Board of Directors

Ms. Yaffe has held a number of strategic positions in film and television in Canada since the 1980s including Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. and Chief Executive Officer of Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting Inc.  Most recently, she served as Consul General to New York for the Government of Canada from July 2016 through December 2019.  In addition to being Chair of the Board of the Cineplex Entertainment Inc. she currently serves on the Board of Directors of Blue Ant Media, a privately held Canadian media company. She has previously served on the boards of Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, Torstar Corporation and Astral Media Inc. In 1999, Ms. Yaffe was selected as the Canadian Women in Communications Woman of the Year and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Women in Film and Television in 2000. In 2006, she was included in the Women’s Executive Network’s list of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women; in 2007, she was inducted into the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Broadcast Hall of Fame; in 2015, she was honoured as a recipient of the Order of Canada.  In her volunteer time, Ms. Yaffe has previously served on the Boards of Directors for Baycrest Health Sciences and Women Against Multiple Sclerosis, as well as the Chair of the Board of Governors for Ryerson University.
 

Dr. Jane Barratt is the Secretary General of the International Federation on Ageing comprising government and non government members in 62 countries and representing some 50 million older people. She brings to this position over 35 years experience in both public and private sectors in the fields of public health, community and aged care, and ageing and disability. Dr. Barratt has strived to strengthen the roles and relationships between government, NGOs, academia and the private sector in order to help shape and influence policy to improve the quality of life of older people.

This commitment has always been driven by her interest and passion in understanding the evolution of policy related ageing issues and the corresponding public and private sector responses globally. Dr Barratt is a strong contributor to the international dialogue on the intersection of social, cultural and physical environments that impact on the lives of older people. Adjunct academic positions internationally serve to strengthen her interest in the study of mature employment, the nexus between inclusion and marginalization, the impact of the environment on older people, quality care standards for patient care and the rights of older people.

Dr. Barratt is a Churchill Fellow, representative of the IFA at the United Nations Economic and Social Council and directly responsible for the formal relations with the Ageing and Life Course Department, World Health Organization. She holds executive positions on ministerial, government and non-government committees and the corporate sectors internationally and has many years experience in organizational management, staff development and the analysis of operations leading to improvements in program and client outcomes in the areas of health, ageing and disability.

Dr. Barratt is a member of the Baycrest Centre Board of Directors. She is Chair of Baycrest’s Education Advisory Committee and is also a member of the Executive Committee.

Ilsa Blidner assumed the position of Board Chair, Baycrest Foundation in September 2022. Ilsa has and continues to serve on a number of Boards and committees. Ilsa is a member of the Foundation Board, Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto. In the health sector, Ilsa serves on advisory and governing bodies at the Provincial level with Ontario Health-CorHealth, and at the Toronto regional level with Ontario’s Stroke System. She is currently Chair of the Toronto Stroke Networks’ Steering Committee and is Chair of the Toronto West Stroke Network. Ilsa served on the Board of the Ontario Stroke Network where she held positions as Vice-Chair of the Board and Chair of its Governance committee. She was Chair of the Toronto District Health Council; she served United Way of Greater Toronto as Chair of an Allocations Panel; she served on the National board of the Canadian Evaluation Society and as Chair of Ontario Chapter Board.

Ilsa’s professional career began in clinical research in Neonatology at McMaster University. She then held an academic position at the University of Toronto in the Faculty of Medicine where she provided consulting services to clinical and applied researchers. Following this, she formed Ilsa Blidner Consulting Inc., a Toronto-based practice specializing in consultation and training in the areas of strategic planning, quality and performance assessment, applied social research and policy development for the health and social services sectors. Ilsa’s primary focus was to enhance organizational capacity for planning and performance assessment and to use evaluation and data for decision-making and policy development.

Jeffrey Blidner is the Senior Managing Partner of Brookfield Asset Management Inc., responsible for Strategic Planning as well as Transaction Execution.

Prior to joining Brookfield in 2000, Mr. Blidner was a senior partner at a Canadian law firm. Jeff's practice focused on merchant banking transactions, public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, management buy-outs, restructurings and private equity transactions.

Mr. Blidner was called to the Bar in Ontario as a Gold Medalist in 1974.

Mr. Blidner was Chair of the Baycrest Centre Board from 2013 to 2015.

Secretary, Baycrest Board of Directors
Chair, Finance & Audit Committee

Barry Cracower is the former CEO of Baycrest Global Solutions and a senior executive with solid marketing and management credentials. As founder and president of Rexall Pharmacy and Vice President of the Katz Group, he was instrumental in developing the organization into Canada’s second largest drug store chain.
 
Mr. Cracower has extensive experience in the retail sector where he was founder of the Steals People, Canada’s first retail computer store. In addition Mr. Cracower was senior Merchandise Manager of the T. Eaton Co. and Vice President, General Electric.  Currently, as the President of Marketing Alternatives he does consulting to consumer product and service companies.
 
He is a seasoned board executive currently serving on the boards of Jewish Community Centre (JCC), The Heart and Stroke Foundation and The Partnership for Stroke Recovery Research, where he is Chair. In addition to Baycrest, the Partnership includes other hospital research centres from across the country. He also serves on two private company boards.
 
Mr. Cracower has a BCom from Concordia in Montreal and an M.B.A. from Columbia University in NYC and has received his ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.
 
