Our Board of Directors fosters the growth of the YMCA across Canada. These dedicated and skilled volunteers are elected for a three-year term by YMCA National Council, the Federation’s senior legislative and policy body with representation from each YMCA Member Association in Canada.

The Board promotes sound stewardship to National Council and ensures that YMCA Canada follows best practices in governance and operates effectively in accordance with YMCA Federation values (collaborative, accountable, inclusive, sustainable, proactive), by-laws, and policies.

National Board Resource Centre

 

Officers

 

CHAIR
Laurie Skinner headshot

Laurie provides strategic, operational, and financial leadership as the Associate Vice President, Administration and Finance with the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland. Prior to this role, Laurie held the position of CFO with JCL Investments Inc., Universal Helicopters, and the KMK Capital Group of Companies. She is the former Deputy Minister of Finance for Newfoundland and Labrador and also served as Assistant Deputy Minister for Business, having held Assistant Deputy Minister positions in three areas of the Department of Finance. Laurie is a past board director of the Brother T.I. Murphy Centre and the Youth in Care Network of Newfoundland and Labrador. She volunteers her time on the Finance and Audit Committee of The Gathering Place, is a member of the Rotary Club of St. John's East, and is past board chair of the YMCA of Newfoundland and Labrador.

VICE CHAIR
Daniel Doiron headshot

Daniel is a professor of management with the Faculty of Business at University of New Brunswick Saint John, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate level courses in Competitive Strategy, Managing Innovation, and Entrepreneurship. His research interests are currently focused on understanding disruptive business models, where he has published five case studies with IVEY Publishing; one of which, entitled “What Business is Zara In?” was recently recognized as a top ten bestselling case study.

Dan volunteers extensively, sitting on numerous boards and committees. He is currently engaged with the Saint John Block One startup incubator and accelerator programs, where he co-founded the Venture Validation Program, which has helped over 150 Saint John and New Brunswick entrepreneurs understand the business opportunity behind their new business ideas. He chairs the board of the Greater Saint John YMCA.

Prior to joining UNB in 2003, Daniel was involved in founding two technology startup companies for NBTel and Aliant. The first is a global software company and the second is a northern New England-based internet and broadband services provider.

Daniel began his 19-year career in the telecommunications and internet industries when he joined NBTel in 1984 following his graduation from the University of New Brunswick where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. In 1991, Daniel received a Master’s in the Management of Technology from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  

VICE CHAIR
Tracey Wallace headshot

Tracey Wallace has over three decades of global experience working for organizations in corporate governance, human capital, strategic planning, ESG, and consulting. She is known for her strategic vision, building and leading teams, and for developing and coaching people at all levels of an organization. Since 2017, Tracey has served as the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) for Badger Infrastructure Solutions Ltd., the largest non-destructive hydro-excavation business in North America. Tracey’s past board experience includes the ALS Society of Canada, the ALS Society of Alberta, Rokstad Power, and SFT Global. Tracey is a member of the Chartered Professionals in Human Resources and holds the Certified Professional Human Resources (CPHR) designation and the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Outside the Boardroom, Tracey can be found spending time with her family, traveling the world, and enjoying activities such as cross-country skiing, hiking, and sailing.

 

Directors

 

DIRECTOR
Mostafa Abd El Meguid headshot

Mostafa is a Professional Engineer working in eCommerce at Amazon. Born in Egypt and raised in Kuwait, Mostafa attended McGill University in Montreal where he was an HFA member of the historic Downtown YMCA. Here, Mostafa saw first-hand the positive impact a centre of community can bring to its neighbourhood. Following a move to Toronto, Mostafa jumped at the opportunity to volunteer with the YMCA of Greater Toronto, serving on the Youth Advisory Committee to the Board, as well as the Association’s Government Relations Task Force.
 

 

DIRECTOR
Gaya Arasaratnam headshot

Gaya is Director, Student Wellness at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan where she oversees services for mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. She is a licensed Project Management Professional and Certified Health Executive with leadership experience in Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia. She sits on a number of national and provincial advisory committees and boards including the Technical Committee for the development of Canada’s first National Standard for Mental Health and Wellbeing for Post-Secondary Students. 

 

 

DIRECTOR
Daniel Boisvert headshot

Daniel is the Vice-President, Marketing and Digital Channels at Export Development Canada. Daniel has more than 25 years of experience as an executive leader in digital media, telecommunications, and emerging technologies with significant expertise in strategy, marketing, and business development. He has held executive positions with Cogeco Connexion, Bell Canada Enterprises and its subsidiaries, and Sympatico-Lycos Inc., and consults for many international telecom operators.

