Cathie joined NWT Tourism as Executive Director in April 2014.  Cathie is a lifetime northern resident who was born in Whitehorse and has worked for over 25 years in the Yukon and Northwest Territories.  She is a skilled leader and negotiator with more than 25 years experience in strategic marketing communications, stakeholder relationship management, business development, regulatory affairs, community engagement, Aboriginal consultation, policy development and administrative leadership.

Prior to joining NWT Tourism, Cathie worked for ten years with De Beers Canada.  As Director of External & Corporate Affairs, she provided strategic leadership for stakeholder relationship management, led all community engagement, Aboriginal consultation and government relations for their NWT projects.  She successfully negotiated the Socio-economic Agreements and Impact Benefit Agreements for the Snap Lake Mine and Gahcho Kué Mine and oversaw implementation of these agreements.

Cathie’s experience includes six years at CBC North television.  As Regional Director of Television, she was responsible for television programming and operations in the Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and northern Quebec. She led the regional television news units in delivering both English and Inuktitut daily news and a weekly Cree language current affairs program delivered from CBC’s bureau in Montreal.  She oversaw the development and production of national television network specials from the north working with both with in-house staff and independent film producers.

Prior to working at CBC, Cathie spent seventeen years with Northwestel Inc. in a variety of roles, including Product Manager, Project Manager and Manager of Customer Service & Marketing in their cable television division.

Cathie is an active community contributor. She has coached and refereed soccer and was one of the founding members for the Aurora Minor Soccer League in Yellowknife. She has served on a number of Boards, including the Yukon Tourism Industry Association as Marketing Chairperson, on the NWT Chamber of Commerce as a Director, on the NWT/Nunavut Chamber of Mines as Secretary/Treasurer, Vice President and President. She also served as President for the 2008 Arctic Winter Games Host Society in Yellowknife and on her local church council in a variety of roles.  More recently she has been invited to serve on the multi-disciplined committee that is working with the City of Yellowknife to examine the possibility of hosting the 2023 Canada Winter Games.

Cathie completed her post secondary education at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Economics & Political Science) and a Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing).