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Board of Directors

Chair

Robert J. Foster, B.A, M.A. (Economics), CFA, is Founder, President and CEO of Capital Canada Ltd., an independent investment banking firm. Mr. Foster has provided years of successful support to Canadian companies and entrepreneurs in the aviation, sports and entertainment industries. As rewarding as his professional career has been in helping to finance Toronto’s Sky Dome, a Rolling Stones tour, or a small Canadian east coast helicopter company which grew into the largest helicopter company in the world, Mr. Foster’s passionate avocation has always been his volunteer work in Toronto’s arts and cultural community. Mr. Foster is currently Chair of Artscape, which in 2012 opened the extraordinary Daniels Spectrum, a 60,000 square foot cultural centre in Regent Park. He serves on the boards of the Harbourfront Foundation, Luminato, The Mayor’s Task Force – Arts & Theatre, The National Arts Centre – Ontario Scene and The Toronto Theatres Working Group. In 2011, Mr. Foster was the lead Co-Chair for a year-long examination of Toronto’s cultural capacity and priorities, which resulted in the Creative Capital Report for the City of Toronto. This has been embraced by City Council and is a guiding document for the city’s cultural funding and growth moving forward. Robert Foster was named co-recipient of the Rita Davies and Margo Bindhardt Cultural Leader Award at the Mayor’s Lunch on June 27, 2013. This award is presented biennially to an individual who has demonstrated cultural leadership in the development of arts and culture in Toronto. Over his lifetime, Robert Foster has generously donated his time, expertise and financial support to more than 30 city and country building initiatives and organizations. He is proud of his wife Julia Foster and four grown children, who all also contribute to the enrichment of our community.

Chair Emeritus

Dr. James D. Fleck, C.C., earned a B.A. from the University of Western Ontario and a D.B.A. from Harvard, before returning to Canada to help found the Faculty of Administrative Studies at York University. He has had a distinguished career in the private and government sectors as well as academia, serving as Secretary of Cabinet for Premier William Davis in the Government of Ontario. He is the founder and former CEO of Fleck Manufacturing Co. and has served on many corporate boards. An emeritus professor and recipient of an Honorary Degree from the University of Toronto, he was the President of the Art Gallery of Ontario and is Vice Chair of the Museum of Civilization, founder of the Toronto Music Garden and the Power Plant, and Chairman of the Harbourfront Foundation. Dr. Fleck received the Edmund C. Bovey Award for Leadership Support of the Arts in 2003 and was honoured with the Angel Award for Philanthropy in the Arts by the International Society of Performing Arts in 2009. Jim also received the Governor General’s Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts in 2009.

Chair Emeritus

Hon. Henry N.R. Jackman, O.C., has a distinguished record of support and involvement with the arts and served as Chair of CBAC from 1996-1998. During his term as Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, he created and funded the Lieutenant-Governor’s Awards for the Arts, the largest annual cash awards for the arts in Canada, providing $300,000 in prize money to Ontario arts organizations each year. He is the Honorary Chairman of the Empire Life Insurance Company, former Chairman of the Ontario Arts Council and has served as President of the Canadian Opera Company and the Ballet Opera House Corporation, as well as on the boards of many other arts and charitable organizations. He received the Philanthropist of the Year Award in 1995 from the National Society of Fund Raising Executives (now the Association of Fundraising Professionals).

Chair Emeritus

Donald K. Johnson, O.C., LL.D, is Chairman Emeritus of Business for the Arts. He is currently a Member, Advisory Board, BMO Capital Markets, after serving as Vice Chairman of BMO Nesbitt Burns and President of Burns Fry. When Chairing a Capital Campaign for the National Ballet Company in the 1990’s, he began a 12-year campaign to convince the federal government to eliminate the capital gains tax on charitable gifts of listed securities. The government removed the tax in its 2006 budget and since that time, charities have received over $1 billion each year in gifts of stock. He has received a number of awards, including the 2007 Edmund C. Bovey Award for leadership support of the arts, and Honorary Doctor of Laws Degrees from the University of Western Ontario and the University of Manitoba. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2004, an Office of the Order of Canada in 2009 and was named Nation Builder of the Year for 2007 by the Globe and Mail. He serves as a volunteer board member of five not-for-profit organizations and is Chairman of a public Company, easyhome Limited.

