2012 VNA INDUSTRY PANEL   Share
Vancouver Nightlife Awards : 2012 VNA Industry Panel

Hello Everyone!
We are proud to announce the 2012 Vancouver Nightlife Awards Industry Panel. New for 2012, we now calculate votes based on 50% Industry Panel and 50% Public weighting. We believe this will bring a more balanced way to calculate award winners with a solid Industry Panel. Industry panelists may not vote in any category that they are in conflict or may have a biased opinion.


VNA Industry Panel Selection Criteria:
1. Length of time working in the Vancouver Entertainment Industry
2. Balance between all nightclub groups (ie. one person from each major club group)
3. Nightlife activity (the panelist still goes out a reasonable amount)



  Alan Goodall
Marketing Director / Owner, Barcelona Nightclub
Alan first entered the Vancouver nightlife scene back in December of 1999 when he thought he's take a year off from university working as a busser at the newly opened Au Bar Nightclub. He has since moved his way up the ladder from his days as a busser to barback, bartend, bar manage, promote and DJ, essentially performing almost every position in the nightclub industry. His most successful nights as a promoter were his Envy Fridays house night at Crush Champagne Lounge which lasted over 2 years and his Plush Mondays industry night that last over 3 years seeing almost 1400 people through the doors every Monday. Alan is currently an owner of Barcelona (2010 VNA Nightclub of the Year) and home to Love.Life. Saturdays (2011 VNA Best Electronic Night).
@barcelonaclub
Back to top
  Alvaro Prol
Founder, Blueprint Events
Alvaro Prol is the founder & talent buyer of Blueprint Events. Founded in 1997, Blueprint Events is now in its 15th year of strength. Blueprint is a multiple Vancouver Nightlife Awards winner in a variety of categories, and considered Canada's premiere West Coast Electronic Music promoter.
@blueprintevents
Back to top
  Aussie Jiwani
Molson Canada
Aussie has been a staple in the Vancouver Nightlife industry for many years repping the largest beer brands including Canadian, Heineken, Coors Light and new addition Molson M to their portfolio.
@aussiejiwani
Back to top
  Barry Rabold
Ginger 62 / The Morrissey
Barry is the General Manager of Ginger 62. He carefully tailors the entertainment of what makes Ginger 62 one of the premier nightclub and lounges in Downtown Vancouver.
@gingerbarry
Back to top
  Casey Mackay
District Manager, Corby Distilleries
Casey grew up in Vancouver and has been working in the hospitality industry for over 10 years. He's spent time working at Earls Restaurants, Cactus Club Cafe and The Donnelly Group in a variety of roles. Currently he is the on-premise District Manager for Corby Distilleries in Vancouver & Whistler.
@CorbyCasey
Back to top
  Chris Ball
Owner, Promosa
Chris is a big believer in having the right people in the right places and has worked tirelessly over the past 10 years building a foundation for success. Founded in 2001, Chris has helped build Promosa to what it is today primarily on word-of-mouth. His passion for music, arts and entertainment led Chris into the production management field. With tremendous business acumen and industry leading technical abilities, Chris's enterprise mindset has helped foster Promosa's continued growth over the past few years.
@PromosaMgmt
Back to top
  Craig Stowe
President, JetSet Crew
Craig is the President of JetSet Crew which organizes Vancouver's most exclusive independent parties. He is also the President of the Chinese Restaurants Awards and Sales Director of Caesars Entertainment Player Services. Craig is Past director of Pernod Ricard, the second largest wine and spirit company in world in sales.
@JetSetArrivals
Back to top
  Ferry Msh
Owner, MSH Sessions
Ferry is the owner and founder of MSH Sessions. MSH exploded on the scene five years ago and has quickly become a premium event promoter in the Vancouver scene expanding across multiple genres. Ferry is also the founder of Nightbat.com, a local nightlife ticket portal.
@MSHSessions
Back to top
  Gary Tennant
DJ Johnny Omega
Johnny started out as a dj in the early 90's, He started out in a small town nightclub opening and playing with artists such as Snow, Meastro Fresh Wes, Jeff Healy, Alana Myles and the list goes on. With his drive to be one of the top DJ's in B.C. Johnny has made a solid name for himself over the last 20 years and has become a household name in and around Vancouver playing every size of venue. The sound that he is known for can’t be cataloged into one genre as he has proven himself to be very diverse in his events and bookings.
@DJ_Johnny_Omega
Back to top
  James Steck
Marketing and Promotions Manager, Celebrities Nightclub
James has been managing Bars and Nightclubs Vancouver for over 12 years. Steck is the Owner of CruiseyT, a Party Boat that has been producing Boat Cruise Parties for over 21 years. He enjoys the West End Community and has sat on many of the community Organizations such as, West End BIA, Dogwood Monarchs Society, GLBA and a great many others. He currently resides as Marketing and Promotions manager for Celebrities Nightclub for the past 5 years.