Mr. Cracower is a member of the Baycrest Board of Directors.  In addition, he serves as Treasurer and Secretary, as well as Chair of the Finance & Audit Committee.
 

Dr. Sara Diamond is President Emerita of OCAD University, Canada's "university of the imagination". While sustaining OCAD U’s strengths in studio-based learning, Diamond guided OCAD University to become a leader in digital media, design research and curriculum through the Digital Futures Initiative, new research in Inclusive Design, health and design, as well as in sustainable technologies and design; built two additional campus locations and almost doubled the student population . Diamond implemented Indigenous and racialized diversity inclusion efforts, recruiting Canada’s first Indigenous chancellor and a Tier One Canada Research Chair; undertaking Indigenous and Black cluster hires, and ongoing priority hires and student recruitment. Diamond created a strong network of partnerships for OCAD University in the cultural sector, design industries, ICT industries, financial sector, health sector and government – in essence wherever design, strategic foresight and creativity are needed.

Diamond holds an ICD.D (Directors Designation) Institute of Corporate Directors and Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, a PhD in Computing, IT and Engineering from the University of East London, a Masters in New Media Arts from the University of Arts, London, and a Bachelor of Arts, Honours, History and Communication, Simon Fraser University. In 2020 Simon Fraser University awarded her a Doctor of Science, honoris causa and she received the Exceptional Women of Excellence Award from the global Women’s Economic Forum. She is appointed to the Order of Canada C.M. and the Order of Ontario and received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for Service to Canada. She has received two digital media “pioneer” awards, an Inspiring 50 award for the Advancement of Diversity in STEM fields (Government of Netherlands and Senate of Canada); and was designated a Canada 150 leader, champion and luminary and one of Toronto Life’s 50 Most influential in 2014.

Diamond leads and co-leads funded research projects and networks in urban data analytics (iCity), wearable and mobile technologies and applied data analytics, AI and visualization (.e.g. Centre for Information Visualization and Data Driven Design and BRAIN) and cultural analytics (supporting cultural industries, audiences and funding agencies) and was co-principal investigator on the Centre for Information Visualization/Data Driven Design). Diamond was founding Chair of the Mobile Experience Innovation Centre, founded OCAD University’s Imagination Catalyst Incubator and OCADU CO, its commercialization agent. Diamond continues to write and lecture on the subjects of digital media history and practice, visual analytics, strategic foresight; mobility and design strategy for peer-reviewed journals. Her artwork (1982 – 1995) is held by prestigious collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, NYC, and the National Gallery of Canada.

Diamond currently serves as co-Chair of Toronto’s Year of Public Art with Counsellor Crawford and is Chair of the Scotiabank Nuit Blanche Toronto Advisory Committee. Diamond has served the larger university community as Vice-Chair of the Council of Ontario Universities and through her membership on committees of Universities Canada. Diamond was a member of the 2011-2012 Council of the Canadian Academies' expert panel on the State of Science & Technology in Canada. She is a member of Toronto Regional Board of Trade and City of Toronto’s Smart City Working Group, and on the Government of Canada Service Advisory Council.

Diamond was the Artistic Director of Media and Visual Art and Director of Research at the Banff Centre, where she created the Banff New Media Institute (BNMI) in 1995 and led it until 2005. In this role she assisted with the development, incubation and support of many of Canada's leading new media companies, as well as international think tanks and collaborations in ICT, digital media and science research with artists, designers and scientists from Latin America, Africa, Asia, Central and Western Europe and the U.S.A., as well as Canada.

Ken Dryden was a Member of Parliament and was Minister of Social Development in the Martin government. He played goal for the Montreal Canadiens during the 1970s, during which time the team won six Stanley Cups, and was a member of Team Canada 1972. Mr. Dryden is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, and is the author of six books, including The Game and, most recently, Becoming Canada. He teaches at McGill, Calgary, Ryerson, Saskatchewan and Memorial universities. He and his wife, Lynda, live in Toronto and have two children.

Mr. Dryden is a member of the Baycrest Centre Board of Directors.

Len Fishman is director of the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Created by the Massachusetts Legislature in 1984, the Institute is the research, policy and public service arm of UMass Boston’s gerontology program, one of the oldest and largest aging studies programs in the world. From 2000 to 2013, Len was CEO of Hebrew SeniorLife, New England ’s largest non-profit provider of senior housing and healthcare, and an affiliate of Harvard Medical School. Before joining HSL, Len was president of Leading Age, in Washington D.C., which represents 6,000 non-profit senior housing and health care providers, serving over three million seniors in the U.S. and Canada. Len served in the cabinet of New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, as commissioner of the Department of Health and Senior Services. For a decade earlier, he practiced health care law in NJ and PA.

Mr. Godfrey is the Executive Chairman of Postmedia Network.

Prior to this he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Postmedia Network from July 2010 to November 2017 and was Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from November 2017 to January 2019. Postmedia Network is a Canadian news media company representing more than 125 brands across multiple print, online, and mobile platforms. Prior to the start of Postmedia Network Inc., Paul Godfrey served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Post from January 2009 to July 2010.

Mr. Godfrey was appointed Chair of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) by the Ontario Provincial Cabinet and served in this role from January, 2010 to May, 2013.

