Board of Directors
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Allan G. Brown Bryn MacPherson-White Jill Witkin John Wilhelm Karen Sterling Lara Speirs Laurence (Larry) C. Murray (Vice-President) |
Mike Ruthard (President) Peter Landry (Secretary) S. Ashley Dent Senthuran Sivananthan Shane Crompton Tanya Deurvorst Smith Ted Nation |
ALLAN G. BROWN joined the BOOST Board in 2005 and serves as Treasurer on a Board for intellectually challenged students and adults, a volunteer counselor at a children's camp for cancer and recently was involved in a documentary for children who have lost a sibling or parent to cancer. He looks forward to working with the Board and BOOST staff and on the Strategic Planning Committee and the Human Resources Committee. Allan has a background in marketing, law and business consulting. He focuses on community efforts that work to ensure all children have the opportunity to be a kid and to grow up in a fun, nurturing, and supportive environment.
PETER LANDRY has been a member of the Board of Directors of BOOST since 2004. Peter is active with the Toronto Board of Trade, including as a member of the Policy Committee, Chair of the Task Force on Postsecondary Financing in Ontario and Vice-Chair of the Skills Task Force. He is also Co-Chair of the Toronto Training Board, a Director of the Government Relations Institute of Canada, a Govenor of The Radiation Safety Institute of Canada and serves on the Rugby Ontario Marketing and Sponsorship Committee. Peter is well known as a public affairs and government relations specialist. In his almost 30-year career - including more than a decade in senior positions with the Government of Ontario - Peter has developed a deep understanding of how government works and how to affect public policy on behalf of clients. Peter joined Enterprise Canada in 2003. Enterprise is one of Canada's leading public affairs and government relations firms, representing clients from across industrial sectors, including health care, information technology, education and training, pharmaceutical, construction, telecommunications, transportation, engineering, retail, entertainment, electricity and financial services. His work has included high profile groundbreaking changes to government legislation, policy and practices at both the federal and provincial levels. Peter also has extensive experience in advising lawyers and their clients on public affairs strategies. Before moving to the private sector, Peter held a number of high level positions in the Government of Ontario, including serving as a Director in the Ministry of Skills Development and Executive Assistant/Chief of Staff to the Minister of Community and Social Services. In addition to his professional work, Peter is a certified basketball and soccer coach.
BRYN MACPHERSON-WHITE has been a member of Boost’s Communications Committee since 2006, and was elected to the Board of Directors in June 2008. Bryn has a particular interest in the Child Victim Witness Support Program, and Prevention and Public Education initiatives
A graduate of McGill University, Bryn was Executive Assistant and Director of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 1989 to 1998 under three Lieutenant Governors. She was awarded the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal for exceptional contribution to the Office of the Lieutenant Governor
Currently, Bryn is the Director, Office of the President and University Events, at the University of Toronto, where she has worked since 2003. She is the proud mother of three children.
LAURENCE (LARRY) C. MURRAY has been a member of the Board of Directors of BOOST since 2005. Larry is a partner in the Toronto office of KPMG LLP (and its predecessor firms) since 1976; he has specialized in the income tax area since 1969 mainly dealing with matters relating to financial institutions and non-profit entities. He received a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto in 1966 and received his Chartered Accountant designation in 1969; in 1991 he received his FCA designation (conferred on 3% of the CAs in Ontario for their professional and community activities).
Professionally, Larry is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario, the Canadian Tax Foundation, International Fiscal Association, the Estate Planning Council of Toronto and the Canadian Association of Gift Planners. He has spoken on a variety of subjects at various conferences sponsored by professional and industry organizations such as the Canadian Tax Foundation, The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants ("CICA"), the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario and other provincial institutes, Ontario Hospital Association and The Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association Inc. In addition, he has been on the Faculty of the CICA In-depth Tax Course.
On a voluntary basis in the non-profit sector, currently Larry is a director and secretary of The Hearing Foundation of Canada of which he is a past chair, Director and a Vice Chair of The Writers' Trust of Canada, Director of Toronto Child Abuse Centre, and Director and Chair of The KPMG Foundation. Previous involvement included the: Canadian Centre for Philanthropy (now Imagine Canada) (1980-1993) and Ontario Trillium Foundation (1984-1991). Larry and Nancy live in Toronto; they have a daughter Louise and a son, Lawren.
MIKE RUTHARD has been a member of the Board of the BOOST since 2003, and is currently the Treasurer. Mike also volunteers with Hazel Burns Hospice and a Toronto based soccer league. He sits on the board of each of these organizations and serves as President of the board for both Hazel Burns and the soccer league. Mike places a high value on community involvement and believes very strongly in the work of the BOOST.
Mike received his BA (Hons.) in Economics and Political Science from the University of Toronto, and earned his MBA from the Rotman School of Management. Mike is also a qualified Chartered Accountant. Mike began his career at the Royal Bank of Canada in global equity securities lending. Following the completion of his graduate studies he joined PricewaterhouseCoopers. During his six years at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Mike was twice seconded to Barrick Gold Corporation, once to Barrick's treasury department and another time to Barrick's corporate development group. In 2003 Mike joined the Newshore Capital Group where he holds the position of Chief Financial Officer.
TANYA DEURVORST SMITH has recently joined the BOOST's Board of Directors. Tanya has been with the Suspected Child Abuse & Neglect program at the Hospital for Sick Children since 1995. Through her role as an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner she provides medical evaluation of children and adolescents were sexual abuse/assault concerns have arisen. Tanya is actively involved in the development and program planning for the pediatric sexual assault initiative for the Ontario Network of Sexual Assault Care Centers. Tanya has been qualified as an Expert Witness at both the Provincial and Federal court levels on child and adolescent sexual abuse/assault. Tanya trains clinicians and community agencies across the province on the topic of Pediatric Sexual Assault. Tanya is cross-appointed at the University of Toronto.
LARA SPEIRS has been a Board member at BOOST since the spring of 2004. She is the chair of the Human Resources subcommittee, specifically working on updating and revising BOOST's human resources policies. She also provides legal advice to the Executive Director and the Board regarding employment related matters. Lara has been working as a lawyer since 1999. She started her legal career as a constitutional litigator at the Department of Justice (Federal) before moving in 2005 to an in-house position with the Employment Law Group at the Bank of Nova Scotia.