Vice Chair

Anthony R. Graham, LL.D., is President of Wittington Investments, Limited and is also a director of several corporations including George Weston Limited, Graymont Ltd., Grupo Calidra, Loblaw Companies Limited, Power Corporation of Canada, Power Financial Corporation, Selfridges & Co., Ltd., De Bijenkorf B.V., Holt, Renfrew & Co. Limited, Brown Thomas & Co. Limited and Victoria Square Ventures Inc. Anthony is active in the art and business community as a Board Member of the Ontario Arts Foundation, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, St. Michael’s Hospital and Luminato. He is former Chairman of both Branksome Hall School and the Shaw Festival, and is presently Chairman of each of their foundations. He is also a Member of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and the World Presidents’ Organization (WPO). He is also the Honorary Colonel of the Royal Regiment of Canada. In 1995, Anthony was recognized by The Financial Post as one of “Canada’s Top 40 Under 40” and in 1998 he was awarded the Government of Ontario Volunteer Service Award. In June 2007, he was awarded an Honourary Doctorate of Laws Degree from Brock University.

Vice Chair

A lawyer by training, Andrew Molson is chairman of RES PUBLICA Consulting Group, a Montreal-based holding and management company for two leading professional services firms, NATIONAL Public Relations and Cohn & Wolfe | Canada.

A seventh-generation member of the Molson brewing family, he sits on the board of directors of the Molson Coors Brewing Company. He is also a member of the board of directors of Groupe Deschênes Inc., The Jean Coutu Group (PJC) Inc., Dundee Corporation and the Montreal Canadiens Hockey Club.

Andrew serves on several non-profit boards, including the Institute for Governance of Private and Public Organizations, the Concordia University Foundation, The Banff Centre, the evenko foundation for emerging talent and the Molson Foundation.

He is also chairman of the Montreal General Hospital Foundation and of Pointe-à-Callière, Montreal Archeology and History Complex.

Treasurer

Tim is the CFO for the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan where he is responsible for financial and management reporting; taxation; valuation, risk analytics and model valuation; financial operations; and strategic finance initiatives.

Tim has more than 20 years of senior management experience in financial management and global investments. He was most recently Group Controller and Global Chief Accounting Officer at Manulife. Previously he was CFO of Manulife’s Global Wealth and Asset Management businesses and held other senior executive roles across Finance, Risk, Strategy and Operations. Prior to Manulife, Tim was a director at PwC LLP in the Global Capital Markets Group based in Toronto and London.

Tim is a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario (FCPA), a U.S. Certified Public Accountant and earned a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University.

Director

David Aisenstat is a leading Canadian businessman and philanthropist who has spent a lifetime in the restaurant business and his passion for it shows. In addition to being the owner and CEO of The Keg Steakhouse & Bar, Canada’s premier casual dining brand, his restaurant collection includes KI modern Japanese + bar, Hy’s Steakhouse & Cocktail Bar, The Shore Club, and Gotham Steakhouse & Cocktail Bar. David also has a passion for art and design that is evident in the look and feel of his restaurants. This keen interest was highlighted in his past role as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Vancouver Art Gallery. A key element in all of David’s endeavours is a strong focus on giving back. In 2001, he established The Keg Spirit Foundation to help charitable organizations that develop and mentor young people. The $5.5 million distributed since The Foundation’s inception is a source of great pride for all those involved. Most importantly, the Foundation has been an inspiration for thousands of Keg staff to give back to those less fortunate both in their communities and around the world.

Director

Suzanne Anton QC has recently served as the Attorney General and Minister of Justice for BC, where she led the most innovative Justice Ministry in Canada. This followed two terms as an elected member of City Council in Vancouver, and one on the Vancouver Park Board.

Suzanne entered politics with a passion for public facilities, cultural and recreational, and an interest in getting things done. Her extensive knowledge of people, places and institutions in the city, province and country has connected her to the many communities in our multicultural mosaic.

She is a board member of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and Frontier College, and keeps involved in politics by way of the frequent political campaigns in BC. She has served on numerous boards in the past, including Translink, Pavco (BC Pavilion Corp), Federation of Canadian municipalities, Metro Vancouver, and many not-for-profit and community boards.