Daniel has served on several for-profit and not-for-profit boards, including the YMCAs of Quebec where he is a former board chair. He holds an MBA from HEC Lausanne in Switzerland and has participated in Ivy League executive training.

DIRECTOR
Ryan Brain headshot

Ryan is the Chief Executive Officer at Integral Consulting, a pre-eminent environmental consulting firm dedicated to environmental stewardship and sustainability. He began his career at Deloitte Canada and spent 22 years at the firm. In his final years at Deloitte, Ryan was a Senior Partner and assumed many roles during that time, including serving as the Managing Partner in Toronto. He then joined WSP in 2019 as President & CEO of Canada.  

Ryan is a dynamic and transformational leader with extensive experience leading cross-functional teams and thousands of team members. He has a strong affinity towards the environment, infrastructure, energy and resources, and the movement to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) business practices.  

Ryan joined the Board of the YMCA of Greater Toronto in 2013 and served as Chair for two years until September 2021.

DIRECTOR
Dan Clement headshot

Dan holds the position of President & CEO, and Secretary of the Board for United Way Centraide Canada (UWCC) where he leads a national movement for social change comprising of 70 local United Way and Centraide (UWC) organizations serving more than 5,000 Canadian communities. Dan has 20 years of leadership experience within the UWC Movement at the local, provincial, and national levels. He brings his expertise to UWCs’ work on community impact and engagement, public policy, product development, network governance, and business transformation. Dan is leading and championing the UWC transformation and future state vision process for growth and impact. Dan engages with stakeholders through donor, government, and media relations, engaging in public policy development to drive the United Way Centraide mission forward.

Prior to joining UWC, Dan held positions with the Ontario Government and managed an independent consulting practice offering services in urban planning, public policy, housing, and research.

DIRECTOR
John Corlett headshot

My first YMCA experience in Niagara Falls at age 8 launched a lifelong commitment to physical activity and admiration for the YMCA’s capacity to create for its people a sense of belonging. Later in life, I re-found my YMCA roots and, as my professional life took me to different cities, I have been privileged to serve the YMCA as a board volunteer and donor. In my career as a university professor, Dean, and Provost, I have devoted my teaching and research to active living, physical literacy, and healthy development through sport and physical education. I have lived in five Canadian provinces and worked and traveled extensively internationally as a proud Canadian and global citizen. I am a strong supporter of the YMCA’s belief in just, collaborative, and mutually beneficial relationships built on respect and a foundation of diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

DIRECTOR
Sourov De headshot

Sourov is a Managing Partner at Stryve Digital Marketing where he handles digital marketing executions for clients such as Intel, Oracle, and Syngenta. Previously, he worked in brand management at Unilever.

Sourov is a graduate of Wilfrid Laurier’s BBA program and attended Harvard Business School for his Executive Education.

Sourov was named one of Kitchener-Waterloo’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2012 and is a recipient of a Lazaridis School of Business Alumni Award for his business and community-building efforts. He is the past chair of the YMCA of Kitchener-Waterloo.

DIRECTOR
Barbara Grantham headshot

Barbara is honoured to serve on the Board of YMCA Canada and to have the opportunity to learn from and work with this talented team. Barbara joined CARE Canada in April 2020 as President and CEO. CARE is part of an international confederation working in over 100 countries to realize the power and positive impact of women’s leadership in their local communities. Before joining CARE, Barbara served as President & CEO of VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation. She has held executive positions with BC Children’s Hospital Foundation, the Canadian Mental Health Association, and the Vancouver Foundation, and had a successful consulting practice for many years.

Barbara serves on the Board of Directors of YMCA of Greater Vancouver, jack.org (a national organization working to change the conversation for Canada’s young people around mental health), the Humanitarian Coalition of Canada, and CanWaCH. She is also a volunteer with the national Loran Scholars Program.

In 2016, Barbara was named one of Women’s Executive Network‘s Annual Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada and in 2019, she received the AFP Lifetime Achievement Award. She holds degrees from Queen’s and Carleton Universities. Most importantly, she is the proud mom of three wonderful young adults and takes her turn at walking her family’s aging golden lab, Rosie.

