Board of Directors
Patrick Johnston, Chair
Borealis Advisors, Toronto
William Kerr, Past Chair
JSE Partners Inc., Oakville
John Beattie
TELUS Communications, Toronto
Michael Bradley
Visa Canada, Toronto
Matthew Choi
Physician, Hamilton
Brenda Gainer
Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto
Joan McCalla
Director and Distinguished Fellow, Cisco Systems, Toronto
Sean Van Doorselaer
Lind Equipment Ltd, Toronto
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Patrick Johnston is founder and Principal of Borealis Advisors – a consulting firm that works with Canadian charities, foundations and other non-profit organizations. Patrick has spent most of his professional life in leadership positions in Canada’s charitable and philanthropic sectors. At various times, he has served as Chief Executive of the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation, the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy (now Imagine Canada), the National Anti-Poverty Organization and the Canadian Council on Social Development. Patrick has also had extensive Board governance experience at the community, national and international level including service on the Boards of Philanthropic Foundations Canada, Vartana, the United Way/Centraide Canada, the Council on Foundations (Washington) and CIVICUS (Johannesburg). Patrick has undergraduate degrees in Political Science and Education from York University and Queen’s University respectively. He also holds an M.S.W. in Social Policy, Planning and Administration from the University of Toronto.
William Kerr is one of Canada’s most broadly experienced financial executives with an extensive global career spanning over thirty years with a commitment to ethics and corporate governance. William currently serves as the Chief Corporate Officer and director of Intelius Inc. an emerging e-commerce company based in Bellevue Washington. Prior to this, in March 2004 Nortel’s board of directors appointed him CFO to lead the company through its financial restatement and regulatory difficulties. William completed Nortel’s financial restatement, stabilized the company’s financial infrastructure and stepped down as Nortel’s CFO in February 2005 and continued to serve as senior advisor for a transition period until September 2005. Prior to Nortel, William worked at BCE and Lear Siegler. William began his business career in 1976 at Coopers & Lybrand where he obtained his Chartered Accountant designation. William continues as CEO of a private equity/investment company, JSE Partners. William is a graduate of Queens University (BA-Economics) and a Chartered Accountant.
John Beattie is Vice President of Data Management at TELUS Communications in Toronto. He has held two other VP roles at TELUS over the past 8 years as well as many different IT positions in a 25 year career working for various companies in Calgary and Toronto. Prior to working in IT, John spent 2 years working as an elementary school teacher. He has been a life-long believer in charitable giving and volunteering and has volunteered at nursing homes, food banks and shelters as well as donating financially to local and international charities. John has a BSc in Computer Science & Math from University of Toronto as well as a Bachelor of Education from the Ontario Teacher Education College.
Matthew Choi is one of the three co-founders of CanadaHelps, and has served on its board since its inception. Matthew holds a BSc from McMaster University and an MD from Queen’s University. His research in the fields of pediatrics, surgery, and patient safety has been presented and published nationally and internationally. He has engaged in international health fieldwork in the Himalayas, has spent time in Africa in a trauma unit, and has represented Canada as the only Canadian to be selected as a medical volunteer by the 2004 Athens Olympics Committee. He has received numerous awards for his community service and professional achievement and is currently finishing his training in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the University of Manitoba.
Brenda Gainer is the Royal Bank Professor of Nonprofit Management and a professor of Marketing at the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto. Since 1996, she has been the Director of York University’s Nonprofit Management and Leadership Program. She completed her PhD in Administrative Studies in 1992 and also holds an MBA degree and previous M.A. and B.A. degrees in History. Brenda teaches in several graduate programs at Schulich and also facilitates a wide range of executive education seminars. Brenda’s main research interests are nonprofit management, marketing and philanthropy. Before embarking on an academic career, Brenda worked in the areas of First Nations land rights, women’s issues and the arts. Her professional and public service includes advisory boards and directorships in the academic, government and community sectors. She is currently President-Elect of the International Society for Third Sector Research.
Joan McCalla is a Director and Distinguished Fellow with the global public sector team, Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG), Cisco Systems. This team provides strategic advice to public sector organizations around the world that are interested in how ICT-enabled transformation can help them to achieve their program objectives and priorities. Until late 2006, Joan was Corporate Chief Strategist with the Government of Ontario’s information and information technology (I&IT) organization. Appointed in 1999 as the government’s first Chief Strategist, Joan provided leadership for Ontario’s highly regarded e-government strategy. Joan was with the Ontario government since 1977 in various planning and policy positions at several ministries. Joan was an original Board member of the Institute for Citizen-Centred Service and is currently serving as a Fellow of the Institute. The mission of the ICCS is to promote high levels of citizen satisfaction with public sector service delivery through research and other initiatives to promote service quality and innovation. Joan is a graduate of the University of Toronto (M.Sc. Urban and Regional Planning) and the University of Alberta (B.A. Honours Geography).
Sean Van Doorselaer is the CEO of Lind Equipment Ltd, a manufacturer and distributor of electrical safety equipment for hazardous and industrial locations. He was appointed to this position following the acquisition of Lind by OPK Capital, a private investment fund that he co-founded and managed. Prior to OPK Capital, Sean was Vice President and a founding employee of Social Capital Partners (SCP), an organization that invests in and supports businesses that are creating jobs in economically marginalized communities across Canada. Earlier in his career, Sean spent several years as a strategy consultant at The Monitor Group. Sean holds an MBA from Queen’s University and an undergraduate degree in business administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business (University of Western Ontario).