Shannon Boudreau, President
At the Lazy Gourmet, Shannon oversees the sales team and executes hundreds of events a year, ranging from 6 to 15,000 people. She loves being part of some of the most interesting events in the city, with a team of passionate, creative people. (She also loves getting paid to eat really good food.) Shannon has an inimitable sense of humour – you can see her witty yet educational segments on CTV Morning Live and Noon hour. In her spare time, she loves wine, golfing, theatre and travel and spending time with her cat, Robert Deniro.
More about Shannon: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Nora Wendt, VP of Membership
While studying drama and events management, Nora spent her summers working at music festivals and other live events, mainly to afford the tickets to yet more festivals, theater and cultural events. After managing a theatre festival in Hamburg for two years, she moved to Berlin and organized galas, corporate events, street markets and supervised dance theatre productions and tours. Her love for live events led her to the Berlin Festival of Lights, where she gained experience in working with light art and large-scale projection mapping. For the Festival of Lights, she organized projection mapping and light festivals in Germany, Romania and Luxembourg. When she finally moved to Vancouver in 2017, Nora spent a fun summer working for Bard on the Beach before joining Go2 Productions to work with projection mapping once again. In her free time, you can still find her at Bard on the Beach or on the hunt for good theatre, live music or festivals.
More about Nora: Website | LinkedIn
Shayla Gabriel, VP of Programs
Inspired by her childhood full of attending Pow-Wows and family gatherings, Shayla Gabriel moved to Vancouver to study Event Management at the Art Institute of Vancouver. Since then, she has grown to appreciate the art and logistics behind putting together
events of any size.
Shayla is currently an Event Planner at the Lazy Gourmet, which combines her love of events, food, and a great cocktail! She can’t wait to bring her passion and knowledge to the ILEA Board this year.
More about Shayla: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Gillian Wallis, Director of Communications
Gillian’s passion for events stems from her early high school days where she helped plan several proms and homecoming dances. Fast forward a few years and a college degree later, Gillian found her calling helping organize private events and weddings while living in Whistler. After moving to the city Gillian tested out the non-for-profit sector and is responsible for producing several award-winning galas in Vancouver. She has joined forces with Elizabeth Stanley Event Design where she is known for her ability to create extraordinary and memorable events.
More about Gillian: Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Levi Semadeni, Director of Membership
After graduating with honours at Ecole Hôtelière of Lausanne, one of the leading hospitality schools in the world, Levi worked in some of the finest hotels in France, Cambodia and Switzerland. Fluent in five languages, Levi offers a wealth of experience in food and beverage, business development, catering operations, and sales. Levi started working at UBC as Catering Manager in 2013 and was promoted to Business Development Manager for Catering & Restaurants in 2015. Levi has been in the hospitality industry for over 20 years and he loves every aspect of it, especially the fact that he gets to meet new people on a daily basis.
In his spare time, he enjoys riding his bicycle, tasting beer & wines, sampling any type of food while spending quality time with old and new friends.
More about Levi: Website