Board Member
Susan Waterfield, Chair
Retired President of international consulting agency, The Waterfield Group, Susan brings extensive experience from her work with public and private organizations in the energy, insurance, and financial sectors. Prior to establishing The Waterfield Group, Susan enjoyed a successful 32-year career with the Ontario government, where she worked in 11 different ministries and was ultimately named Associate Secretary of Cabinet for Leadership and Deputy Minister of Government Restructuring. Susan’s focus continues to be on governance, public sector reform, workplace harassment, and discrimination, labour relations, and program performance evaluation. In her volunteer capacity, she has served on a number of not-for-profit Boards including Director, Chair and Vice Chair of the Board of Skylark, and Oolagen Youth Mental Health. Susan also sits on the National Advisory Board, Salvation Army Canada and Bermuda and chairs the Human Resource Committee. She has formerly chaired the Innovation Institute of Ontario and the YMCA of Greater Toronto, sat as Vice-Chair with YMCA Canada and held the roles of Director McCauley Child Development Centre, and Director of the Toronto Hunt Club.
David Guiney, Vice-Chair
As a former lawyer and principal with Tanner & Guiney Associates, David delivers vast expertise in the field of corporate governance matters at a local, provincial, and national level. During his successful legal career, David represented the credit union system in the drafting of both provincial and national legislation and formerly held the
role of Chief Operating Officer for Ontario’s private, not-for-profit, new home warranty program. His commitment to giving back to his community has seen him serve as Secretary and Chair on the Board of Directors for The Etobicoke Children’s Centre for the past 15 years. In addition to being a member of the Board of Directors for the Markland Wood Golf Club, David now sits on the Board for Xenia Concerts Inc, Xenia is a charitable organization that provides free classical music concerts and arts performances to children with autism, physical, financial, or mental health challenges.
Jeremy De Stefanis, Vice-Chair
Starting his career as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the audit and assurance practice division of KPMG LLP, Jeremy brings a wide range of expertise in accounting policy, financial analysis, and reporting from both a public and industry perspective. His work with privately held and publicly traded companies in the energy and natural resources sectors, has led to his current role of managing global account policy and complex accounting matters with mid-tier gold mining company, IAMGOLD Corp. Committed to volunteerism, Jeremy was appointed to the Etobicoke Children Centre Board where, in 2016, he took on the role of Treasurer and then Board Chair in 2018. He has been an integral member of the Joint Transition Committee in overseeing the successful merger of Skylark, Griffin Centre and Adventure Place into a single charitable organization.
Nidhi Chopra, Treasurer
With over 20 years of accounting and finance experience in organizations that range from large multi-nationals to smaller start-ups, Nidhi offers valuable expertise in the areas of financial reporting and controls. As a Certified Public Accountant (CPA, CA), she co-founded a multi-modality medical clinic in the Greater Toronto Area and ultimately became a financial leader for a privately-owned turned publicly-traded pharmaceutical business. There, she provided cross-functional leadership and was integral in supporting growth strategies for their many products and services. A teacher at York University’s School of Continuing Studies, Nidhi draws from her CPA designation and Risk Management certification to provide financial advisory services for small businesses. In addition to Board experience in the private sector, she is a committed volunteer with non-profits where she has held the role of Vice-Chair for Skylark Youth and Families and was previously on the board for the Michener Institute for Applied Health Sciences.
Herman Ng, Secretary
Holding a Professional Engineer designation as well as his Masters in both Business Administration and Engineering, Herman delivers a wealth of change management expertise that includes corporate strategic initiatives, advanced analytics and operations management. In his role as Senior Director of Business Intelligence at Liberty Utilities, he is building data intelligence capabilities across the organization to take customer experience to the next level. Previously in telecommunications, gaming and consumer services, Herman successfully led complex cross-functional initiatives including the design and implementation of major productivity and organizational change programs. For over ten years, Herman has been mentoring members of the University of Toronto’s Engineering program and the Professional Engineers of Ontario. This commitment to giving back has also extended to his role as Board member for the Scientists in School charity, as well as sitting on the Board of Directors and Nomination Committee for Adventure Place Child and Family Centre. He has been an important member of the Joint Transition Committee that oversaw the successful merger of Adventure Place, Etobicoke Children Centre, Griffin Centre and Skylark into a single charitable organization.
Teresa Briggs, Director
With a Chartered Professional Accountant designation specializing in taxation, Teresa has built her career with Ernst & Young, National Trust Company and RBC. In addition to a wealth of experience in financial services and taxation, she brings with her impeccable integrity, strong business acumen, and a collaborative approach to problem solving. Since 1997, she held progressively senior roles at RBC. As Vice-President, Taxation, she currently oversees the tax management and strategy for the bank’s Global Wealth Management platform and the tax affairs of RBC’s businesses in Asia Pacific. Teresa is a member of the United Way’s Women United and has volunteered with the United Way of Greater Toronto’s Major Individual Gift Cabinet for the last three years. She is a representative on RBC’s CFO Pride Committee and more recently, has assumed the role of Chair of Lumenus Fund and Resource Development Committee.