Mr. Godfrey is a life-long Torontonian.  He attended Bathurst Heights Collegiate and graduated from the University of Toronto in 1962 with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering.

Mr. Godfrey’s career encompasses long stints in the publishing business, professional sports management and politics.

Mr. Godfrey entered politics in the previously known Borough of North York.  He was elected a Councillor in 1964 and an Alderman in 1966 and 1969.  He was appointed Controller in 1970 and was re-elected to that position in the general election in 1972.  In 1973, Mr. Godfrey was elected by the Metropolitan Toronto Council as its Chairman.  This was prior to the 1998 amalgamation of the City of Toronto.  Mr. Godfrey held this position, known as Metro Chairman, for four terms - a record 11 years.

In August 1984, Mr. Godfrey left the political world to take on the role as Publisher and Chief Executive Officer of the Toronto Sun newspaper.  In April 1991, he was appointed President and Chief Operating Officer of the Toronto Sun Publishing Corporation and, on November 5, 1992, was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer.  In 1996, Mr. Godfrey successfully headed up a management-led buy-out of the company and the Sun Media Corporation was subsequently formed in October, 1996.  Mr. Godfrey held the position of President and C.E.O. of Sun Media Corporation until his departure on June 30, 2000.

Following Rogers’ purchase of the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Club, Mr. Godfrey was appointed the Club’s President and Chief Executive Officer on September 1, 2000.  Mr. Godfrey was previously involved with the Club, as he was part of the group (during his career as Metro Chairman) which lobbied to bring a Major League Baseball club to Toronto, a dream that was realized when the Blue Jays played and won their first home game on April 7, 1977 at Exhibition Stadium on a snowy day.  

In September, 2008, Mr. Godfrey announced his decision to leave his role as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Blue Jays and Rogers Centre at the end of that year.

Mr. Godfrey serves on the following boards:

RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust   
Chairman

Cargojet Inc.
Director

Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care
Vice-Chair

Mr. Godfrey was Chairman of the Molson Indy Board of Trustees from 1987 to 2005 and also Chairman of its successor, the Grand Prix Charitable Foundation of Toronto, from 2006 to 2007.

Mr. Godfrey is a great fan of the National Football League and he continues to pursue, on behalf of Toronto, an NFL franchise for this wonderful city.

Mr. Godfrey has received many honours.  In 1990, he received the City of Toronto’s highest award, the Civic Award of Merit.  In 1998, Mr. Godfrey received the Award of Merit from B’nai Brith Canada.     In 1999, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada.  In 2001, he received an Honorary Doctorate (Hon.D.Eng). from Ryerson University.  In 2004, Mr. Godfrey was honoured to receive the University of Toronto’s Engineering Alumni Medal.  In January 2010, Mr. Godfrey received Ontario’s Highest Honour – the Order of Ontario.

He was the Salvation Army’s National Spokesperson from 2002 to 2009.

Mr. Godfrey is married to the artist, Gina Godfrey. They have three sons, Rob, Noah and Jay and nine grandchildren.

Mr. Jacob has been working in the motion picture exhibition industry since 1987. Prior to assuming his current position as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation in 2003, Mr. Jacob was Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Galaxy. Prior to founding Galaxy, Mr. Jacob represented Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. as Head of Integration during 1998 and 1999. From 1987 to 1998, Mr. Jacob held various positions with Cineplex Odeon Corporation as Vice President, Finance, Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and, ultimately, Chief Operating Officer. In addition to his role as a Director of the Corporation, Mr. Jacob also serves as a director and member of the Audit and Risk Committee of Rogers Communication Inc.

He is the Chairman of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), an executive committee member of the Global Cinema Federation (GCF) as well as a member of the Board of Directors of the Movie Theatre Association of Canada. He also serves as a director and member of the audit committee of the Toronto International Film Festival.

Mr. Jacob is an active community member, currently serving as a member of the Board of Directors at Toronto’s Baycrest Centre for Geriatrics, where he also sits on the Executive Committee and is a member of Baycrest’s Finance and Audit Committee. Along with his position at Baycrest, Mr. Jacob is a founding director of the Canadian Children’s Literacy Foundation as well as a member of the Board of Governors for Mount Sinai Hospital. He holds an MBA from the Schulich School of Business as well as the accounting designations of Fellow Chartered Professional Accountant (FCPA), Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA) and Fellow Certified Management Accountant (FCMA). He also holds the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors. In 2010, Mr. Jacob was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada, in 2013 he was recognized as Canada’s Most Innovative CEO by Canadian Business Magazine, in 2014, he was recognized as Canada’s Most Admired CEO, Enterprise, by Waterstone Human Capital and in 2019 he received the ICTA Global Cinema Innovation Award

David Kassie has been Executive Chairman of Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. since May 2010 and was Chairman and CEO from April to October 2015. David was Principal, Chairman and CEO of Genuity Capital Markets (November 2004 to May 2010) at which time Genuity was acquired by Canaccord Financial. He is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CIBC World Markets and the Vice Chairman of CIBC (1979 – 2004).
 
Mr. Kassie has extensive experience as an advisor, underwriter and principal.  He sits on a number of corporate boards. Mr. Kassie is actively involved in community and charitable organizations and is a Director and former Chairman of Baycrest Health Sciences, Chairman of Baycrest’s commercialization activities and was formerly on the Boards of the Toronto International Film Festival Group, the Hospital for Sick Children and Ivey School of Business.
 