Suzanne is a former crown prosecutor and mathematics teacher. She holds a Bachelor of Laws (UBC) and Bachelor of Mathematics (UVic, with distinction). She received her Queen’s Counsel in 2013.

Director

Fabienne Colas, who has an Executive MBA from McGill University and HEC Montréal, is an entrepreneur, filmmaker, producer, award-winning actress and sought-after speaker, who works tirelessly and passionately to support and promote Diversity off and on screen around the globe. 

She is the ‘Queen of Festivals’ who created and manages 12 successful festivals in Canada and internationally, including the Montreal International Black Film Festival, and the Toronto Black Film Festival. Through the Fabienne Colas Foundation (FCF), she supports, awards grants and promotes independent films and Black artists. One of the Foundation’s most impactful accomplishments is the FCF’s Being Black in Canada program – Canada’s largest incubator dedicated to Black Filmmakers presented by Netflix in collaboration with National Bank. She also currently sits on the NSCAD University Board of Governors.

Fabienne Colas is the recipient of the 2019 Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women award, named 2018 Canada’s Top 40 under 40, Personality of the Year (Arts & Culture) by La Presse newspaper in 2018 and recipient of Prix Mercure Relève Femme d’exception from Quebec’s Federation of Chambers of Commerce (Les Mercuriades). She was awarded a Medal from Quebec’s National Assembly recognizing her leadership and contribution in the fight against racism and discrimination in Quebec, as well as the Harry Jerome Arts & Culture Award in Toronto. In 2018, Femmes en Cinéma, Télévision et Médias Numériques (FCTMN) paid tribute to Fabienne for her exceptional contribution in the Quebec Film Industry.

www.fabiennecolas.com

Director

Winnipeg, Canada 

Dorothy Dobbie was a member of Parliament from 1988 to 1993. She served as parliamentary secretary and co-chaired the Joint House Senate Committee on the Renewal of Canada. She is immediate past president of the Canadian Association of Former Parliamentarians and current president of the International Peace Garden.

She is a writer and owner of Pegasus Publications Inc., publisher of magazines and tabloids, among them Beyond the Hill for the Former Parliamentarians. After hosting a garden radio show for 20 years, she and some partners recently started Lifestyles 55 Digital Radio. 

Mrs. Dobbie was the first woman president of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, was chair of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and the National Arts Summit, is a past member of the Nature Conservancy Canada, former chair of Tree Canada among many community volunteer roles. 

She is a member of the Order of Canada, among other awards and honours. 

Director

H. Roger Garland is a member of the Board of Soulpepper Theatre Company in Toronto and a Director of a number of public and private corporations. He was Vice-Chairman of Four Seasons Hotels until 2000, having joined the company in 1981 as Senior Vice-President, Finance. Prior to joining Four Seasons, he was a Vice-President, Corporate Banking with Citibank N.A. in Canada and Switzerland. He began his career with Pricewaterhouse and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1966.

Paul Genest

Director
Director

Paul Genest was appointed Senior Vice-President of Power Corporation and Power Financial in 2016. His background includes academia, government, and business. He served in a number of portfolios as a Deputy Minister in the Ontario Government, including Intergovernmental Affairs and Francophone Affairs. Mr. Genest was also Deputy Minister responsible for oversight of the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games held in Toronto in 2015. He has served in the federal government in various roles, including as Director of Policy and Research in the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada. He has held executive positions with the Council of Ontario Universities and Bell Canada and has served as Adjunct Professor at Glendon College, York University.

A Fellow at the Brookfield Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Ryerson University, Mr. Genest is an active volunteer with a number of organizations including the Alliance Française de Toronto, Pine River Institute which provides residential rehabilitation support for teenagers, and The Nature Conservancy of Canada, Ontario Region. A champion of diversity, he has been honoured for his advocacy for the rights of the LGBTQ community. He is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Mr. Genest holds a Bachelor of Arts Honours (graduating cum laude) in English and Philosophy from the University of Guelph, a Masters in Philosophy from the University of Ottawa, and a PhD in Philosophy from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School and has completed the Rotman School of Management, Institute of Corporate Directors – Directors Education Program (ICD.D).

