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 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., 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., 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 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., 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 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.

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 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.