Waterloo Region Hall of Fame Board of Governors
Alison Jackson, Chair
Neil “Bernie” Burnett
Rick Chambers
Brian Fedy
Larry Lynch
Marilyn Scott
Warren Stauch
ALISON JACKSON
Alison graduated in social work from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow and worked for a number of years in local government and with a voluntary organization for the cerebral palsy in Scotland.
In the 1970’s, she worked for the Ontario Ministry of Community & Social Services, developing and coordinating the community-based programs for the developmentally handicapped in southwestern Ontario.
She joined the Board of the Ontario Pioneer Community Foundation (Doon Pioneer Village), and with the transfer of the site to the Regional Municipality of Waterloo in 1983, she formed the Friends of Doon as a Foundation. With her involvement in Doon, Alison became interested in the local history of the area and wanted to find out where the local settlers of the area came from in Scotland and why they settled in Dumfries Township and Galt!
She has served on the Boards of Family & Children’s Services, Victorian Order of Nurses, Heritage Cambridge, The Trillium Foundation and as a volunteer trainer with the Volunteer Leadership Development Program of the Cambridge & North Dumfries United Way.
She is currently chair of the Board of Governors of the Waterloo Region Hall of Fame.
BERNIE BURNETT
Born and raised in Preston (Cambridge) and currently living with his wife, Marg in Heidelberg, he has enjoyed an extensive interest and participation in sports throughout his life.
In fastball, he was part of an Ontario championship team (OASA), played in the KFL Major division and Mennonite Church leagues, and currently is active as a member of Kitchener Fastball Promotions.
In basketball, he played high school ball and Kitchener’s Men’s League as well as managed the Senior KW Titans team. He coached both boys and girls at the community level (OBA) and high school senior level (Rockway Mennonite Collegiate). Currently, he is a basketball referee.
He has a connection to local running races as a starter/MC, currently including the Trigator for kids.
His main careers involved 15 years at the YMCA of Kitchener-Waterloo and 20 years teaching and coaching at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate.
BRIAN FEDY
Brian has been a member of the Sports Hall of Fame committee for at least 15 years. After a few years, he got the opportunity to join the Board of Directors after Don Cameron retired from his position. Talk about big shoes to fill. Don was an icon in sports coverage.
Brian has had a keen interest in sports in our Region since playing minor hockey, baseball and football and then coaching Kitchener Minor Hockey for 18 years.
Being retired, it affords him the time to contribute to this very worthy group while enjoying the interaction of fellow members. It is our mission to ensure that those worthy of Hall of Fame induction receive the opportunity.
LARRY LYNCH
Larry Lynch was born in St.Thomas, Ontario and moved to the City of Kitchener in July 1977, where he spent 30 years working for the municipal engineering department.
He is a lifelong volunteer, having devoted decades to the Children’s Wish, Kitchener Sports Association, Hockey Helps the Homeless and local major men’s fastball. He was inducted into the Ontario, Canadian and International Softball Congress as a manager, and to the Waterloo Region Hall of Fame in 2017.
He currently serves the Board as Chairperson of the Sports and Research Committee.
MARILYN SCOTT
A life-long volunteer and a resident of Cambridge since 1982, Marilyn Scott has advocated for arts and culture throughout Waterloo Region. She produced several editions of the Cultural Directory for the Waterloo Regional Arts Council and was the first registrar of the Waterloo Region Integrated Arts Program at Kitchener’s Eastwood Collegiate.
She fundraised on behalf of Cambridge Galleries for over 30 years and in 2000 was appointed to the Board of Trustees and elected chair, Cambridge Libraries and Galleries. She was a founding member of the City of Cambridge Arts and Culture Advisory Committee, as well as a member and chair, Drayton Entertainment Site Selection and Feasibility Committee. She chaired the Public Advisory Committee of the Public Service Graduate Program, Conestoga College.
From 2012-2017, she served on the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund as a board member and, during her three-year tenure as chair, oversaw the Fund’s one-time sesquicentennial 15/150 Grant project.
She retired in 2019 as General Manager of Impresa Communications Limited, a consulting company to the publishing industry and not-for-profit and cultural sectors, and since then, has been a member of the Community Builders Selection Committee and the Region of Waterloo Hall of Fame Board of Directors.
RICK CHAMBERS
Rick is a former secondary school English teacher and department chair who, for more than 26 years, taught in several schools in Dufferin and Waterloo counties in Ontario, and for three years with the Canadian Department of National Defence in Germany. He went on to work for the Ontario College of Teachers, the University of Toronto, and Pearson Education Publishing.
Rick was the last chair of the 55+ Advisory Board for the City of Waterloo where he had served for three years. In 2016, the Board’s role was amalgamated with the work of the Mayor’s Advisory Committee for an Age-Friendly City. Rick has served on that Committee since 2014, and he serves on the Region of Waterloo Age Friendly Network, and chairs the Region of Waterloo’s Hall of Fame Committee (Pioneers and Builders division). He also co-hosts the Friday Flicks Travelogue series for the City of Waterloo. He has been a member of the Board of the Waterloo Public Library since 2024. In 2017, he was named Senior of the Year for the City of Waterloo, and in 2018, awarded the Senate of Canada’s Sesquicentennial Medal for Community Service.
Rick holds degrees from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and the University of Calgary in Alberta.
He has lived in Waterloo since 1988, and was married to his wife, Trish, for 51 and a half years. He has three married children and four grandchildren.
WARREN STAUCH
Warren has been a life-long resident of Kitchener. As a retired high school Geography teacher, he has a strong interest in the geography of the Waterloo Region and the Grand River Watershed.
He is passionate about the history of the Waterloo Region having donated a waffle iron to the Waterloo Historical Society Museum after a class visit in grade 5 at the age of 10.
He joined the Waterloo Historical Society in 1966 and was president 1974-1976. In 1981, he was elected chair of the Ontario Pioneer Community Foundation.
He has volunteered on the Hall of Fame Board of Governors, Friends of the Ken Seiling Waterloo Region Museum, and served on the building committee of the new museum.