Board of Directors
The Canadian MedicAlert Foundation is led by a volunteer Board of Directors with representation from across Canada.
Barry Kuntz
Chair
Ontario
Barry has recently joined Madison MacArthur Inc., an executive search firm in Toronto, as Director of Executive Recruitment, after a thirty-year career with General Motors. His career there spanned sales, service, marketing and public affairs, in Regina, Saskatoon, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Toronto. He graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in 1972 with a Bachelor of Administration degree. Over the years, Barry has been an active supporter of a number of charitable and not-for-profit organizations.
Western Region
Len Kelsey
Board Member
British Columbia
Len is currently Chair and CEO of B.C. Utilities Commission and has held a number of executive positions with the British Columbia Automobile Association. Len is active in the volunteer community. He served as Public Administrator and Board Chair of the North Shore Health Region, Board Chair of Lions Gate Hospital and is currently a Board member of the MedicAlert Foundation International.
Melanie McKenzie
Board Member
British Columbia
Melanie is currently the Executive Director of the Victoria Hospitals Foundation where she has helped annual revenues grow from $700,000 to over $7.0 million. The Foundation’s first major capital campaign received the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy’s award for Outstanding Achievement in Capital Campaigns. VHF completed a second $17 million capital campaign in 2004, which represents the largest fundraising campaign for healthcare ever undertaken on Vancouver Island. Over $70 million has been raised since she joined the Victoria Hospitals Foundation.
Melanie has been fundraising for 20 years, including time at BCIT and Lions Gate Hospital Foundation. She has been at the Victoria Hospitals Foundation for 16 years.
She holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration and is a Certified Fundraising Executive. She is a member of the Association of Healthcare Philanthropy, the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the Canadian Association of Gift Planners. She is a member of the international Certified Fundraising Executive exam board. She is the past President of the BCIT Alumni Association and was a volunteer Big Sister through Big Brothers and Big Sisters for 10 years. Melanie chaired the 2004 National Symposium for Families in Business and currently sits on the Conference Board of Canada’s National Council of Foundation Executives. She serves on the British Columbia Medical Services Commission and the MedicAlert Foundation Board of Directors.
Melanie is married with two grown children. She is a frequent speaker on a variety of non-profit and fundraising topics. She was nominated as a YWCA Woman of Distinction in 2003 and received a British Columbia Community Achievement Award in 2008.
Cheri Nijssen-Jordan, MD
Vice-Chair
Alberta
Cheri is a paediatrician and a paediatric emergency physician at the Alberta Children's Hospital, and Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Calgary. While continuing her clinical practice in both the urban and rural settings, she is also a medical administrator with a special interest in quality improvement in health care and continuing medical education. She participates in a variety of International Health missions around the world and has now visited all 7 continents.
Charles Sun, MD
Board Member
British Columbia
Dr. Charles (Chuck) Sun is an Emergency Medicine physician on staff with the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) holding appointments with University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria as a Clinical Associate Professor. Dr. Sun's area of special interest is Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and its role / function relating to organ and tissue donation. Dr. Sun has been the Medical Director for Canada's largest Provincial EMS service in BC for 20 years and has participated in many research / educational projects involving Pre-hospital emergency care in Canada and internationally. Dr. Sun has been active in the promotion of "Advanced Directives" in introducing Canada's first provincial government and medical association recognized "NO CPR form and bracelet" in BC. Dr. Sun has been a pioneer in the introduction of Physician Assistants Profession to the Canadian Health Care system and currently is an advisor to the Canadian Forces and the Physician Assistant Foundation of Canada on issues related to the practice of Physician Assistants.
Central Region
Howard Berger
Past-Chair
Quebec
Howard is the Co-Executive Director of Agence Ometz, an integrated continuum of employment, immigration and social services to over 13,000 individuals yearly. Howard is a graduate of the Faculty of Law at McGill University and has practiced commercial and labour law for the past 25 years while remaining active in a variety of not-for-profit organizations.
John Szold
Board Member
Ontario
John Szold is the CEO of Planning for Succession. Planning for Succession works with boards of directors, management teams, private companies and family businesses to develop and implement effective succession planning processes.
John Szold’s career has spanned retail, manufacturing, sales, consulting and university lecturing. Guided throughout by the philosophy ‘if it’s not fun, why do it?’, today John’s work in the field of organizational development is driven by this seemingly simple concept that people should enjoy work and be suited to their job.
Throughout his 17 years consulting experience in the fields of organizational development and marketing, John has provided his clients with a perspective that can only come from real-life experience. As an entrepreneur, he knows the challenges owner-managed businesses face and as a post-graduate level lecturer at the Schulich School of Business and the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, he understands the importance of executive education.
Eastern Region
Verna Skanes, PhD
Board Member
Newfoundland
Dr. Skanes is a former Assistant Dean for Research and Graduate Studies and Professor of Immunology in the Faculty of Medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Since retirement in 1999, Dr. Skanes has worked as consultant on various projects related to health research, ethics and policy. Dr. Skanes has chaired expert review panels for the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) Program. She was Chair of the NCE Selection Committee. She has served on various boards, including the Advisory Board of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research Institute for Circulatory and Respiratory Health, the Advisory Board of the Atlantic Innovation Fund and the Board of Directors of the Canadian Stem Cell Network. Dr. Skanes has been a member of the Board of Directors of Canadian Blood Services and Chair of that board since 2003. She is also currently Chair of the board of the Stem Cell Network and a member of the board of the Newfoundland Quarterly.
Verne Somers
Board Member
Newfoundland
Verne, a CA, is a founding member and was First President of the Memorial University of Newfoundland alumni association. He is a senior financial and operational executive with experience in both the service and manufacturing sectors, and has held various senior executive positions with SCICAN and Peoples Jewellers Corporation.