@Celebrities_Van
Back to top
  Jay Wallace
DJ Jay Swing / Nation of Millions / Donnelly Group
Jay Swing has spent the last decade and (then some) blowing the roof off clubs, rocking' on the radio, breaking records, promoting concerts and making your favourite mix tapes. Most recently, Jay has added the title of Talent Buyer to his resume booking and promoting shows as part of the Donnelly Group team and for his own Nation Of Millions Events. If Jay isn't posting the latest in Rap Nerdery at www.NationOfMillions.ca, or DJ'ing Canucks games as part of the Official Canuck DJ duo 'Vanroc' with Marlon J English, then you'll find him elbows deep in a dusty record store somewhere digging for records that will get him one step closer to his goal of owning every record ever made!
@JaySwing
Back to top
  Karen Khun Khun
Personality/Producer, CFOX/CTV
Karen Khunkhun began her on-air career at Vancouver's Co-OP Radio 102.7 CFRO while studying in university. She later moved to the promotions department at 99.3 The Fox and continued her marketing journey in L.A. with Atlantic records. Two years later, Karen returned to Vancouver where she returned to radio for the popular Larry & Willy morning show. From traffic reporter to show producer at C-FOX. Karen started at City TV with their Breakfast Show, entertainment specials and as the community events spokesperson. Her career has spanned the broadcast spectrum from the weekend weather-caster for CTV News to doing the afternoon radio show at CFOX. You can listen to Karen on 99.3 The Fox weekday mornings from 6am-10am on the Jeff O'Neil Show.
@karenkhunkhun
Back to top
  Kraig Docherty
VP Marketing, Twisted Productions
Kraig has been a part of the Vancouver nightlife scene since 1999 both as a promoter and DJ. He's part of the team at Twisted Productions that have hosted, produced and promoted over 500 events ranging in attendance from 200-6000 people spanning all genres of music. Kraig is personally one of the biggest supporters of Breakbeat and Funk, and is one of the few left still throwing events that support that sound. He and the Twisted crew have already had a busy 2012 including the launch of Socielle - their new weekly Friday at ginger62 that is focused on bringing House music back to the city!
@kraigd
Back to top
  Laurent Munier
Owner, Way Doper Events
Laurent has been a long-time Vancouver nightlife industry insider, helping to launch two large Vancouver nightlife websites Clubvibes and Clubzone, running the sales and marketing for Donnelly Group's nightclub Pop Opera and now hosting his own events at Way Doper Events Company.
@laurentmunier
Back to top
  Mark Rasta
Owner, PI Entertainment / Terracotta
Mark Rasta is a club night and concert producer with Pure Image Entertainment with a decade in the Vancity nightlife. He has brought acts ranging from Armin Van Buuren, to Neo, to Young Jeezy and many more! Also notable, Pure Image have the longest running Long Weekend in Vancouver's history Entice, currently at Barcelona!
@markrasta
Back to top
  Megan Mckay Hall
Key Account Manager, Whistler Brewing
Megan McKay Hall has been connected to Vancouver's nightclub and restaurant industry for over 12 years. Previously running sales, promotions, and marketing programs in the downtown nightclub industry, Megan moved into liquor sales over 6 years ago and is currently the Key Account Manager for the Whistler Brewing Company.'
@whistlerbrewing
Back to top
  Nate Sabine
Marketing Consultant
Nate has spent his career as a lifestyle marketer and proponent in diverse sectors. His roles have ranged from artist management within entertainment to brand building and programming within hospitality. Culturally relevant initiatives and concepts interest him most.
@natesabine
Back to top
  Nicholas Simon
Imperial Tobacco
When he isn't acting, producing, or out on the town with Sean Young, Nick can be found throwing exclusive industry parties for duMaurier. Nick is no stranger to Vancouver's Nightlife scene, having bartended everywhere from the burbs to East Van, to Yaletown. Nick is one of Vancouver's finest gentleman, and yes ladies.... he's single.
@nicawho
Back to top
  Paul Stoilen
Operating Partner, Donnelly Group
Paul Stoilen, Operating Partner with The Donnelly Group for the past six years, Labatt Breweries before that. Born and Raised in Tsawwassen, went to SFU, played 2 minutes with the BC Lions. Favourite places internationally are Tokyo and London. Favourite places in North America are NYC, Miami, LA and of course, Vancouver.
@paulstoilen
Back to top
  Pedro Serra
Owner, SoulGood Events
Deep in the trenches of Vancouver's urban nightlife scene.. Pedro is a prolific & positive nightclub promoter winning the Best Urban Promoter award thus far 3 times with Soulgood. His current weekly nights under his belt are 2011 Best Urban Night; Jo'Rich Thursdays at Joseph Richard & the new iShine Saturdays at Shine Nightclub.. With busy nights week in & week out Pedro's nights are sure shots if your an urban music fan. Pedro is also a advocate in the fight against Cancer.. After losing his long time friend & partner Shaun G to a fight against Angiosarcoma Cancer in October 2011.. Shaun's legacy continues on with his friends such as Pedro.
