Vernon’s newest communications officer brings an extensive resume to the position.
Nick Nilsen takes over from Tanya Laing Gahr, who left the city in 2017.
“We (wife Karina) have always wanted to retire out here and that’s a few years away still,” chuckled Nilsen, 56. “It seemed like a good time to make the move.”
Nilsen comes to Vernon via Beaumont, Alta., a bedroom community of Edmonton, where he spent five years as communications officer for the town.
Born in Scotland, but growing up in Saskatchewan and Victoria, Nilsen earn a BA in creative writing and English from the University of Victoria.
He began his professional career as a consultant. Nilsen worked for the B.C. Pension Corporation before moving north to Whitehorse, where he worked as a communications analyst in the Yukon government in the executive council office (the Premier’s department).
Nlsen then joined Albeta Health Services in Edmotnon as a senior communications advisor before moving to Beaumont.