Director

Ms. Giguère is a firm believer in the power of the arts to uplift the spirit of the community and that volunteering is a fundamental building block of a just society. She has compiled a three-decade record of volunteer support for the arts notably with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet (RWB) and the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre (RMTC), Culture Days and Winnipeg Theatre Awards.  Her experience with the RWB led to her appointment to the board of Q Dance. Ms. Giguère was appointed to the Board of the Canadian Museum of History in 2014 and was recently reappointed for a third term. 

Ms. Giguère was a member of the Canadian Arts Summit Steering Committee for ten years and chaired the Montreal Summit. She was an original member of the Culture Days National Steering and Fund Development Committees.  Subsequently, she founded Culture Days Manitoba and Nuit Blanche Winnipeg.

She has also served on the board of the United Way and is a founder of the Guardian Angel Break Cancer Benefit. Her service as chair realized the establishment of the Breast Cancer of Hope as well as a mobile mammography unit and the Manitoba Breast Cancer Advisory Council. She has also worked as an instructor and Board Chair for the Manitoba Therapeutic riding program for children with disabilities. 

In 2011, Ms. Giguère was honoured with the first-ever “Making a Difference Award” by the Winnipeg Arts Council. She was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Media for her contribution to the artistic life in Canada and is the recipient of the Governor General Ramon Hnatyshyn Award for volunteerism in the Performing Arts. In 2014, Ms. Giguère was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada.

Duane Green

Director
Director

Duane Green is president and CEO of Franklin Templeton Investments Canada and of Fiduciary Trust Company of Canada. Leveraging more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, he oversees Franklin Templeton’s Canadian business.

Mr. Green previously served as managing director – Canada, responsible for the firm’s Canadian retail, institutional and HNW distribution business. Prior to that, he was head of Institutional, Canada. Duane joined Franklin Templeton in 2004 as vice president, Strategic Alliances. Before joining the firm, he was a vice president at an international insurer.

Mr. Green is chair of the board and director of Franklin Templeton Investments Corp, director of Fiduciary Trust Company of Canada and is chair and director of FTC Investor Services Inc. He also serves as president, CEO and director of both Templeton Growth Fund Ltd and Franklin Templeton Corporate Class Funds Ltd.

Duane is on the Board of Directors of the Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC) and sits on the Pension Committee of Canada’s National Ballet School. He is a past board member of Canada’s National Ballet School and of Crohn’s and Colitis Canada.

Mr. Green has a degree in economics from the University of Ottawa and is a fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute. He holds the FMA, CIM, and FCSI designations.

Director

Lawrence L. Herman, B.A., LL.B., is a graduate of the University of Toronto Law Faculty (1969) and a member of the Saskatchewan and Ontario bars. He was in the Canadian Foreign Service in the 1970’s in a variety of posts, including at the United Nations in Geneva. Lawrence concentrates on international trade and international business transactions in his law practice with Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, Toronto. He has acted for private sector clients, governments and international agencies. He sits on the Market Access Advisory Group (MAAG) of the Canadian Foreign Affairs and International Trade Department. Lawrence is currently chair of the Trade Policy Committee of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters and is on the Executive Board of the Canada-U.S. Law Institute; the International Affairs Committee of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce; the C.D. Howe Institute; and several other business and government policy organizations. He is Vice-Chair of Jazz-FM.91, a publicly funded radio station in Toronto. He was Director of the Task Force on Energy Trade and Investment Rules of the World Energy Council in 2007-2010. He was an op-ed columnist on international trade and business for the Financial Post (Toronto) from 1993 to 1998. Lawrence has also written several legal text-books: Canadian Trade Remedy Law & Practice (1997); Canadian Trade Law (2008); Export Controls & Economic Sanctions (2010).

Chris Lorway

Director
Director

Chris Lorway was born on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, where a love of singing, piano and saxophone led him to his first jobs in the performing arts. Over the past quarter-century, Chris has gone on to have leadership roles at major organizations on both side of the border. He started his post-university career at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, where he worked on the Lincoln Center Festival for two years, had roles in marketing and development and worked on the first phase of the campus redevelopment project. His time at Lincoln Center was followed by six years of consulting with AMS Planning and Research and AEA Consulting. These two roles offered him detailed insight into the governance and operations of major cultural organizations, including Carnegie Hall, the Edinburgh International Festival, the West Kowloon Cultural District and San Francisco Opera. 

