Our Team | Wim & Nancy Pauw Foundation

Cathy Geisler

Executive Director

Cathy worked in the Sales & Marketing department with Banff Lodging Co. from 2006 to 2023. Raising her family in Banff, she volunteered with the parent council, as a hockey team manager, and served on the programs committee with Banff Canmore Foundation. Cathy’s community involvement gave her insight into the needs and opportunities facing not-for-profit and social organizations. This experience made her a natural choice to help get the Wim & Nancy Pauw Foundation off the ground as its Fund Director. For a number of years, Cathy fulfilled roles for both organizations; in simple terms, her job was to first ensure Banff Lodging Co earned the revenue, and then to give away the profits through the Foundation. In 2023, as the Foundation continued to grow, Cathy made the official transfer from Banff Lodging Co. and is now serves as the full-time Executive Director for the Pauw Foundation.

My heart is in the beliefs and work of the Foundation. As an active volunteer, I’ve had a front row seat to the amazing programs that exist to make our community welcoming and vibrant. I’m honoured to have the opportunity this role provides to advance meaningful initiatives and dreams on behalf of the Foundation.

Alison Burger

Executive Assistant

Originally from Vancouver Island, Alison moved to Banff as a young adult and quickly came to love the mountains and the many outdoor activities. With her husband and young family, they spend their time camping, hiking, skiing, and logging hours at indoor and outdoor rinks. Like many employees in the Banff Lodging Co family, Alison started her career on the front lines, working as a front desk agent at the Banff Ptarmigan Inn, and eventually landed in the Sales & Marketing department, working alongside Sean O’Farrell and Cathy for 17 years. Alison and Cathy worked together on community donations and initiatives for Caribou Properties, and as the Foundation evolved, Alison was the natural choice to support its growth. Alison is well-connected in the community and brings a uniquely personal perspective to the conversations the Foundation has with local social organizations.

I can’t think of a more rewarding position to hold in the Bow Valley. I’m so proud of the work we are accomplishing with the Pauw Foundation. As an active family in this community, we see and experience its positive impacts every day. From school fees to participation on sports teams, to summer and after school drop in programs, the Foundation is really helping make Banff a great – and more affordable – place to live.

Gordon Lozeman

Chair, Board Member

Gord Lozeman moved to Banff to join Wim’s team in 1999. As President and CEO of Banff Caribou Properties, Gord quickly became Wim’s right-hand person, centralizing operations and overseeing the business, its acquisitions and development until he moved away from day-to-day company operations in 2020. Gord is affectionately known as Wim’s little helper. As the key advisor to Wim, Gord now serves as the Chair of the Board of Banff Caribou Properties, and Chair of the Board for the Wim & Nancy Pauw Foundation. While Gord’s role as Chair is to ensure that Wim’s holdings are managed effectively and efficiently, his true passion is centred around physical activity. From the hockey rink to the hiking and biking trails, a good day for Gord is when he can play two (or three!) sports on the same day. If a new trail is discovered, that’s a bonus.

My first priority working for Wim was to work hard to build and lead a successful hospitality company, so sometimes it’s hard for me to sign cheques to give those profits away. But when we hear the stories of the transformational work we are doing in our community, the model of the circular economy we have created feels pretty good.

Sean O’Farrell

Treasurer, Board Member

Sean and Gord go together. They worked together in ‘the big city’ and when the mountains called Gord, Gord called Sean. Sean joined the Caribou Properties team in 1999 to make sure the company was prepared for the great millennial upheaval of Y2K. Once the calendar turned without event, Sean settled into a leadership role for Caribou, overseeing the Sales & Marketing Department. Sean mentored a relationship-based model to grow revenue and is well loved in the tourism industry by many, many customers who became friends over the years. A financial expert at heart, Sean also brings a unique social lens to community issues and has a fascinating way of describing most situations. Like Gord, in 2020, Sean also moved away from the day-to-day operations of Caribou Properties, now serving as a Director on both the Caribou and Pauw Foundation boards.

We’ve got a lot of money, and a lot of opportunities to make a great community. We just need to put these things together to help people do the work they’re trying to do. Let’s get fixing things because it just makes life easier for a whole bunch of people and reasons.

Eric Harvie

Secretary, Board Member

Eric Harvie BA LLB graduated from a 30+ year law career to board member of Wim & Nancy Pauw Foundation and couldn’t be happier. Eric founded Highline Law Office, a business-based law firm with the banner “legal advisors to the business and entrepreneurs of the Bow Valley”. Eric’s volunteer history includes serving on numerous boards and committees, including the Peter and Catherine Whyte Foundation (Whyte Museum); The Banff Centre Board of Governors (Executive Committee); the External Advisory Committee of the Lands Adjacent to the Town of Banff; the Montain Ecosystems Advisory Committee; Assessment Review Board and others. Eric’s foremost accomplishment, he says, is as a founding member of the grassroots group the Bow Valley Mountain Bike Alliance that built and maintains many of the region’s trail systems (and had way too much fun doing so).

I am so very lucky to have had a front-row seat to watch a nugget of an idea evolve into a foundation that has had, and will continue to have, a profoundly beneficial impact on the Bow Valley. I think Nancy Pauw would be very pleased with the work the Pauw Foundation has done to date.

Eric Harvie

Secretary, Board Member

Wim Pauw

Fund Donor, Board Member

It’s important to me, that the profits my company makes in Banff, stays in Banff. I feel that I have a responsibility to this community and I’m having a lot of fun donating to projects that help the community and help the people of Banff.