Board of Directors

National Chief Phil Fontaine is a dedicated and highly respected leader in Canada. He has been instrumental in facilitating change and advancement for First Nations people from the time he was first elected to public office as Chief, at the young age of 28. He is a proud member of the Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba and still plays an active role in the support of his community.

Phil is the youngest son in an Ojibway family of ten brothers and two sisters. As a child he remembers that he wanted for nothing, as his father and mother were hard working providers for their children. When he was six years old, however, his Father died suddenly. As a result of this tragedy, the family experienced poverty for the first time. But while their home may have lacked electricity, running water and sometimes adequate food, it was still a place of refuge, happiness and love. Agnes Fontaine, Phil's mother, was a tenacious hardworking women who wasn't about to let her family fall apart. Known as the best cook in the community, she catered many weddings and other social events to make ends meet when she wasn't cleaning homes in the nearby community of Pine Falls or taking her family in the bush to pick blueberries while she worked as a cook in logging camps.

The love and respect Phil experienced at home was in sharp contrast to the Indian residential school the Government of Canada forced children like him to attend. He was in the residential school system 10 months out of every year for 10 years. It was at the Fort Alexander Indian Residential School he learned first hand about racism, sexual and physical abuse and the despair of powerlessness that comes with poverty.

These experiences led Phil to take an interest in politics at a young age. He was supported by his mother who taught him many lessons about leadership, hard work and perseverance. In 1952, she became the first Indian woman in Canada to be elected to a band council. She encouraged her youngest son to finish school and attend university.

Phil's political vision began to take shape while he was a youth activist with the Canadian Indian Youth Council and a member of the Company of Young Canadians. He realized that self determination and the implementation of treaty and land rights were crucial to alleviating poverty for First Nations peoples and became an early advocate for these rights. When he became Chief in his own community, he put his thoughts into action by establishing the first Indian controlled education system in Canada; a locally controlled Child & Family Services agency; and the first on-reserve Alcohol and Addictions Treatment Centre in the country.

Having taken these bold steps, it was not long before his leadership abilities began to be recognized beyond his own community.

Click here to read more about Phil Fontaine.

Keri Johnston (Chair) established a boutique firm in 1999, specializing in all aspects of intellectual property law. Following the arrival of Michelle Wassenaar as a partner, the law firm Johnston Wassenaar LLP was formed in 2004. Ms. Johnston represents a broad range of clients including multi-national, Canadian and foreign companies; non-governmental organizations; government organizations; not-for-profit, and individual intellectual property stake-holders. Ms. Johnston received her Juris Doctor from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1994, and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1996 as a Barrister and Solicitor. Ms. Johnston is also a Registered Trade-mark Agent in Canada. Since being called, Ms. Johnston has represented parties in contentious multi-jurisdictional issues (patents, trade-marks, passing off, copyright, anti-counterfeiting, contractual IP rights); and managed international and national IP portfolios on behalf of Canadian and foreign clients. Most recently she successfully represented the Garbo Group in Harriet Brown & Company Inc. v. Garbo Group Inc., (2009) 74 C.P.R. (4th) 391 (T.M.O.B.), in which the Opposition Board distinguished previous decisions of both the Opposition Board and The Federal Court of Canada. Ms. Johnston is committed to serving the local, national and international community with ongoing pro bono legal services representing among others BOOST (formerly the Toronto Child Abuse Centre); EQUITAS – International Centre for Human Rights Education; and Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research. From 2000 to 2004, she served as a Board Member of BOOST, and in 2006 Ms. Johnston received the BOOST “Making a Difference” award for commitment to the well being of children and youth. In 2009, Ms. Johnston was appointed the Inaugural Chair of The Boost Butterfly Foundation at the request of the Board of BOOST. Ms. Johnston is active writing and serving the legal profession internationally and nationally on matters relating to intellectual property law.

Kathleen Grace is the founder of Grace Consulting Services, a professional services firm specializing in executive assessment, executive coaching and strategic succession planning. She has identified and developed leadership talent for the financial, pharmaceutical, information technology, and professional services sectors in North America, Germany, and Latin America. Kathleen holds a Master’s degree in Organizational Psychology and PhD (ABD) in the same discipline. Kathleen draws on her background as a leadership specialist and organizational development advisor to consult with clients on strategic leadership issues. Ms. Grace has assessed and coached C.E.O.’s from organizations as diverse as professional services partnerships, publicly traded entities and professional sports franchises. Kathleen is asked to speak at conferences both nationally and internationally on topics such as leadership, leadership development, corporate coaching and mentoring, women in leadership, and strategic succession management. The major focus of Ms. Grace’s work is helping leaders and companies develop their potential via leadership assessment and leadership development, strategic succession planning, and leadership due diligence during merger/acquisition transactions.

Consultant, having retired ( in late 2005 )as a tax partner in the Toronto office of KPMG LLP (and its predecessor firms), specializing 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 was awarded the Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA) designation (conferred on 3% of the CAs in Ontario for their professional and/or community activities).

He has been involved in the not-for-profit sector since the mid 70's both as a professional and as a volunteer.

Professionally, Larry is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario,, the Estate Planning Council of Toronto , Canadian Tax Foundation and the Canadian Association of Gift Planners.

Currently, he is a director and officer of a few registered charities, including Boost Child Prevention & Intervention, Writers' Trust of Canada and Breakfast For Learning and is a member of the Not-for-Profit Organizations Task Force of The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Campbell’s leadership is based upon several key business principles. He believes that if Byron serves its clients well, then Byron’s own success will follow. He is dedicated to ensuring that Byron is able to take pride in the quality of its work and he stresses professionalism, creativity and imagination in everything Byron does. He knows that Byron’s assets are both its people and its reputation and he puts forth a remarkable effort to identify and recruit the very best person for every role at Byron. Campbell considers Byron’s size an asset in that the firm is big and resourceful enough to undertake the largest project that any of its clients could contemplate, yet small enough to maintain the loyalty, intimacy and entrepreneurialism that has contributed to Byron’s triumphs to date. He knows that Byron’s business is competitive and therefore Byron must aggressively seek to expand its client relationships while also anticipating the rapidly changing needs of those clients and the ever-changing investment opportunities that the world presents. Campbell requires that Byron and its people maintain high ethical standards and a culture of continuing education and improvement.

Prior to founding the current activities of Byron Capital Markets in 2009, Campbell co-founded two Toronto-based securities dealers where he led their investment banking departments. From 1994-2001, Campbell was an investment advisor with two major Canadian bank-owned investment dealers.

Throughout his career, Campbell has been involved with several charitable organizations. He is currently a member of the board of directors of the Boost For Kids Foundation and he has worked extensively with Toronto’s Red Door Shelter. In previous years, he was also a board member of Generation Engage, a US-based youth charity.

Derrick is responsible for the activities of Byron’s Equity Capital Markets (ECM) team as well as many aspects of Byron’s operations. Byron’s ECM team executes worldwide public and private financings on behalf of Byron’s issuer client base. These transactions include initial public offerings (IPOs) of common stock, follow-on offerings, spin-offs/split-offs and sales by control-block holders. These distributions may occur pursuant to a prospectus or they may be private placements. Byron’s ECM team interacts closely with professionals from Byron’s other departments as well as other securities dealers in order to coordinate best-in-class book-running, syndicate leadership, selling group participation and transaction closing efficiency.

Derrick joined Byron in 2009. From 2007 to 2009, Derrick was the Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) and the Head of Syndication of a Toronto-based limited market dealer. In this role, Derrick was responsible for the dealer’s syndication activities and the processing and closing of the dealer’s financings. In addition, as a CCO, Derrick supervised the dealer’s compliance and regulatory affairs.

From 2003 to 2006, Derrick was an Associate in the Investment Banking Department of an independent, Toronto-based investment dealer and IIROC member. His responsibilities included assisting with advice regarding the structuring and pricing of both equity and debt securities offerings as well as underwriting syndication matters.

Derrick is a member of the Board of Directors of the Boost for Kids Foundation, a charitable foundation that endeavours to provide sustainable funding for the programs and services offered by the Boost Child Abuse Prevention & Intervention organization.

Will Hutchins is a Vice President in the Communications & Media Group of TD Securities. Prior to joining TD Securities, he practiced law in the Corporate Group of Stikeman Elliott LLP in Toronto and in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP in New York. Will holds an MBA-LL.B from the University of Ottawa and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from Queen’s University.

Bob Morrison is a retired Investment Executive. He spent 38 years in increasingly responsible postions in Insurance Company Investment Divisions. He retired in September 2003 after holding the position of Chief Investment Officer of Canada Life for some years. In retirement he has both been on the West Park Healthcare Foundation and Healthcare Centre Boards.He served as Chair of the Centre’s Board for 2 years.He also served on the bosrd of University of Toronto Asset Management Company for a number of years a nd serves on the The Pension Investment Committee of the BNS Canadian Pension Fund.

Darin Renton is a partner in the Toronto corporate and securities department of Stikeman Elliott LLP whose practice emphasizes corporate finance, corporate reorganizations and mergers and acquisitions. He is a member of the firm's Toronto Energy Group and National Energy Group. Mr. Renton advises a wide range of issuers and investment dealers in connection with private equity transactions and investment funds, including investment trusts, hedge funds, flow-through limited partnerships and other structured products. Mr. Renton is member of several professional organizations including the American Bar Association and The Alternative Investment Management Association Limited (AIMA). He is a frequent speaker at Federated Press conferences on the subject of securities law.

Mike Ruthard has been a member of the Board since 2003, and is currently the President. Mike is Chief Financial Officer of the Orchard Global Capital Group. Mike joined Orchard Global Capital Group as Controller in 2003 and was appointed Chief Financial Officer in 2005. Prior to joining Orchard Global Capital Group, Mike spent 6 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers. During his tenure at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Mike was twice seconded to Barrick Gold Corporation. Mike began his career at the Royal Bank of Canada in global equity securities lending. Mike received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science from St. Michaels College at the University of Toronto in 1994 and a Masters of Business Administration from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto in 1997. Mike received his Chartered Accountant designation in 2000 and is currently a member of the Canadian and Ontario Institutes of Chartered Accountants. Mike’s other community activities have included leadership positions with a hospice organization and a soccer league. He lives in Toronto with his wife and two children.

Galit Solomon joined CTV Toronto in November 2004. Originally from Israel, Galit's family moved to Canada when she was 12 years old. Galit is a graduate of York University and holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and Mass Communication. She also studied at the world renowned school for practicing journalists, Poynter Institute of Journalism in St. Petersburg, Florida. She began her broadcasting career at a production company in Toronto and later moved to the New VR as a reporter covering York Region. She also served as a guest host on Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet. Galit is the recipient of several awards including the York Regional Police Award of Excellence for her work on a feature story about marijuana grow operations in Vaughan and Richmond Hill. She is a two time winner of the gold medal of the International Association of Audio Information Services. Committed to her community, Galit is active with a number of organizations that support abuse prevention and education programs in the Greater Toronto Region. She is a board member of York Region Abuse Program's (YRAP) annual Children's Champion Gala, and in January 2010, Galit became an Honourary member of the Boost Foundation. Boost is dedicated to eliminating abuse and violence in the lives of children, youth, and their families.