MedicAlert - We Speak For You - 50 Years Protecting Canadians

John Szold

Chair

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.

Melanie McKenzie

Board Member

British Columbia

Melanie is currently the Executive Director of the Victoria Hospitals Foundation where she has helped annual revenues grow to over $7.0 million. Over $70 million has been raised since she joined the Victoria Hospitals Foundation.

Melanie has been fundraising for 23 years, including time at BCIT and Lions Gate Hospital Foundation. She has been at the Victoria Hospitals Foundation for 17 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. Melanie currently sits on the Conference Board of Canada's National Council of Foundation Executives. She also serves on the British Columbia Medical Services Commission and the MedicAlert Foundation Board of Directors. She is a past President of the BCIT Alumni Association and was a volunteer Big Sister through Big Brothers and Big Sisters for 10 years.

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.

Dr. Cheri Nijssen-Jordan

Past-Chair

Alberta

Cheri is a paediatrician and a paediatric emergency physician at the Alberta Children's Hospital, and Clinical 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.

Salimah Walji-Shivji, LL.B., M.S.W., B.S.W.

Board Member

Alberta

Salimah Walji-Shivji brings a strong background of legal and regulatory work as well as a clinical background in social work to her duties as a board member. Salimah is Associate General Counsel, Clinical for Alberta Health Services.  Prior to this position and admission to law school, Salimah worked as a social worker in areas of Trauma, Burns and Plastics. Salimah's formal education consists of a Bachelors degree in Laws from the University of Manitoba and a Bachelors and Masters in Clinical Social Work from the University of Calgary.

Salimah believes in the spirit of volunteerism and spends many hours volunteering and integrating in the community. Notably, Salimah has an extensive volunteer history within the Ismaili Muslim Community, wherein she currently holds the position of Legal Member for the National Aga Khan Council for Canada. Salimah recently completed a three year term on the Calgary Women's Emergency Shelter Board of Directors and presently sits on the All That Kids Can Be Committee of Calgary United Way.

Dr. Adriana Condello

Board Member

Manitoba

Dr. Adriana Condello graduated from the University of Manitoba faculty of medicine in 2001 with a Bachelor of Science in Medicine. From 2001 to 2007 she was in Calgary completing her residency training in Pediatrics, followed by a fellowship in Pediatric emergency medicine. She has provided pediatric coverage in Thompson, Manitoba since 2005 and has been a member of the Pediatric Emergency Group at Winnipeg Children’s Hospital and as a consultant at the Minor Injury Clinic for Kids at the Pan Am sports complex since 2008.

Northern and rural medicine as well as medical education has been a passion for Dr. Condello. In April 2009 she was appointed Director of Northern and Rural Pediatric Medical Education, Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, University of Manitoba. In this newly formed position, she has successfully developed and implemented new pediatric rotations in rural and northern Manitoba sites. She has integrated allied health practitioners as part of these rotations in order to allow learners to understand the collaborative delivery of health care. In 2010 she established a telehealth pediatric lecture series for the nursing stations of the First Nation and Indian Health Branch of Manitoba.

Michael A. Cardiff

Board Member

Ontario

Mike Cardiff has over 20 years’ of experience in the creation, development and growth of companies in the technology, telecommunications, financial services and biotechnology sectors. Mike has extensive sales and operational experience as CEO and senior management of large multinational companies with operations in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

In 2003, Mike founded Accelerents, a consulting firm focused on corporate strategy development through M&A, sales & marketing, organizational development, Canadian Private Equity and Venture Capital for both private and public clients in Canada and the U.S.

During Mike’s career he has been involved in a number of technology companies at all stages of development including large multinationals such as EDS and IBM as well as startup companies such as Fincentric, Convergent Technologies, Tandem, and Stratus Computer.

Mike has received his ICD.D certification and is currently a Director of the following companies: Descartes Systems Group, Burntsand Corporation, Hydrogenics Corporation, Software Growth Inc. He has also served on the following Voluntary Boards: The Toronto Film Festival and Roy Thompson Hall.

