Board 2009-2011

Mr. Ric Charron has a BA in Economics and Mathematics from Brock university and an MBA from Queens University He holds an accounting designation as a Certified Management Accountant. Mr. Charron began his career in the oil and gas industry in the federal Government department of Energy Mines and Resources in their Programs Branch. Mr. Charron spent 11 years with Energy Mines and Resources where he acquired considerable experience and knowledge in oil and gas drilling and completion operations. In this capacity, Mr. Charron was involved with the Beaufort Sea exploration and development programs as well as other Canada Lands exploration programs. Mr. Charron spent 20 years in the Federal Government and retired as an Executive Director/Director General in Agriculture. Mr. Charron returned to the private sector in 1997 and started Arron Consulting Inc. a private consulting company as its Chief Executive Officer which specialized in start-ups, turn-around assignments and financing of companies. In 1998, Mr. Charron joined Net Shepherd Inc as its Chief Financial Officer where he remained until the sale of the Company in March 2000. He joined Zedi Solutions Inc., a services company in the oil and gas sector, in June 2000 as its Chief Financial Officer until 2002. In September 2000, he started up Wrangler West Capital Corp where he was the President and Chief Financial Officer until its merger with Kerr Energy in 2003 to form Wrangler West Energy Corp. In April 2003, Mr. Charron became the Chief Financial Officer of ITRES Research Inc. a private Company specializing in instrumentation development and services for a broad range of industry sectors including the petroleum, environmental and mining. In 2004, Mr. Charron started Xtreme coil Drilling Corp. he was the CEO and Senior VP Business development until July 2008. Since 2008 Mr. Charron started Latigo Capital Inc. which he merged with Cumberland Oil and Gas in January 2010. Mr. Charron acquired a controlling interest in DI Energy Rentals and continues to operate the Company as the CFO. Mr. Charron is a member of Society Of Management Accountants of Alberta.

Katherine Rethy lives in Toronto. She is an experienced Corporate Director and Executive, having worked more than 20 years in industrial companies. She has extensive general management experience, covering both P&L and functional leadership, with a focus on the areas of supply chain and operations management, logistics, and enterprise risk. She has served as a Director of publicly and privately held companies, and as an Advisor and Mentor to professional organizations, CEOs and high potential managers.

Throughout her career Katherine has been devoted to her family and maintained her passion for Canada, the North, and the environment. She has a strong belief in the need to mentor, coach and develop youth to help keep Canada strong and vibrant. She has mentored formally and informally in the workplace, with the Schulich School of Business International MBA program, the Executive Roundtable, and with the Women’s Executive Network, where she is a member of the Toronto Advisory Board.

Katherine’s formal educational background includes an M.B.A., a Bachelor of Laws, and a B.Sc.. She is also a graduate of the Institute of Corporate Directors - Rotman Director Education Program. She is currently studying toward a Masters in Leadership for Sustainability, at the University of Lancaster in the U.K.. She is a 3-time recipient of the Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women Award (2004, 2005 and 2006) and in 2007 was named to the Canada’s Most Powerful Women Hall of Fame.

Katherine is delighted to be part of the Katimavik organization and its Board of Directors.

An organizational development specialist in project and not-for-profit management as well as in public-private sector partnerships, Katherine has a strong record of successfully building new programs, teams, departments, and divisions with a collaborative management style. Katherine brings to us the benefit of her wide range of experience, most recently as Field Project Manager for the Balkans Youth Health Project (Serbia & Bosnia), funded by the Canadian International Development Agency, where she managed all operations, finances, staff, etc. in two countries.

Moreover, she has considerable experience in managing not-for-profit organisations such as the Arthritis Society, the Horizon Housing Society and the Parkinson's Society. From 2004 to 2006 she was the Executive Director for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and prior to that Katherine was Director of Communications and Development for the AIDS Calgary Awareness Association, where she was able to contribute in the Strategic Planning for AIDS Awareness. Katherine also volunteers on the Canadian Red Cross Southern Alberta Council.

Katherine was selected by Katimavik’s nominations committee because of her unique blend of capacity, open-mindedness, experience and her willingness to roll up her sleeves.

Anne-Marie is a Senior Manager with the Advisory Services practice of KPMG s.r.l./s.e.n.c.r.l. in Montreal. Her key focus area is developing and delivering improvements to the Finance function of companies of varying sizes and industries, making them a true business partner within their organization.

Anne-Marie was born in Ottawa, Ontario, and grew up in Gatineau, Québec. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the Université du Québec à Hull, and is a member of the Ordre des comptables agréés du Québec since 1998. She also holds a Master of Business Administration, with a specialty in Finance, from HEC Montréal.

Since 2006, Anne-Marie has been a member of both the board of directors and the audit committee of the Héma-Québec Foundation. The Foundation’s mission is to provide financial support for the design and development of innovative projects to keep Héma-Québec on the cutting edge of new knowledge and services related to blood donation, stem cells and human tissues.

