Kathleen Burton

Kathleen Burton is a community leader known for developing and guiding strategic vision to achieve organizational goals. Burton became the executive director of Rocky Point Bird Observatory in August 2020 after five and half years as the executive director of the Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary. She is a first-year student at Royal Roads in the Master of Arts in Environment and Management program.

Burton is a respected not-for-profit leader in the region who also gives back to her community through her marketing and communications consulting. She has given her time to organizations such as the Saanich Police Department and the Saanich Parks, Trails and Recreation Advisory Committee.

Burton currently serves on the Saanich Parks, Trails and Recreation Advisory Committee, the Greater Victoria NatureHood Committee, and as a community liaison volunteer to the Saanich Police Department. In 2015, she put her chin on the line learning how to box for a charity boxing match, which earned her the bragging rights of ranking third in BC in both the feather lights and ultra feather light classes. From 2014 to 2018, Burton was part of a team on the Ride to Conquer Cancer, pedaling 150 kilometers from Vancouver, BC to Washington state.

Kathleen’s previous board experience includes chair of the Governance Committee and member of the executive of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce board of directors; chair of the Membership Committee for the Tourism Victoria board of directors; chair of the Governance Committee for the Victoria Esquimalt Harbour Society; member of the national and local chapter boards of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, chair and committee director of Greater Victoria National Philanthropy Day events; and advisory member of the National Shell Environment Fund. Burton was also a business mentor as part of the Prodigy Group’s Mentorship Program through the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce.