Tina Symko is a Whistler resident and environmentalist who has been active in promoting sustainability. She received a Master of Resource Management from Simon Fraser University and moved to Whistler circa 1999. During her first several years in town, Symko was a dedicated volunteer for AWARE (Association of Whistler Area Residents for the Environment), serving on some of its working committees, such as Valley Bottom Wetlands and Whistler’s Wilderness Backyard. She also coordinated the Watershed Management Plans for the River of Golden Dreams and Crabapple Creek, helped implement the Natural Step Framework for the Whistler Sustainability Project, and worked with organizations such as the Langley Environmental Partners Society, Western Canada Wilderness Committee, and Greenpeace.
On November 15th 2001, she was appointed as Project Coordinator for AWARE. In this capacity she was responsible for fundraising, networking, organizing committees, and working with the board of directors. By this point, she had already published a number of papers in the field of environmental sustainability. Symko further contributed to Whistler in the following years by contributing photographs to the ‘Picturing Whistler: Local Faces, Local Spaces’ exhibit at the WMAS circa 2004, and writing several articles for Pique Newsmagazine (2002-2006).
Symko has been heavily involved with the Olympic Games. She was the Information Centre Manager for the Vancouver 2010 bid from 2002 to 2004, and the Senior Manager of Environmental Management & Stability for VANOC from 2002 to 2010. She began consulting with the Sochi Olympic organizers in 2010, culminating in a trip to Russia in 2012 to lead a workshop on the Forest Stewardship Council.
Tina Symko remains active in the Whistler community, having worked with Youth Services at the Whistler Public Library since 2011 and coached the Whistler Figure Skating Club since 2013. She is currently a Senior Associate for Ponsford and Associates Management Consulting.