President - Lisa Sonnenburg
Lisa has been studying submerged archaeological landscapes in the Great Lakes since 2004 and has managed to work on projects related to four of the five Great Lakes. Her goal in the next five years is to add the last Great Lake (Michigan) to the list. She first became interested in submerged landscapes during her undergraduate degree at Lakehead University, when she found out that a stone tool was recovered off the coast of Haida Gwaii. This led to her learning about fluctuating global water levels, deglaciation, and isostatic rebound, and the rest as they say, is history. She was fortunate to pursue submerged landscape archaeology research during her graduate degrees at McMaster University, working on the Rideau Canal and Rice Lake. She then received a SSHRC Postdoctoral fellowship which enabled her to work with Dr. John O’Shea on submerged caribou hunting structures in Lake Huron. She then spent five years at Stantec Consulting as a project archaeologist and research coordinator before joining Parks Canada in 2020.
Currently, Lisa is the Cultural Resource Management Advisor for Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area and is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Anthropology at Lakehead University. She first fell in love with Lake Superior’s north shore in a past life as a figure skating instructor over 25 years ago, and is very happy to be back living and working on this beautiful landscape on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe people.
As a member of the Ontario Maritime Heritage Committee and Save Ontario Shipwrecks, Lisa is hoping to work towards more collaborations between those working in the maritime and terrestrial realms of archaeology as she learns more in her role as President. She currently lives in Nipigon with her partner Ken and two cats, Emmett and Kellie.
Past President - Jill Taylor Hollings
Currently, Jill is an adjunct professor and postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Anthropology at Lakehead University, as part of the Six Seasons of the Asiniskaw Ithiniwak SSHRC partnership grant project centred in Manitoba Rocky Cree communities and the University of Winnipeg. Since moving to NW Ontario in 2001, she has been working for Lakehead in different capacities and has been on the OAS Thunder Bay Chapter executive since 2007.
Jill is passionate about studying, protecting, and promoting Canada’s heritage. Her PhD (University of Alberta, 2017) focused on archaeological research with Lac Seul, Little Grand Rapids, and Pikangikum Anishinaabe communities and Ontario Parks personnel along the Miskweyaabiziibee (Bloodvein River) in Woodland Caribou Provincial Park, which is now part of the Pimachiowin Aki UNESCO World Heritage site. She also completed a Masters of Arts at the University of Saskatchewan and Bachelor of Arts Honours at Brandon University in Archaeology. Her research interests include precontact pottery, Indigenous archaeology, and lithic raw material studies. She has over 25 years of academic, CRM, and museum experience in four Canadian provinces and Tasmania.
When not working, Jill enjoys raising champion Standard Long-haired Dachshunds and replicating traditional crafts such as pottery, textiles, and beading. Her other passion is drivable artifacts, as she owns a rare 1969 Acadian 350 SS car. She is married to Peter Hollings, who is a geology professor at Lakehead University. Jill has a mixed Euro-Canadian and Indigenous background, originally hailing from southern Manitoba.
Treasurer - Than Homerski
Than received their BSc (Honours Science, 2021) and MA (Public Issues Anthropology, 2022) from the University of Waterloo. Their thesis was focused on the use of advances in consumer technology to aid in the representation of diverse voices in bioarchaeological research. From then on, they have been an active advocate of archaeological education. They recently coordinated a national outreach campaign with FIRST Robotics Canada and the OAS to teach elementary school students about archaeology and aid them in developing technological innovations in the field. They are continuing this volunteer partnership with FIRST to mentor school students in STEM education.
Than previously worked at the Bank of Montreal as a Personal Banking Associate, and BMO Investments Inc. as a Mutual Funds Representative. There they had the opportunity to work with businesses of all sizes to assess and recommend solutions to their financial needs. Than looks forward to bringing their fiscal experience and insight to the OAS as its new Treasurer.
Than has now returned to Ontario CRM as a Field Technician with TMHC Inc. to continue their passion for learning and understanding our shared history.
Director of Education - Penny Young
Director of Membership Services - Sarah Clarke
Director of Outreach - Arwen Johns
Director of Heritage Advocacy - Lara Wood
Director of Publications - Samantha Walker
Director of Chapter Services - Susan Dermarkar
Susan is currently a research associate at Trent’s TUARC and the University of Toronto’s Archaeological Resource Centres. She completed her PhD in Iroquoian ceramics and social network analysis at U of T in 2019. Her 1985 Master’s degree from Trent University in Mayan Archaeology investigated two Postclassic Colonial era residential platforms at Tipu, Belize. She received her B.A. in Iroquoian Archaeology from Wilfrid Laurier under Dean Knight, and has been involved in both academic and CRM field research in Ontario, British Columbia, Belize, and Greece since her first dig at the Seed-Barker site in 1977.
She has lived and raised her children in the small hamlet of Burketon on the Oak Ridges Moraine since the late 1980s, and has been the Commissioner of 1st Enniskillen Scouts for over 25 years. Susan’s passions include canoeing, hiking, and travelling both across Canada and internationally.