Facilitators
Who We Are
Carrie Nolan
From Canoes to Classrooms.
Carrie Nolan lives for the spark that happens when people feel seen, stretched, and stirred to action. With a background in outdoor and experiential education, decades of post-secondary leadership, and a PhD in educational foundations, Carrie brings a commitment to relational, purposeful learning.
Her work, on rivers, in classrooms, and across boardrooms, has always centered on designing educative encounters that awaken curiosity, courage, and connection. She’s known for blending laughter with insight, and for holding space that’s both fiercely compassionate and refreshingly honest.
Carrie’s scholarship explores how care, reflection, and place shape the learning experience, and she’s the author of Educative Encounters: The Classroom CARE Model for Higher Education. Whether guiding a leadership retreat, paddling alongside students, or delivering a keynote, she meets people where they are, and then invites them to go deeper.
Chad Flinn
From Trades to Transformation.
Chad Flinn is a builder of systems, spaces, and conversations that matter. With a background as a Red Seal electrician and a career spent leading innovation in post-secondary education, Chad brings a rare blend of hands-on experience, institutional insight, and creative vision to everything he does.
Currently completing his doctorate in Higher Educational Leadership, Chad explores how regeneration, creativity, and care can reshape how we lead - from the inside out. His academic path has deepened his belief that lasting change starts with people.
Known for his grounded presence and ability to hold space for discomfort, laughter, and discovery, Chad leads with both heart and edge. He invites others to question old assumptions, to reimagine what’s possible, and to lead with intention, not just ambition.
Kristi Mintz
From Wilderness to Midwifery.
Kristi has been a registered midwife since 2017, after enrolling at UBC to follow a calling: to walk with people through some of life’s most profound terrain. Before midwifery, she spent years leading others across Canada’s vast wilderness - canoeing, hiking, and teaching guiding skills at the university level. Those early experiences taught her that whether navigating dense forests or the journey into parenthood, the heart of guiding is the same: to walk alongside others with steadiness and care.
She earned a Master’s degree in Youth and Family Studies before becoming a parent herself. While raising her family, Kristi worked as a tree planter, caterer, and daycare provider before returning to school to study midwifery. Every path she’s walked has deepened her belief that resilience is built step by step - and that transformation often unfolds in the wildest, most unexpected places.
Now based in the Lower Mainland of BC, Kristi is married and the mother of six (including two stepchildren). Whether she’s supporting families through pregnancy and birth or helping people find confidence in the backcountry, she brings the same spirit: compassion, strength, and an abiding respect for the journey.
Fun Fact: Kristi shared a tent with Carrie on Carrie's first ever canoe trip when they were in grade 9!
