Senior Economic Development Officer with the Town of Oakville. I grew up on a century farm in Wellington County and I've spent my career helping places grow — working with business owners, investors, and institutions to turn opportunity into jobs, investment, and better places to live.
I grew up on a century farm outside Fergus, Ontario — the kind of place where you learn early that good things take patience and steady work.
I can't really claim to be a farmer myself. That title belongs to my uncle, Jim Snowe, and his sons, who have worked our land for as long as I can remember. But growing up surrounded by that rhythm — planting, tending, waiting, harvesting — shaped how I think about building things that actually last.
Today I'm the Senior Economic Development Officer for the Town of Oakville, where I lead the Film, Technology and Digital Media portfolio alongside the Town's investment attraction efforts. I've come a long way in a fairly short time — from the county transfer station to the boardrooms of some of the world's biggest companies — but the thread running through all of it is the same: I've built a career on service, and service is still at the heart of what I do.
Outside of work, nothing matters more to me than the people I love. That's my fiancée, Deanna (Dee), and her family — the Warrens and the Grises — who have taken me in as one of their own.
It's my parents, Judy and Jim Coffey: Mom a retired schoolteacher and relatively straight shooter from a long line of straight shooters, Dad an unconventional, endlessly creative problem-solver — together, an unlikely but perfect match.
I do my best to leave the world a little better than I found it, treat the people around me with kindness, and have a little fun along the way — values I like to think I came by honestly.
And it's my sister Kaitlyn, her husband Sam Bibby, and my nieces Tessa Mae and Maya Rose, who remind me what all the rest of this is actually for.
The Coffey farm, Fergus ON — purchased 1926, four generations strong.
A century in the family.
The farm has belonged to my family for a hundred years now — first purchased in 1926 by my great-grandfather James Benedict Coffey and his wife Maisie (Daly), and stewarded through four generations since, most recently by my parents, who have turned the property into the home I know and love.
Four generations on the same ground teaches you something about the long view — that the work you put in doesn't always pay off in the season you do it, and that's not a reason to skip it.
Economic development is, in a lot of ways, about creating the conditions for good things to grow. Along the way I've worked with businesses, communities, investors, and institutions — seeing firsthand what makes a place thrive.
My career began at a small restaurant in Elora. Not long before the pandemic hit, ownership of the business changed hands, and a lot of responsibility landed on me. I'm proud to have helped the new owner, who had just immigrated from China, navigate not just the day-to-day operations but a genuinely complex and constantly shifting regulatory environment — public health orders one week, emergency support programs the next.
It was an excellent, if unplanned, introduction to economic development — I was quite literally trying to help save a business. I also found it important to welcome the new owners to the community more broadly: helping enroll their son at Elora Public School, and showing the family around town.
When the region needed help getting through the pandemic, I was redeployed from the County transfer station onto Public Health's Information Systems team. As a young man I mostly just wanted to help get the world back to normal, so when the opportunity came, I stepped up — going into clinics and long-term care homes during active outbreaks, at a time when nobody quite knew what any of it meant.
Of twenty-five County staff redeployed, I was one of two kept on after the first three months, and eventually the only one offered a permanent role. It was a difficult chapter, but one of the most meaningful of my career. I saw both extreme fear and profound compassion during those years, and came away with a deep respect for the people who show up to serve their community when it's hardest to do so.
North Perth is where I got my first real taste of economic development — and where I learned that a rural municipality can move just as fast as a big city when the right people get behind an idea. I led the revitalization of the Community Improvement Plan and its Façade Improvement Program, working directly with local business owners on the kind of storefront upgrades that change how a whole block feels. I also supported the Agricultural Excellence Strategy and helped coordinate delivery of the $1.84M Set7 Skills and Technology Hub, bringing new local training opportunities and childcare spaces to the community.
The Listowel Clock Tower.
Brand and marketing for the department also fell to me. I rebuilt North Perth's presence on the Driftscape tourism app from a standing start and gave it a voice — radio spots, print, trail promotion, and an interactive scavenger hunt, "Operation Leprechaun Pursuit," hidden around town during Paddyfest, which the Town promotes as Canada's largest Irish festival.
Driftscape engagement before and after I joined the team in the fall of 2022.
Kitchener showed me economic development at a different scale entirely. I supported the Manager of Business Development on elements of the $110M Make It Kitchener 2.0 strategy, helped keep partners aligned during construction of the $35M Innovation Arena alongside the University of Waterloo and Velocity, and led the redesign of the department's Salesforce CRM — no small task while also trying to keep pace with a fast-moving innovation community that includes Communitech, McMaster University, and dozens of growing tech companies.
I also rebuilt the team's Business Retention and Expansion survey tools and helped find new homes for displaced commercial tenants during a major relocation.
Oakville is where the growth caught up with me. I lead the Town's Film, Technology and Digital Media portfolio and contribute to its investment attraction efforts — responding to requests for information from companies considering Oakville, hosting familiarization tours, engaging employers through Business Retention and Expansion, contributing sector analysis and policy work to the Town's Economic Development Plan, and mentoring junior staff along the way. Our team has grown quickly, which has given me the opportunity to gain experience across sectors.
Of particular interest has been supporting my colleagues on the advanced manufacturing file — including Ford's $5B investment in its Oakville Assembly Complex — and representing the Town through the Auto Mayors Caucus, working alongside municipal and provincial partners on issues like tariffs, auto theft, and EV policy that affect the whole sector.
Engaging the business community — from Ford Canada to Geotab.
