Mike McIvor, Director of Business Operations
Mike has been involved with the Peak Centre since 2000 first as a client of the Ottawa centre and finally as a principal in first full-scale expansion location which he opened in Vancouver in late 2005. Mike’s current role in the organization is a mix of the business operations, marketing and working with clientele. Mike’s childhood sport background was focused around tennis where he played competitively as a junior and played on the varsity team at Queen’s University. After University Mike fell in love with endurance sport and has completed a variety of ultra endurance racing including a dozen adventure races from 36 hours to 6 days in length, 24hr mountain bike racing, triathlon including a couple of Ironmans, trail runs and cross country ski racing.
Dr. Al Reed, PH.D
Dr. Reed is a national award winning career sports scientist whose work with Canadian and American sports teams has been well recognized for three decades. He has won recognition as an exceptional teacher in the programs of the University of Ottawa and the Canadian National Coaching Certification Program. As the developer of a dozen national team training programs and twice as many sport specific fitness tests, he has created many of the tools in use by today’s athletes and coaches. His original work continues with new contributions to the education, assessment, and vocational programs of the Centre.
James Wendland BHK, Masters of Human Kinetics
James has completed studies in both a bachelors and a masters of Human Kinetics focusing on exercise physiology, sports medicine, respiratory muscle training, and exercise prescription. James has over 11 years of experience in both testing and training individuals from elite athletes to rehab populations including the pre-season testing of the Vancouver Canucks between 2002 to 2005. James was also the founder and past President of Kinesiologists.ca here in Vancouver and his passion and expertise for his industry is noted through his drive, knowledge base, and continual learning. James is also an avid athlete from soccer to baseball to swimming to rugby. He swam competitively for over 14 years, placed 6 overall in the Kelowna Across the Lake swim at 14, played premier level rugby in the BC rugby union and is still currently playing for the Vancouver Rowing Club as a starting tight head prop. Through his career, James has worked with athletes across the full range of sport, from endurance based to power based sports.
Ken Brunet, B.SC., PFLC
Ken Brunet obtained his exercise science degree at the University of Ottawa and is a Professional Fitness and Lifestyle Consultant with the Canadian Society of Exercise Physiology. He was the director of the Exercise Physiology Lab at the Ottawa Sport Science Center for 7 years and is currently co-founder and President of the Peak Center for Human Performance; an Accredited Elite Athlete Testing and Training Center. Ken specializes in training monitoring, training plan development and consulting for many National Olympic and professional team athletes and coaches. While being part of sport science committees for National Sport Organizations, Ken also teaches, consults and gives seminars to various groups such as: physical education teachers, national coaching program, college level courses, personal trainer, fitness instructors etc.
Kevin Wilson, B.SC., Human Kinetics, PFLC
Kevin obtained his Exercise Physiology degree from the University of Ottawa, with a concentration in High Performance Testing and Training in 1998. In 2000, Kevin co-founded the PEAK Centre for Human Performance; one of only eight accredited high performance fitness testing and training facilities in Canada. Over the past 5 years, Kevin has had the opportunity to work with over 20 Olympic and Professional teams (as a sport physiologist, fitness evaluator, coach consultant, training plan developer), and is currently a sport science consultant for Canadian National Gymnastics, Canadian National Sailing, Canadian National Cycling, Canadian Professional Golf Association (CPGA), and the Mexican National Golf Association. As well, Kevin also teaches sport and occupational physiology at local colleges in the Ottawa region.
Ed McNeely, M. Exercise Physiology
Ed McNeely received his Masters degree in Exercise physiology from the University of Ottawa in 1994 and has been involved in the strength and conditioning industry for 15 years. He has been a consultant to 17 Canadian National and professional sports teams. Ed is the author of three books, One Hundred Strength Exercises, Training for Rowing, and Skillful Rowing, and is currently working on a book about integrating strength training into the High School and Middle School PE curriculum. He has published over 100 articles on training and athlete conditioning covering topics such as strength training, plyometrics, making weight, assessing fitness, speed and power development, planning and periodization, and aerobic fitness. He is a frequent resource for other writers, acting as an expert for articles in Muscle & Fitness, Outside Magazine, the Georgia Tech Sports Medicine Newsletter, the Rowing News, the Globe and Mail, Ottawa Citizen and the Discovery Channel.
Melanie, Registered Nutritionist
Melanie has had an enormous amount of passion for health and fitness for numerous years. She is thankful to be able to utilize her education and knowledge to help others achieve their potential, attain high-level wellness and optimum performance. After being submerged in such a lifestyle as a competitive provincial athlete (badminton, soccer, volleyball), she realized her potential and enthusiasm for encouraging and teaching others. Melanie has witnessed the transitions and accomplishments of numerous clients and athletes, which fuels the desire to further her education and passion for her clients. Melanie continues to enjoy being an athlete by entering in a bi-yearly all women fitness competition (FemSport), playing competitive beach and indoor volleyball, tennis, badminton, snowboarding, yoga, weight training, running (entering several races per year) and snowshoeing. Within the last 13 years, Melanie has worked in the health and fitness industry where she earned herself a Diploma in Holistic Nutrition through the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition and a Certificate in Personal Training through the British Columbia Recreation and Parks Association. She uses a unique holistic approach and personal philosophy “Be strong in body, mind and spirit” when working with her clients towards achieving success!
Lewis Morrison, M.SC. Sport Science
Lewis Morrison, M.Sc. Sport Science Lewis is originally from the UK where he completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Sports and Exercise Science at Leeds Metropolitan University, and later achieved a Masters in Sports Science at Loughborough University. With over 10 years experience training athletes, Lewis has accumulated a great deal of valuable experience. His most notable career highlights include: long-term test and research programs with the Great Britain Swimming team, including accompanying them to the European & British Championships, training and testing Middlesbrough Football Club, Leicester Tigers Rugby Club, British Triathlon, and most recently, participating in the pre-season testing for the Vancouver Canucks and UBC Thunderbirds.
Karine Duval, PHD Neuromechanics, M.SC. Biomechanics, B.SC. Kinesiology
Karine Duval, PhD Neuromechanics (Candidate), M.Sc. Biomechanics, B.Sc. Kinesiology Karine completed her undergraduate work in Kinesiology at Laurentian University. After several years of competitive track running during which she struggled with several overuse injuries, Karine focused her undergraduate studies on the effects of footwear on overuse injuries in runners. After completing her career as a 5000m runner in the CIS, she moved to BC’s interior to work as a pedorthist. With over 8 years of experience coaching and biomechanical performance analysis, Karine returned to complete her masters in Biomechanics (UBC) and is currently working on her PhD (also UBC) studying the biomechanical link between the feet, the pelvis and the low back and its role in the development of injuries. Through her career and studies, Karine has worked with recreational and elite athletes in a wide range of endurance based sports including running, cycling and swimming. She ran competitively for 15 years, played volleyball at the provincial level for 5 years and is currently focusing on the half-ironman scheduled for this summer.