Before joining KPMG, Anne-Marie worked for another international consulting firm specializing in the improvement large corporations’ financial performance. She has also worked in audit for an international audit firm for clients of varying sizes and industries.

Dr. Brent Slobodin is the assistant deputy minister of advanced education in the Yukon Government. With 19 years of experience in northern public administration, he has a strong commitment to adult education, literacy, apprenticeship and training initiatives. Dr. Slobodin believes strongly in collaborative approaches to adult education with First Nations and is always willing to try innovative approaches that will contribute to healthy communities and a strong northern labour market. He has worked in education, devolution and policy for Yukon Government and has experience working directly for First Nations in the field of education.

Born and raised in Medicine Hat, AB, he received degrees from the University of Alberta and Queen’s University, from which he received a Doctorate of Canadian History in 1986. After several years of teaching at Queen’s University, he moved to the Yukon in 1988. In addition to his public government experience, Dr. Slobodin has been a prominent voice in Yukon heritage, having served for almost 15 years as president of the Yukon Historical and Museums Association and from 1993-99, as the Yukon member on the board of the Heritage Canada Foundation. He backed up his commitment to Yukon heritage and post-secondary education by teaching courses in Northern and Yukon History at Yukon College for 13 years.

Never one to shy away from supporting and working with youth, he has invariably been a baseball coach and president of Baseball Yukon/Whitehorse. For close to 4 years, he was the assistant vice-president of the Volunteers Division of the Canada Winter Games, which was held for the first time north of 60 in February-March 2007. He counts as one of his greatest achievements being part of a volunteers division that recruited 4,100 volunteers in a territory comprising 32,000 people.

Carol-Lee Eckhardt brings a rich and diverse background in design, community leadership, fundraising, and development to Katimavik. She was born and raised on a farm in Dugald Manitoba. In 1974, she graduated from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Interior Design honours. For the last 35 years she has been working and volunteering in Grande Prairie where she pioneered the design business through her company, Grass Roots. During this time she also served 5 terms as an elected official.

She was first elected Alderman for the City of Grande Prairie in 1992. During her terms, she honed her passion for sustainability and made a difference. From 1999 to 2006 she championed the Eco Power Centre a $57M biofuel power plant that uses wood waste from local lumber companies creating 25 megawatts of green power for the provincial electrical grid. She served on the Board and various Committees of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities for 6 years throughout which time she became familiar with Canada’s many regions from coast to coast to coast. In 2003, she was a lead speaker for the Softwood Lumber Advocacy Tour, stopping in 7 U.S. cities, meeting with mayors, Chambers of Commerce, International Trade and Housing Associations.

Over the years, she has been an active volunteer and participant in the visual and performing arts. As a result, she was chosen Vice President of Culture during the 1995 Canada Winter Games, where she and her committee produced a complementary national cultural program that is the template for the Canada Games today.

Carol-Lee has recently moved to Edmonton to be closer to family and is currently looking for a new challenge. Since 2005, she is pleased to be on the board of Katimavik which she says, “enables me to give back to Canada’s youth our future.”

Catharine Johnston is a Management Consultant on performance improvement, strategy, executive development, mergers and change management. Catharine served as the Executive Vice President of Business Effectiveness and Human Resources at Intrawest Corporation until 2007. Prior to that Ms. Johnston was an Executive Vice President for Noranda and Falconbridge responsible for strategy, operational effectiveness, change management and human resources. She also worked for CP Rail for a number of years and prior to that spent 8 years at The Conference Board, where she benchmarked leadership and management practices in some of the most successful companies in North America, Europe and Asia. She was the Director of Training for Katimavik from 1983 to 1985. In addition to being a Director of Katimavik she is a member of the Planning Commission for Electoral District A for Metro Vancouver. She holds an MBA from the University of McGill and a Physical Education degree from the University of Manitoba.

Chuck Blyth was born in Calgary in 1955. He has worked for Parks Canada since 1979 and resided in the north since 1987.  He currently resides in Fort Simpson and is the superintendent for Nahanni National Park Reserve.

Outside the workplace, he has a long history of volunteering his time and working with youth in both arts and sports organizations.  He is past president of the Open Sky Creative Arts Society, an organization that fosters a variety of arts related activities with youth in the Northwest Territories.  

In sports, Chuck has served on the boards of many hockey and lacrosse associations. He served as vice president of NWT hockey, and served on the minor council for the Canadian Hockey Association. He spent two summers managing a team of northern kids traveling through Manitoba in preparation for the Canada Winter Games. 

Two years ago Justin Trudeau and Chuck met on the Nahanni River and discussed the needs of northern youth and volunteerism. Shortly thereafter, Chuck was invited to serve on the board. He brings to Katimavik’s board a voice for the north and aboriginal youth.