Mr. Kassie holds a B.Comm. (Honours) in Economics from McGill University, 1977 and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario, 1979.

ROBERT C. KAY is a seasoned Corporate Director and Business Advisor. He combines business and legal skills with extensive experience in international commerce to develop and assess complex strategies with multinational companies and governments.

Robert has served as a Corporate Director in both privately held and publicly listed companies, serving on Governance, Audit, Strategy, and ESG Committees. He is currently Chair, Advisory Board, the Migao Group (fertilizer manufacturing, clean energy, mining); Chair, Baycrest Hospital and Long-Term Care Residence (cumulatively 734 beds); Corporate Director, EquityLine Mortgage Investment Corp; Corporate Director, Baycrest Seniors Care Corp; Corporate Director, the Royal Canadian Military Institute; Corporate Director, the Canada Eurasia Chamber of Commerce (Toronto).

Notable governance roles have included: Chair-Canadian Commercial Corporation; Vice Chair and Lead Director-Migao Corporation; Chair-Migao Special Committee for Going Private; Chair-Swiss/Canadian Chamber of Commerce; Director in Residence-Institute of Corporate Directors; Board Director-Changfeng (CF) Energy Inc (gas distribution, clean energy); Board Director-American Chamber of Commerce (Ontario Council). Robert was a teaching Board Member in the Integrative Thinking Practicum of the MBA Degree Program at the University of Toronto. He is a former Deputy Judge, Superior Court of Justice of Ontario, SCC branch. Earlier in his career, Robert served as Personal Assistant to the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada.

Robert contributes his time as Chair of the Royal Canadian Military Institute Audit Committee. Robert is also a Member of the American Judges Association, and the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Sheldon Levy is a higher education leader and visionary with a passion for innovation, entrepreneurship and the digital economy. Sheldon has been an instrumental figure in Canada’s innovation ecosystem in the last decade, spearheading the creation of such organizations as Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone (DMZ), the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship, and Scale Up Ventures, Inc.

As President and Vice Chancellor of Ryerson University from 2005 to 2015, Sheldon drove the creation of the Digital Media Zone (DMZ), an early-stage incubator for student entrepreneurs which has since become an international success. He is also a founder and advisor to Ryerson Futures Inc., an accelerator that has exported the DMZ concept to such locations as Calgary and Mumbai.

From 2015 to 2017 Sheldon served as Ontario’s Deputy Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development, where he helped prioritize innovation and entrepreneurship throughout Ontario’s postsecondary education and training system. In 2017 he became CEO of NEXT Canada, an organization that provides mentorship, education, networks and funding to Canada’s most promising entrepreneurs.

In December 2018, Sheldon was appointed Special Advisor to Canada’s Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion, Mary Ng, on the issue of scaling up small and medium-sized businesses.

Sheldon recently joined the Board of Directors of Baycrest Health Sciences.

Sheldon previously served as President of Oakville’s Sheridan College from 1997 to 2001, overseeing the growth of its renowned animation department during the early years of computer-generated imaging. Sheldon’s other prior positions have included Vice President Finance and Strategy, University of Ontario Institute of Technology; Vice President of Governmental and Institutional Relations, University of Toronto; and Vice President Institutional Affairs, York University. Sheldon recently received The Order of Canada.

Mr. Mirsky is a highly experienced food, beverage and consumer packaged goods executive. He is the CEO of Freshchange Foods Group, a company that invests in food companies across North America. The most recent investment is BHC Holdings Inc., a New Jersey based supplier of pet chews and supplements. This investment is jointly held with Imperial Capital, a Toronto based private equity company.

In addition, Mr. Mirsky is the Chairman of Beefeaters Holdings, Inc. which sells pet products under the Beefeaters™ brand name and is a portfolio company of Imperial Capital.

Mr. Mirsky’s operating career spans more than 30 years. Most previous to his current roles, Brian was the President of Europe for Campbell Soup Company, and has served in senior management positions with Pizza Hut, Pillsbury, and the H.J. Heinz Company. Brian currently serves on the Board of Directors of Inscape, a publicly traded (symbol: INQ.TO) maker of office systems and storage.

Mr. Mirsky has an MBA in marketing and a BA in Economics from York University in Toronto, Canada.

Mr. Mirsky is a member of the Baycrest Centre Board of Directors and serves as a member of its Commercialization and Strategic Planning Committees.

 
 
 
Mr Graeme Prior is the co-founder and CEO of Hall & Prior; which began with a single family-owned nursing home and now operates 31 aged care communities and 2 home care services across Australia, offering world-class care to over 1000 clients and employing approximately 2,500 permanent staff.
 
He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Western Australia and is a chartered accountant. Having worked with the top four international accounting firms Mr Prior recognised his passion for aged care while running his own accounting practice. Giving back to the local community while advocating for aged care globally has always been the cornerstone of his business ethos.
 
Along with his passion for the industry he has an innate understanding of the issues facing aged care; his commitment to supporting research and education and significant sector investment, including designing and building new, world-class aged care homes that respond to Australia’s growing demand for quality aged care choices in both workforce and care outcomes. 
 
