Christina Benty
Christina Benty, MA is the former Mayor of Golden. She retired after having served 12 years in local government. She has over 16 years experience on numerous policy governance boards including health care, government, information technology and community planning. She was a director on the Columbia Shuswap Regional District and President of the Association of Kootenay Boundary Local Governments.
In addition to her lived experience in the political arena, she studied political science for her undergrad and completed her Masters of Arts in Leadership at Royal Roads University with an organizational leadership project on community engagement and asset management for the Town of Golden. Christina considers herself an asset management evangelist and firmly believes that asset management is no longer a luxury for local governments who have time and resources to put toward the process; it is a necessity. Christina is a regular conference presenter regarding the research findings from her project on community engagement and asset management. Clients include: Yukon Government, Golden Community Foundation, UBCM AM road show in Kelowna and Cranbrook, Grand Forks council, and AKBLG conference, Canadian Asset Managers Conference, Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference, Public Sector Digest, and the Government Finance Association of BC conference.
Christina maintains a keen interest in governance and governance structures and is passionate about leadership development, organizational culture, asset management and community engagement. She believes in the importance of cultivating boards and councils that lead by governing and not managing. After her wealth of time spent living (and mostly breathing) within the world of local government, she recognizes the need for relevant governance coaching and consulting. She recently launched a new business Strategic Leadership Solutions to assist teams in building a culture of excellence in leadership and governance. With a combination of applicable experience and formal education, she is a highly skilled problem solver who is able to address current and emerging issues, and create new systemic structures to increase organizational functionality.