Meet Steve McKay, Tsartlip’s new CFO
Learn more about Steve and the work he’ll be doing. Click play to view the short video, or read the transcript below.
Interviewer: Can you tell us a bit about who you are and where you’re from?
My name is Steve McKay, I’m a CPA and CMA. I’m currently a treasure at Capitol Bike which is a local bicycle advocacy society, and previous to that I was at Victoria Distilleries over in Sidney and before that I was over in Vancouver at Trev Deeley Motorcycles, which is a Harley Davidson dealership.
I was born in North Vancouver. My mom is English and my dad is First Nations. So I’ve had all sorts of different life experiences at that end. But basically now I’m in Victoria or rather I guess Saanich close to Hillside Mall, that area. And yeah, I really enjoy it.
Interviewer: What is your role here at Tsartlip?
I’m the CFO. So for natural reporting. One thing I’ve noticed with this particular role is there’s a lot of information that needs to be dispersed back out. So there’s a lot of funders and things that need information. So there’s a ton of work for accountants to send information, transmit it back out to funders and make sure they’re happy and yeah, that’s my role is to help with that. Help, make sure the First Nation stays financially solvent and that, you know, programs that help the community are funded properly, and that everyone has the resources that they require to to grow and thrive.
Interviewer: Can you tell us what kind of impact you hope to have during your term here?
Yeah, I’m hoping that we can get some business development done on top of just having money come in from funders where we can actually generate some money. I’m hoping to work with Victor and Brad and other directors and see if we there’s ways we can generate some income that’s not defined or that’s discretionary that we can spend on different programs or different things that the community wants as opposed to tightly limited funding that’s just for the health center, that kind of thing. So trying to grow the first nation’s wealth.
Interviewer: What do you do while your not at work?
I’m married, my wife Selena works at Canadian Tire. My wife has a son, a grown son, and we have a cat. So other than that, I do a lot of cycling and play a bit of music, make my own wine.
I’m a daily bicycle commuter, so I’m pretty committed to reducing my environmental impact. So I drive as little as possible.
Yeah, I try and grow also my own food. Those kind of things.
Interviewer: Is there anything else you’d like the community to know?
I’m hoping that I can make a positive contribution here. The learning curve is steep for me because I’m coming into a cold desk, it’s new, there’s not much of a transition but I have a lot of experience, and I’m hoping to use that experience to bring a lot of organization and performance to Tsartlip