His current positions include; President of International Federation on Ageing (UN Auspice Organisation based in Toronto), with a focus on delivering global outcomes in aged care; Board Member of Baycrest Health Sciences; Deputy Chairman of the CRC for Mental Health and Chairman of Audit and Risk Committee; Director of the Australian Aged Care Workforce Industry Council; Committee Member of the Commonwealth Department of Health’s Aged Care Sector Committee (Ministerial Appointment); Chairman of Australian Alzheimer’s Research Foundation, Board Member of ADNeT Ltd (Australian Dementia Network Ltd), Member of the Steering Committee National Comprehensive Dementia Centre and Member of the National Aged Care Advisory Council. 
 
 

Saäd Rafi has gained a well earned reputation as someone who goes into challenging departments and organizational situations with a commitment to deliver more resilient organizations and better results for Ontarians. He has been tapped to start new businesses — be that in Infrastructure Advisory or Pension management. As a result, Rafi has developed strong knowledge and experience in change management leadership, operations management, strategic infrastructure deployment, financial administration and governance. Mr. Rafi spent over 24 years in senior positions in the Ontario Public Service. He has also held leadership positions in Infrastructure Advisory and Project Finance and as the National Government and Public Services leader, both as a Partner at Deloitte LLP. Previously he was the Chief Executive Officer of the
Ontario Retirement Pension Plan Administrative Corporation (ORPPAC) where he was responsible for
starting up Ontario’s attempt at a provincial pension plan. Other former positions include: Chief Executive
Officer of the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Parapan Am Games Organizing Committee. His public service leadership roles included: Deputy Minister of Health and Long Term Care, Deputy Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, Deputy Minister of Transportation, and the Deputy Minister of Community Safety. Mr. Rafi graduated from Carleton University in 1983 with a B.A. in Law and then went on to earn a M.A. in Public Administration in 1988. Rafi also is a member of the Board of Governors for Sick Kids Hospital, a Board Member of the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Vice Chair of Trent University’s Board of Governors.
 

Dr. William E. Reichman, an internationally-known expert in geriatric mental health and dementia care, is President and CEO of Baycrest, one of the world’s premier centres focused on aging, seniors’ health and residential care and brain function. Baycrest is home to both the largest research institute and the most comprehensive innovation accelerator in the global senior care industry. Dr. Reichman also serves as President and CEO of two commercial subsidiary firms, Cogniciti and Baycrest Global Solutions. He holds an academic appointment as Professor of Psychiatry in the Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Toronto.
 
Dr. Reichman is the current President of the International Psychogeriatric Association and is a former president of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry and the Geriatric Mental Health Foundation. He has advised the World Health Organization and several levels of government in the United States, Canada and China on the impact of an aging society on health care demand and the mandate to support innovative approaches to service delivery. He has been instrumental in the development of Canada’s new National Dementia Strategy and co-chairs the federal panel overseeing its implementation across the nation. He is a passionate advocate for building innovation capacity in the senior care sector and speaks across the globe on this theme to care providers, policy makers, academic audiences and industry.
 
Dr. Reichman was the founder and inaugural Chair of the Seniors Quality Leap Initiative, a collaborative of prominent eldercare organizations and their affiliated universities in the United States and Canada, working together to advance the effectiveness of long-term care across the globe.  
Among honors received, Dr. Reichman was named among the Best Doctors in America and Canada, and has been recognized by the New Jersey Society on Aging as Gerontologist of the Year. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Canadian-based OCAD University for his work in advancing innovation in seniors care. Dr. Reichman is a recipient of a Telly Award for an educational documentary film that he co-created and hosted entitled, Reflections of Memory Lost: Understanding Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Lynn Wilson is the Vice Dean, Clinical and Faculty Affairs and Associate Vice Provost, Relations with Health Care Institutions. She is a Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. Prior to her current role, Dr. Wilson served as Chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine (2007 – 2015).  

As a member of the Physician Services Committee for the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care, she helped to lead primary care renewal in Ontario (2002-2007). Dr. Wilson was the co-director of BRIDGES, an Ontario Ministry of Health funded project to support the design, implementation and assessment of innovative models of care that promote integration in the healthcare system (2011-2016). She is the co-editor of two textbooks on substance use disorders and is currently co-leading the Ontario Opioids Clinical Primer Initiative. She has served as a primary care co-lead for Choosing Wisely Canada.

Dr. Wilson has practiced comprehensive family medicine for over 30 years. Her clinical interests have included substance use disorders, mental health, palliative care, primary care obstetrics, and care of the elderly.

Jakov Zaidman is a Principal Information Technology Consultant with decades of technology and business experience, with over 30 years in technology consulting. Jakov holds an ISC2 Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification.

Jakov specializes in Cybersecurity and Information Privacy, IT Architecture, Network Security and Infrastructure, and in assessing and enhancing customer cybersecurity programs by following best practices and industry regulations.

Jakov founded InterLAN Consulting in 1991, to focus on providing advisory services in the areas of network infrastructure and cybersecurity. Over the years, Jakov advised organizations, established cybersecurity programs, and designed and built secure network architectures. Jakov worked with enterprises in both public and private sectors and a wide range of verticals, ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands of employees. Jakov was also the lead IT architect behind the creation of the Ontario Telemedicine Network.

Jakov started his professional career in the Israeli Air Force, working on the nation-wide deployment and maintenance of modernized air traffic control systems. Before founding InterLAN, Jakov worked in senior IT architecture roles for companies Digital Equipment and Intel.

