Directory

Guido has been actively involved in the game of soccer at all levels for over 45 years and has volunteered as a coach, board member, and Club President at Cliff Avenue United FC from 2008 to 2023.  Some of Guido’s many accomplishments include playing professionally for the Vancouver 86ers from 1987-1994 and for the Canadian National Teams (U16, U19, U23, & Men’s) from 1985-1993.  He also received the City of Burnaby’s Male Athlete of the Year Award in 1988, was inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame in 2004 with the 86ers team and was presented with BC Soccer’s A.C. Sanford Award in 2020.  He continues to play competitive men’s soccer in the O45 Premier Division of the VMSL for Columbus FC.  Outside of soccer Guido has worked for BMO Bank of Montreal for over 30 years, and is currently in a Vice President, Business Banking role with BMO.  Born and raised in the City of Burnaby, Guido continues to reside in Burnaby with his wife and two boys.

A passion for the game and player development, Mario has spent his entire life in the game, as a player, coach, and administrator, most recently As President of Mountain United FC. His playing career began with clubs in East Vancouver, SFU, and culminated with the Vancouver 86ers of the CSL in the 1990s. Mario continues to coach and give the back to the beautiful game that impacts all of us. Professionally, Mario is a partner at Axis Insurance Inc. providing risk advice and insurance to medium and large corporations.

Richard is a senior executive with extensive experience in corporate development, capital markets, risk management, financial reporting and control, operational management, strategic planning and leading change in multiple industries, including mining, telecom and automotive. He was the former Chief Financial Officer of Westport Fuel Systems Inc., a global clean technology company in the automotive sector Prior to joining Westport Fuel Systems, he served as Senior Vice President, Treasurer of Goldcorp, Inc., a former NYSE and TSX listed senior gold producer, where he was responsible for financing the company’s strategic and operating objectives and managing risk exposure. Previously, he also held roles as Senior Vice President, Controller and Vice President, Internal Audit. Prior to Goldcorp, Richard served as Vice President, Finance at BCE Inc., Canada’s largest communications company, where he led the financial management of various operating divisions during a period of significant change in the industry.

Richard has been involved in youth football in Burnaby for past 12 years serving on the Boards of Cliff Avenue United FC (“CAUFC”) and Mountain United FC, and coaching boys and girls teams at CAUFC. He most recently was the Vice President and Treasurer of CAUFC prior to the amalgamation of the Burnaby-based football clubs.

He is a Chartered Professional Accountant (“CPA”) in British Columbia and holds a Global Executive MBA from the IESE Business School at the University of Navarra and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University. Richard is also fluent in French, Italian, and Spanish.

Joseph Nakhla has passion for growing the game of soccer with focus on player development. Professionally, Joseph is the Founder and CEO of Tribe Property Technologies.. Prior to this, Joseph was the COO of TIO Networks, acquired by Paypal, and is also a Founder and a board member of OctoAI Technologies Corp. and Minehub Technologies Inc. Joseph studied Civil and Structural engineering and Business Management at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. He currently serves on the Policy Advisory Council of the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association. Joseph is often found on soccer pitches playing or coaching youth and adults at various levels in BC.

Andrew grew up playing youth soccer in Vancouver, often competing against teams from Burnaby including Cliff Avenue and Wesburn. Fast forward a few decades later and he is excited to be part of the merger that brings these Burnaby clubs together, along with Burnaby Girls, BDMS, and Mountain United. Andrew served on the Cliff Avenue Board for eight years where he helped to oversee the Club’s governance and player safety policies. He has over 10 years of experience coaching boys and girls teams and holds a Canada Soccer C level coaching license. 

For the last 35 years, Morgan has been involved at every level of the game from player, coach, and parent to Club President, GM and Technical Director, including 19 years as the Manager and then General Manager of the Canadian Men’s National and Olympic Soccer Teams. He has liaised with a number of sports organizations such as Concacaf and FIFA, including hundreds of professional clubs and more than 60 different Member Associations (FIFA) while organizing more than 200 international matches, tournaments, training camps and events in countries around the World. His long career in sports management includes media relations, public relations, event management, and organizational planning.

After leaving Canada Soccer in 2018, Morgan served as Bowen Island FC’s GM and Technical Director (a Club he helped found in 2008) and has been a Venue Coordinator and Match Coordinator for Concacaf in Nations League and Gold Cup qualifying matches. He was the GM for TSS Rovers’ League1 BC teams in their inaugural 2022 season. Prior to joining Canada Soccer, Morgan was the Director of Media Relations for the Ottawa Senators, PR Director with the Ottawa Lynx Baseball Club, Sports Information Director at the University of Ottawa and a Sportswriter at the Ottawa Sun.

