About Kate Colley
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From the moment she started an internship with B.C. wine and hospitality veteran Christine Coletta, Kate Colley was hooked. She found both a mentor in Coletta and a career that celebrates all her favourite things: food, wine, travel, creativity, storytelling, relationship building, luxury and fun. Years of fantastic learning followed. At Tourism Vancouver she shared meals with visiting journalists and travelled the world, telling stories and creating awareness in support of the city’s tourism sector. She co-created the country’s biggest restaurant festival and prepped for Vancouver and Whistler’s Olympic Games, all while earning millions and millions of media impressions. As Communications Director for the incomparable Jack Evrensel and his acclaimed Top Table restaurant group, Kate got an in-depth education about the world of fine dining, which she followed up by launching her own agency. Soon afterward, she moved to the Okanagan to represent Tourism Penticton, helped rebrand Road 13 Vineyards, and worked with dozens of area wineries, festivals and destinations. Her return to the Lower Mainland during the 2010 Winter Games — to cover a one-year mat leave at Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver — turned into a decade as Director of Communications, with six of those years in the same role for Four Seasons Resort Whistler as well. She also continued to represent B.C. wineries, including several years and hundreds of bottles with Constellation Brands, now named Arterra.
From glamorous to mundane, Kate’s career has encompassed it all. She’s sipped champagne at the top of One Times Square beneath the famous “New Year’s Ball,” gone behind the scenes with Vegas showgirls, noshed on raclette in the Swiss alps, toured in helicopters with the crew of The Bachelor, dined at James Beard house, and met Royals Will and Kate, all while promoting the best of Vancouver and the Okanagan. On the flip side, she’s sourced a surprising volume of chips, turkey basters, gnomes and salad bowls for media mailers; spent many late nights negotiating, talking people down, and talking people up; writing, writing and rewriting; pitching, stuffing, licking, folding, running, cleaning, and smiling . . . so much smiling.
After more than two decades, dozens of clients and an impeccable track record, Kate stepped out of her comfort zone to become a partner at Naramata Inn, keeping her focus on marketing, branding and sales. She’s also took on the role of president of Discover Naramata to provide tourism industry support and leadership within her community.
About Ned Bell
A renowned Canadian culinary talent, Chef Ned Bell has forged a unique path as a chef advocate for healthy oceans, waterways, and soil systems, keynote speaker and educator, and now co-owner of Hatch Hospitality, Buy BC Chef Ambassador, Culinary Director at Planetary Health for VGH, UBC & SPH, and Board Member and Co-Chair of Sustainability at Chefs Table Society.
Ned’s lifelong passion for sustainable seafood, combined with his culinary interests and remarkable talents, have led him through many roles, including Culinary Director of The Vancouver Club, Executive Chef at YEW seafood + bar, Ocean Wise Executive Chef, and now Chef Ambassador for the Vancouver-based global program Ocean Wise. As a father of three sons, he has dedicated himself to inspiring and educating people to become part of the solution for healthier oceans for today's children and all the generations to come.
In 2014, Ned founded Chefs for Oceans to raise awareness and advocate for responsible seafood choices and the importance of supporting healthy oceans, lakes and rivers. He launched this commitment with an 8,700-kilometre bike ride across Canada, staging dozens of awareness-building events along the way. Ned’s commitment to seafood stewardship has skyrocketed ever since. His ability to excite, inspire and educate individuals, industries and governments about sustainable seafood has made him a much sought-after chef, speaker and change-maker, earning recognition for his clear — and often deliciously illustrated — education that supports the long-term health of the world’s waterways. He joined the table at the United Nations headquarters in New York to engage his Chefs for Oceans platform in awareness initiatives leading up to him cooking for the UN’s General Assembly in New York. He was also scheduled to be on the ticket as a lead presenter at the UN’s Oceans Conference in Portugal in 2020. Through his culinary network, Ned works with the James Beard Foundation’s Smart Catch program and their continued series of Impact Events. And as a Chef Member of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch, Blue Ribbon task force, Ned will be a keynote speaker at events in Portland later in this year. There’s nothing he loves more than uniting and collaborating with chefs, fishermen, farmers and influencers across the globe, demonstrated by the impact he’s already made throughout Canada and the USA, as well as China, Vietnam, Japan, Europe and South America.
For this work and more, Ned has earned honours that include Fellow of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (2019), Honorary Doctorate in Technology from Vancouver Island University (2019), SeaWeb Seafood Summit Global Champion Award (2017), leading a multi-chef sustainable seafood celebration at James Beard House (2017), Food Service & Hospitality magazine’s Pinnacle Award for Chef of the Year (2015), and author of best-selling cookbook Lure: Sustainable Seafood Recipes from the West Coast.
Follow along @nedbell on Instagram.
About Krista Lochhead
A hospitality and tourism MVP, Krista Lochhead has been closely involved with every client, project, paragraph of fine print and challenging task that Ned and Kate have taken on in pursuit of their big dreams. From their Four Seasons Vancouver and Whistler days, to highlighting the very best of B.C. wines, to Ned’s next-level Dinner in the Sky venture, Ocean Wise, the Vancouver Club, and a variety of ambitious lifestyle projects, and now the reopening of the Naramata Inn and their current work with local destination marketing organizations, most wouldn’t have happened without Krista.
As Executive Assistant to the Hatch Hospitality team, Krista works with Hatch Comms and Ned Bell Culinary, keeping operations running smoothly both behind and in front of the scenes. Her global travels and first-hand experiences — seeing the Moais of Easter Island, dipping in the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, taking in the history and beauty of Sweden, visiting cultures a world away in South Africa, and one epic summer that took her from China through Southeast Asia to Australia — inform her perspective on global tourism products, travel trends, and expertise about the international travel market.
Proactive, fun, kind and energetic, Krista brings the special sauce required to keep a duo of busy professionals on project and on time. She adds value to every venture, brings her own insight, and in her years on the team, has become a crack industry pro in her own right. You want something done well, fast and thoughtfully? Two words: ask Krista.
When she’s not keeping Ned and Kate organized, Krista seeks out the best dog-friendly destinations, patios, wineries, hikes, and lakes to SUP, alongside her very energetic three-year-old Labradoodle, Archie.