TEAM

Ross Birchall founded Wellesley Consulting Group (WCG) in 2012, having naturally identified a need for bespoke services providing solutions to a wide range of issues facing small- to medium-sized businesses and not-for-profit organizations. His storied career has spanned multiple sectors including forestry, mining, health care, finance, hospitality, human services, trades, and municipal, provincial, federal and Indigenous governments, which has provided him with unique perspectives on leadership, capacity-building, economic development, marketing and communications.

Ross has built, branded, owned, acquired, and sold several businesses in fields such as health care, hospitality, and water treatment. In addition to his work in management consulting, Ross is also a Qualified Arbitrator (Q.Arb) offering these services to resolve commercial disputes. He enjoys giving back to the community that has given so much to him, and particularly enjoys working with clients in the not-for-profit or social purpose sector.

Ross is proud to have brought together a well-rounded team of subject matter experts over the last decade while remaining a boutique consultancy focused on economic and business development, marketing, business intelligence, and policy design, working with executive teams and ownership in developing and implementing customized strategies leading to positive change.

  Connect with Ross on LinkedIn

Culture creation and profitability are at the core of what Karissa brings to the table with over 25 years of experience in hospitality, wine, and spirits. Throughout her career, Karissa has held a variety of key executive and management positions in addition to wine and spirits education and hospitality consulting. Her experiences include opening as well as large scale renovation and rebranding projects for hotels, nightclubs, large chains, and independent restaurants, as well as operations, general management, and corporate management training.

Karissa has a keen focus on creating systems to maximize profitability through loss prevention as well as measuring and monitoring key performance indicators. Her passion for wine and spirits started early on in her career, and she has since become a certified sommelier and wine educator. This expertise has given her the additional latitude to develop deeper and more meaningful connections and understanding of profitable beverage programs that are both innovative and approachable for guests.

In addition to Karissa’s wine and spirit knowledge, she has a demonstrated ability to create a strong, positive working culture within each organization she works with. She believes that a positive, team-oriented environment is essential to creating an exceptional guest experience and driving profitability, regardless of the size of the organization.

Since joining the WCG team, Karissa has consulted on a variety of hospitality projects preparing unique business proposals, case studies, and providing direct client service in a number of areas including operations, performance coaching, audits, and rebranding, and looks forward to continuing to offer her unique skillset to assist clients in meeting their organizational goals.

  Connect with Karissa on LinkedIn

Lyn Hall has been an active member of the Prince George community for over 30 years. He first entered local politics in 2001 when he won a seat as a School Trustee on the Prince George School Board. Over 10 years on the school board, he held various positions including vice-chair and chair.

In 2011, he ran and successfully won a seat on Prince George City Council. As a city Councillor, he was a member of several committees and community groups. In 2014 and 2018, he ran successful campaigns for mayor of Prince George. As Mayor he served on a number of boards and committees including the boards of Regional District of Fraser-Fort George, Northern Development Initiatives Trust, the Municipal Finance Authority Board of Trustees, and the BC Transit Board of Directors. He became a founding member of the BC Urban Mayor’s Caucus, a non-partisan working advocacy group of 13 mayors from urban communities across the province, in addition to spearheading several key strategic partnerships and initiatives bringing community, municipal, Indigenous and provincial groups and representatives to the table to secure a better future for Northern BC and the province as a whole.

Lyn is excited to work with the team at WCG, and put his years of experience and extensive networks to use in helping clients from all sectors achieve their short- and long-term goals, with a particular focus on the development of strategic partnerships and government-to-government or direct-to-government relations.

  Connect with Lyn on LinkedIn

Allan Lingwood has a demonstrated ability to help organizations improve customer service and efficiency by designing systems and identifying leadership attributes required by the team(s) to overcome growth and sustainability challenges. Organizations may struggle with employee engagement, inefficiency, and a distancing from their original vision. Taking on these kind of projects is where Allan can provide greatest value.

Allan has led organizations and consulted, as well as coached, business leaders since 2008. He completed his MBA, specializing in service management, at the University of Victoria. Prior to completing his Masters, Allan worked for some of the world’s leading hospitality and customer service brands including Four Seasons, Fairmont, and The Westin, as well as other boutique luxury hotel properties and fine dining restaurants internationally.

Since joining the WCG team, Allan has consulted on a variety of projects building organizational capacity and strengthening internal systems to improve outcomes and maintain continuity during growth phases and beyond.

  Connect with Allan on LinkedIn

Excelling in sales, marketing, operations, concept development, customer service and communications, Mark’s passion lies in designing creative and clear solutions to complex issues. His approach is client-driven and supporting collaboration with owners and management teams to critically evaluate, clarify and execute strategies to improve how their venture operates, while always ensuring the client benefits in both the short and long term.

With over two decades of experience in hotel, restaurant, concept development and other businesses, Mark has worked for a diverse array of hospitality operators across North America ranging from large scale restaurant groups to family-owned and operated startups.

Mark possesses a keen ability to extract the best qualities of an organization’s people, products, and services to advance operations and foster innovation, and fulfill his commitment to creating the ideal experience for clients and their consumer(s) alike, to the benefit of all.

Mark is enthusiastic to work with the team at WCG, continuing to develop exciting and sustainable relationships throughout the hospitality and tourism sectors.

  Connect with Mark on LinkedIn

Kathleen Soltis obtained her MBA from the University of British Columbia in 1981. She worked in local government for nearly 35 years, beginning in Human Resources, expanding to Corporate Services (Human Resources in addition to internal services such as Finance, Asset Management, Procurement, and Information Technology). Kathleen finished her career in local government in 2020 as the City Manager of Prince George, BC. During her tenure as City Manager, the City’s annual building permit revenue doubled and significant public and private sector capital projects, many of which were in the City’s downtown, were planned and/or completed.

Most recently, Kathleen has received an MA in Conflict Analysis and Management from Royal Roads University, in addition to receiving her Chartered Professional in Human Resources, Qualified Arbitrator (Q.Arb), and Qualified Mediator (Q.Med) designations. She is a member of CPHR BC, the Local Government Management Association of BC (LGMA), the Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Canada (ADRIC & ADRBC) and the International Coaching Federation (Vancouver Chapter). Kathleen is also a Citizen of the Metis Nation of British Columbia.

Kathleen is enthusiastic to bring further value from her additional professional development and qualifications to assist clients in efficiently and expeditiously reaching their goals while ensuring stakeholders have a voice in the process.

  Connect with Kathleen on LinkedIn

Ian Wells obtained his BSc. degree from the University of Victoria in 1984. He worked for a crown corporation and in local government for 32 years, beginning as a real estate appraiser, obtaining his AAIC and RIBC designations, and subsequently moving on to local government as the Manager of Real Estate Services then the General Manager of Planning & Development for the City of Prince George. In local government he managed economic development and led the negotiation for the sale and acquisition of key strategic properties for private and public redevelopment.

​Ian has in-depth knowledge of infrastructure, planning and development, and municipal and provincial land use processes. He continues to build partnerships while working proactively with governments, Indigenous governments and their economic development branches, the public, and business sectors in the leasing, acquisition, and disposition of properties.

Working with the team at WCG, he will apply his wealth of knowledge in land use and development planning to assist clients with the logistics and procedural aspects of projects involving land acquisition, transfer, and development.