Chair: Ian Sideco
With over 20 years of legal, business and government relations experience, Ian is the Director, Canadian Legal Affairs for BMW Group Canada (since 1997) where he manages all of the legal issues affecting his company, including its MINI, financial services and motorcycle divisions. Ian is also responsible for his company’s government relations efforts in Canada and serves as the company’s Privacy Officer and Secretary. He has been a member of BMW Group Canada’s Board of the Directors since 2009. Ian has a Juris Doctor from Rutgers University and is a graduate of Concordia University in Montreal.
Past Chair: Phil Mannell
Phil Mannell has worked for Enbridge Distribution since 1978. Before being appointed general manager, Central Region Operations in 2006, Phil served in various sales and marketing positions. Central Region comprises four operating centres – Richmond Hill, Whitby, Brampton and Barrie.
Under the Operations group Phil is responsible for service and maintenance including emergency response. Also included are the sales, construction and warehousing activities and the functions involved in adding 30,000 new customers annually.
Phil’s volunteer and association activities have included:
• Scout and Cub Leader, Sharon, Ontario
• Baseball Coach, Newmarket Baseball Association
• Chair, Official Board, Sharon Hope United Church
• Chair, St. Catharine’s Business Club
• St. Catherine’s United Way Agency Budget Approval Committee
Vice-Chair: Linda Kenny
Linda Kenny is the Chief Executive Officer for the Ontario Association of Children’s Rehabilitation Services (OACRS). A social worker by profession, Linda’s career has involved senior posts in the health and disability sector. Her advice and experience are often recruited to Provincial Advisory Committees by the Ontario government
An active community volunteer, Linda has served in numerous capacities in the areas of minor sports, poverty reduction, child care and youth serving organizations. In 2005 Linda was recognized for her volunteer contributions by the Town of Aurora.
One of the founding members of YRCF, Linda supports organizational development, strategic planning, government relations and community engagement. She is dedicated to growing YRCF as a granting organization.
Linda is a longtime resident of Aurora.
Interim Treasurer: Peter Craig
Peter Craig is a Chartered Accountant, and is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ClaimSecure Inc., one of Canada’s leading providers of health benefit claims processing, clinical consulting, and benefit plan administration services.
In addition to serving on the YRCF Board of Directors, Peter has also served on the YRCF Governance and Nomination, and Finance committees. Peter resides in Aurora.
Secretary: Gwen Benjamin
Gwen Benjamin is a partner at Wilson Vukelich LLP located in Markham and a member of both the Ontario and British Columbia bars. Gwen’s practice has, since 1989, been concentrated in the taxation area with a focus on estate planning and business succession planning. Gwen has a particular interest in the area of charity law, including charitable giving, and acts for both charities and donors.
Gwen is co-author of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants’ Tax Practice Manual, the Personal Tax Planner Guide, The Family Trust Guide and Tax Planning Using Family Trusts.
She is currently involved in the following charitable or non-profit organizations:
• Tax Committee, Markham Board of Trade
• Trustee, Toronto Grace Foundation
• Chairperson, Planned Giving Committee, Toronto Grace Foundation
• Planned Giving Committee, United Way of York Region
• Member, Canadian Association of Gift Planners
• Steering Committee, York Region Community Foundation
• Tax Sub Committee, Health Charities Coalition of Canada
Gwen lives with her family in Unionville.
Rachel Blumenfeld
Rachel Blumenfeld is a partner at Miller Thomson LLP. Rachel’s practice focuses in the areas of trusts and estates, tax law, and charities and not-for-profit law.
Within her practice, Rachel is often called upon to advise clients on estate planning and administration, preparation of wills, trusts and power of attorney documents, tax matters related to planned giving as well as business succession planning. She also offers advice to charities and trustees on the administration of estates and trusts.
Within the charitable and not-for-profit sector, Rachel reviews planned giving programs, assists donors in tax-related matters, interprets new legislation and has developed several privacy compliance programs. She is keenly aware of the unique challenges faced by organizations and groups within this sector and is able to assist in a broad range of areas.
Rachel is committed to her community and is involved with several organizations including Reena, the Reena Foundation (an organization that serves developmentally disabled adults) and the Canadian Association of Gift Planners.
Rachel resides with her family in Vaughan.
Stephen Chait
Stephen Chait is the Director of Economic Development for the Town of Markham. He is a past President of the Economic Developers Association of Canada and also of the Economic Developers Council of Ontario.
Stephen lives in Richmond Hill and is actively involved as a member and volunteer in the Air Cadet movement, the Markham Board of Trade, the Markham Arts Council, the York Technology Alliance, and Association of Chinese Canadian Entrepreneurs.
Jennifer Churchill
Jennifer Churchill is a Senior Manager with the Ministry of Finance, Government of Ontario. An executive health professional with more than 20 years experience in the human services sector, she has held leadership positions in stakeholder relations, communications management and partnership development.
A long time resident of York region, Jennifer resides in Markham with her husband and two children.
Catherine Hinton
Catherine Hinton, CFRE (Certified Fund Raising Executive) is the founding executive director of Peel Children’s Aid Foundation, established in 2003 to raise funds for programs supporting at-risk children and youth under the supervision of Peel Children’s Aid.
