Collingwood General and Marine Hospital Foundation bid farewell to four board memebrs and welcomed three new ones this summer with an annual general meeting in June and appointment announcements made on July 31.
The four board members leaving their chairs include Debora Bloom-Hall, Pat Wright, Joan Emmans and Jack Marley, all of whom have fulfilled their terms.
The three incoming board members include David Downie, Hilary Laidlaw, and Louise Watt.
Here's a little more about the new and former board members from the Collingwood General and Marine Hospital (CGMH) Foundation.
“Our deepest appreciation goes out to each of our board members who have fulfilled their terms.” said Michael Dick, CGMH Foundation past chair, in a news release. “To Debora for her fulsome business continuity plan and detailed risk assessments, to Pat for her leadership and training in building our fundraising skill sets, to Joan for her onerous work in legal compliance and her role as founder of the Giving Circle, and to Jack for his complete and utter dedication to the needs of our community and extraordinary success in the New Age of Care campaign. Thank you. ”
Jack Marley was elected to the Board in 2014 but before that was a valued member of the communications group that led the success of the $10 million New Age of Care Campaign.
Jack has done everything from building billboards to designing creative to negotiating contracts for consultants and other third parties. He has represented the foundation board on the hospital’s development committee for about eight years.
Elected as chair of the board in 2020, Jack had the extra responsibility of leading the foundation through COVID. Jack focused on keeping the board engaged and led the board through a historic high in fundraising his first year as chair.
He has been a hard-working and dedicated member of this board for 10 years and an excellent representative of the CGMH Foundation organization in the community.
Jack will continue his work for the foundation as a member of the campaign cabinet and the communications task force.
Debora Bloom-Hall began volunteering for the foundation several years before she joined the board.
She was intimately involved in planning and delivering the foundation’s triathlon program and spent a great deal of her time cajoling physicians, staff members and community volunteers into participating in the swim, bike and run at Wasaga Beach each fall.
She followed this up with leadership in the foundation’s Everest peer-to-peer fundraising initiatives and helped navigate the way through working with a contract events firm.
During her time on the board, Debora co-led the strategic plan refresh exercise in 2019 which was designed to launch a successful capital campaign.
As a member of the audit committee, Debora’s recommendation to put a deeper focus on organizational risk led to the launch of the risk committee in 2023 which she chaired for the past two years.
Thanks to Debora, the foundation now has a comprehensive business continuity plan and a detailed risk assessment tool that allows the board to properly manage risk.
Pat Wright was elected to the board in 2018 after spending some time consulting with the foundation.
As a retired fundraiser herself, Pat brought a unique perspective to the board which helped them to understand the science behind the art of fundraising.
Not only did Pat design and deliver an in-depth training program on fundraising, she used her skills to fundraise actively for the foundation among her friends and acquaintances. Currently, the board is working with Pat and leveraging her deep knowledge of healthcare philanthropy to pave the way to hiring the foundation’s first new CEO in 36 years.
Joan Emmans was a founding member of the very successful Giving Circle in 2014.
Joan along with other founding members Mandy Macrae, Joan Schatz and Kara McIntosh began with an idea to get their friends involved in a special program specifically for women, which allowed them to see, first-hand, the impact that their gifts were making on the lives of patients, physicians and staff.
What started with about 25 women has now been built into a thriving program of almost 100 members that launches some of the hospital’s most innovative projects.
Joan was elected to the foundation board in 2018 and, during that time, served on the administration and finance committee and the risk committee.
Joan also served the foundation by taking them through the onerous process of ONCA compliance, working tirelessly with management and the foundation’s legal counsel to update by-laws and shepherd through the paperwork necessary to be compliant with new regulations.
“Our CGMH Foundation team is incredibly grateful for the generosity and service of these four departing board members,” says Jory Pritchard-Kerr, president and CEO, “they have provided exemplary governance and profound expertise that has greatly contributed to the success of this foundation. They have truly embodied our mission for outstanding care for life.”
The hospital also a new executive committee: Brad Miller has taken over the role of chair of the board from Michael Dick who moves to the position of past chair. Monica Quinlan will remain as treasurer for a second term and Kara McIntosh was elected vice-chair. The executive committee will serve for a two-year term.
Board chair Brad Miller said the new members bring important experience as the hospital looks forward to eventually fundraising for a new build.
“David’s strong background in Canadian taxation, Hilary’s extensive legal expertise, and Louise’s operational pedigree will be invaluable to the Foundation as we move into the most important campaign in the history of the Hospital Foundation” said Miller in the news release.
David Downie joined Baker Tilly WM LLP in 2021. Prior to joining the firm, he was a tax consultant with OMERS, one of Canada’s largest pension funds, where he assisted in managing overall enterprise tax risk, tax department composition and design, and assisting OMERS deal teams in assessing multinational investments from an international tax perspective.
David has 21 years of tax experience, many of which were focused on large Canadian multinationals and their international operations. David’s primary area of focus is international tax planning and compliance which includes assisting clients implement and defend their tax structures before tax authorities.
He has extensive experience in dealing with the Canadian taxation of cross-border distributions, mergers and acquisitions and Canadian inbound financing.
Hilary Laidlaw is a certified specialist in estates and trusts law, whose practice focused on estate planning and administration, with extensive experience in contested estates.
For over 30 years, Hilary practised with McCarthy Tétrault LLP, one of Canada’s largest national firms, representing both personal and corporate clients in a wide variety of estate disputes, and advising on complex estate planning, often working alongside other professionals to achieve integrated plans.
Hilary is a sitting member of the Law Society of Ontario Solicitors’ Advisory Group for licensure examination, and maintains active involvement in continuing education and law reform initiatives.
A former chair of the Trusts and Estates Section of the Ontario Bar Association, she received the 2010 Award of Excellence in Trusts and Estates Law. Hilary is a Trustee of the St. Andrew’s College Foundation whose mandate is to support independent education by assisting with the funding for St. Andrew's College in Aurora.
Louise Watt is a former board member who also served as vice-chair.
Louise sits on the foundation’s risk committee and is also a long-time active member of the communications committee.
As the vice-president of operations for Reinhart Foods, Louise has proudly maintained a multi-generation Canadian family-run business, recognized for quality products and superior customer service across Canada and the United States.
Louise operated full-service production facilities across Canada along with a fleet of vans and tankers ensuring a commitment to quality and a team dedicated to unmatched reliable customer service and deeply committed to our local communities.
“To join the CGMH Foundation board at such a critical time is a tremendous honour.” says Hilary Laidlaw, “I look forward to working with the board members and foundation staff to engage the community and support the development of South Georgian Bay’s Hospital of Tomorrow.”