Jeffrey Goldfarb, Director
As a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA) and retired Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Jeff offers his extensive accounting, audit, and risk management expertise to the not-for-profit sector. Balancing a career with his commitment to giving back to his community, he has held a number of Board positions over the years including Treasurer and Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee for Weizmann Canada and a member of the Weizmann Institute International board. Jeff has also been Chair of the JVS Toronto, Treasurer and Board member of Muki Baum Treatment Centres, as well as holding a number of positions with the United Jewish Appeal and the Toronto Board of Jewish Education. In 2013, he joined the Oolagen Board, and in 2019, he was Chair of Skylark Children, Youth and Families.
Véronique Henry, Director
With a law degree and over seven years experience practicing criminal law in the Greater Toronto Area, where Véronique worked with young offenders and gained an appreciation of the unique mental health needs of young people. In 2013, she made the decision to leave law to follow her passion of helping young people through education. It was in her role as Chair, Legal and Administrative Studies at Centennial College, she is an advocate of the students, anticipating and responding to their needs as they achieve their academic goals. Véronique sits on Centennial College’s Anti-Oppressive Practices Steering Committee, the Advisory Committee to Improve Employment Outcomes for Historically Marginalized Learners and their Leadership Advisory Committee on Women’s Empowerment. Véronique is also a Board member and Secretary for the Scarborough Women of Philanthropy committee.
Raza Husain, Director
As a long-term partner with WH Partnership LLP, a member of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, as well as the Ontario Institute of Chartered Accountants, Raza possesses an advanced level of expertise in the areas of public, government and industry accounting practices. Throughout his career as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), he has held progressive roles in industry leading organization such as Deloitte & Touche, Randstad Canada as well as the Canada Revenue Agency, where he held the position of Senior Auditor for Large Case Programs. He is expert at business planning, internal audits, and he regularly presents seminars to industry organizations on tax-related issues. Raza’s commitment to giving back to his community has seen him sitting on a number of Boards including that of the Griffin Centre where his role was that of Treasurer.
Henry Kim, Director
With an MBA degree, Certified Public Accountant (CPA) designation, and over 20 years experience in the world of investment, financial, and operational management, Henry offers extensive expertise in the areas of governance, human resources and investment risk management. He has a proven track-record for building strong, cohesive teams that draw from diverse players in order to deliver successful outcomes. Working with a wide range of organizations that include start-ups, high growth businesses, and, those that are winding down, he has gained tremendous insights into all life stages of an organization. Currently, Henry is the Chief Financial Officer at the University Pension Plan Ontarioand previously has held the role of Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer at CGOV Asset Management as well as Director, Investment Finance of the CPP Investment Board. He has assisted the Skylark team with financial and business planning challenges.
Marilyn Monk, Director
Having earned an undergraduate degree in Science from Mount Allison University and a Master’s of Science (Applied) in Nursing from McGill University, Marilyn delivers extensive, first-hand experience of the health care systems in both Canada and the United States. She served as an Executive at Academic healthcare organizations in both countries before returning to Canada to work for the Hospital for Sick Children. As the Executive Vice President, she held operational responsibility for leading and managing the Clinical Programs and Services, the Information Management and Technology portfolio, the medical and scientific teams in the Departments of Diagnostic Imaging and Image Guided Therapy, Departments of Paediatric Laboratory Medicine, and Psychiatry. Marilyn has extensive Board experience at local and provincial levels and has served as Chair of the Board of Children’s Healthcare Canada (CHC). She now sits on the Deans Advisory Council of the Ted Rodgers Schools of Management at Ryerson University and is a member of the McGill University Chancellor’s Advisory Committee. Past roles have included serving on the Board of Boomerang Health, a SickKids subsidiary, as well as Chair of SickKids Centre for Community Mental Health (CCMH) Board.
Blair Witzel, Director
More than 20 years’ experience as a health-sector consultant for Canadian and Caribbean clients has provided Blair with extensive knowledge of the strategy and planning required for health system transformation, including digital health and information privacy. In his capacity as consultant, he assists stakeholders in anticipating and navigating through the challenges associated with digital health and health system transformation. His clients include not only health service providers such as Ontario Health Teams, hospitals and community health centres, but health system planners and funders such as the Ontario Ministry of Health and Pan American Health Organization. Blair joined the Etobicoke Children’s Centre Board in 2018 and served on various committees. He was an integral member of the Joint Transition Committee that oversaw the successful merger of Skylark, Griffin Centre, Etobicoke Children’s Centre and Adventure Place.
Lydia Sai-Chew, Chief Executive Officer and Ex-officio member of the Board
With a Masters degree in Social Work from the University of Toronto and over 25 years working in the field of children’s mental health, Lydia delivers extensive experience and a hands-on understanding of the challenges faced by today’s youth. Her progressive career began as a front-line social worker at Dellcrest Children’s Centre and the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto. Prior to joining Oolagen Youth Mental Health, as their Chief Executive Officer in 2013, she held leadership roles at Griffin Centre, Hincks-Dellcrest Centre and Peel Children’s Centre. In her role as Chief Executive Officer for Skylark, Lydia oversaw the overall administration and direction of Skylark’s wide range of leading-edge treatment programs and clinical services. She sits as Co-Chair for the Ministry of Children and Youth Services Toronto Region service resolution arm (Children’s Service System Review and Consultation Committee).
