2025 OALA Council Nominees
Aaron Hirota
Aaron is a Principal Landscape Architect and Ontario Practice Lead for Architecture49. He enjoys working on all facets of the profession especially project management, urban design, parks and open space development. His current interests include heritage and cultural landscapes, accessible and equitable design, and sustainability. Aaron is working on projects in Ottawa and across Eastern Ontario. He is a full member of the OALA as well as an out of province member of the AAPQ, MALA and SALA. Aaron has served on OALA Council for 2 terms, most recently as Vice-President from 2023-2025. He has also served as chair of the OALA Continuing Education Committee and as Chair of the upcoming June 2025 CSLA / OALA Congress in Ottawa. He graduated from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Environmental Design degree in 1998 and a Masters degree in Landscape Architecture in 2005.
Dennis Taves
I am of the opinion that the OALA needs a major shake up. I have been working in the profession for over 44 years, in big firms and small. My hope is that I can use my design / build, environmental advocacy and practical experience to move the association away from politics and back towards respectability.
Devon Kleinjan
Devon Kleinjan is an active full member of the OALA. He is currently a member of the Practice Legislation Committee as well as the Niagara Chapter. He serves as a PDP reviewer for a number of different individuals.
As a young professional - he is passionate about helping his peers become more involved in the association, and make the most of their designation and careers.
As a member of OALA council - he will look to engage the younger members and help to connect them more meaningfully to the organization.
He recently spoke at the LABASH conference, and published an article in Ground magazine.
He has been working at LandArt, a design and build firm, since graduating in 2020 - working with clients to see and achieve what they didn't think was possible with their properties. In this role he seeks to advance the profession as a whole, and promote landscape architecture among allied professionals.
Jim Hosick
As a practicing landscape architect for over 30 years in south central Ontario, I wish submit my nominated application to be considered serving on the OALA Council, in any capacity as a leadership role. I value strong communication, and am enthusiastic about a concentrated effort to the developing landscape architecture profession in Ontario.
I am a passionate advocate for the OALA efforts to push forward, the Practice Act for Landscape Architects in Ontario and wish to influence those who can bring about this much needed change.
I have a proven track record on serving the OALA, first as Chair of the Continuing Education Committee, and more recently as a member of the OALA By-law Task Force in 2024, both positions providing support for OALA goals and objectives. More than this, I am eager to give back to the Landscape Architecture profession, to promote and educate the public and other professionals with whom we work on projects, to emphasize accessibility, health, safety and mitigate the effects of climate change.
My love of learning and broadening my knowledge base of related professions to assist in both my successful career in the public sector as a landscape architect and registered professional planner with the Ontario Professional Planning Institute, combine for over 20 years of service. More recently, I have founded a private landscape architecture office in Barrie, that provides both consulting arborist and urban forestry services. I hold a masters of administration degree from Queens University which emphasized communication skills, negotiation and the application of Roberts Rules of Order in meetings.
I look forward to serving the OALA in the capacity of Council member, for the membership’s consideration.
Justin Whalen
Justin is a Senior Landscape Architect and Project Manager at GSP Group, in Kitchener. He is involved in a wide range of projects from streetscape, park and trail master plans to residential developments and institutional designs. Justin has a strong interest in the design of trails and public spaces, with the intent of creating meaningful spaces to connect people to the places where they live, work and play.
Having served on the OALA Council since 2016, over the course of four terms, Justin has been honoured to represent both existing and new members of the OALA membership, as well as work with Council to further advance the profession within Ontario and support the OALA. In addition, Justin sits on the Professional Practice and Ethics Committee and most recently, stepped up to fill the Vice President role. He is now looking to extend the opportunity to represent the OALA membership for a fifth term, during a critical time, as the OALA is working to achieve its Practice Act.
Justin would welcome and appreciate the support of the membership in this election to continue for another term on the important work that the OALA Council has been engaging in and accomplishing over the past 2 years.
Kate Preston
Kate is a senior landscape architect and Partner at Dillon Consulting Limited, bringing 22 years of professional experience in civic and public space design, streetscape design, park development and revitalization, as well as trails and open space design. She also serves as Dillon's national Discipline Lead for Landscape Architecture and Urban Design, while fulfilling the role of Business Development Manager for the Public Space Design service offering within the Community Planning & Infrastructure Business Unit. Kate holds a professional diploma in Landscape Architecture from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) and is a full member with seal of both the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects and the Atlantic Provinces Association of Landscape Architects.
Kate specializes in designing functional, pedestrian-focused public spaces for large-scale municipal park, open space, and trail development projects. She also provides technical advisory services to multidisciplinary teams. As the lead landscape architect on a series of major, multi-phase Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) projects for the City of London, Kate has developed a deep understanding of the unique challenges involved in designing public realm spaces that address the specific needs of transit systems. This includes creating attractive, comfortable, and inviting streetscapes and public spaces that balances the mobility needs of pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, and transit users within constrained rights-of-way, while also meeting the operational requirements of transit systems.
Kate’s collaborative approach and keen attention to detail are integral to her design process, allowing her to deliver innovative solutions that balance functionality with aesthetics. Her design philosophy is rooted in equity, accessibility, and quality, principles she effectively integrates into every stage of the design process to create both innovative and functional outcomes.
Outside of her professional work at Dillon, Kate has participated in the annual ethics workshop for the Landscape Architecture Professional Practice class at the University of Guelph and regularly attends events hosted by the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects (OALA).
Matt Perotto
Matt is a Senior Associate Landscape Architect at Janet Rosenberg & Studio (JRS) and a Sessional Instructor II at the University of Toronto (UofT) Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design.
Prior to joining JRS in 2024, Matt worked at Hargreaves Jones after receiving his MLA in 2015 where he was instrumental in both project pursuits and projects for private and public clients ranging from master plans through to implemented landscapes, and managed projects across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Since joining the JRS, Matt has been leading the development of JRS sustainability standards and toolsets, leveraging parametric computational workflows that enable the office to stay current with contemporary environmental performance goals and research without letting metrics drive the iterative design process.
Since 2019 Matt has been a Sessional Instructor in the Masters of Landscape Architecture program at UofT, where he teaches various Visual Communication and Computation courses as well as acting as a thesis advisor to graduating students.
Matt is a Landscape Architect in Ontario, is a Councillor of the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects (OALA), a full member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and sits on the Carbon Accounting, Building Information Modelling (BIM), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) workgroups within the Digital Technologies Professional Practice Networks, working with like-minded professional and academic landscape architects to advance the discipline.
Timothy Dobson
Timothy Dobson is a long time OALA Full Member, and also a licensed Arborist- Municipal Specialist and Green Roof Professional. His decades long career focused on municipal parks and urban design in Canada and the USA within both the public sector and private sector with a strength on custom details. Timothy is also re-appointed several times by The Province of Ontario as a Trillium Foundation Grant Reviewer judge.
Timothy has been lobbying for the Landscape Architects Practice Act since 1996, and has been continuously a member of the Practice Legislation Committee since its inception more than a decade ago. Timothy has been relentless over the years meeting with politicians to press for support of the Practice Act and educate legislators.
Timothy looks to strengthen the push for the Practice Act, ensure member’s dues are pragmatically allocated for the essential services and goals of OALA.
