Tegan grew up on a farm in the Peace Country, in the small town of Wanham just north of Grande Prairie. She graduated from the University of Alberta with a BSc in Civil Engineering in 2002, and moved to Calgary shortly after to pursue a career in the commercial/residential building industry. She has now just recently returned to Edmonton and is currently working for a developer in the downtown area.

Christine is the Coordinator for the Next Gen Initiative. She initially became involved with Next Gen being on the Next Gen Task Force in 2005-06 and led the Arts and Cultural consultations which engaged over 100 next gener's to talk about the current state of the arts and cultural scene in Edmonton.

Christine grew up in Edmonton and completed a Bachelors of Arts degree from the University of Alberta where she studied monkeys in Costa Rica and became interested in ecotourism and sustainable development. She then went on to complete a Masters degree in Environmental Studies at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. In her Masters degree she focused on sustainable tourism and community development in developing countries and did her research for her thesis in Samoa in the South Pacific.

Christine loves Edmonton for its arts and cultural scene. She was part of the Cultural Plan Steering Committee for the City of Edmonton's 2008 Cultural Plan, The Art of Living.

Ashley  is the co-chair of the NextGen Communications Working group.

Avi is a Construction Manger for the City of Edmonton in the Capital Construction Department. Growing up, his family moved around frequently, living in Israel, Manitoba, Vancouver Island, and The Fraser Valley, BC. During high school, Avi lived in Japan for a year on Rotary exchange. After gradating from UBC with a Civil Engineering Degree, Avi spent seven months living in a village in Uganda designing and constructing a rural water system.

Blake was born and raised in Edmonton and is proud to call Edmonton home. He is currently working with the City of Edmonton as the Administrative Support to the Community Sustainability Task Force after starting in the Grants department. He has a background in Journalism and attended the MacEwan School of Communications.

Blake is a very creative individual and is happiest when he is creating something new. He plays the guitar, piano and the drums and is currently in the art-punk band, Bayonets!!! Following in the footsteps of his Great Grandfather, Blake taught himself how to draw, and then to paint. To date he has completed 111 paintings which have earned him recognition in the Edmonton Journal and See Magazine.

Brian is a Strategic Coordinator and City Planner with the City of Edmonton's Sustainable Development Department.  Brian was born and raised in Timmins, ON and graduated from Northern College with a diploma in Architectural Technology. After College he continued his studies at the University of Toronto and received his BA specializing in urban, economic and social geography.

Brian's passions have always been architecture and urban planning and have led him to work for the City of Timmins as a Youth Planner and Building Plans Examiner, a Toronto based architecture firm as a draftsperson assisting in the design of homes for the Greater Toronto Area and Ottawa-Gatineau region, and for the City of Edmonton as a Planning Technician and Central Area Planner. 

You can find Brian running in the River Valley, reading the latest planning journal at the local cafe, snapping a few shots around town, or patiently awaiting his next flight home.

Carol is currently the Executive Director of the Alberta Students' Executive Council, a provincial advocacy group for 120,000 post-secondary students. Carol completed a BA in Communications from the University of Ottawa, and an MA in Communications from the University of Calgary. For the past six years, she's worked at the intersection of communications, technology and education.

Doug McLean is the Director of Account Management with Incite, an Edmonton marketing firm. He joined the company as a Marketing Manager in 2007 and now works with the Account Executive team on Incite's strategic client work.

Doug has previously worked in a variety of marketing roles in his career, primarily in the sports world. He was the Athletic Events Manager for University of Alberta Golden Bears and Pandas Athletics, the coordinator for the International Division at the 2001 World Championships in Athletics and worked with the International University Sports Federation (FISU) in Brussels, Belgium.

A St. Albert native, Doug completed a U of A Bachelor of Commerce degree (with Distinction) in 1998 and has completed courses in McGill's MBA program.

Jordan is a writer and producer for ImagiNation, an award-winning independent film and television company based in Edmonton. He strives to stay connected locally, blogging and hosting Edmonton's Jam Union podcast when he can. When not plugged into the local music scene and current events he enjoys hockey, hiking, camping, reading up on the history of astronomy and staying abreast of space exploration. An urban planning nerd at heart, he's also written articles for both weekly papers on issues like Edmonton's food security strategy, and the integration of LRT planning and smart growth in the capital region as a critical solution to our urban sprawl.

He gave the opening presentation at Pecha Kucha 4, arguing for closure of the downtown airport in the context of the unique challenges and opportunities facing cities around the world. He believes that better transit and smart growth initiatives are vital to achieving the City Vision for 2040, but realizes they won’t happen without engaged and active constituents. On the eve of the 2010 municipal election, he organized and promoted a free “Rock The Vote!” concert, where city hall candidates like Mayor Mandel, Daryl Bonar and Ben Henderson helped create civic awareness among a demographic that is largely apathetic towards politics.