Jennifer Kah
Jennifer Kah is an entrepreneur with over 25 years experience assisting small to medium size companies improve their financial, human resource and overall office operations efficiencies in order to maximize revenue potential and profits. She has played an integral role in taking an organization from the private sector to a publicly traded corporation on both the TSX and Nasdaq stock exchanges. Jennifer played a key role in implementing consistent processes in this international multi site corporation to ensure common business practices and adherence to company policy through out the entire organization.
Jennifer is actively involved in the community.
Jennifer has;
• Served on the Markham Theatre Advisory Board
• Has participated in fundraising activities for the Canadian Cancer Society
• Has participated in fundraising for the Heart and Stroke Foundation
• Has participated in fundraising for a children’s orphanage in Chihuahua MX
• Has served on the Building a Creative Markham Advisory Board
Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Science (Physics) from the Memorial University of Newfoundland. She lives in Markham with her family.
Rosemary Park
For the past 11 years, Rosemary Park has worked as a full-time volunteer, civic leader and philanthropist to strengthen York Region across its social, civic, and environmental sectors. Ms Park is the founding Chair of the York Region Community Foundation, Aurora Community Fund, York Community Resources Group, and Information Aurora, current Board Chair of the York Region Community Information and Volunteer Centre, current Board member for Inform Ontario, YRCF, and the Aurora Children’s Centre. She is current Co-Chair of York Region’s Vital Signs Living in York Region report.
Over the years, Rosemary has served on other regional government and community Board and panels including;
• Board member of the York Region Environmental Alliance,
• member of the York Region Human Services Coalition,
• York Region 211,
• Wraparound York,
• Early Years Steering Committees,
• York Region Media Group Liberal paper Community Panel, and
• York University Community Research panel.
She has staged community events, established agency networks and community and volunteer information database systems, conducted community-based research, and been invited as a community representative for LHIN nominating, and York Region public health research ethics committees.
A former senior military officer serving in the Canadian Forces for 20 years, researcher and PhD candidate, Canadian Human Rights Tribunal and military court subject matter expert, and organizational effectiveness consultant, she has written over 40 research and consultant reports, publications, and book chapters.
Rosemary lives with her family in Richmond Hill, Ontario
Katie Salem
Katie comes to YRCF with a great deal of professional and volunteer experience and commitment to our community. As a Chartered Accountant and Certified Management Consultant, Katie has extensive achievements in a variety of sectors, including: not-for-profit, charitable foundations, public and private corporations, government, and small business.
She has been passionate about the wellbeing of our community and its members for quite some time and has been an ardent supporter through many fundraising and volunteer initiatives for various charities over the past twenty years. Katie has lived in York Region for over 25 years and currently lives with her husband and three children in Unionville.
Bill Thomson
William E. (Bill) Thomson is a managing partner of Mercana Growth Partners. Bill brings to YRCF a 30-year record of achievement completing turnarounds, sourcing private-equity capital for emerging growth companies, and providing critical guidance and advice to help steer businesses though challenging situations towards positive growth. Prior to 2009, he was President of Thomson Associates Inc. In this capacity he held interim CEO positions for several companies in financial distress in a variety of different industries.
Bill currently serves as a director for ten private businesses: Wright Environmental Management Inc., Han Wind Energy, Summitt Energy, Electrical Contracts Ltd., YTW Growth Management Corp., Mega Graphite, Mega Graphite (Australia) PTY Ltd., Media Tube, Integrated Planning & Solutions and Asian Coast Development Ltd. Bill also serves on the boards of five public companies, three of which are based in China: Asia Bio Chem Group, China Armco Metals, Greater China Capital Inc., Score Media Inc. and Chile Mining Technologies Inc. As a board advisor, Bill provides a wealth of knowledge in the areas of finance, leadership, strategic alliances, and corporate development and governance. He currently serves as audit committee chair for four public companies and is often called upon to provide expertise in the areas of corporate governance and compensation.
Bill prides himself on his ability to deploy appropriate human and financial resources to promising situations in order to achieve success for partners and clients. He is a chartered accountant (in denial) and lives in Thornhill with his wife Janice.
Catherine Wells
Leading a team of 150 IT specialists, Cathy Wells is responsible for delivering infrastructure, systems integration and consulting services to clients globally. Clients include those in financial services, government, healthcare, manufacturing, distribution and retail, communications, and utilities.
Prior to joining CGI in 1998, Cathy began her professional career at Bell Canada in progressively responsible positions.
Cathy is active in the community, most recently representing CGI as the executive sponsor of the Destiny Toastmasters Club in Markham. She is also a previous board member of Central United Church in Unionville, Ontario.
Cathy holds a Bachelor in Economics from the University of Toronto.
Cathy lives in Unionville with her husband and two sons.
Executive Director: Tina Rogers
Tina comes to the position of Executive Director of YRCF with an MBA, Master of Management, and a solid background as a senior executive in 200+ employee Canadian enterprise software company. Responsible for developing customer service, marketing, sales and international business divisions of the company, Tina was instrumental in building the company from start-up to a multi-million dollar acquisition. As Principal of her own communications consulting company since 2005, Tina has been applying her expertise in management and corporate communications for the benefit of small and large operations in Canada and the United States. Tina has served as a long-term board member, volunteer and fund-raiser in several York Region and GTA communities. Mother to two grown sons, Tina has lived and worked in York Region for over 25 years, and currently lives in Aurora.
Volunteer Members, Advisors & Volunteer