His playing career included years at Algonquin College (1989), the University of Ottawa (1991-1994), Ottawa Internationals Men’s Premier (1990-2005), Bowen Island FC (2014-2016 VMSL) and of course the Bowen Island adult league. He has coached across numerous levels including the University of Ottawa Women (1996 CIAU National Champions), Ottawa Internationals Women’s Premier and numerous BIFC youth and teams from 2008-2022.

He lives with his wife Joanna and has two daughters, Molly, 21 and Grace, 19.

Kevin has a lengthy and distinguished profile both as a player and as a coach. Kevin played semi-pro in England for Garforth Town FC before being scouted to move to the United States on a soccer scholarship. While attending William Woods University (NAIA), Kevin captained the team from mid freshman year until graduation. He was also recognized to the Honourable Mention Squad twice and First Team All Conference once. Kevin was named Team MVP in both his sophomore and senior years but values being named Academic All American three out of four years just as highly. In 2005 Kevin had the unique opportunity to work for Ajax America; a defining moment in his soccer career. Kevin flew around the United States being an assistant coach to famous retired Ajax players who had moved into coaching roles teaching the Ajax football philosophy to their academies around the world. While still playing soccer at University, Kevin coached U17 Boys (Columbia, MO) then was hired as the Director of Coaching (Jefferson City, MO). 

After completing his Bachelor of Science degree in Sports Management, Kevin took more exams to become a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (NSCA), a certification that he has held for over 15 years. Kevin played as a full time professional after University for Sligo Rovers in The League of Ireland Premiership before pursuing a career in coaching.

After being an assistant coach for the Red Deer College women’s program, Kevin moved to Vancouver where he attended UBC and completed his Masters Degree in Kinesiology excelling in the sport psychology, exercise physiology and motor learning fields.

Kevin holds the BC Soccer Technical Director Diploma, CSA National “B” Licence,  CSA Children’s Licence, CSA Youth License as well as the Premier Diploma from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.  

Kevin also has completed two online courses from The LMA School of Football Management “Creating a Culture of Excellence” and “Evaluating Performance”. 

Kevin is a Certified BC Soccer Learning Facilitator to educate coaches on their LTPD coaching pathway including the Active Start, Fundamentals, Learning To Train and Soccer For Life Courses. To date Kevin has trained over 500 coaches in the CSA grassroot pathway. 

Prior to joining Burnaby FC, Kevin served as Technical Director with CAUFC. Kevin started with CAUFC in 2010 working with Tony Waiters, in the summer of 2016 he was promoted to Technical Director.  

Lee was born in Aberdare, Wales and from an early age he had stints at both Cardiff City and Luton Town, also representing Wales at several different levels and ages.

Later, Lee joined the military, while playing soccer back at home at every opportunity. When family matters changed, Lee chose to remain closer to home and joined the Welsh Police Force. The South Wales Police FC and Welsh Police soccer teams both recruited Lee to come play for them, where they travelled the world for games and had many great successes over the years.

After several visits, Lee immigrated to Canada. He quickly became involved in the soccer community and started coaching in several clubs throughout the Lower Mainland. These clubs include Vancouver Whitecaps FC, BC Soccer, Mountain United FC, North Shore soccer development center, North Shore Girls FC, Play Active School Soccer (PASS), and his own elite soccer school, Europa Soccer Academy. Lee played soccer with the Vancouver Police Department and has represented BC Police in the North American Championships.

Lee helped the Canadian U15 women’s national team win a CONCACAF gold medal as an assistant coach along with winning Mountain United’s very first National gold with his 2003 Girls team.

Lee currently lives on the North Shore with his partner, daughter and three sons. He enjoys soccer daily for work and does charitable work as well in his free time. Since arriving to Canada in 2008 Lee has also donated his time & skills to charity-based programs in both schools and women’s shelters throughout the Lower Mainland and has since become associated with Canada SCORES Vancouver both as a board member and now ambassador.

Current/Previous Coaching Positions:

• Technical Director of Mountain United FC
• Assistant Coach U15/U17 Canada Women’s National Teams
• Whitecaps REX Staff Coach
• Whitecaps Residential Assistant Coach
• Canada Scores Board Member
• SFU Women’s Assistant Coach
• BC Soccer HPP Head Coach
• Whitecaps Academy Coach
• PASS Head Coach
• NSSDC Coach
• NSGSC Academy Coach

*Mental Health Commission of Canada – Certified Mental Health First Aid

Born in Canada with a European upbringing from Croatia, it was natural for Kat to fall in love with soccer. Kat started playing at the age of 3, following in the footsteps of both her parents and her older brother who were already actively involved in the game. 

