About Us

Neil McKinnon

President and Chief Enthusiast

Neil is an avid athlete with a passion for running, triathlon and biking. His racing pursuits have included Ironman Canada, Vineman California, Alcatraz Triathlon, Sea2Summit, Novo Coli (Italy), and numerous Test of Metal and marathon finishes. Neil's other passion is the business of sport; he is the founder of Sports and Social Clubs of Canada that currently provides sports leagues and activities for over 30,000 Canadians weekly.

Hails from: Ottawa, Ontario

Alison Liebel

Manager of Rider Experience

Alison’s enthusiasm for sporting events started with organizing the transportation logistics for the BC Bike Race in 2007. Seeing the thrill of competition and watching racers achieve their personal goals is just so much fun, Alison jumped in to working with TOIT Events on the Fall Classic ½ marathon, Turkey Trot and Chip's Not Dead Yet Race. She's seen the birth of the gran fondo movement in North America starting with the RBC GranFondo Whistler and has helped thousands of riders get to the start line as the Athlete Relations Manager for GranFondo Canada.

Hails from: Campbell River, British Columbia

Mark Lavigne

Sponsorship and Manager of VeloSpoke

Mark brings a wealth of sales and business development experience to GranFondo Canada. Working for large and small companies in Canada, Europe and Africa, Mark's 15 years in international sales experience has touched all facets of sport.

Mark worked with several Olympic sponsors on their activation during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games and most recently produced the VeloSpoke Bike Expo in 2011 and 2012. Mark develops partnerships and activation plans with our corporate sponsors.

Hails from: Cornwall, Ontario

Dianna Kennedy

Logistics

Dianna has recently moved back from Australia after developing and implementing inaugural cycling events for the Ride to Conquer Cancer in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane. Dianna has provided leadership to her teams in each local office to ensure all event operations and logistic elements were successfully implemented. As a former athlete in cycling and triathlon competing on both the National and International level Dianna can relate to the GranFondo participants dedication and desire to participate in prestigious events and strives to offer a valuable experience that will move GranFondo participants to participate year after year.

Hails from: Calgary, AB.. [and loves Alberta Beef]

Brianna Waldman

Operations

Brianna has always let her passion for sport drive her decisions in her career. As a youth, she played in every sport imaginable leading her to all the way to university where she completed a degree in Sport Management. As a person whose motto is to say yes to new opportunities, life just sort of happened after that with doors opening to amazing opportunities internationally. Brianna has spent the last 7 years working on various unique projects from the volunteering in sport development in Africa, to working for Vancouver 2010 Olympics & Paralympics, followed by a small project with FIFA World Cup 2010 in SA to most recently the London 2012 Olympics & Paralympics. Now back in Vancouver, she is excited to be a part of the GranFondo Canada family and help bring the amazing gran fondo events to life.

Hails from: Calgary, Alberta (but pretends to be from BC).