@PedroSoulgood
Back to top
  Peter Girges
President, Rocksglass
Peter moved to Vancouver in 2004 from Toronto where he was born and raised. He started working in the business when he was 13 yrs old at his father's cafe and catering company in Toronto. Peter opened his first place when he was 19. It was called Brownstone. He then sold it and moved here with his uncle Emad Yacoub to open up all the Glowbal Group restaurants. After cashing out two and a half years ago, he travelled the world then came back and opened up 100 days then Chinois and Pierres. The rest is history!
@petergirges
Back to top
  Ray Staniscia
Owner, Sip Resto-Lounge / The Refinery
Raymond Staniscia has been in the hospitality industry for 12 years. Winner of 8 nightlife awards, Ray and his SIP crew, pride themselves in making sure everyone in the industry feels welcome and loved at SIP & The Refinery. Whether you like it or not, a warm shot of Stoli is what you will probably receive!
@rayrefinery
Back to top
  Rob Rizk
Owner, Fortune Sound Club
Rizk started out as a b-boy in what was then Canada's #1 b-boy crew called Contents Under Pressure. Rizk still continues to dance, but also picked up Djing around 1998. His true love of music is Deep House Music, Golden Era hip-hop, Afro Beat, and funk, . He is often hired as a headlining DJ and flys around the world to play. In 2005, Rizk partnered with Garry Bone and GMAN to open Livestock (www.deadstock.ca) which is Canada's hottest footwear and apparel boutique. Rizk is currently the owner and operator of, Fortune Sound Club (www.fortunesoundclub.com), which has won the 2010 WE Reader's Choice for Best Dance Club and came 3rd for Vancouver's Best Live Venue & 2011 Clubvibes Best Night club award.
@fortunesound
Back to top
  Saverio Loria
Owner, Status Nightclub
Saverio is no stranger to the nightlife industry and has been an Owner/Manager for over two decades now. Sav has owned and operated 12 Nightclubs. It is not only his career but his passion that he truly loves and has done virtually every job there is to do within the industry! He has also won the Vancouver Nightlife Awards 2010 & 2011 for Manager Of The Year.
@statusniteclub
Back to top
  Sean Young
Playboy Energy Drink
Trendsetter. Pioneer. Visionary. Sean founded the popular curated music website Freshtronic.com, and has recently joined the infamous Playboy Energy Drink Canada team. Sean is a solid pillar Vancouver Nightlife and music scene, and when you see him, give him a hug. He smells really good.
@seanyoung123
Back to top
  Simon Pearson-Roach
General Manager, Canvas Lounge
Simon Pearson-Roach started in the Vancouver Hospitality industry in 2002 leading teams at restaurants and bars on Davie St. For the past 4 years, he has worked as GM at Canvas Lounge hosting everything from weddings, wrap parties, fundraisers, product launches and events for top international corporations and brands; while a nightclub on the weekends. He led the service team at the Saskatchewan Pavilion during the 2010 Winter Olympics which served Athletes, Government Officials, and over 7000 individuals daily while hosting Arrivals @ Canvas Lounge for the Gold Medalists by JetSet Crew. Simon has made a great impact in charitable causes by leading service teams for large scale events such as Chicas and Art For Life to which all incomes benefit the Friends for Life Society.
@CanvasLounge
Back to top
  Talia van Roestel
Account Executive, Clubvibes.com
After finishing her Marketing degree in Nova Scotia Talia quickly jumped ship for a few years in the Caribbean and Europe, finally landing in our fine city in the role of Account Executive with Clubvibes.com. An enthusiastic force in the Vancouver Nightlife Industry Talia can be found spraying down crowds with Moet on top of some “lucky?” bar or full of regret sweating out the ‘top shelf’ in a hot yoga class near you.
@taliaclubvibes
Back to top
  Tyson Villeneuve
Owner, The Social Concierge
Tyson has been in the nightlife industry for 13 years. His resume includes representing Goldclub Series, Kokanee, Stella Artois, Bacardi and Grey Goose brands. Currently resident DJ for LOVE/LIFE Saturdays at Barcelona (2011 VNA Electronic Night of the Year), AQUALUXE Fridays at O Lounge & CIRQUE Fridays at 560. Been a DJ for 9 years and played almost every room in the city. Tyson is a mixology and spirits specialist. Designing, promoting, producing events in Vancouver for 12 years including the original White Party at Caprice. Hosted the Vancouver Nightlife Awards 6 times and voted the 'Face of Nightlife' in 2007/08 by the City of Vancouver & Board of Trade. Founder/Partner in experiential branding and marketing agency The Social Concierge.
@tyson_v
Back to top
Follow us on Twitter @VNAwards