The part of the job people usually want to hear about is film. I've negotiated location agreements with major studios and streamers — Netflix, Amazon, and Disney among them — and worked with Ontario Creates, the provincial film commission, to get the shuttered Centennial Pool accredited as Oakville's first-ever "Standing Set," unlocking the full 21.5% Ontario Production Services Tax Credit for eligible productions, up from just 5%. The team has also modernized the noise exemption process, launched a dedicated Film Office webpage, and worked more broadly to increase Oakville's appeal to productions — work that helped land us a spot in a Hollywood Reporter feature on jurisdictions drawing Hollywood's business.
Managing film permitting is a masterclass in municipal operations and its own kind of balancing act: reading residents' needs, coordinating across departments, and juggling a dozen moving variables right up until the director calls action. In 2025, our team was honoured with an Executive Leadership Significant Achievement Award for outstanding service improvement in the Film Office.
Just a sample of some of the productions I've supported.
Growth is easier to talk about when you can measure it.
A city builder's kit — the tools I reach for most, and where I picked them up.
I lead the creation of Oakville's action plan towards FDI readiness, lead familiarization tours, and respond to requests for information from abroad — with strong relationships across Toronto Global, Invest Ontario, and the Trade Commissioner Service.
I've built and run BR&E programs in three municipalities, engaging everyone from main-street retailers to major manufacturers, and turning what they tell us into action.
Took a municipal tourism app from a standing start to tripled engagement in a year, alongside the brand and marketing work behind it.
From a family restaurant to public health teams to municipal staff, I've managed a wide variety of people and budgets — and learned that the fundamentals don't change much between them.
Whether it's a film producer, a plant manager, a university professor, a farmer, or a senior executive — people are people, and business is business.
I write the council reports, strategic plans, and briefing notes that turn complicated files into clear, defensible decisions.
A decade inside local government — from the front lines of a public health emergency to advising Council on major investment files.
I built this entire website myself, from a blank file, with zero prior development experience. Good to push yourself.
Specialization in International Business, minor in Economics — the foundation for how I read markets, trade relationships, and the business case behind an investment decision.
The professional grounding behind the practice — strategy, development finance, and the mechanics of how municipalities actually attract and retain investment.
Focused on lead generation, investor targeting, and aftercare — the discipline behind turning international interest into landed investment.
A competitive, Director-nominated leadership program approved by the Executive Leadership Team, focused on developing the Town's next generation of leaders.
In 2022 and 2023, with the help of Dr. Daren Lin and the team at Upper Grand Family Health, I lost over 100 pounds.
I did it by setting and sticking to a few simple rules — one of which was to be active every day. Quite literally by putting one foot in front of the other, I was able to achieve something that had once seemed impossible. It started with a walk at lunch. Then a slow jog. Then a little farther, a little faster, each day after that.
Eventually I was running distances long enough to make me think I might be able to run a marathon — 42.2 kilometres, which still sounds a little crazy to type. On a cold, windy day in October 2023, I ran the Niagara Falls International Marathon, my first ever. I didn't think much of it again until 2026, when I ran the BMO Vancouver Marathon in just under 2:55 — fast enough to apply for Boston, if not quite fast enough to guarantee a spot. With that goal suddenly within reach, I ran two more marathons in the five weeks that followed, shaving another five minutes off my time.
If you've struggled with weight loss or body image and would like to talk about it, my door's open — reach out through the contact section below. I'm also always happy to trade notes with fellow runners, and very open to any advice or coaching that might help me get to Boston.
| Race | Time | Result | Pace |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light at the End of the Tunnel Marathon | 2:49:45 | Top 2.0% (5th/240) | 4:01/km |
| SudburyROCKS!!! Marathon | 2:55:29 | Top 3.4% (3rd/89) | 4:09/km |
| BMO Vancouver Marathon | 2:54:41 | Top 1.6% (115th/7,044) | 4:08/km |
| Forest City Half Marathon | 1:24:29 | Top 2.5% (17th/686) | 4:00/km |
| Niagara Falls Int'l Marathon | 3:17:39 | Top 6.5% (39th/599) | 4:41/km |
| Oakville 10km | 1:05:15 | Top 45% (192nd/431) | 6:32/km |
Seeing how other places solve problems — different approaches, different perspectives — makes for better ideas back home. It's also just fun.
Sometimes I wonder if, for better or worse, politics might just be in my blood. My grandfather Allan Snowe's political career is a testament to the great things that can be accomplished in a single lifetime.
Allan ran the family farm while building one of the longest municipal careers in West Garafraxa Township's history: elected Deputy Reeve in 1964, then Reeve, and eventually Warden of Wellington County. When he finally retired from politics in 1988, he had served on the Grand River Conservation Authority board, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario board, and as founding chairman of the County's Home and Farm Safety Committee. My grandmother, Wilma Snowe, was secretary of the Alma Women's Institute for more than twenty years and a lifetime member. The two of them volunteered together at Metz United Church, where he was clerk of session and treasurer and she taught Sunday school for many years.
“Allan was an exceptionally busy and civic man.” — Arthur & Area Historical Society
My grandparents, like their parents before them, were well known in agricultural and local political circles — and they passed those same values of community service down through the family. I don't say that to compare myself to what they built; only that I've tried, in my own way, to follow the example they set.
Junior steward, with duties ranging from general upkeep to auctioneer at the Christmas auction and teller at the ham supper.
What started as a friendly wager with fellow congregant (and veterinarian) Dr. Robert Wright over who could grow the biggest pumpkin has grown into an annual community event with bouncy castles, face painting, a lawnmower train, and a pumpkin cannon.
Board member since 2025, and executive Policy Chair since 2026, overseeing the policy and constitution committee and the policies & procedures sub-committee. I believe it's more important now than ever to participate in and nurture our democracy — if you have a policy idea you think would improve the country, I'm happy to talk it through, regardless of political background or affiliation.
Whether it's an investment file, a film production, a marathon training plan, or a policy idea — I'd love to hear from you.