DIRECTOR
Kwame McKenzie headshot

Kwame is the CEO of Wellesley Institute and is an international expert on the social causes of mental illness, suicide, and the development of effective, equitable health systems. Dr. McKenzie is also Director of Health Equity at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and a Full Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto.

As a policy advisor, clinician, and academic with over 250 papers, 5 books, and numerous awards, he has worked across a broad spectrum to improve population health and health services for three decades. He is a member of the National Advisory Council on Poverty and Co-Chair of Canada’s Expert Advisory Panel on COVID-19 and Mental Health. He was the Co-Chair of the Expert Task Force on Substance Use, sat on the Minister of Health’s COVID-19 Testing and Tracing Advisory, and was a member of Canada’s Delegation to the High-Level Political Forum on the Social Development Goals. Dr. McKenzie has served as a Human Rights Commissioner for Ontario and Chair of the Research and Evaluation Advisory Committee of Ontario's Basic Income Pilot. In addition to his academic, policy, and clinical work, Kwame has written columns for the Guardian, Times-online, and Toronto Star and is a past BBC Radio presenter. 

DIRECTOR
Amy Nixon headshot

Amy is General Counsel and University Secretary at Mount Royal University. As a senior lawyer who was called to the Alberta bar in 2006, as a certified governance professional, and as an Olympic medalist, Amy has honed her skills as a leader and has established a solid reputation as a trusted advisor.

Prior to joining Mount Royal University, Amy was both a municipal prosecutor and a litigator at the City of Calgary. Amy is a retired competitive curler whose achievements include being a member of the 2012 and 2016 Canadian Women's Curling team, 2012 World Bronze Medalist, and 2006 Olympic Bronze Medalist. After Amy's retirement from competitive curling in 2017, she has continued to contribute to the sport as a board member of Curling Canada’s Board of Governors including serving as chair in 2021-22. During her time as chair, Curling Canada hosted a national symposium on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the sport of curling.

DIRECTOR
Wan-Peng Sun headshot

Wan-Peng provides engineering leadership as Director, Development at AudienceView, a global ticketing company with operations in Europe, North America, and South America. Wan-Peng is a past board member at the YMCA of Southwestern Ontario. Wan-Peng volunteers his time on the Finance and Audit Committee of London Health Science Centre, Row Ontario, Alzheimer’s Society of Ontario, as well as the Responsible Gambling Council of Canada.

 

 

DIRECTOR
Krista Tartaglia headshot

Krista is a Partner at BDO Canada with over 15 years of professional experience in public practice. She provides assurance, accounting, and advisory services to clients in various sectors including not-for-profits, with a specialization in pensions, benefit trust funds, and unions. Krista helps her clients by advising on governance, information systems, financial statement preparation and disclosures, and emerging issues. As a member of the BDO Pension and Benefits Group, Krista has notable experiences executing information systems audit procedures at third-party administrators, researching emerging issues, and producing thought leadership.

Krista holds a CPA, CA designation along with a Master of Accounting from the University of Waterloo. She is a member of the Velocity Women in Leadership program and a member of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP). At BDO, she is a key contributor to the recruiting, hiring, and training initiatives for future and current staff. Outside of work, Krista and her husband parent two energetic sons, who happily attend YMCA child care.

DIRECTOR
Craig Wilson headshot

Craig is General Counsel at Irving Oil Limited. As a lawyer with a professional accounting designation, Craig is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners with extensive experience providing advice on corporate governance, finance, estate planning, taxation, by-laws, and member relations. With over two decades of experience helping meet organizational goals using diplomacy and expertise, he is well-versed in contract negotiations, leading projects, drafting policies, and providing training for legal and non-legal staff.  

Craig is a committed volunteer, donor, and member of the YMCA of Greater Saint John. He has served many positions on the Board of Directors including Director, Treasurer, and Chair. Craig is currently the Chair of the YMCA of Greater Saint John Endowment Fund Board of Directors.

 

Past Chair
 

IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR
Mary Beck headshot

Volunteer, retired lawyer, and financial executive – Mary is a long-time volunteer of the YMCA of Greater Vancouver (Now YMCA BC). She is a current member and a past chair of the YMCA of Greater Vancouver Board of Directors and of the YMCA of Greater Vancouver Foundation Board of Directors. Since 2016, Mary has been a YMCA Canada Board member and currently serves as YMCA Canada's immediate past Board Chair.

Mary is a retired member of the Law Society of British Columbia. She is a past executive and board member with a BC-based independent investment adviser. Mary holds the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.