Who has led Nanaimo?
A timeline of past mayors and councillors and the years they served in office.
Mayors
26 on recordCouncillors
207 on recordIn detail
Leonard Krog
2018 – present
Current mayor of Nanaimo; previously a long-serving NDP MLA for the city.
Source: Nanaimo Community Archives
Bill McKay
2014 – 2018
Bill McKay was born in 1955 and raised in North Vancouver. He grew up on the mainland, but spent many summers vacationing on Protection Island, where his family built a home in 1970. In 1982 he attended the Pacific Marine Training Institute and attained his First Mate and Captain's certificates. This led to employment as a tugboat captain, a position he held for approximately 10 years. In 1993, he joined the Ministry of Transportation and served as Captain on the Albion Ferry. In 2000, Bill came ashore and was promoted to Manager of Operations and Personnel. In 2004, he accepted an offer for the same position at Nanaimo Harbour Link Corp, the operators of the high-speed passenger ferry "HarbourLynx". With the closure of the HarbourLynx in 2006, Bill managed SignAge – a local leader in the display and visual services industry – until late July, 2014. Over the years, Bill also acquired extensive and diverse board experience, serving as a Director for Tourism Nanaimo, the Vancouver Island Raiders Football Club, the Sign Association of BC and the Nanaimo City Centre Association. In 2011, Bill was elected as a member of Nanaimo City Council, and then as Mayor on November 15, 2014. He served for one term until 2018, and as part of his mayoral duties was a director of the Regional District of Nanaimo, a member of the Island Coastal Economic Trust, and Vice Chair of the Island Corridor Foundation.
Source: Nanaimo Community Archives
John Ruttan
2008 – 2014
John Ruttan was born in Anchorage, Alaska and later moved with his parents to Victoria, B.C.. His mother was born in Nome, Alaska; his father in Manitoba. His ancestors were Loyalists from New York and New Jersey, who arrived from Lorraine, France in the 1600s, and settled in Hay Bay, Ontario. He was educated at Monterey Elementary School, Oak Bay High School and Victoria College. He has lived in the Nanaimo area for over 45 years. Ruttan has owned Nanaimo Travel and Cruise since 1980. He has also been president of Ruttan Holdings since 1993. In 2008 the Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce recognized Ruttan with the Sterling Community Award for "Citizen of the Year". He currently resides in Lantzville, British Columbia with his wife Dianne. They have two adult children. Ruttan noted that his greatest achievement during his two terms as mayor was the creation of the Nanaimo Economic Development Corporation, which focused on generating economic prosperity and making the City a more attractive place to invest.
Source: Nanaimo Community Archives
Gary R. Korpan
1993 – 2008
Korpan's long political career began in 1984 when he was first elected to council as alderman. He brought to the job a solid education in municipal law and governance, a Bachelor of Law degree, and a degree in political science. When first elected he had been active in community organizations such as Nanaimo Homemakers Society. He served as chair of the Nanaimo Community Resource Board and chair of the Education and Skills Development Committee, and in his spare time, when not attending to his own law practice, he was vice-president of the Nanaimo Camera Club. He said he got into municipal politics when he saw a "divided and politically polarized council," and thought Nanaimo voters deserved better representation, such as a "moderate, middle-of-the-road and independent candidate" like himself. Korpan was born in Victoria in 1953, and moved to Nanaimo at age fourteen, with his parents Bill and Edna and brother Eric. He attended Woodlands, Nanaimo Senior Secondary School, and Malaspina College. He graduated in 1975 from the University of Victoria with a Political Science Degree. Nanaimo voters elected him five times as mayor. His political career has focused on defending the city's interest in dealing with senior governments, Crown and private companies, and in negotiations over the Snuneymuxw First Nations Treaty. While his legacy came to an end in the 2008 election to John Ruttan, he can point with pride to a new museum, downtown revitalization, a new library, a new aquatic centre, the Port Theatre, the Nanaimo Parkway, and the Vancouver Island Conference Centre. None were realized without controversy, but Korpan believed that working together would solve problems and ensure that Nanaimo moved ahead with confidence and improved quality of life. Image courtesy of Nanaimo Community Archives. Biography courtesy of Jan Peterson "A Place in Time – Nanaimo Chronicles".
Source: Nanaimo Community Archives
Joy Leach
1990 – 1993
Joy Leach was the first female mayor of Nanaimo. She came to the position after a long service record as a school trustee. She was the third generation in her family to serve on a school board in the mid-Island region. Her grandfather, Sam Bond, was a school trustee in Hilliers in the 1920s, and her father was a trustee in Parksville in the late 1940s, in the newly created School District 69. She became a trustee in Nanaimo, School District 68, in 1974 and served ten years. She was also president of the B.C. School Trustees Association. Leach approached the mayor's position as if she were the Chief Executive Officer of a publicly held corporation, always mindful of the stakeholders getting the greatest return for their investment dollars. She said, "The city is a partnership between the taxpayers, the council, and the administrative staff. We all need to strive to make that partnership work." Aside from representing the city on committees such as finance, safety, the airport commission, and many others, she was the key player in the "Imagine Nanaimo" process, later known as "Plan Nanaimo." This was a dramatic development plan as the city continued to grow. Imagine Nanaimo gave citizens a chance to have some input into the development of their city—where growth should be contained, or where big-box retail outlets should be constructed. "Pay as you go" might have been her motto, for she did not believe in borrowing from the future. She praised community initiatives such as the Nanaimo Lions Great Bridge sea wall using no taxpayer money but providing an asset to the community. It was Leach who came up with the idea for the name Parkway and the idea to have a trail run alongside the highway. Leach was the chair of the B.C. Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, an international group that helped shape the future of the Georgia Basin region. She was also on the task force looking into the future of the B.C. Ferry Corporation's operations on Vancouver Island. In 1994, she was appointed chair of the B.C. Public Service Appeals Board and had the office relocated from Victoria to Nanaimo. Image courtesy of Nanaimo Community Archives. Biography courtesy of Jan Peterson "A Place in Time – Nanaimo Chronicles".
Source: Nanaimo Community Archives