David Israelson joined Media Profile, Canada’s leading independent public relations firm, after an exciting career as one of Canada’s most prominent journalists. He is a non-practising lawyer who became a business writer, author, environmental specialist and foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star.

From 1983 to 1990, David served as The Star’s environment reporter, covered national and local housing issues and served on the Star Editorial Board. He is author of the critically acclaimed book, Silent Earth, on environmental politics, and co-author (with Dr. Angela Mailis-Gagnon) of Beyond Pain, published in 2003.

From 1990 to 1993 David was based in England, where he was the newspaper’s Western Europe bureau chief and where he also worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and other individual clients. He returned to Canada in 1994; from then until 1998, David’s reporting and columns in the Toronto Star’s business section included his popular Marketing column and analysis pieces on international trade. The industries he covered included: transportation and shipping, aviation, energy and the environment, advertising, travel and hospitality, as well as hemispheric and global trade.

David’s work at Media Profile includes strategic and management services, as well as writing, for corporate, government, arms-length agency, professional services and non-governmental organization clients. He continues to work extensively on environmental issues and has also worked with First Nations in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario. As Media Profile’s Editor, he is responsible for reviewing written and multi-media material produced by the company’s staff of more than 50 consultants.

In addition to serving Katimavik, David has served on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights, the Conservation Council of Ontario, Ontario Place, PEN Canada, the Safehaven Project for Community Living and the Sylvia Ostry Foundation. He also plays an active role with the Education for Sustainable Ontario (EASO) Working Group. In his spare time he writes songs and plays in a rock band.

Donna was born in Sudbury, Ontario, and resides in Brandon, Manitoba, where she serves as superintendent of schools and chief executive officer with the Brandon School Division, and is involved actively in community development initiatives. Donna holds a Master of Education degree in curriculum and education administration from the University of Manitoba and a Doctorate in Education from Nova Southeastern University, Florida, USA. She has professional teaching certificates in Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia.

During the journey of her professional career, Donna has focused her work very purposefully on the quality of learning experienced by all students. This focus has involved considerable emphasis on the development of school within school systems in providing quality teaching and learning for all students. Developmental work in board governance, system redesign and renewal, building leadership capacity in staff and students, and quality learning opportunities are fundamental to Donna’s work as a superintendent of schools and chief executive officer.

This experience in three provinces, a variety of school systems (size, diversity and complexity and with many capable people) has influenced Donna’s firm conviction that public education is the foundation of democracy. As such every child, young person and student is entitled to quality learning opportunities and results.

Presentations have been given throughout Canada and parts of the United States on topics related to quality learning, leadership development, system and school renewal and democracy in education. In July 2008, Donna and a Brandon School Division colleague are presenting research at the International Conference on Education, Economy and Society in Paris, France. This research focuses on the impact of school development on teachers’ daily instructional practices in the Brandon School Division.

Her professional service is complemented by considerable community development involvement including that of hospital trustee (Thompson, MB), member of board of directors for NEED Crisis Line (Victoria, BC), Calgary Immigrant Aid Society (Calgary AB), United Way board of directors (Brandon, MB), member of the Rotary Clubs of Harbourside (Victoria, BC), City of Calgary and City of Brandon, member of the board of directors for the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba (Brandon, Manitoba).

Dr. Gayla Rogers is presently Dean of the Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary and is a Registered Social Worker in the Province of Alberta. Gayla began teaching in the Faculty of Social Work in 1978 and in 1998 became its first female dean. Gayla leads one of the largest schools of social work in Canada. This research intensive Faculty educates students at the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels to work in the human, health and social services on the front lines as well as in management and leadership positions in non-profit organizations and the public sector. Its provincial mandate for social work education has the Faculty delivering the University of Calgary degree in Edmonton, Lethbridge and several rural, remote and Aboriginal communities across the province.

Gayla is well published with numerous books, book chapters, journal articles and conference presentations in such areas field education, strategic planning, and diversity. She has held federally funded research grants and has obtained significant provincial grants for program expansion. Gayla has provided consultation to social work programs in Canada, the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

Gayla serves as Chair of the Canadian Association of Deans’ and Directors’ of Schools of Social Work. She recently completed a 4 year term on the Board of the YWCA of Calgary and serves as a director on the boards of HomeFront Society for the Prevention of Family Violence and Telus World of Science & Creative Kids Museum – both in Calgary, and Katimavik, a national youth service organization. She serves on the Council of Champions for the Calgary Children’s Initiative and on committees of the Alberta Centre for Child, Family & Community Research, the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research and the Alberta Secretariat for Action on Homelessness.

