Suzanne Clark, Executive Director
Suzanne Clark serves as Executive Director of the Pemsel Case Foundation and is the President of a management consulting firm that operates at the intersections of governance, leadership and strategy. As one of Canada’s top executive recruiters, she has helped prominent charities, not-for-profit and public sector organizations recruit more than 100 outstanding CEOs and executive leaders. Prior to management consulting, Suzanne served as Executive Director of a national youth-serving Charity and as Senior Acquisitions Editor of Oxford University Press Canada. A linguist by training, Suzanne holds Masters degrees in Law (from the University of Toronto) and English (from Western University), and teaches leadership within the Master of Management program at Trent University.
Marlene Deboisbriand, Director
Marlene Deboisbriand is Vice-President of Member Services and Programs of BGC Canada. Marlene’s understanding of the voluntary sector comes from more than 30 years of working with charities and nonprofit organizations. Before joining BGC Canada, Marlene was president of Volunteer Canada for nearly five years, where she led a team that fostered volunteerism and civic participation in Canada. Her work with United Way established a landmark agreement between United Way of Canada-Centraide Canada and its members. As Chair of the Senior Sector Steering Group for the Voluntary Sector Initiative, Marlene joined the Prime Minister of Canada to sign the Voluntary Sector Accord in 2001.
Gordon Floyd, Secretary
Gordon Floyd became President & CEO of Children’s Mental Health Ontario in January 2004, after 10 years at the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy as Vice-president of Public Affairs. His career spans the public, private and voluntary sectors: as former Chief of Staff to three Leaders of the Opposition in Ontario; as head of a public affairs consulting firm serving Canada, the US and the Caribbean; as co-founder and senior V-P of a large fundraising consulting firm. In 2002, Gordon was honoured with the Arthur Kroeger College Award in Policy Leadership by Ottawa’s Carleton University.
W. Laird Hunter Q.C., President
Counsel to McGee Richard Toogood LLP, Laird is based in Edmonton, where for over 40 years, he has carried on a significant national practice in charity and non-profit law. Laird acts as general counsel, providing tax and corporate advice on a variety of charity and non-profit issues. He advises groups that want to start a charity or a non-profit organization, working with them to address organizational and governance concerns. He is called on to assist charities and non-profit organizations in the entire range of their legal needs, particularly on charity and tax compliance matters under the Income Tax Act, and relevant provincial tax regulations.
He assists with charitable registration, organization, governance, and receipting issues and the proper spending of charitable funds.
Well known for his work, Laird has twice acted as intervenor counsel before the Supreme Court, on Vancouver Society of Immigrant and Visible Minority Women v. M.N.R. and later on A.Y.S.A. Amateur Youth Soccer Association v. Canada (Revenue Agency). Amongst other reform initiatives, Laird was a member of the Working Together task force and an adviser to the Joint Regulatory Table, part of the Voluntary Sector Initiative. Laird is Vice-President of the Muttart Foundation and President of the Pemsel Case Foundation.
Carl Juneau, Director
Now retired, but formerly with the Quebec Bar as well as an executive in the Canada Revenue Agency, Carl Juneau has more than 28 years’ experience in the regulation of charities through the Canadian Income Tax Act. This includes experience both in the Agency’s Charities Directorate and in the Tax Policy Branch of the Department of Finance, in the areas of policy development, registration and revocation of charities, legislative amendments, and appeals to the courts.
Susan Manwaring, Treasurer
Susan Manwaring is the National Chair of Miller Thomson’s Charities and Not-for-Profit Group. Susan works with clients from the voluntary sector. Susan provides both specialized tax and general counsel advice to charities and not-for-profit organizations across Canada and Internationally. Susan advises on establishing charities and non-profit organizations and works with them to address their operational and governance concerns. She is knowledgeable in the law relating to charitable expenditures and day to day questions of charities, including charities working outside of Canada. She also assists clients faced with tax audits and/or other regulatory issues.
Susan is regularly called upon to advise charities and non-profit organizations on compliance and taxation matters under the Income Tax Act (Canada), as well as other relevant provincial tax regulations. She assists clients with charitable giving issues and with regulations relating to receipting of charitable foundations and expenditures of charitable funds. Susan writes and speaks frequently on non profit and charities related issues.
Myles McGregor-Lowndes, Director
Professor Myles McGregor-Lowndes OAM is the Director of The Australian Centre of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies (CPNS). He has written extensively about nonprofit tax and regulation, nonprofit legal entities, government grants and standard charts of accounts as a means of reducing the compliance burden. He is a founding member of the ATO Charities Consultative Committee and the Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commission Advisory Board. In June 2003, Myles was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) “For service to the community by providing education and support in legal, financial and administrative matters to nonprofit organisations.”
Allan Northcott, Director
Allan Northcott is President of the Max Bell Foundation. Prior to joining Max Bell Foundation in 1998, Allan was a member of the academic staff at the University of Illinois and the University of Calgary, and was a member of the research staff at Canada West Foundation. He has served as an advisor and on the boards of a number of non-profit organizations. He has served as a member of the boards of directors of both Imagine Canada and Philanthropic Foundations Canada.
Marc Owens, Director
Marc Owens is a member of the U.S. law firm Loeb & Loeb LLP, where he specializes in federal tax issues relating to tax-exempt organizations, including charities and issue advocacy groups. Prior to entering private practice, he spent 25 years with the US Internal Revenue Service, including serving as Director of the Exempt Organizations Division from 1990 until 2000. As Director of the Exempt Organizations Division, he was responsible for the design and implementation of federal tax ruling and enforcement programs for charities and other tax-exempt organizations. He is a member of the District of Columbia and Florida Bars. He is also co-chair of the Subcommittee on Audits and Appeals of the Exempt Organizations Committee of the American Bar Association Tax Section. Chambers USA ranked him as a “Top Lawyer” in 2009, 2010, and 2011; he is also named to “Best Lawyers of America” for Nonprofit/Charities Law and Tax Law for 2008-2012.
Adam Parachin, Director
Adam Parachin is an Associate Professor for Law at the Faculty of Law at York University. He teaches and researches in the areas of charities, trusts and estates.
David Stevens, Director
David Stevens is partner in the business law department in Gowlings’ Toronto office. David’s practice focuses exclusively on taxation concentrating on corporate tax, personal tax planning and charities. David’s corporate tax practice involves advising clients on corporate finance, reorganizations and mergers and international tax planning. His personal tax and charities practice focuses on succession planning, family trusts, offshore planning, private foundations and charities compliance. David is a member of the editorial board of The Philanthropist, and was a law professor at the Faculty of Law, McGill University from 1983 to 1999.
Bob Wyatt, Vice President
Bob Wyatt joined The Muttart Foundation as executive director in 1989, following a career in journalism and public relations in both the government and private sector. Much of his career in the voluntary sector has involved working with capacity-building organizations in an attempt to build a higher profile of the voluntary sector and encourage its greater engagement in public-policy issues. As part of the Canadian government’s Voluntary Sector Initiative, he co-chaired the Joint Regulatory Table. Bob has served on the boards of a variety of organizations. In 2005, he received the Alberta Centennial Medal for outstanding contributions to the voluntary sector. In 2006, Bob took a staff fellowship leave to undertake research on the role of a peak organization in the Canadian charitable sector. During this one year leave, Bob served as the executive in residence at the Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies, Queensland University of Technology.