Alan Goodall
Marketing Director / Owner, Barcelona Nightclub

Alvaro Prol
Founder, Blueprint Events

Aussie Jiwani
Molson Canada

Barry Rabold
Ginger 62 / The Morrissey

Casey Mackay
District Manager, Corby Distilleries

Chris Ball
Owner, Promosa

Craig Stowe
President, JetSet Crew

Ferry MSH
Owner, MSH Sessions

Gary Tennant
DJ Johnny Omega

James Steck
Marketing, Celebrities Nightclub

Jay Wallace
DJ Jay Swing / Nation of Millions / Donnelly Group

Karen Khun Khun
Personality, CFOX/CTV

Kraig Docherty
VP Marketing, Twisted Productions

Laurent Munier
Owner, Way Doper Events

Mark Rasta
Owner, PI Entertainment / Terracotta

Megan Mckay Hall
Key Account Manager, Whistler Brewing

Nate Sabine
Marketing Consultant

Nicholas Simon
Imperial Tobacco

Paul Stoilen
Operating Partner, Donnelly Group

Pedro Serra
Owner, Soulgood Events

Peter Girges
President, Rocksglass

Ray Staniscia
Owner, Sip Resto-Lounge / The Refinery

Rob Rizk
Owner, Fortune Sound Club

Saverio Loria
Owner, Status Nightclub

Sean Young
Playboy Energy Drink

Simon Pearson-Roach
General Manager, Canvas Lounge

Talia van Roestel
Account Executive, Clubvibes.com

Tyson Villeneuve
Owner, Social Concierge

All content © Copyright 1999-2013
Club Vibes Media International Inc. (CVMI)