Shannon Frank

chief executive officer

As Executive Director / CEO since August 2011, Shannon is proud of how she has grown the OWC’s impact by investing in fund development and community engagement. Under her leadership, the OWC has boosted its ability to engage people across sectors in improving the health of the watershed.

Shannon was deeply honoured to receive a Blackfoot name, Water Singing Woman (Aohkii Inihkiaki) in 2022.

Shannon holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Science from the University of Lethbridge. Her past work experience for MULTISAR and the City of Lethbridge focused on environmental education and engaging communities, which she believes are most critical to achieving sustainability.

In 2016, Shannon was nominated to the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce Top 40 under 40 for her contributions to the community.

Shannon enjoys camping and long walks with her dogs around southern Alberta's beautiful landscapes.

Kallie Val-Zehan

Director of Finance and Administration

Email: kallie@oldmanwatershed.ca

Kallie Val-Zehan, CPA CA is the Director of Finance and Administration at OWC. Kallie manages the organization and grant level budgets, bookkeeping, payroll, invoicing and payments, administrative processes, systems and software, contracts, event planning, data security, donor and membership records, and more. She has some hand in all of the parts of OWC that involve money, recordkeeping, and day-to-day operations.

Kallie has a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy (Honours with Great Distinction) from the University of Lethbridge. Kallie has always had a love of logic and finance, and entered the accounting field after graduating university in 2008. She achieved placement on the National Honour Roll and the Dzurko Honour Roll on the Chartered Accounting Universal Final Exam in 2013, and was awarded the Winspear Medal of Excellence.

Kallie grew up near Fort Macleod beside the Oldman River on an acreage serviced by well water. As such, she has always been aware of the importance of water management in the prairies. She is working on her own prairie urban garden at home using native and drought resistant plants. She spends her time raising a wild pre-teen kid and cuddling on the couch with her dogs. Her hobbies include gardening and DIY projects, spreadsheets, posting photos of her dogs on social media, and camping.

Debra Still

Restoration Manager

Email: debra@oldmanwatershed.ca

Debra joined the OWC team in 2024 as the Restoration Manager. Her passion for wetlands and riparian areas led her to complete her Diploma in Environmental Assessment and Restoration and attain a Bachelors in Ecosystem Management at Lethbridge College. Deb’s genuine love of grasslands is furthered by her continued work with the land stewards within the watershed.

At OWC, Deb creates and fosters personal relationships with those who care for the land, and braids Indigenous and Western knowledge to contribute to a healthy and functional landscape. Deb’s work involves finding solutions to watershed issues, such as planting willows to mitigate bank erosion, installing pond leveling systems to allow beavers and land owners to co-exist, creating pollinator-friendly gardens to bolster the chance of survival for our native bees, or funding off-site watering systems and fencing. Each problem comes with a solution, and she is here to problem solve.

Growing up in a small town in southern Alberta, Debra always found herself happiest when she was outside camping, climbing the hoodoos at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, or playing in the creek. When she isn’t working in the foothills, a wetland, or creek, you can find her and her two kids out on random adventures and drives, creating the sense of wonder many people lose.

Lauren Thompson

Watershed Assessment Program Manager

Email: lauren@oldmanwatershed.ca

Lauren joined the Oldman Watershed Council in 2025 to coordinate the State of the Watershed Assessment, which will take the pulse of the lands and waters feeding the Oldman River and update the first assessment completed in 2010. This work involves creating maps, acquiring and analyzing data, and connecting with subject-matter experts and Knowledge Keepers across the watershed.

Growing up where grasslands and boreal forests meet in Saskatchewan, Lauren was inspired by a love for canoeing, hiking, and skiing to pursue studies in Environmental Sciences. She completed a Bachelor of Science at McGill University and worked as a research assistant in a peatland biogeochemistry lab. Lauren moved to Edmonton to complete a PhD in Water and Land Resources from the University of Alberta, exploring the impacts of permafrost thaw on water chemistry within peatland-rich catchments of northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories alongside Indigenous guardians from Dene communities. During this time, Lauren was a technical lead for a state-of-knowledge report on the effects of permafrost thaw on water quality and hydrology for the governments of Alberta and the Northwest Territories, focusing on transboundary watersheds that comprise the Mackenzie River Basin.

After graduate school, Lauren worked as a hydrologist for an environmental consulting firm and began volunteering with the Bow River Basin Council as a contributor to their recent State of the Watershed assessment. Lauren lives in Calgary with her husband and miniature schnauzer and spends many days in the mountains and foothills of the Eastern Slopes.