In 2007, Chris was invited to return to Canada to be the inaugural Artistic Director of the Luminato Festival where he commissioned or co-commissioned nearly 50 new works from Canadian and International artists. In 2014, Chris was appointed Director of Programming and Marketing at The Corporation of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall where his focus was on having the programming at the halls reflect the diversity of the city of Toronto. He worked closely with the hall’s resident companies (including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto International Film Festival) and was part of the leadership team charged with the redevelopment of Massey Hall. 

Most recently, Chris served as both Executive and Artistic Director at Stanford Live where he was responsible for over 200 performances and events across 4 venues, including the recently opened Bing Concert Hall and the Frost Amphitheater. In this role he continued to commission and develop new works including the west coast premieres of Taylor Mac’s 24 Decades of Popular Music, Kyle Abraham’s Requiem: Fire in the Air of the Earth and Dimitris Papaioannou’s Transverse Orientation

During COVID, Chris created a comprehensive digital season of short films that featured Bay Area artists captured by local filmmakers. Without access to either federal or state relief funds, he was able to generate a significant surplus in FY21 by opening up Stanford Live’s outdoor venue (Frost) to arts organizations across the Bay Area (SF Symphony, SF Jazz and SF Ballet). 

Chris is excited to once again return to Canada in his new role as President and CEO of the Banff Centre.  

Director

As CFO of Ipsos Canada, Victoria is responsible for the finance and accounting functions of the Canadian business, including driving growth and optimizing financial operations.

Victoria is a seasoned finance executive with more than 20 years of experience in corporate strategy, compliance, and financial planning and analysis, including driving operational effectiveness and leading business transformation, in professional services organizations.

Prior to joining Ipsos, Victoria worked at Colliers, a global commercial real estate services firm, where she led the finance function of its Canadian business, including enterprise strategic planning and ESG initiatives. Before that, she spent the bulk of her career at KPMG in corporate strategy, and in client service as an external auditor of TSX- and SEC-listed companies with a focus on the Mining sector.

Outside of the professional realm, Victoria is actively involved in the community, serving on the Board of the Bata Shoe Museum, including the Finance Committee, former Board member of the Design Exchange Museum, and a Business Mentor with the national charity RiseHelps. She is bilingual in English and French.

Janice Price

Director
Director

Janice Price became President of The Banff Centre on March 16th, 2015. She most recently served as CEO of the Luminato Festival, Toronto’s Festival of Art and Creativity, an organization she led since its inception in 2006. As the Festival’s Founding CEO, Price helped Luminato become one of the world’s largest and most respected annual multi-arts festivals. The Festival reaches over 800,000 audience members annually, and in its first eight seasons, the Festival commissioned 75 new works. Previous to Luminato, Price was the President and CEO of The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia from 2002-2006, and prior to that position, she was Vice President of Marketing and Communications and then Interim Executive Director at New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Prior to her professional engagements in the United States, Price held senior positions at a number of Toronto arts organizations, including the Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts and The Corporation of Roy Thomson Hall and Massey Hall. From 1992 – 1996, Price was the Director of Marketing and Special Projects for the Stratford Festival.

Janice Price also served as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Festivals and Major Events (FAME) coalition of large Canadian festivals and as a member of the board of Festivals and Events Ontario where she served on the advocacy and education committees. She is also a member of the National Board of Culture Days.

Irfhan Rawji

Director
Director

Irfhan Rawji is the Founder & CEO of MobSquad, an innovative Canadian start-up that ensures high-caliber software engineers with US work visa challenges remain working with their current company, but are near-shored from Canada. Irfhan is also a Principal with Totem Capital Corporation, a Venture Partner with Relay Ventures and an Adjunct Professor at the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia.

Irfhan is actively involved in civic affairs as Board Chair of Glenbow Museum, Board Member of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, and Board Member of Venture for Canada. Additionally, Irfhan serves as Chair of the Heart & Stroke Foundation’s Impact Fund Advisory Committee, as an advisor to the Canadian government’s Impact and Innovation Unit within the Privy Council Office, and as a member of the New Economy Advisory Committee of the Alberta Securities Commission. Irfhan is also on the National Advisory Committee of The Walrus, is an Advisor to the Canadian Urban Institute, and is co-Chair of the Board of Governors of Look Forward.

