About Joan

Joan was born and raised in Lloy­d­min­ster, Alberta-SK. She holds a Bach­e­lor of Arts degree from the Uni­ver­sity of Saskatchewan and was awarded a Southam Fel­low­ship in Journalism at the Uni­ver­sity of Toronto. She also stud­ied strategic thinking at the Lon­don School of Economics.

Joan is an award-winning polit­i­cal and busi­ness jour­nal­ist with more than 20 years of com­mu­ni­ca­tions and media expe­ri­ence She has worked as a senior news­pa­per exec­u­tive with the Cal­gary Her­ald, Southam news­pa­pers, and Can­west Global Com­mu­ni­ca­tions. She has appeared as a commentator on CBC and SunNews. For the past decade she has been a com­mu­ni­ca­tions con­sul­tant and inde­pen­dent media commentator.

As an active mem­ber of her com­mu­nity, Joan has worked with orga­ni­za­tions that sup­port the arts, women, par­ents, and inter­na­tional aid. She has chaired the Alberta Col­lege of Art and Design’s largest fundraiser. She’s also vol­un­teered with the Par­ent Sup­port Asso­ci­a­tion of Cal­gary, the Cen­tre for Afford­able Water and San­i­ta­tion, the Lloy­d­min­ster Sex­ual Assault Cen­tre, Cal­gary Chris­t­ian School and the Cal­gary Syn­chro­nized Skat­ing Club, and the Famous 5 Foundation. She has competed as a synchronized figure skater, winning the 1993 Canadian Silver Medal, and the 2003 Canadian Festival Silver Medal.

Joan and her hus­band Peter live in Cal­gary Cen­tre and have two grown children.