VOTE Blackmore to Grande Prairie City Council
Experienced. Resourceful. Capable.
VOTE Blackmore to Grande Prairie City Council
Experienced. Resourceful. Capable.
Gladys Blackmore
Believes in Grande Prairie
Grande Prairie is our home, yours and mine. We want our city to be the best home we can build while staying within budget. We want drivable streets, great activities for our kids and affordable services. We want Council to defend our interests to the Province and Feds.
Help build a better home.Vote Blackmore.
About Me
Background and Education
Background and Education
Background and Education
I grew up west of Beaverlodge, and met my husband at GPRC. We married and moved to Edmonton. By the time David graduated with a degree in forestry, we had two children. There really were no jobs in forestry that year; David was one of just four graduates out of a class of 90 who landed a career-related job. What a relief, especially as we soon learned a third little Blackmore was on his way! We moved around northern Alberta and B.C. as David built his career and we raised our daughter and two sons. During that time, I worked on completing a BA, with a double major in English and Canadian History. In those years, distant learning depended entirely on the postal service and finishing courses was a slow process. I remain a few courses short of that degree. Instead, I eventually completed a Bachelor of Business Administration as better suited to my roles in non profit and business management.
Management Experience
Background and Education
Background and Education
In 1990, we moved back to Grande Prairie. Our children were 11, 12 and 14. I worked as a graphic designer for a sign shop before studying to become a Registered Financial Planner. In 2006, I was selected to the position of CEO at United Way, getting me first taste of on profit business management. In 2014, I accepted the same position at Resource Centre for Suicide Prevention. I remained in that very challenging role until my retirement in June of 2019.
Successful non profit businesses need to be managed as astutely as any business, with the added incentive that donors need to see value before they write their cheque. Instead of receiving a good or service for their money, the donor receives only the knowledge that someone else is benefitting from their generosity. Donors both demand and deserve to know that their purchase is being managed most frugally and spent as promised. It is a great training ground for careful fiscal management and accountable spending.
Council Experience
Background and Education
Council Experience
I was first elected to City Council in 2001, while working at Investors Group. Like several fellow councillors, I continued to work fulltime over the 3 three-year terms I served the city. By 2010, I felt I was stretched too thin to continue serving two masters. I made the choice to run for mayor that year, knowing that regardless of the election outcome, I would have one job to dedicate my energy to. The election that year was won by Mayor Bill Given, and I left politics. Now, I am retired and the two year break I have taken has left me energized and ready to tackle your driving issues.
That experience, combined with my previous service to council, make me an ideal candidate this election.
Vote Gladys BLACKMORE to city council on October 18th.