Acceler8

Leisha Newton is the Manager of Economic Development and Tourism for Curve Lake First Nation and a committed Board Member of RTO8. With 20 years of combined experience in Marketing, Communications, and Economic Development, Leisha brings a wealth of knowledge and strategic insight to her role. Over the past two years she has focused on advancing initiatives that support entrepreneurship, community development, and food sovereignty. Her work is dedicated to strengthening First Nation businesses, expanding agricultural opportunities, and enhancing tourism across the region. Leisha is passionate about building sustainable, inclusive economic pathways that honour First Nation values and foster long-term prosperity for Curve Lake and surrounding communities.

Keri Gray is the owner of Shades of Gray Indigenous Pet Treats, located in Alderville First Nation, and co-operator of Shades of Gray Rabbitry in Campbellford, ON. She also serves on several boards, including Nventure and the First Nations Agriculture & Finance Organization, and is Chair of the Trent Hills Chamber of Commerce. Keri brings her entrepreneurial and community leadership together to advance Indigenous business, agriculture, and tourism.

Jeannie Maidens is the Event Supervisor for the Municipality of Port Hope. A passionate community activator and placemaker, her work transforms the public realm into vibrant event spaces that build community connection and pride of place. In her role, Jeannie bridges municipal planning with grassroots community organizing, working in collaboration with a wide network of co-creators to support a thriving festival and events scene throughout Port Hope. In service to the broader tourism and event industry, Jeannie lends her time to the Executive for the Provincial Network of Municipal Events Professionals, and Program Advisory Committees for Durham College and TMU Creative School, as well as the RTO8 Board.

Victoria is the Head of Marketing & Partnerships and Co-Producer of the Toronto Waterfront Festival and Sugar Shack TO. She is a marketing, partnerships, experiential marketing and communications specialist with experience in media relations, event management, social media and government relations. Victoria is the lead on multiple Harmony Marketing clients including the Toronto Waterfront Festival, Sugar Shack TO, the Canadian International Airshow and The Quay.

Victoria was instrumental in bringing the World’s Largest Rubber Duck throughout Ontario in 2017 which secured over 222M earned PR impressions for Toronto’s event alone. Victoria specializes in festival and event marketing and is the head of public relations and social media for all clients.

Victoria was recently named one of Biz Bash’s 2025 Top 40 under 40 for marketing professionals in North America

Rebecca (she/her) is a municipal event professional, communications manager, and post-secondary educator. Currently, she is the Manager of Communications and Community Engagement at the City of Quinte West, Ontario, where she leads the delivery of municipal special events, placemaking and civic engagement initiatives, and corporate communications projects.

Rebecca’s experience includes the production and delivery of large-scale concerts, festivals and events in both the public and private sectors, having held lead event roles at Downsview Park and the Distillery Historic District in Toronto, the Town of Oakville and the City of Markham. Rebecca’s municipal event work also includes having developed strategies, policies and systems for streamlining internal event permitting and improving community access to civic spaces.

Rebecca holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification and is a graduate of the Masters of Tourism Management program at Royal Roads University (BC).

Hillary Flood is a Peterborough-based community organizer, event designer, and the newest member of the RTO8 team. A recipient of the Peterborough & the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce 4-Under-40 Profile for Business Excellence and United Way’s Woman of Impact award, Hillary has built a career around urban revitalization, environmental stewardship, and fostering community connections and pride of place across Kawarthas Northumberland.

She has led several high-profile city-building initiatives, including Peterborough Pulse, a national award winning open-streets festival, and co-founded PedalBoro, a 15-passenger “party bike” tour that celebrates local food, culture, and community. As an event organizer, Hillary playfully reimagines possibility, serving as lead architect and creative force behind provincial OBIAA award-winning programs and events such as Win This Space, Peterborough Mac + Cheese Fest, and other culinary festivals including Peterborough Hot Chocolate Fest and CaesarFest- just to name a few.

As a partner at Bannikin, Caroline has had the opportunity to collaborate on a wide range of tourism projects for destinations around the world, including several within the RTO8 region. Her project repertoire includes destination development, product development, strategic planning, tourism branding, marketing planning, facilitation, and beyond.

Caroline has a keen interest in storytelling, especially around food, wine, and agritourism. She worked as a lecturer at Centennial College, teaching a course on digital food media and she contributed a chapter to the Routledge Handbook on Wine Tourism, exploring place identity and the power of storytelling.