Mr. Mirsky is a highly experienced food, beverage and consumer packaged goods executive. He is the CEO of Freshchange Foods Group, a company that invests in food companies across North America. The most recent investment is BHC Holdings Inc., a New Jersey based supplier of pet chews and supplements. This investment is jointly held with Imperial Capital, a Toronto based private equity company.

In addition, Mr. Mirsky is the Chairman of Beefeaters Holdings, Inc. which sells pet products under the Beefeaters™ brand name and is a portfolio company of Imperial Capital.

Mr. Mirsky’s operating career spans more than 30 years. Most previous to his current roles, Brian was the President of Europe for Campbell Soup Company, and has served in senior management positions with Pizza Hut, Pillsbury, and the H.J. Heinz Company. Brian currently serves on the Board of Directors of Inscape, a publicly traded (symbol: INQ.TO) maker of office systems and storage.

Mr. Mirsky has an MBA in marketing and a BA in Economics from York University in Toronto, Canada.

Mr. Mirsky is a member of the Baycrest Centre Board of Directors and serves as a member of its Commercialization and Strategic Planning Committees.

Dr. Jane Barratt is the Secretary General of the International Federation on Ageing comprising government and non government members in 62 countries and representing some 50 million older people. She brings to this position over 35 years experience in both public and private sectors in the fields of public health, community and aged care, and ageing and disability. Dr. Barratt has strived to strengthen the roles and relationships between government, NGOs, academia and the private sector in order to help shape and influence policy to improve the quality of life of older people.

This commitment has always been driven by her interest and passion in understanding the evolution of policy related ageing issues and the corresponding public and private sector responses globally. Dr Barratt is a strong contributor to the international dialogue on the intersection of social, cultural and physical environments that impact on the lives of older people. Adjunct academic positions internationally serve to strengthen her interest in the study of mature employment, the nexus between inclusion and marginalization, the impact of the environment on older people, quality care standards for patient care and the rights of older people.

Dr. Barratt is a Churchill Fellow, representative of the IFA at the United Nations Economic and Social Council and directly responsible for the formal relations with the Ageing and Life Course Department, World Health Organization. She holds executive positions on ministerial, government and non-government committees and the corporate sectors internationally and has many years experience in organizational management, staff development and the analysis of operations leading to improvements in program and client outcomes in the areas of health, ageing and disability.

Dr. Barratt is a member of the Baycrest Centre Board of Directors. She is Chair of Baycrest’s Education Advisory Committee and is also a member of the Executive Committee.

Jeffrey Blidner is the Senior Managing Partner of Brookfield Asset Management Inc., responsible for Strategic Planning as well as Transaction Execution.

Prior to joining Brookfield in 2000, Mr. Blidner was a senior partner at a Canadian law firm. Jeff's practice focused on merchant banking transactions, public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, management buy-outs, restructurings and private equity transactions.

Mr. Blidner was called to the Bar in Ontario as a Gold Medalist in 1974.

Mr. Blidner was Chair of the Baycrest Centre Board from 2013 to 2015.

Secretary, Baycrest Board of Directors
Chair, Finance & Audit Committee

Barry Cracower is the former CEO of Baycrest Global Solutions and a senior executive with solid marketing and management credentials. As founder and president of Rexall Pharmacy and Vice President of the Katz Group, he was instrumental in developing the organization into Canada’s second largest drug store chain.
 
Mr. Cracower has extensive experience in the retail sector where he was founder of the Steals People, Canada’s first retail computer store. In addition Mr. Cracower was senior Merchandise Manager of the T. Eaton Co. and Vice President, General Electric.  Currently, as the President of Marketing Alternatives he does consulting to consumer product and service companies.
 
He is a seasoned board executive currently serving on the boards of Jewish Community Centre (JCC), The Heart and Stroke Foundation and The Partnership for Stroke Recovery Research, where he is Chair. In addition to Baycrest, the Partnership includes other hospital research centres from across the country. He also serves on two private company boards.
 
Mr. Cracower has a BCom from Concordia in Montreal and an M.B.A. from Columbia University in NYC and has received his ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.
 
Mr. Cracower is a member of the Baycrest Board of Directors.  In addition, he serves as Treasurer and Secretary, as well as Chair of the Finance & Audit Committee.
 

Dr. Sara Diamond is President Emerita of OCAD University, Canada's "university of the imagination". While sustaining OCAD U’s strengths in studio-based learning, Diamond guided OCAD University to become a leader in digital media, design research and curriculum through the Digital Futures Initiative, new research in Inclusive Design, health and design, as well as in sustainable technologies and design; built two additional campus locations and almost doubled the student population . Diamond implemented Indigenous and racialized diversity inclusion efforts, recruiting Canada’s first Indigenous chancellor and a Tier One Canada Research Chair; undertaking Indigenous and Black cluster hires, and ongoing priority hires and student recruitment. Diamond created a strong network of partnerships for OCAD University in the cultural sector, design industries, ICT industries, financial sector, health sector and government – in essence wherever design, strategic foresight and creativity are needed.

