Gail Hickmore President

Gail has been employed with the City of Edmonton since 1986 and is currently the General Supervisor for the Development Approvals Team, Development Services Branch, Urban Planning and Economy Department. Gail was a Shop Steward for CSU52 at the beginning of her career, joined CEMA in 2010, became a CEMA Board member in 2018 and the CEMA President in 2024. Gail joined the CEMA Board to make a difference and advocate for its members. She wants to be part of a team that ensures their best interests are heard and acted upon.

Josh Koehli Vice President

Josh has been with the City of Edmonton since 2012 leading teams within program design and customer service areas. Josh is the Manager, Service Design within the Service Innovation and Performance branch where he leads a team helping the corporation improve overall service delivery. In his role as Vice President, Josh hopes to lead the board to make meaningful impacts in support of the nearly 1,000 CEMA members.

Shawn Wall Secretary-Treasurer

Shawn is an Operations and HR professional with over 25 years of experience in financial, utilities, IT, and municipal government. Shawn has been employed with the City of Edmonton for over 5 years and is an Operations Manager with ETS. Having worked for Fortune 500 companies, Shawn is looking to bring new and creative industry initiatives forward to enable growth and change.
 

Chrisy Burton Executive Coordinator

Chrisy embarked on her career with the City of Edmonton in 1990 and currently holds the role of Strategic Coordinator in the Office of the City Auditor. Additionally, she has served as the CEMA Executive Coordinator since September 2010.

Christine Baurenschmidt Director

Christine Baurenschmidt joined the City of Edmonton in 2015 after working in private industry at various plant sites across Western Canada. She has worked with Edmonton Transit, Parks and Roads Services, and Waste Services in her health and safety portfolio. Valuing strong, honest relationships, she builds credibility through support and attentiveness. Christine accepted the opportunity to join the board and is seeking re-election. She continues to support CEMA members through social events, increased benefits, and advocating for professional development.

Doug Sernecky Director

Doug has worked for the City since 2017 and is currently the Program Manager with Infrastructure Delivery as part of the Integrated Infrastructure Services team.

Having worked in the industry for 35 years for privately owned, municipal, provincial organizations, Doug believes he can bring a broad range of knowledge and perspectives to CEMA as it pursues its goals.

Greg Witt Director

Greg Witt has been employed with the City of Edmonton since 2007. He is the supervisor of Commonwealth Community Recreation Centre in the Community Services Department, where he manages the day to day operations of Commonwealth Recreation Centre and works as a member of the Command Centre team for Major Commonwealth Stadium Events.

Greg’s interest in joining the CEMA board is to become involved with highlighting the need for benefit parity , opportunities for CEMA members retirement benefits packages and increasing member awareness of current CEMA benefits. Greg believes there are many opportunities that will benefit both the City of Edmonton and the CEMA membership and if selected for this position would like to assist the CEMA board with these items.

Jennifer Florax Director

Jennifer has been with the City since 1999 and is currently the Strategic Coordinator with Infrastructure Planning and Design. Through her career with the City, she has gained a wide range of experience and knowledge of City policies, processes, and procedures. She has a Bachelor of Management with a background in asset management and change management and a host of other experiences.

Jennifer’s interest in joining CEMA stems from a desire to become part of the solution, advocating for fellow CEMA members and supporting their needs. Enhancing CEMA’s profile through a personal touch, guiding and educating members on the available resources and advocating for members’ interests.

Majid Butt Director

Majid joined the City of Edmonton in 2017 as a Senior Buyer in the CPSS branch. In 2021, driven by his passion for improvement, he transitioned to the role of Continuous Improvement Manager. In April 2024 he accepted a new role as Procurement Manager, Civic Services, CPSS. Majid is dedicated to serving CEMA members by actively listening to their interests and needs and delivering impactful results. He places great importance on building strong relationships and fostering collaborative teamwork to create a safe, diverse, and inclusive workplace environment for all members.

Melissa Ziober Director

Melissa has been employed with the City of Edmonton since 2002, with a 7 year hiatus to raise her 2 children. She started as a Planning Technician, obtained her Building Safety Codes designation and moved into a Safety Codes Officer role. She also spent some time as a Supervisor with the Residential Compliance Team. Melissa is currently the Program Manager for Customer Service and Support, within the Development Services Branch, and teaches the Working Mind Classes to City of Edmonton Employees. Melissa joined the CEMA team to be informed and to inform. She enjoys meeting new people to learn and to strengthen her Team.

Robert Kuziw Director

Robert has been employed with the City of Edmonton since 1985 and is currently the General Supervisor for Facility Maintenance Services, Fleet and Facility Services Branch. City Operations . He has post secondary education in the areas of mediation, arbitration and dispute resolution. He has 15 years of experience on the Collective Bargaining committee with CUPE Local 30. Robert was previously on the CEMA Board between 2013-2017 and the Board of Directors for the River City Credit Union between 2011 – 2018.

Shireen Mears Director

With a career spanning over 20 years in local government and the voluntary sector in the UK and Canada, Shireen joined the City in 2018 and currently serves in the Service & Strategy team within the Service Innovation and Performance (SIP) branch. Her strategic mindset and “do-er” approach are enriched by a deep commitment to service excellence and continuous improvement. Eager to support the CEMA board, Shireen brings a strong track record in team and community building, project management, event planning, and public engagement.

Steve Goodwin Director

Steve joined the CEMA board in 2018 after joining the City of Edmonton in 2016 as the Chief Plumbing and Gas Inspector.  He enjoys the unity city employees share after long career in the private construction industry as a master electrician and a red seal plumber with his own contracting company.  As someone coming from an industry where compensation often attracts excellent talent his interests are focused on wages and compensation for CEMA members across the corporation and hopefully his voice can represent the wishes of many of his colleagues.