Geraldine Van Bibber

Geraldine Van Bibber

Geraldine Van Bibber (née Kelly), public servant, businesswoman and commissioner of Yukon (b at Dawson, YT 3 July 1951). Geraldine Van Bibber was born and raised in DAWSON, YT, and is of GWICH'IN and Irish descent. She worked in the Yukon Department of Finance (1976-90) and was administrator for the territory (2001-05).

Since 1986, when she became a business partner of a family tourism company, Van Bibber has played a pivotal role in the development of the Yukon travel industry. She was instrumental to the formation of the Yukon First Nation Tourism Association (1992) and has been a member of a number of territorial and national tourism- and small business-related boards including the Canadian Tourism Commission, the Yukon Tourism Education Council and the government of Yukon's Business Development Fund Board. She has been a guest speaker at northern tourism symposiums in Canada, the US, Sweden and Finland.

Other boards and initiatives Van Bibber has been active in include the Yukon Human Rights Commission, the Yukon Advisory Council on Women's Issues and the Gathering of Traditions Potlatch Society.

Van Bibber has acted as an ambassador for Yukon and First Nations people, and was the first native-born Yukoner to welcome Prince Charles on his visit to the region in April 2001.

On 1 December 2005, Van Bibber became commissioner of the Yukon, a position similar to that of a LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR. Her term ended in 2010, and she was succeeded by Douglas Phillips later that year, in December.