Kat’s father started coaching her from a young age and through most of her career. Between the ages of 7-16, Kat continued to sharpen her skills with Cliff Avenue United Football Club. This led to Kat being chosen to join the very first female HPL Mountain United FC team, where she played from the age of 17-18. Her love for the sport extended through numerous teams in one season. Kat practiced daily, where she would only take breaks to travel back home to Croatia. Even in Croatia, Kat would still participate in local soccer tournaments where she would compete as the only girl in all-male tournaments. 

In 2014, Kat experienced a significant injury which required multiple surgical procedures during her career at post-secondary. Despite this setback in her journey, Kat was still passionate about soccer and knew she still wanted to be deeply involved. This led Kat to reassess her career, leading her to pivot from player to coach. Kat has coached several teams as well as proudly representing the female athletes of Cliff Avenue United Football Club where she served as Head Staff Coach for Girls prior to joining Burnaby FC as Senior Staff Coach Girls and U21 Head Coach. 

In 2022, Tomic was one of the first 10 women chosen to be part of the BC Soccer Female Mentorship Program, a program created to promote female coaching. She has successfully completed her C Licence and Provincial B Licence and holds all Grassroots Coaching Certificates. In 2022, she was appointed the first female president of Croatia SC. Kat has been accepted into the CSA National B Diploma program with a target to complete the certification in 2024. Kat’s goal is to encourage a fun and challenging player-centric environment that promotes both player and team development. Her wealth of experience in soccer motivates Kat to enrich players with a lifelong love and passion for the game of soccer. 

Nico started loving soccer at a very early age. He began playing when he was at elementary school and continued until his university years. Originally from Chile, Nico has been coaching soccer and teaching sports for over 20 years in Chile, New Zealand and Canada.  

Nico has broad experience from working in different roles such as: Director of Sport Academies, Head Coach, Sport Coordinator, Physical Conditioning Coach, Sports Consultant, Coaches’ Educator, Researcher and PE Teacher in different organizations. 

Nico has a BA in Education and possesses two Master´s Degrees, one in Sports Training (Chile) and the other one in High Performance for Team Sports (Spain). Nico also has two post graduate diplomas, one in Sports Training with a major in physical conditioning and one in Sports Management and Marketing.  

He also holds a Pro – Soccer License from the Chilean Soccer Federation – CONMEBOL, Youth License from Canada Soccer, Children’s License from Canada Soccer and C License from Canada Soccer and the Technical Director Diploma from BC Soccer. Nico is also a BC Soccer Learning Facilitator.  

He joins Burnaby FC after acting as Staff Coach – Boys with CAUFC since April 2019.  

Kim brings to Burnaby FC a wealth of knowledge in player and coach development in British Columbia. Following a successful athletic career as the starting goalkeeper for the University of the Fraser Valley, Kim focused her attention on coaching and leadership opportunities.  

Throughout her years, Kim has held a variety of leadership roles including Technical Director, Head of Grassroots Development, and Director of Goalkeeper Development. She has also been an Assistant Coach for the BC Provincial Program, Vancouver Whitecaps Elite, and post-secondary institutions including UBC Okanagan and Kwantlen College where she helped lead the team to consecutive National Championship tournaments. You can always find Kim on the field whether it be in development centers or coaching various youth teams.  

Kim has obtained the Canadian Soccer Association Children’s Licence, Provincial B Licence, Goalkeeper Diploma and trained Coaching Mentor with the National Coaching Certification Program. She completed four years of Kinesiology at UFV and holds a Diploma of Social Services.  

Kim specializes in character development and is a Certified Positive Psychology Practitioner. She has experience working as a cognitive behavior interventionist and holds certification in Resilience and Wellbeing, Meditation and Mindfulness, and Working with the Inner Critic. 

Adam is originally from England and arrived in Canada in April 2019. Prior to joining Burnaby FC, Adam was with Mountain United as Assistant Technical Director and Academy Director. Previously, Adam had played and coached in England, the United States, Hong Kong, Norway, New Zealand, and France in various coaching and management roles.

Adam holds the CSA Children’s Licence, is working towards his Youth Licence, and holds the New Zealand ‘B’ Coaching License, England FA Level 2, FA Youth Modules (1, 2, and 3) and Mental Health Commission of Canada – Certified Mental Health First Aid – Concussion Awareness

Lisa was born and raised in Burnaby and has a long history of involvement in the community holding board positions and volunteering at her children’s schools.  Lisa has also been active in Burnaby soccer for the majority of her life as a player, coach and most recently volunteering on the Board of Directors with CAUFC.