Irfhan holds an MBA with High Honors from Harvard Business School and also holds a BCom with Honours from the University of British Columbia. He is a recipient of The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Heart & Stroke Foundation’s Award of Merit, the Sauder School of Business’ Teaching Excellence Award, Business for the Arts’ Arnold Edinborough Award, and is a member of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 (2017).

Greg A. Reed

Director
Director

Greg A. Reed is a director of the National Arts Centre Foundation and a former director of the National Ballet of Canada. Following a 20-year career with international consulting firm McKinsey & Company in New York, London, and Toronto, he served as the CEO of both an investment firm and a private bank. Greg holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Toronto.

Jayne Watson

Director
Director

Ms. Watson has more than 25 years experience as a senior fundraising executive, political advisor, and consultant. For more than 20 years she worked at Canada’s National Arts Centre (NAC). During her years as CEO of the NAC Foundation, she raised more than $125 million to support creation, learning and performance initiatives across Canada. Prior to joining the NAC, she served as the Director of Communications at Export Development Canada, and held senior communications roles in the Office of the Speaker of the House of Commons and Canada Post Corporation.

David Binet

Honorary Director / Ambassador
Honorary Director / Ambassador

David Binet is the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Woodbridge Company Limited, an investment holding company for Canada’s Thomson family. Woodbridge’s largest asset is its 55% stake in Thomson Reuters Corporation, listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges, and it has numerous other investments.

David is Deputy Chairman of Thomson Reuters, and also serves on the board of directors of Woodbridge, The Globe and Mail (Canada’s national newspaper), and a number of other companies in which Woodbridge has invested. David is Chairman of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, a London-based charity dedicated to journalism training and promoting the rule of law. David is also Chairman of the Board of The National Ballet of Canada and on the board of directors of Canada’s National Ballet School.

Before joining Woodbridge, David was a partner in the Canadian law firm Torys LLP, where his practice focused on mergers and acquisitions, and corporate finance. Prior to that, he was a news reporter. David attended Queen’s University (BA Hons), McGill University (LLB) and Northwestern University (MSJ) and he has received certification from the Institute of Corporate Directors (Canada).

Tania Carnegie

Honorary Director / Ambassador

Robert T.E. Gillespie, P.Eng

Honorary Director / Ambassador
Honorary Director / Ambassador

Robert T.E. Gillespie is President of Gilvest Inc. and former Chairman and CEO of General Electric Canada, Inc. He is a past director of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives. A past member of the Canadian Council for International Business, the International Chamber of Commerce, Team Canada Inc Advisory Board, and the Toronto Economic Advisory Council. He is an Honorary Trustee of the Royal Ontario Museum and a Past Chairman of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Robert was educated at Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh) and at Harvard Business School (Boston). He has an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University and is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Carol R. Hill

Honorary Director / Ambassador
Honorary Director / Ambassador

Carol R. Hill is a Director of the Regina-based Hill Companies. She is also the Founding Chair of the Canadian Chapter of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums, an organization helping to restore art treasures held there. Most recently, Carol assisted in raising funds for “The Santa Rosa Necropolis” (dating from 50BC – 200AD, the 40 large tombs and 200 graves of this site reveal a wealth of information about both the Roman middle class and their slaves). She was also instrumental in bringing the 200-piece collection, “Angels From the Vatican,” which was exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Carol is a former Board member of the Regina’s Globe Theatre, Royal Winnipeg Ballet and sat on the Advisory Board of the Banff School for Excellence.

Michael M. Koerner, C.M

Honorary Director / Ambassador
Honorary Director / Ambassador

Michael M. Koerner, C.M., has an SB in Chemical Engineering from MIT and an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. He is President of Canada Overseas Investments Limited and serves on a number of corporate boards. Michael is a Trustee of the Art Gallery of Ontario and served as President from 1982-84. He is a Life Member of the Corporation, MIT. He is Treasurer of the Ontario Arts Council Foundation and of the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund. A patron of many performing and visual arts organizations, he was instrumental in the creation of the Canadian Encyclopaedia of Music. In 2006, Michael received the Edmund C. Bovey Award.

Hon. Roy MacLaren, P.C.