Diamond holds an ICD.D (Directors Designation) Institute of Corporate Directors and Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, a PhD in Computing, IT and Engineering from the University of East London, a Masters in New Media Arts from the University of Arts, London, and a Bachelor of Arts, Honours, History and Communication, Simon Fraser University. In 2020 Simon Fraser University awarded her a Doctor of Science, honoris causa and she received the Exceptional Women of Excellence Award from the global Women’s Economic Forum. She is appointed to the Order of Canada C.M. and the Order of Ontario and received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for Service to Canada. She has received two digital media “pioneer” awards, an Inspiring 50 award for the Advancement of Diversity in STEM fields (Government of Netherlands and Senate of Canada); and was designated a Canada 150 leader, champion and luminary and one of Toronto Life’s 50 Most influential in 2014.

Diamond leads and co-leads funded research projects and networks in urban data analytics (iCity), wearable and mobile technologies and applied data analytics, AI and visualization (.e.g. Centre for Information Visualization and Data Driven Design and BRAIN) and cultural analytics (supporting cultural industries, audiences and funding agencies) and was co-principal investigator on the Centre for Information Visualization/Data Driven Design). Diamond was founding Chair of the Mobile Experience Innovation Centre, founded OCAD University’s Imagination Catalyst Incubator and OCADU CO, its commercialization agent. Diamond continues to write and lecture on the subjects of digital media history and practice, visual analytics, strategic foresight; mobility and design strategy for peer-reviewed journals. Her artwork (1982 – 1995) is held by prestigious collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, NYC, and the National Gallery of Canada.

Diamond currently serves as co-Chair of Toronto’s Year of Public Art with Counsellor Crawford and is Chair of the Scotiabank Nuit Blanche Toronto Advisory Committee. Diamond has served the larger university community as Vice-Chair of the Council of Ontario Universities and through her membership on committees of Universities Canada. Diamond was a member of the 2011-2012 Council of the Canadian Academies' expert panel on the State of Science & Technology in Canada. She is a member of Toronto Regional Board of Trade and City of Toronto’s Smart City Working Group, and on the Government of Canada Service Advisory Council.

Diamond was the Artistic Director of Media and Visual Art and Director of Research at the Banff Centre, where she created the Banff New Media Institute (BNMI) in 1995 and led it until 2005. In this role she assisted with the development, incubation and support of many of Canada's leading new media companies, as well as international think tanks and collaborations in ICT, digital media and science research with artists, designers and scientists from Latin America, Africa, Asia, Central and Western Europe and the U.S.A., as well as Canada.

Len Fishman is director of the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Created by the Massachusetts Legislature in 1984, the Institute is the research, policy and public service arm of UMass Boston’s gerontology program, one of the oldest and largest aging studies programs in the world. From 2000 to 2013, Len was CEO of Hebrew SeniorLife, New England ’s largest non-profit provider of senior housing and healthcare, and an affiliate of Harvard Medical School. Before joining HSL, Len was president of Leading Age, in Washington D.C., which represents 6,000 non-profit senior housing and health care providers, serving over three million seniors in the U.S. and Canada. Len served in the cabinet of New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, as commissioner of the Department of Health and Senior Services. For a decade earlier, he practiced health care law in NJ and PA.

Mr. Godfrey is the Executive Chairman of Postmedia Network.

Prior to this he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Postmedia Network from July 2010 to November 2017 and was Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from November 2017 to January 2019. Postmedia Network is a Canadian news media company representing more than 125 brands across multiple print, online, and mobile platforms. Prior to the start of Postmedia Network Inc., Paul Godfrey served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Post from January 2009 to July 2010.

Mr. Godfrey was appointed Chair of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) by the Ontario Provincial Cabinet and served in this role from January, 2010 to May, 2013.

Mr. Godfrey is a life-long Torontonian.  He attended Bathurst Heights Collegiate and graduated from the University of Toronto in 1962 with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering.

Mr. Godfrey’s career encompasses long stints in the publishing business, professional sports management and politics.

Mr. Godfrey entered politics in the previously known Borough of North York.  He was elected a Councillor in 1964 and an Alderman in 1966 and 1969.  He was appointed Controller in 1970 and was re-elected to that position in the general election in 1972.  In 1973, Mr. Godfrey was elected by the Metropolitan Toronto Council as its Chairman.  This was prior to the 1998 amalgamation of the City of Toronto.  Mr. Godfrey held this position, known as Metro Chairman, for four terms - a record 11 years.

In August 1984, Mr. Godfrey left the political world to take on the role as Publisher and Chief Executive Officer of the Toronto Sun newspaper.  In April 1991, he was appointed President and Chief Operating Officer of the Toronto Sun Publishing Corporation and, on November 5, 1992, was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer.  In 1996, Mr. Godfrey successfully headed up a management-led buy-out of the company and the Sun Media Corporation was subsequently formed in October, 1996.  Mr. Godfrey held the position of President and C.E.O. of Sun Media Corporation until his departure on June 30, 2000.

Following Rogers’ purchase of the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Club, Mr. Godfrey was appointed the Club’s President and Chief Executive Officer on September 1, 2000.  Mr. Godfrey was previously involved with the Club, as he was part of the group (during his career as Metro Chairman) which lobbied to bring a Major League Baseball club to Toronto, a dream that was realized when the Blue Jays played and won their first home game on April 7, 1977 at Exhibition Stadium on a snowy day.  

In September, 2008, Mr. Godfrey announced his decision to leave his role as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Blue Jays and Rogers Centre at the end of that year.