With a Masters in Wine Tourism, a Masters in Urban & Regional Planning, and a Bachelors in International Development, Caroline’s interdisciplinary background inspires her systems approach to tourism development. She takes great pleasure in connecting with the small businesses that make each destination unique. Through capacity-building workshops and Bannikin’s Flourishing in Tourism work, Caroline collaborates with business owners and operators to zero in on their “why” and grow their storytelling capacities, online and in person.

Liisa Sefton is the Corporate Communications Manager at Destination Ontario, where she works to enhance the organization’s corporate identity and strengthen its presence as a trusted marketing leader within the tourism industry. Through industry-focused communications, Liisa supports Destination Ontario’s efforts to equip partners with the tools, insights and resources they need to attract domestic and international visitors. With a background in broadcasting at CBC and CTV, she brings a strong media lens to her tourism work – one that helps shape compelling stories and amplify Destination Ontario and partner initiatives across the industry.

With over 15 years of digital communications and marketing experience, Chantal leads a small but mighty team dedicated to optimizing content and user experience for DestinationOntario.com, a key trip-planning resource for travellers to Ontario.  

She previously led digital transformation projects across the Ontario government, including social media modernization initiatives and managing the content strategy for Ontario.ca. Chantal also recently completed a Master’s of Communications Management (MCM) from McMaster University.

Matt Snell is a writer, filmmaker, and marketing professional from Peterborough Ontario. Through the agency Birchbark Media, he has worked for Regional Tourism 8 since 2018, telling the stories of local entrepreneurs, festival organizers, conservation agencies, and more. He brings an approachable, insightful touch to RTO8’s feature articles, videos, and social media content, raising awareness of the wealth of attractions in the region. Outside of his work with RTO8, his writing has appeared in publications at home and internationally, including Geist, Bourbon Penn, and PRISM International. His short films have won several awards, including Best Canadian Film at the 2022 Canadian International Comedy Film Festival. 

Jacob Murray is a co-owner and operator of Topsy Farms on Amherst Island, Ontario. With a B.A. from the University of Waterloo, twenty years as a volunteer fire fighter/ first responder, and nearly four decades of hands-on experience in agritourism, Jacob blends sustainable farming practices with innovative public engagement. 

Jacob’s work has earned international media attention in the Globe and Mail, HBO’s The Last of Us, Bell Fibe, CBC, Post Media and more. Jacob has helped Topsy grow an online community of over 200,000 (Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube etc.). Every year, Topsy welcomes thousands of visitors annually through programs like Connect to the Land and a network of free forest trails. 

A skilled grant writer and collaborator, Jacob helped spearhead initiatives such as the award-winning #GrowStronger gardening campaign with Kubota Canada and a rewilding project that returned a kilometer of farmland to nature. Jacob believes the secret to achieving your dream agritourism project is to combine ethical corporate sponsorship, private support donations, and government funding programs. 

 Jacob and Topsy Farms continue to highlight the value of authenticity in rural tourism in an ever changing world. 

Kevin currently serves as CEO of Agritourism Ontario, a province-wide association that represents farms in the agritourism sector. With a government and public relations background, Kevin has assisted the board with several key issues facing Ontario’s diversified farms.

Kevin attended Brock University (psychology), Niagara College (post-grad public relations) and the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario (marketing). His career spans several sectors including professional sports, the arts, and healthcare.

Kevin has twin daughters and is a 7x Ironman triathlete. He coaches high performance girls’ hockey and has served on several boards of community organizations.

Katie Maitland is the founder of Wanderlight Alpaca Experience, a unique agritourism destination she launched in 2020 with the vision of connecting people with the gentle, curious, and endlessly amusing alpaca. Nestled in the rolling hills near Lakefield, her farm has become a beloved Kawarthas Northumberland destination, offering intimate outdoor experiences that blend animals, nature, and authentic farm life.

As a current volunteer board member of Regional Tourism Organization 8 (RTO8), Katie actively champions the Kawarthas Northumberland region, using both her business and community involvement to highlight its rural charm and tourism potential.

In 2024, Wanderlight received the Peterborough Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Award for Entrepreneurial Spirit, recognizing Katie’s innovative approach to tourism.

Wanderlight is also regarded as a leading regional example of how agricultural operators can diversify their offerings by working closely with local municipal partners in economic development and tourism. With support from Starter Company Plus, Katie transformed her farm into the thriving destination it is today. Wanderlight also received the SPARK Innovation Grant, which helped expand her signature alpaca walk into an escape-room inspired Alpaca Quest.

Katie’s latest initiative, the 2025 Wanderlight Alpaca Calendar, captures the expressive charm of her alpacas while raising funds for the YES Shelter for Youth and Families in Peterborough- a cause close to her heart.