Honorary Director / Ambassador
Honorary Director / Ambassador

Hon. Roy MacLaren, P.C., is a graduate of the Universities of British Columbia, Cambridge and Toronto. He was a Canadian diplomat from 1957 to 1970, a businessman from 1970, and a federal Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister from 1979 to 1996 when he became High Commissioner for Canada in the U.K. Upon completion of his London appointment, he joined several boards in Britain and Canada and resumed his earlier membership on the board of the Canadian Opera Company. He is also a director of the Royal Ontario Museum Foundation.

Gail O’Brien

Honorary Director / Ambassador
Honorary Director / Ambassador

Gail O’Brien holds positions with a variety of non-profit organizations in Canada and abroad. She is Co-Chair of the Council for Canadian American Relations, Chair of the Dean’s Advisory Council for the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Calgary and the Birks Advisory Board for Calgary, Vice-Chair of the Glenbow Museum, Trustee of the board of The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), and Trustee of the Board of the Ontario Science Centre. She is also the past chair of the National Arts Centre Foundation and past board member of the YWCA of Calgary. Formerly the owner of a speciality women’s boutique and General Manager of Calgary’s Holt Renfrew, Gail was the recipient of the Women of Distinction Award for Business and Entrepreneurs in 2000. She holds a BA in English and Fine Arts from McGill University.

James B. Pitblado, C.M.

Honorary Director / Ambassador
Honorary Director / Ambassador

James B. Pitblado, C.M., is retired Chairman of RBC Dominion Securities. He is a Director of the National Ballet of Canada Endowment Foundation and the Ontario Arts Foundation and is Past Chairman of the Board of the National Ballet of Canada and of the National Ballet Endowment Foundation. In 2000, he received the Edmund C. Bovey Award for Leadership Support of the Arts. He and his wife Sandra were the recipients of the Outstanding Philanthropists of the Year Award (1999) and the Governor General’s Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts (2003). He and Sandra continue to be generous patrons of the arts.

Gillian Smith

Honorary Director / Ambassador
Honorary Director / Ambassador

Gillian Smith is Vice President, Membership and Marketing at the Toronto Region Board of Trade (TRBoT). In this role, she is responsible for developing, leading and delivering the strategy, services and activities necessary to retain, engage and grow the Board’s membership of more than 12,000 Toronto business leaders. Prior to joining TRBoT, Gillian served as Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, a national charity that promotes inclusion and citizenship. In this role, she built a national network of more than 1,200 partners to serve the integration needs of Canada’s new citizens in all aspects of Canadian life. In addition, Gillian spent more than fifteen years in the private sector in senior corporate communications and government relations roles, notably with the Royal Bank of Canada and RBC Capital Markets, and Aeroplan (now Aimia). A graduate of Queen’s University (Honours, Arts – Sociology and French), Gillian is very active in the community. She currently serves as Chair of the Toronto Public Library Foundation, Vice Chair of Community Food Centres Canada and is a board director with Business / Arts and Culture Days.

Michael Vukets

Honorary Director / Ambassador

Robert S. Weiss, F.C.A.

Honorary Director / Ambassador

Nina Kaiden Wright

Honorary Director / Ambassador
Honorary Director / Ambassador

Nina Kaiden Wright has been a fundraising consultant in Canada and the United States since 1959. She founded Arts & Communications Counselors, a firm that employs a unique blend of marketing and strategic philanthropy to create meaningful private sector-public sector partnerships, primarily in the arts and cultural arena. Shet has worked with the boards of large institutions, and independently, to access many millions of dollars across North America. Lauded for her tenacity, creativity and visionary leadership in the field, Nina has established a new standard of excellence in the arena of corporate arts philanthropy in Canada.

Janet Yale

Honorary Director / Ambassador
Honorary Director / Ambassador

Janet Yale is President and Chief Executive Officer of The Arthritis Society. She is the former Executive Commissioner and CEO of Scouts Canada and Executive Vice President of Telus. Janet has a Bachelor of Arts degree from McGill University and a Master of Economics and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Toronto. Janet is currently a Board member of the Health Charities Coalition of Canada, Samara Board Vice-Chair, Chair of the Arthritis Alliance of Canada. She was named by the Women’s Executive Network one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women – Top 100 for 2004, 2005 and 2006, was inducted into the Women’s Executive Network Hall of Fame in 2007 and is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal 2012.