Bill Karsten
Bill Karsten is a professional that has worked in both the private Corporate sector and in the Public Service sector as an elected representative to Local Government.
Born in Holland and immigrating to Canada as a young boy, Bill has lived in Dartmouth for 45 years with his wife Muriel. He is extremely proud of his two daughters and three granddaughters.
He has a 32 year business background in Sales, Marketing and Management. Having a successful career in sales he was promoted and spent twenty-two years as District Marketing Manager (Atlantic Region) for Curtis Industries of Canada Ltd. Building a strong Team of sales agents distributing over 32,000 industrial product SKU’s, his district often lead the country in sales.
A dedicated volunteer, over the years Bill always sought ways to give back to his community which gave him a solid platform for his work in Public Service.
Bill Karsten served 16 years as Municipal Councillor and was first elected to Halifax Regional Council in 2004 to represent District 7, Portland - East Woodlawn.
He was elected by acclamation in 2008, and was re-elected in 2012 to represent the residents of the new District 3, Dartmouth South -Eastern Passage. Councillor Karsten was elected again by acclamation in 2016.
The District is comprised of 30,000 residents and it’s boundaries includes the areas of Portland Estates, Portland Hills, Russell Lake West, portions of East Woodlawn, Eastern Passage, Cow Bay, Shearwater and South Woodside.
During his 16 year tenure, Councillor Karsten served as a member of the following Municipal Committees and Boards:
Audit & Finance Standing Committee – Chair
Board of Police Commissioners
Halifax Harbour Bridges Board of Directors
Commissioner on the Board of Halifax Water
Environment & Sustainability Standing Committee
Trade Centre Board
Harbour East Marine Drive Community Council
Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities Board (UNSM)
Investment Advisory Committee – Chair
It was his honour to also serve his Municipality as Deputy Mayor
Board of Directors of Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) – 7 years and serving on many subcommittees.
In June of 2016, Bill was elected by his peers to the position of 3rd Vice President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM).
The organization is the voice of Municipalities in Canada since 1901 with over 2000 members. FCM is recognized as one of the top advocacy groups in Canada. He served as FCM’s President from June 2019 to October 2020. Bill did not re-offer for the 2020 October Municipal Election. For him it’s always been about contributing to a sustainable future!
