Our Governance
The Friends of Stittsville Wetlands are a volunteer, community-based, not-for-profit corporation committed to protecting, restoring, regenerating and rewilding our wetlands for future generations.
The Friends of Stittsville Wetlands became incorporated on January 1, 2024, under the Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, 2010. We are not a registered charity.
Our Team
Janet Stavinga
Co-Founder, President of the Board
Janet has over 30 plus years of experience in developing diverse and meaningful engagement processes. Janet works on a wide variety of issues, to strengthen public engagement and build strong, healthy communities. She is passionate about community sustainability, civil society, and creating positive change.
Janet served as a municipal elected official for twelve years, beginning as a Councillor for the former Township of Goulbourn, then as Mayor and, for six years, as an Ottawa City Councillor.
She then served as Chair of the Mississippi-Rideau Source Protection Committee – an appointment by Ontario’s Minister of the Environment. The authority of this initiative was the Ontario Clean Water Act, 2006, a new piece of provincial legislation at that time, which required communities to protect current and future sources of municipal drinking water from overuse and contamination.
For the past decade, and until 2021, Janet served as the Executive Director for the Algonquins of Ontario in their continuing efforts to advance negotiations with the Governments of Ontario and Canada towards a modern-day treaty. As the Executive Director she also facilitated responses to the consultation requests received within their traditional unceded, unsurrendered territory.
Janet has a Master of Science in Geography as well as a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Geography, specifically in Resource Management and Conservation. Janet continues to work on conservation and resource management initiatives close to her heart.
Steve Klein
Co-Founder, Vice President of the Board
Steve Klein has been marketing and growing companies throughout Canada and the United States for more than 30 years. He is a highly experienced Chief Marketing Officer who has worked with more than 150 public and private sector clients of all types and sizes, especially those with sales between $4 million and $100 million.
Steve’s career path is rich in experience and specialized training. After graduating from the Queen’s School of Business with his B.Comm., he discovered that he loved leading and coaching business teams. He was promoted to his first General Manager’s position (G.M. of BTR Canada) at age 27. During his early 30s, he returned to Queen’s to complete his MBA and then worked as a turnaround CEO for two Toronto-based multi-national packaging conglomerates: Innopac Inc. and Lawson Mardon Group. While at Lawson in 1985, he helped Lawson CEO Larry Tapp engineer the $559 million leveraged buyout of Lawson & Jones and its parent, Mardon Packaging, at the time the largest LBO in Canadian business history.
Prior to his career as a professional marketer, he founded Packaging Connections (PC), an industrial sales agency that represented U.S. and European manufacturers in Canada. He grew PC into a thriving $40 million sales business, selling the company six years later to fund the start of his second business, Marketing Breakthroughs (MB).
Two years after starting MB, he began working part-time as a Radio Features Host and Producer. He developed and syndicated the show CareerWise across Canada in partnership with the CHUM Radio Network. This led to the publication of his bestselling book, JobWise and a second nationally syndicated show, A Motivational Minute.
He sold MB in 2019 and left the company on a 24-month sabbatical. In late 2022, he founded Klein Marketing, a new Fractional CMO and Contract Marketing Firm.
Steve fervently believes in giving back to his community. In 2002, he was elected President of the Heron Lake Community Association and two years later, helped negotiate the first ever co-operation agreement between a Canadian Military Base (the Dwyer Hill Training Centre) and a Neighbourhood Community Group. During the past 15 years, he has volunteered his expertise and helped raise over $2 million for various Ottawa charities, especially the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, the Soloway JCC and the Hellenic Community of Ottawa.
In 2023, Steve helped Janet Stavinga form the Friends of Stittsville Wetlands, a community group dedicated to the protection, restoration, rewilding, and preservation of the wetlands west of Stittsville.
Terry Swaine
Treasurer of the Board
Having lived her life in the four Western provinces, Terry and her family chose to settle in Ottawa thirty years ago, twenty of which have been in beautiful friendly Stittsville. She has spent most of her working career as a Personal Banker and has opted out of retirement to accept the role as Treasurer.
Terry has spent the greater part of her life volunteering with organizations she was passionate about, both nationally and internationally, and is proud to assist Friends of Stittsville Wetlands, who will work directly to protect the area wetlands for each of us now and in the future. "I want to see our natural environment and its resources protected and improved for my four grandchildren to enjoy as I once did as a child.”
Lora Denis
Web and Graphic Designer
Upon graduating college for in Graphic Design, Lora dove headfirst into working in the nonprofit sector, where she has dedicated the last five years to using her creative skills for social good. Beyond social good, she has a passion and commitment to environmental causes.
Lora merges creativity with purpose in her work. With a keen eye for aesthetics and a strong background in visual communication, she crafts compelling designs that not only captivate audiences but also advocate for sustainability and environmental stewardship. Through her innovative approach to design, Lora seeks to raise awareness about pressing environmental issues, utilizing her skills for the greater good to inspire and drive positive change. Volunteering for Friends of Stittsville Wetlands solidifies her belief that individual actions, no matter how small, can collectively make a significant difference in preserving our natural world for future generations.
Get Involved – Become a Friend!
We are growing and we need your help! Together, we will be the voice to protect, restore, regenerate, and rewild our wetlands.