Through her work at Wanderlight and her role with RTO8, Katie continues to celebrate the magic of alpacas while promoting authentic Kawarthas Northumberland farm life.

Trevor is a social-minded systems thinker, progressive project manager, and empathetic entrepreneur. Since 2006, he has been supporting the realization of flourishing businesses, organizations, and communities in Canada and abroad.

As Managing Partner at Bannikin, Trevor oversees company operations, growth, and development. He also remains heavily involved in the delivery of its professional services, including managing highly participatory and asset-based research, strategy, and development projects at the local, regional, and national levels. Trevor has overseen countless projects over the years, and many of these have been focussed on leveraging foodways to attract visitors and growing agritourism.

Trevor has an aptitude for meaningfully engaging with people of diverse backgrounds, and he regularly speaks about the power and potential of working together. Having attended the 1st World Agritourism Congress in Bolzano, Italy, Trevor spoke at both the International Workshop on Agritourism in Burlington, Vermont and the 2nd World Agritourism Congress, which took place last year. He was also invited by the Inter-American Institute For Cooperation On Agriculture to participate in a panel on Innovative Approaches to Agritourism in the Caribbean.

Trevor has a background in Law and Human Rights and Sustainable Local Food. He sits on the Global Agritourism Network Definitions & Standards Committee and the Advisory Council of the Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Research at the Ted Rogers School of Management, Toronto Metropolitan University.

A passionate advocate for a vibrant, inclusive, and sustainable tourism industry, Andrew brings a dynamic blend of leadership experience, strategic insight, and a deep commitment to community. At TIAO, he champions the growth of Ontario’s tourism sector, with a strong focus on aligning his organization with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action.

Before joining TIAO, Andrew served as President and CEO of the Blue Mountain Village Association, where he led groundbreaking advocacy efforts, award-winning marketing initiatives, and regional economic development, all while building reconciliation bridges with Blue Mountain’s Indigenous communities.

His previous work as Senior Vice-President at the Retail Council of Canada saw him lead national programs in education, workforce development, and stakeholder engagement—skills he now applies to support a more resilient tourism economy.

An outspoken advocate for equity and inclusion, Andrew co-founded the Rainbow Club of South Georgian Bay- a non-profit dedicated to supporting LGBTQ2+ diversity within the community and economy. Mr. Siegwart’s passion for community development is evident in his volunteer experiences, where he has contributed to initiatives aimed at increasing workforce and community housing development as a Director of the Town of The Blue Mountain’s Attainable Housing Corporation.

With Andrew at the helm, TIAO is forging a bold path forward—one that reflects the values of reconciliation, inclusion, and innovation.

Hayden King is Anishinaabe from Beausoleil First Nation on Gchi’mnissing in Huronia, Ontario, with roots at Alderville First Nation. Hayden is the co-founder of the Aron Indigenous Circle, which hosts monthly Indigenous films and cultural events in Campbellford. He is also the Executive Director at Yellowhead Institute; an Associate Professor of Politics at Toronto Metropolitan University; co-founder of the Governor-General award winning Anishinaabe language and arts collective Ogimaa Mikana; and an editor at Zaagigin Books. Hayden lives with his family in Warkworth.

Kevin Eshkawkogan serves as President and CEO of Indigenous Tourism Ontario (ITO) and is one of three leaders who formalized the creation of the Indigenous Coalition of Tourism Champions through a Memorandum of Understanding. An Anishnabek and proud member of the M’chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island, Kevin has been at the forefront of advancing Indigenous cultural tourism in Ontario since 2003.

He played a pivotal role in establishing and expanding the Great Spirit Circle Trail (GSCT) on Manitoulin Island which has been recognized nationally for offering authentic Indigenous experiences to visitors while supporting Indigenous-owned tourism businesses with marketing expertise.

Dedicated to fostering collaboration among Indigenous tourism operators, Kevin focuses on expanding market presence, creating meaningful employment, and ensuring long-term benefits for communities. As both a mentor and a visionary, he is deeply committed to guiding sustainable, community-driven growth in the Indigenous tourism sector.

Brenda has spent the past twenty-five years in the tourism industry. 

Working as a destination representative for a tourism operator in Mexico, Cuba and Spain, she oversaw the arrivals of over 1,200 passengers from Canada each week. She has worked in hotel and attraction sales and for a large DMO in Southern Ontario, specializing in travel trade. Since joining Regional Tourism Organization 8 ten years ago as their Executive Director, she has focused on the development of unique and authentic experiences including Canada’s first Waterway Trail Town program to help grow tourism visitation and revenue within the Kawarthas Northumberland region.