soil. At 11, she moved with her parents to Thunder Bay - a new environment where schoolmates and neighbours came from places like Ukraine, Poland, China, Russia and Japan. It was her first exposure to different customs, and it left her with a love of travel and interesting places and people
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After high school she moved with her family to Kingston, from where she attended the Ottawa Teachers College. Within weeks of her graduation and the day after his graduation from RMC, she married Arnie and they spent the summer in Belgium and France where he was posted with the RCAF.
After a year in Toronto, their first daughter was born and they moved to Ottawa. Two other children soon came along (the memory of three children in diapers still hasn't faded). The next years were busy and largely child-centred. During that time they lived briefly in Kitchener before making the long trek to live in Newfoundland, where the two youngest children were born.
Anne became active with the YWCA and the women's movement. She was President of the St. John's YWCA, served on the Board of Directors of the YWCA of Canada, and is a founding mother of the Newfoundland Status of Women Council.
During nine busy years in Newfoundland, Anne completed an Honours BA in English Literature and worked as a freelance broadcaster for CBC. When the family moved back to Ontario they settled in the village of Almonte and then in Ottawa.
Anne worked for Digital Equipment of Canada as manager of DECUS Canada, an association of computer users. It was a job she loved - organizing conferences, working with volunteers, managing the growth of user groups across Canada, and lots of travel.
During that time she was Treasurer of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, was active in the Ottawa Women's Lobby, and completed an MA in Canadian Studies. Moving to Cognos Corporation, she established the Cognos International Users Group. Later, she had a consulting practice in Association and Conference Management.
After a year of world travel with Arnie in 1999-2000, she accepted a two-year CUSO volunteer position in Suva, Fiji as a fundraiser with the Pacific Concerns Resource Centre. It was a fascinating experience - being immersed in a totally foreign environment - and whetted her desire for more travel. With Arnie, she has travelled around the world three times, has visited southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, spent several winters in Mexico and Belize, and has explored Greece, Egypt and Israel.
On her travels, she became interested in how much alternative energy sources are used in the rest of the world. Wind turbines on the tops of mountains along the Argolian Gulf in Greece, solar panels on apartment buildings, solar water heaters on homes - it's happening everywhere. She is excited to be using her managerial skills to help promote the movement for a greener world.
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