Graham Alexander for Mayor · District of North Vancouver
From growing up in Lynn Valley to leading complex businesses and projects, Graham Alexander's story is easy to follow: learn the work, take responsibility, and deliver results.
That practical path—from DNV student to engineer, investment banker, developer, hotelier, entrepreneur, and business partner—is the experience Graham brings to the Mayor's Office.
Follow Graham's storyAbout Graham, in order
This is not a list of titles. It is a straightforward record of learning, building, and leading—from his DNV beginnings to the experience he now brings to public service.
01 · DNV beginnings
Graham grew up in Lynn Valley and attended Argyle Secondary School. DNV is home, which is why protecting its neighbourhoods, families, small businesses, and natural setting matters personally to him.
02 · Engineering
Graham went on to earn his Electrical Engineering education at UBC. It shaped his practical approach to infrastructure: examine the evidence, test assumptions, control costs, and deliver.
03 · Finance
At Canaccord Capital in Vancouver, Graham gained investment-banking experience that informs his focus on due diligence, responsible investment, transparent reporting, and making every tax dollar work harder.
04 · Development
Through GGIQ Developments, Graham helped build the Mount Thurston Drive and Mount Archibald Place estates in Chilliwack, alongside work on Lynn Creek and Chilliwack Estates. It is the kind of coordinated development work that requires land, infrastructure, construction, financing, and community planning to work together.
05 · Hospitality and entrepreneurship
Graham's work in hospitality included a Tulum beach hotel. He later founded and operated the worldwide StayRunners business, building technology-enabled systems and leading teams and partners across markets.
06 · Leadership and partnership
Graham is a business partner of Kyle R. Washington, Executive Chairman of Seaspan. The relationship reflects Graham's experience working with accomplished business leaders and his readiness to bring that perspective to DNV.
From Lynn Valley to UBC, Canaccord Capital, real estate development, hospitality, global entrepreneurship, and major-business leadership: Graham has built the practical credentials to lead DNV through change.
Graham's business relationship with Kyle R. Washington does not imply an endorsement by Mr. Washington, Seaspan, or The Washington Companies.
The mayoral agenda, point by point
Experience only matters when it produces better outcomes. Graham's platform focuses that experience on the everyday issues residents raise most often—and on a District Hall that answers to the people it serves.
01 · Accountable spending
Pursue a forensic audit of the reported North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant cost escalation, publish major project information, and give residents clear progress reports.
02 · Protect neighbourhoods
Direct growth to the Yaletown North transit hub with the roads, utilities, public spaces, and services it needs—while protecting the character of Seymour, Edgemont, Lynn Valley, Grouse Woods, and other established communities.
03 · Fix gridlock
Advance practical traffic synchronization, transit connections, housing closer to major employers, and infrastructure planning that relieves pressure on North Shore roads.
04 · Safer communities
Support a recovery-focused response to homelessness with shelter, food, treatment, transitional housing, essential services, and pathways to work—while keeping family spaces and neighbourhoods safe.
05 · Faster public service
Use accountable technology to make building permits faster, improve access to public information, and ensure residents can see who owns a local issue and what happens next.
06 · A direct line to residents
Create a district-wide resident platform so neighbours can raise concerns, follow municipal responses, find meeting information, and communicate directly with the Mayor's Office.
Complex projects and systems
Graham is a UBC Electrical Engineering graduate with extensive experience running complex projects and systems that require coordination, planning, accountability, and follow-through. He understands that municipal leadership means more than attending meetings: it means testing assumptions, controlling costs, setting measurable milestones, and taking responsibility when systems fail.
Development and building
Through GGIQ Developments, Graham has publicly documented work on projects including Lynn Creek, Chilliwack Estates, Mount Thurston Drive, and Mount Archibald Place. The Mount Thurston and Mount Archibald hillside development is a defining example of the long-term coordination development demands: land, infrastructure, construction, financing, and community impact.
Development demands more than a vision. It requires working through land, infrastructure, construction, housing, services, financing, and community impact. This is the practical perspective Graham brings to the DNV Revolution's housing, gridlock, and infrastructure agenda.
Watch: Graham Alexander's GGIQ development story—Mount Thurston Drive and Mount Archibald Place.
Documented development milestones
Lynn Creek · February 2018
GGIQ announced the assignment of a five-lot Rupert Street assembly in the Lynn Creek Town Centre area for a planned wood-frame apartment building.
Read the project announcement ↗LynnCrown · August 2018
GGIQ announced it had begun the development process for LynnCrown, a proposed 50-unit residential project at 1547–1599 Crown Street in North Vancouver.
Read the project announcement ↗These development details are drawn from GGIQ public announcements. They are included so voters can review the underlying project information directly.
Yaletown North · Lynn Creek
Graham's vision draws inspiration from Alfred Taylor and the partnership that helped bring the Lions Gate Bridge to life with the Guinness family. He proposes a Yaletown North Bridge dedicated to local traffic and a revitalized Lynn Creek: Yaletown North, a gateway to the North built for the modern-day gold rush.
Through the USNA framework, Graham sets out an Arctic-to-Yucatan vision that links DNV's future growth to local infrastructure, local opportunity, and a stronger gateway to the North.
Peace through justice.
One law for all. Accountable government, equal treatment, and a peaceful future built on justice.
StayRunners worldwide
Graham has run StayRunners, a worldwide business, giving him direct experience operating across markets, building technology-enabled systems, managing teams and partners, and turning an ambitious idea into an operating organization. He brings an entrepreneur's focus on execution, accountability, and making every dollar work harder.
Standing up for property rights
Graham was a Canadian claimant in Carlos Sastre and others v. United Mexican States (ICSID Case No. UNCT/20/2), an arbitration administered by the World Bank Group's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. The tribunal issued its award in 2022.
That experience reflects the resolve Graham brings to public life: when the stakes are high, he does the work, stands up for what he believes is right, and sees difficult matters through.
View the ICSID case record ↗Direct communication with residents
Graham will introduce a district-wide, Nextdoor-style resident platform so neighbours can raise local issues, share information, follow municipal responses, and communicate directly with the Mayor's Office. The goal is simple: residents should be able to see that their concern was received, know who is responsible, and follow what happens next.
This is a commitment to accessible leadership, not closed-door politics. Graham will make resident communication, meeting information, decisions, and progress reporting easier to find and harder to ignore. District Hall must answer to the people it serves.
Compassion and recovery
Graham's homelessness-recovery proposal is grounded in dignity, care, recovery, and independence. It calls for safe shelter and food, mental-health and rehabilitation supports, transitional housing, essential services, and pathways to work.
The campaign proposes a dedicated, phased recovery facility away from residential centres, subject to feasibility, public consultation, and required approvals—supporting people in crisis while helping keep public spaces safe for families, schools, daycares, and neighbourhoods.
Why it matters to DNV
The campaign is not about a résumé for its own sake. It is about applying practical experience to investigate failures, protect families, build housing where infrastructure can support it, relieve congestion, attract investment, and deliver accountable municipal government.
Graham will pursue growth at the Yaletown North transit hub, alongside the roads, utilities, public spaces, and services required to make it work. He will protect established neighbourhoods such as Seymour, Edgemont, and Lynn Valley from one-size-fits-all density.
His commitment is direct: end waste, publish the facts, and restore the public's confidence that District Hall works for residents. DNV deserves leadership that can confront difficult problems and deliver a better result.