Derek Masselink

Background

About Derek Masselink

Derek is an designer, educator, agroecologist, and community animator. Derek brings an ecological and systems-based approach and designer’s sensibility to his work as an educator and Director of the Digital Era Leadership Program in the BC Government. Over his career, Derek has worked in a variety of areas including: government modernization and innovation, agro-ecology and agricultural design; landscape planning and management; education for sustainability; governance; community development; and organizational and project management. Derek is founder and lead curator of ŦELÁṈET Centre for Innovation and Peace, a transformative organization located in the Salish Sea. He is an Associate Faculty Member in the School of Environment and Sustainability at Royal Roads University, teaching and working in the areas of sustainable business, environmental planning, transformative leadership and governance for sustainability. He has had the good fortune of working with exceptional teams on a number of exceptional projects, including the highly successful University of British Columbia Farm initiative in Vancouver, Canada, which he is credited for conceiving and launching. Derek served two-terms in elected office as a Local Trustee on N. Pender - a position he held from 2008-2011 and again from 2014-2018 Diring his second term he ran under the banner of the Bright Future Party - a purpose-built electoral organization he founded. His win was significant as it was the first time a party-backed candidate has run and been elected in the Islands Trust's 40-year history. He held that position until the fall of 2018. Today much of his energy is focused on- Achieving meaningful and positive transformative change- Developing transformative environments and cultures that embody and support collaboration, creativity, and creation for a better future- Governance 2.0 or re-imagining governance for the 21st Century- Sustainability 2.0 - with an emphasis on good food and farming for long-term security. Derek grew up in Victoria and Prince George, BC. He currently lives and farms with his family in Chemainus, British Columbia. His passions, outside of his family, work and teaching, are growing the farm apiary and the breeding of disease-resistant honeybee queens, and going far and interesting places by bike.