Justin recently graduated with an Undergraduate Science Degree at the University of Alberta and during the past few years, he has been involved on campus and in the community at-large.  In this past year, he had the pleasure of forming a Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) mentoring group for Jr. High students, coached a basketball team as well as oversaw the operations of the U of A BBBS executive.

As the former Chairperson of the City of Edmonton Youth Council (CEYC), and during his tenure he served as the liaison between Edmonton's Youth and the City.  Moreover, he led the extremely successful Heart 2 Art project, which raised a substantial amount of awareness and funds for Edmonton's inner city.  In 2009, for his efforts, Justin was recognized as the Top 20 Under 20 in Canada.

On Next Gen, Justin has served on the Special Projects and Engage working groups and has loved every minute of it.  He firmly believes that Edmonton is in the process of redesigning its image into a unique and world-class city.

As an Edmontonian born and raised, his primary goal is to spend as much time outdoors.  His interests range from patiently waiting for the Oilers to rebuild a dynasty to grabbing a bite with friends from different restaurants around town.

Myron Belej is a creative urban planner with the big picture in mind. His work on improving cities and neighbourhoods has been published and featured locally, nationally, and internationally. Myron has written hundreds of articles, online and in print, and has presented his ideas at conferences and large public events.

He has worked in conservation and environmental planning, social/housing planning, and most recently, strategic/parks planning with the City of Edmonton. Myron was nominated to this Committee by the General Manager of the City's Asset Management and Public Works Department.

Locally, Myron has run urban design salons for architects, planners, engineers and designers, and has served as a Community League President. He also co-founded an Edmonton chapter of the Young Environmental Professionals, geared at creating networking and educational opportunities, and served on the Executive for two years.

An avid photographer, Myron also enjoys playing soccer, writing poetry, renovating houses, and traveling widely.

Nate Box is a chef and restaurant consultant based out of Edmonton. He was born and raised in Mill Hoodz, went to grade school in Sherwood Park, and completed a BSc at the University of Alberta. He has managed for both major corporate restaurants as well local independents, and is still passionate about slaving over a hot stove. Although at times he has considered moving to a grass-is-always-greener city, Nate's loyalty belongs to Edmonton and its immeasurable potential. He joined Next Gen to help young people realize how great of a city Edmonton is and to spur them on to make it even better.

Ryan gets Edmontonians going each and every weekday morning as the host of Breakfast Television on Citytv.

Ryan's fascination with broadcast journalism was born during a chance meeting with legendary newsman Peter Jennings at the Winter Olympics in 1988. Years later, after graduating from Trinity Western University and SAIT Polytechnic¸ Ryan held various positions in newspaper and radio before joining the Citytv team in 2005.

Some of Ryan's most memorable BT moments include interviewing Jay Leno, Kevin Nealon and Richard Lewis, fighting MMA star Ryan "The Real Deal" Ford and rappelling down the 31-storey Sutton Place Hotel. Ryan enjoys the live, eclectic format of Breakfast Television. Whether he's getting his hands dirty in the BT studio or featuring Albertans doing humanitarian work in Ethiopia, Ryan loves to tell a good story.

A true Alberta boy, Ryan grew up in a small city south of Edmonton. Despite his status as a born-and-raised Calgarian, Ryan claims a long-time connection to the Capital region, where his extended family has farmed for five generations. Outside of work, Ryan is an original member of the Red Deer Jets hockey club. He seizes any and all opportunities to snowboard, golf and SCUBA dive. Ryan is a big fan of Edmonton's festivals and a supporter of a number of charities including the Special Olympics, World Vision and the Movember movement.

Stephanie Enders is ecstatic about promoting the arts in Canada and iscurrently a Project Manager at Bottom Line Productions, a marketing and communications agency with a focus on arts and not-for-profit clients. She graduated from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Canadian Studies, then from Grant MacEwan College with a certificate in Arts and Cultural Management. Stephanie is passionate about the arts and thrilled to be working in an industry where the main focus is on supporting creativity.

Stephanie enjoyed growing up in a small farming community approximately five hours south of Edmonton, but is happy to now call Edmonton her home. She enjoys the river valley trails, festive summer season that the City of Edmonton is so well known for, and has recently started teaching part-time at NAIT.

Stephanie obtained the Certified General Accountant designation in 2005 and was awarded the Alberta Valedictorian, after finishing a Bachelor of Applied Business Administration in Accounting. She currently works for the City of Edmonton as the Performance Reporting Coordinator within the Finance & Treasury Department.

Yuk-Sing Cheng is currently an Associate with an Edmonton law firm. Before moving from the West Coast to Edmonton for law school at the University of Alberta, Yuk-Sing completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Sociology at the University of British Columbia. He has had a longstanding interest in issues of youth engagement, advocacy, and urban sustainability from his involvement in the not-for-profit and volunteer sectors.