Françoise Faverjon-Fortin

Vice-Chair

Quebec

Françoise Faverjon-Fortin is Vice-President, Infrastructure and Environment for EDC. In 2008, she distinguished herself in the area of finance and business and won the Leadership Award from the Association of Quebec Women in Finance. For the last 4 years, she also has been selected for the Canadian “Women in the lead” directory. Mrs Faverjon-Fortin was one of the first five women in Quebec to graduate from the Canadian Directors Education Program of the Institute of Corporate Directors. She was also received as fellow of the International Women Forum in 2006.

In addition to her work at EDC, Ms. Faverjon-Fortin is Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of The Montreal Council on Foreign Relations and of the Dandurand Strategic and Diplomatic Studies Center. She is also a director on the board of the North American Forum on Integration. In the recent past, she was a director of the Financial Women’s Association - Quebec and the Quebec-New-England Cross-Border Forum.

Ms. Faverjon-Fortin has worked in the field of international trade and investment for twenty years. She has financing and risk management experience in the Infrastructure, Energy, Mining, and Transportation sectors. Prior to joining EDC, she worked for the Conference Board of Canada and for New York City’s World Trade Center. Ms. Faverjon-Fortin graduated with honours from the State University of New York and holds an MBA in International Finance.

Ms. Faverjon-Fortin is an adviser on various councils and a speaker on international business & finance, leadership and governance. For many years, she taught Export Financing to MBA students of l’École des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC). Ms. Faverjon-Fortin was also a TV commentator.

Paul W. Rawlinson

Board Member

Ontario

Paul is currently the SVP and Chief Risk Officer for Economical Insurance Company. Prior to joining Economical, Paul was Head of Risk Management at ING Bank of Canada. He has also held a number of senior roles at the Bank of Montreal including Director of Integrated Risk Analysis and Reporting. From 1995 to 1998, he served as Vice President & Director, Head of Risk Controlling for Deutsche Bank Canada.

Areas of particular expertise include establishing, maintaining and evaluating risk governance programs associated with managing all aspects of market credit and operational risk. Paul currently serves as a Director of the Risk Management Association (RMA), Toronto Chapter. He holds a CA designation and earned his B.Comm from Queen's University.

Geoffrey Rowan

Board Member

Ontario

Geoff Rowan brings more than 30 years of communications experience in the U.S. and Canada to his work with Ketchum, one of the world’s largest public relations agencies. More than 20 years of that experience was as a business journalist, writing for major print and broadcast outlets in both countries.

Geoff is experienced in stakeholder relations programs that include all levels of government, industry organizations, public and private companies, unions, academia, financial and industry analysts and employee communications. He has also been active in coalition building for Ketchum clients, in both industry and government circles. As a member of the leadership team of Ketchum’s Global Corporate Practice, a member of Ketchum’s global Issues and Crisis Management team, and one of Ketchum’s “Global Corporate Strategists,” Geoff has helped to manage a number of high-profile, multinational clients, including the Russian Federation, IBM, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks, Direct Energy, and others.

He is a graduate of The Institute For Corporate Directors’ Corporate Governance Course, offered through the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. The program provides an “Accredited Director” designation to those who successfully meet its criteria. He is also a graduate of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Joyce Sumara

Board Member

Ontario

Ms. Sumara was appointed to the position of VP, Information Security Officer at Rogers in November 2009. Prior to this appointment, she was responsible for IT Governance and Strategic Planning.

Prior to joining Rogers, Ms. Sumara was the CIO, On Star at General Motors Corp. in Detroit, the CIO of GM Canada, and an IT Consultant in healthcare. She also held various positions at EDS Canada.

Ms. Sumara is an accomplished Information Technology Executive with 25+ years of broad experience in IT systems development, operations, and outsourcing.

Ms. Sumara graduated with a Bachelor’s in Mathematics from Wayne State University, Detroit.

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.