Klaus Fuerniss has assembled a dedicated and resourceful team of industry leaders to provide sage planning and operational advice in the tourism, real estate development, and hospitality industries.

Jenn Abbott is CEO and partner of International Conference Services, a Canadian owned full service Professional Congress Organization Company (PCO) with eight offices globally throughout North America, Europe, and Asia with 100 employees. With its headquarters in Vancouver, British Columbia, ICS is the largest PCO in Canada.  Jenn is originally from Nova Scotia, where she studied finance and business. After seven years in the financial industry, her career brought her to Vancouver, where she started an events management company that took her all over the world while focusing on event branding, development, and activation. After eight successful years with her company, it was time to seek new adventures. Jenn joined ICS in 2011, was promoted to Vice President in 2014, became a partner in 2016, and then CEO in 2018. She is a dedicated leader focused on the ideals of partnership, the exchange of ideas, and supporting the growth and impact of the international events industry. She is honored to work with thought leaders and colleagues from around the world who are passionate about making a difference, and she currently serves an Advisory Council Member for Destination Canada Business Events. 

Ralph Hilton is a retired senior banking executive, returning to Gibsons 4 years ago having been first attracted to the Sunshine Coast spending summers growing up here. Prior to retirement, he was the Chief Risk Officer of a major Canadian bank managing the credit and operational risk of a $100bn asset book, capping a 35-year career in retail and commercial lending and risk management.  As a senior commercial lending relationship manager, he was involved in structuring and oversight of many large real estate development projects in Greater Vancouver, Whistler and other resort communities. These projects included large-scale infrastructure, tower, townhouse and hotel construction financing.

Andy Koberwitz came to the Sunshine Coast from Germany thirty-four years ago with a degree in Engineering from the University of Konstanz.  After studying business inCanada, Andy founded West Coast Log Homes.  This award winning Langdale-based company builds unique structures in Canada and world-wide, with destinations as distant as China, Japan, Europe, the US and South America.  Andy also founded Dakota Ridge Builders, a local luxury custom home building company.  With his knowledge of the local construction industry and experience working with large corporations such as Disney and Telus, Andy is honoured to be an advisor for the George Hotel project.  

Craig Russell is a portfolio executive for Walt Disney Imagineering. In this role, he is responsible for the strategy, design and execution of all Imagineering projects throughout Asia. A  four-decade veteran of Imagineering, Craig previously served as the leader responsible for all design, engineering, production, installation and project management functions for Parks and Resorts projects around the world for nearly 10 years. He also served as vice president of Environmental Design and Show/Ride Engineering, leading and overseeing the groups charged with transforming creative ideas and concepts into three-dimensional immersive experiences. Craig joined Imagineering in 1980 as a project coordinator for Tokyo Disneyland, Disney’s first international theme park.  Since that time, he has held leadership roles through the creation of numerous new parks, resorts, and themed lands worldwide.

Art Phillips is a well-known Vancouver Real Estate Development Planning Consultant. Mr. Phillips has over 40 years of experience with several large Canadian developers and government agencies. One of Mr. Phillips’ most recent and notable successes was the re-zoning of an entire city block in downtown Toronto which resulted in a mixed-use development comprised of office, residential and hotel uses which resulted in excess of 1.2 million square feet.  In addition, Mr. Phillips has successfully managed the re-zoning and civic approvals for “The George.” Re-zoning of “The George” was unanimously approved by Gibsons Town Council on October 13, 2015, and the Development Permit Approval was passed on May 17, 2016. Mr. Phillips will continue as a voluntary member of the George Gibsons Development Advisory Board.

John Third for over 45 years has acted both as in-house counsel and as a partner with Dentons Canada LLP in Vancouver. Throughout, he conscientiously guided his clients through hundreds of complex real estate projects involving more than 20,000 residential and commercial properties and gained special insight into business decision-making within the industry. Repeatedly recognized by Best Lawyers in Canada for his wide-ranging experienced in all aspects of development, including acquisitions, development approvals, financing, joint ventures, corporate and partnership matters, dispute resolution, loan defaults and workouts, marketing and sales issues, commercial leasing, and condominium law. He has served as a director of Urban Development Institute Pacific Region, and on many professional and industry committees relating to real estate development matters and professional ethics.  

Sadly, we lost John in 2023. He will be deeply missed.