Lisa lives in Burnaby with her husband and 3 children.

Heather has a long-standing history of volunteering and working within the youth soccer community in BC.  Her passion for community engagement and sponsorship has allowed her to work with many talented soccer-minded individuals and players within the football world.  Her previous experience in retail management and human resources consulting has helped her develop skills in community outreach, sponsorship, fund generation, and event management.

Heather has made a significant impact within the soccer community, from jersey sponsors for teams and clubs, to helping facilitate a camp for young Squamish Nation girls. Her involvement in fundraising initiatives for the West Vancouver Place for Sport demonstrates her commitment to supporting communities.

In addition to her work within the soccer community, Heather enjoys running, gardening, and golfing to stay fit and keep up with her active family. Her belief that “community has no borders” speaks to her dedication and devotion to building strong communities and sports cultures through hard work and accountability.

Andy has been involved in youth soccer for over 20 years.  He started coaching with Cliff Avenue back in 2001 when his son first started to play soccer.  His passion to give back to the game and the community quickly saw his volunteering expand to age group coordinator and taking on a role as a director on the Cliff Avenue Board.  From there he found himself representing Cliff Avenue at the Burnaby District Youth Soccer Association Board, where he also sat on the 4 District Board for several years.  In later years, Andy got involved with the Burnaby Selects board and represented Burnaby at the BC Selects Youth Soccer League Board.  In 2008, he moved on to High Performance soccer where he was part of Mountain WFC in the Super Y league. There he supported soccer operations and coordinated travel & logistics for numerous teams to the North American championships. In 2011, he was one of the originals in the newly formed club, Mountain United FC in the BC Soccer Premier League.  At MUFC, Andy was the General Manager of operations. 

Gino played soccer for Grandview Legion in his youth.  He started his coaching career in 1993.  He obtained his Provincial B License in 1996.  He coached ICSF U18 team to the Provincial Cup Finals in 1996.  After taking a break from soccer to focus on his professional career in the Computer Software industry, he joined Cliff Avenue United in 2008 as a coach of his first girls team.  Gino has coached as many as three teams in a single season doing so for 6+ seasons.  In 2010, Gino was voted onto the Cliff Avenue Board of Directors.  Gino has be a board member at Cliff Avenue for 11 seasons in different capacities.  During that time, he has also been a member of the Burnaby District Youth Soccer board of directors for 5 of those 11 seasons.  For the past 5 seasons on the Cliff Avenue Board, Gino has been the Head of Discipline and scholarship committees.  For the past 3 seasons on the Burnaby District Board, Gino has been the VP of Boys and Head of Discipline.  Gino was also on the committee that was instrumental in the formation of Burnaby FC.

Born and raised in North Burnaby, British Columbia, Adriano had started his playing career at the age of 4 with Cliff Avenue United Football Club. Later on as a player, he has competed at a variety of competitions such as the Super Y-League Finals Tournament (Mountain United Football Club, 2010), Western Canada Summer Games (Provincial Program, 2011), CSYA Nationals (Provincial Program, 2012), Canada Summer Games (Provincial Program, 2013), CIS Canada West (UBC, 2013 and 2015) and CIS Nationals (UBC, 2013 and 2015). Now working as a coach, Adriano is currently the Head Coach of the CAUFC 2009 Division 1 Boys and the MUFC 2012 Division 1A Boys, while also working as Support Staff with the BC Provincial Program. He holds all Grassroots certifications, is currently C-License Trained and is registered for the CSA National B Diploma Program with completion set for 2024.

Playing Experience

Former Youth Player with Cliff Avenue United Football Club
Former BCSPL Player – Mountain United Football Club
Former Provincial Program Player – BC Soccer
Former National Training Centre Program Player
Former Varsity Player – University of British Columbia Thunderbirds
Current Columbus Football Club Player – Vancouver Metro Soccer League Premier
Coaching Experience

Staff Coach – Mountain United Football Club
Support Staff – BC Soccer
Staff Coach – Cliff Avenue United Football Club
Head Coach of 2009 Division 1 Boys – Cliff Avenue United Football Club
Head Coach of 2012 Division 1A Boys – Mountain United Football Club

Comments on BFC

One of my favorite quotes is, “Change is inevitable, but growth is optional”. I think this sums up best with what is happening with football in Burnaby. With all the resources here in Burnaby combined with the amazing group of players and their families, it is a privilege to be involved in their pathway and to support their growth, as well as the growth of the club. Working with players, families and my fellow coaches is exciting and inspiring to me because we are all on one united front working towards a common goal, while being led by a professional and experienced leadership team.