Joshua is a former participant in the Katimavik program, having volunteered in Jonquière, Québec, Cochrane, Ontario, and Hazelton, British Columbia. After completing a B.A. in Philosophy and Political Science at Carleton University, Joshua worked as a Katimavik Project Leader in Courtenay, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island. He grew up in Ottawa, but has spent time living in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Labrador, and has travelled throughout Canada and in many other countries. Joshua has a passion for the environment and the outdoors. He is an avid canoeist and cyclist and has volunteered with the Ottawa-based NGO The Otesha Project to bicycle through Canada while putting on a play about the environment. Joshua is currently attending law school at the University of Victoria.

Mélissa currently is studying in the Bioresource Engineering program at McGill University. Her passions include travel, hiking and intercultural relations; all of which have led her to crisscross Canada from Atlantic to Pacific as well as discovering several countries around the globe. She also took part in the Canada World Youth cross-cultural program (Alberta/Botswana) and has recently returned from a student exchange in Australia.

A former program participant in Courtenay, B.C., Ponteix, Sask., and Casselman, Ont., Mélissa can say that Katimavik was an unforgettable and life altering experience that gave her confidence and opened her eyes to different Canadian realities and the importance of citizen engagement. Since she completed her program, she always has felt that she wanted to give back and contribute to Katimavik. That is why she continues to introduce the program in high schools in Greater Montreal, her home area, and she is proud to represent the interests of program participants on the Board of Directors.

Nancy was born and raised in Eskimo Point, Northwest Territories which is now known as Arviat, Nunavut, where she still resides. Her parents instilled in her and her seven siblings the need to help others around them in any capacity they can and to put family first. Her father worked for the RCMP and her mother was a layperson with the church and this environment, along with their strong Inuit culture and values within an unshakeable family foundation, helped them withstand the separations wrought by residential schools and other challenges of a changing society around them and to maintain their language Inuktitut.

Most recently, Nancy was the Member of Parliament for Nunavut for 11 years from 1997 to 2008. She is honoured to be the first female representative for the Eastern Arctic, along with being the first MP for a riding called Nunavut. She was a constant member of the Aboriginal Affairs Standing Committee, serving as Chairperson and Vice Chairperson alternately throughout her whole time in office. One of her greatest roles was to interact with the young people, encouraging and mentoring them to pursue their dreams and to contribute to their communities and promoted volunteerism to everyone she met, especially high school students. She hopes to continue that in different pursuits.

One of her favourite jobs is to cheer on Nunavut teams at all sporting events, especially at the Arctic Winter Games. All her four sons are avid hockey players and sports had played a strong role in their lives. The family volunteers at many events throughout Nunavut.

Nancy strongly believes in community participation and healthy life styles and being true to who you are, to your culture and language. She hopes she has passed on the skills she learned from her parents and grandparents to her sons and granddaughters, especially about caring for others.

Nick taught in England and Northern Ireland before coming to Canada in 1970. After teaching French for 6 years in Toronto, he went north in 1976 and for thirty years taught in small Inuit communities in the Eastern Arctic. He has published numerous materials on the Canadian North, including a documentary film, photographs, articles, poetry, three books of photographs on Iqaluit and Nunavut and a large number of manuals for Nunavut teachers. He has given workshops on teaching methodology and program development and for 17 years ran a program for at-risk Inuit teenagers in Iqaluit. In 2003, he was awarded a $250,000 grant to produce teacher resource manuals emphasizing northern content and an English-as-a-second-language (ESL) approach covering most of the Nunavut junior high program. He was then sent by the Nunavut government to every community to in-service the staff on teaching Inuit children from a cross-cultural, northern perspective. Since the start of his involvement in northern education, he has raised over one million dollars for various educational projects in Nunavut.

He holds a B.A. and Diploma in Education from The Queen’s University of Belfast and an M.A. in Northern and Native Studies from Carleton University in Ottawa. He is a recipient of the NWT Government Excellence in Teaching Award (for work with at-risk northern children), the Canada 125 Medal (for work with the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in Nunavut) and the Roy C. Hill Award (for innovative program development).

He and his wife retired to Nova Scotia in 2005. He now teaches courses on the Canadian North at Mount Saint Vincent University where he has established a scholarship fund for students interested in a northern classroom orientation experience prior to taking up a teaching position in Nunavut. He also gives public lectures on the North to groups in the Halifax area. He returns to Nunavut on a regular basis, which includes providing support to the Katimavik group in Iqaluit!

Sharon Lee has been working in the fundraising profession for over 15 years. Sharon recently completed her Masters in Philanthropy & Development from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. She has been a member of the Canadian Association of Gift Planners (CAGP) since 2002, and the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) since 2000. Sharon is a Rotarian with the Rotary Club of Etobicoke and is a national Board Member of Katimavik, a committee member of AFP International and AFP Toronto. Sharon is currently the Director of Development for the REALTORS Care Foundation.