ABOUT LIGHTSHIP STRATEGIES INC.
Lightship Strategies Inc. is a community-minded consulting company predicated on strong relationships. By cultivating an accessible and comfortable process, Lightship provides professional planning, policy, development, and engagement services predominantly in northern, rural, or culturally-sensitive contexts.
Lightship’s services are focused on all sectors of community development- from environment to procurement, infrastructure to education. All of our work focuses on developing new community visions and creating strategic implementation plans to achieve them in a practical way.
Clients include Provincial, Federal and Indigenous Governments, Band Councils, Municipalities and Private Sector Clients.
Embodying the concept of a Lightship, an impartial vessel that serve as a navigation marker in areas that are too remote or that have challenging terrain, Lightship Strategies Inc. acts as an aid to navigation, supporting the development process and working within ever-changing and sensitive contexts.
RENEE KUEHNLE, MArch, MCIP
President, Senior Planner
Renée is a Rural Planner specializing in community-led design, strategy and policy. She founded Lightship Strategies Inc. in 2019.
With 10 years managing challenging multidisciplinary projects across Atlantic Canada, Renée’s work focuses on development: What does the future look like and how do we take action to get there?
She works in a wide variety of areas – from buildings and land to people and policy. Her experience working across sectors -- education, governance, culture, health, environment, infrastructure, economic development, tourism, land, energy, growth, and transportation -- gives her an in-depth understanding of all parts of community so that she can create solutions that work within existing systems. With a multidisciplinary approach, Renee is a creative thinker that focuses on designing projects that are simple to implement and that reflect the full spectrum of community voice. She thrives on complex problems and can comfortably navigate political environments and multi-stakeholder settings.
Renee is a supportive leader with a strong passion for sustainable rural development. She deeply understands and supports self-governance, actively listening to the priorities of Indigenous Communities and predominantly working directly for Indigenous Governments, Communities and Organizations. She is comfortable and experienced working in remote settings and has experience facilitating on-the-land meetings by snowmobile or helicopter.
Renee prioritizes safety and ethical community engagement and is experienced in concepts of equity, inclusion, and social justice. She believes in collaboration, mentorship, and sharing ideas. All of her work is tied together by actively listening to imagine projects, support the early stages of development, adjust course, and create culturally sustainable futures in our rural communities.
OUR VALUES
Placing Relationships at the Fore
We lead by listening.
Community collaboration means incorporating feedback into a design, strategy, development or policy in a significant way. Collaborating directly with community is essential to project success.
We’re flexible to change.
We can’t predict the future. Space for change and the unexpected is built into projects from the beginning, because being flexible allows for new opportunities.
Simpler is better.
Sometimes, policy and development processes are confusing which results in inaction. We prioritize communicating things the simplest way to ensure it is meaningful and accessible to all.