Sofie Forsström

Director of Education and Stewardship

Email: sofie@oldmanwatershed.ca

As Director of Education and Stewardship, Sofie oversees OWC's education, restoration, and CABIN-monitoring programs. Since joining OWC in 2015, she has taken an interdisciplinary approach to developing programs based on social and environmental science to cultivate watershed literacy, stewardship, and a strong sense of place. As a Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Network (CABIN) project manager and trainer, Sofie is improving surface water monitoring in our headwaters and spearheading the development of the first grassroots-led CABIN reference model for Alberta’s Eastern Slopes.

Community, collaboration, and capacity-building are incredibly important to Sofie, who dedicates much of her time to mentoring and training the next generation of community leaders—both at work, supervising Watershed Stewardship Assistants and training CABIN Field Technicians, and in her free time as a volunteer Scout leader.

Sofie completed a Master of Science in Applied Ecology at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK and a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from the University of Alberta Augustana Campus in Camrose. She has had the privilege of presenting her work with OWC at the North American Association for Environmental Education annual conference in 2020, the 11th World Environmental Education Congress in 2022, and the 10th World Conference on Ecological Restoration in 2023.

Jon Martin

Director of Communications and Engagement

Email: jon@oldmanwatershed.ca

As Director of Communications and Engagement, Jon brings a wealth of creative expertise and communications experience to the Oldman Watershed Council. Since joining OWC in 2018, he has built on the watershed literacy, health, stewardship, and communication initiatives, while expanding into new areas and reaching new audiences. Jon also leads OWC’s agricultural literacy programming.

Growing up on the southern Alberta prairies, Jon’s interest in the nature feature in his electroacoustic compositions, where sounds from the natural world are captured and used as the source material for musical works. His past experiences in media-based education, technology, creative development, and communications, and inform his strategic approach to information dissemination and community engagement.

Jon completed his master’s degree at the University of Lethbridge and was awarded the graduate Medal of Merit for academic excellence for his work in psychology and electroacoustic music composition. His work has have been featured in film, television, ad campaigns, gallery exhibitions, and conferences, including an installation at Burning Man Festival in the Black Rock Desert, at the National Music Centre in Toronto, and in a permanent exhibit at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller. He is inspired by travel, things that make sound, photography, creative processes, and cognitive psychology.

Sarah Moore

Writer & Content Specialist

Email: sarah@oldmanwatershed.ca

Sarah joined OWC in 2025 as a Writer & Content Specialist, bringing her expertise to various communications initiatives.

Sarah has a Bachelor of Journalism (Honours) from the University of King's College. Among other experiences, she has worked on the communications team of an environmental charity in Mi'kma'ki (Nova Scotia), as a daily news journalist, and as a researcher for a public policy institute. She is the co-author of Seized by Uncertainty: The Markets, Media, and Special Interests That Shaped Canada's Response to Covid-19, which won the 2024 Donner Prize for the best public policy book by a Canadian.

Outside of work, Sarah can most often be found running long distances on trails or finding good books at her local library.

Chantel Youmans

Watershed Stewardship Assistant

Chantel joined the OWC team in 2025. In her role as a Watershed Stewardship Assistant, Chantel assists with the development and delivery of educational programs and outreach events, as well as contributing to biomonitoring and restoration initiatives like Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Network (CABIN) sampling and beaver coexistence projects.

Prior to joining OWC, she worked at a seed and fertilizer distributor in her hometown of Cranbrook, BC, providing soil fertility and restoration seed blend recommendations to her community. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Ecosystem Management from Lethbridge Polytechnic. During her time at the Polytechnic, she served as the vice president of the Ecological Restoration Club, facilitating events like silver sagebrush seed harvesting and native plant sales for gardeners.

When she isn’t bouncing around the watershed for education, outreach, or restoration, you can find Chantel in the coulees geocaching, taking one million photos of wildflowers, and enjoying the grass rippling in the wind.

Elijah Stempien

Watershed Stewardship Assistant

Elijah started with the OWC in April 2026. He assists with community events and programs, and takes part in biomonitoring and landscape restoration projects.

Lucky enough to grow up exploring both the open prairie and boreal forest, Elijah developed a deep love for diverse landscapes and the plants and wildlife whose home he shares. He earned a degree in forestry and anthropology from the University of New Brunswick, including a capstone project working with a local non-profit to conserve rare ecosystems and restore native forests. During his studies, he organized a campus hydroponics greenhouse to grow fresh food for students and the community. Summers brought him back west for work, where he gained experience in forest industry, wildlife monitoring, and grassland conservation.

Grateful for his own experiences in the great outdoors, Elijah hopes to help protect wild spaces and connect others with nature. He spends his free time knitting, swimming, learning banjo, and trying to distinguish those pesky grass species. When the skies cooperate, you’ll find him watching for thunderstorms and northern lights.