Mr. Godfrey serves on the following boards:

RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust   
Chairman

Cargojet Inc.
Director

Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care
Vice-Chair

Mr. Godfrey was Chairman of the Molson Indy Board of Trustees from 1987 to 2005 and also Chairman of its successor, the Grand Prix Charitable Foundation of Toronto, from 2006 to 2007.

Mr. Godfrey is a great fan of the National Football League and he continues to pursue, on behalf of Toronto, an NFL franchise for this wonderful city.

Mr. Godfrey has received many honours.  In 1990, he received the City of Toronto’s highest award, the Civic Award of Merit.  In 1998, Mr. Godfrey received the Award of Merit from B’nai Brith Canada.     In 1999, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada.  In 2001, he received an Honorary Doctorate (Hon.D.Eng). from Ryerson University.  In 2004, Mr. Godfrey was honoured to receive the University of Toronto’s Engineering Alumni Medal.  In January 2010, Mr. Godfrey received Ontario’s Highest Honour – the Order of Ontario.

He was the Salvation Army’s National Spokesperson from 2002 to 2009.

Mr. Godfrey is married to the artist, Gina Godfrey. They have three sons, Rob, Noah and Jay and nine grandchildren.

David Green is a semi-retired business person with a broad background in numerous aspects of real estate.  Both alone and with various family companies, David has developed, built and managed multi-family residential buildings, industrial buildings and office buildings in Toronto and South Florida.   David is currently active in community affairs, having served in Board of Directors and/or Committee capacities the UJA, Baycrest Health Sciences, Miles Nadal JCC, YMCA-GTA and Canadian Friends of Kishorit.  He is the founder and chairman of Canadian Friends of Rambam Health Care Campus (Haifa).  David holds an M.A. degree in Urban Geography from the University of Chicago.   He is a 5^th dan Karate student of the late Masami Tsuruoka.  David enjoys fishing and cottage life and lives in downtown Toronto with his wife, Daphne Wagner and children Lita and Michael.

Mr. Jacob has been working in the motion picture exhibition industry since 1987. Prior to assuming his current position as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation in 2003, Mr. Jacob was Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Galaxy. Prior to founding Galaxy, Mr. Jacob represented Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. as Head of Integration during 1998 and 1999. From 1987 to 1998, Mr. Jacob held various positions with Cineplex Odeon Corporation as Vice President, Finance, Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and, ultimately, Chief Operating Officer. In addition to his role as a Director of the Corporation, Mr. Jacob also serves as a director and member of the Audit and Risk Committee of Rogers Communication Inc.

He is the Chairman of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), an executive committee member of the Global Cinema Federation (GCF) as well as a member of the Board of Directors of the Movie Theatre Association of Canada. He also serves as a director and member of the audit committee of the Toronto International Film Festival.

Mr. Jacob is an active community member, currently serving as a member of the Board of Directors at Toronto’s Baycrest Centre for Geriatrics, where he also sits on the Executive Committee and is a member of Baycrest’s Finance and Audit Committee. Along with his position at Baycrest, Mr. Jacob is a founding director of the Canadian Children’s Literacy Foundation as well as a member of the Board of Governors for Mount Sinai Hospital. He holds an MBA from the Schulich School of Business as well as the accounting designations of Fellow Chartered Professional Accountant (FCPA), Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA) and Fellow Certified Management Accountant (FCMA). He also holds the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors. In 2010, Mr. Jacob was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada, in 2013 he was recognized as Canada’s Most Innovative CEO by Canadian Business Magazine, in 2014, he was recognized as Canada’s Most Admired CEO, Enterprise, by Waterstone Human Capital and in 2019 he received the ICTA Global Cinema Innovation Award

David Kassie has been Executive Chairman of Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. since May 2010 and was Chairman and CEO from April to October 2015. David was Principal, Chairman and CEO of Genuity Capital Markets (November 2004 to May 2010) at which time Genuity was acquired by Canaccord Financial. He is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CIBC World Markets and the Vice Chairman of CIBC (1979 – 2004).
 
Mr. Kassie has extensive experience as an advisor, underwriter and principal.  He sits on a number of corporate boards. Mr. Kassie is actively involved in community and charitable organizations and is a Director and former Chairman of Baycrest Health Sciences, Chairman of Baycrest’s commercialization activities and was formerly on the Boards of the Toronto International Film Festival Group, the Hospital for Sick Children and Ivey School of Business.
 
Mr. Kassie holds a B.Comm. (Honours) in Economics from McGill University, 1977 and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario, 1979.

ROBERT C. KAY is a seasoned Corporate Director and Business Advisor. He combines business and legal skills with extensive experience in international commerce to develop and assess complex strategies with multinational companies and governments.

Robert has served as a Corporate Director in both privately held and publicly listed companies, serving on Governance, Audit, Strategy, and ESG Committees. He is currently Chair, Advisory Board, the Migao Group (fertilizer manufacturing, clean energy, mining); Chair, Baycrest Hospital and Long-Term Care Residence (cumulatively 734 beds); Corporate Director, EquityLine Mortgage Investment Corp; Corporate Director, Baycrest Seniors Care Corp; Corporate Director, the Royal Canadian Military Institute; Corporate Director, the Canada Eurasia Chamber of Commerce (Toronto).

Notable governance roles have included: Chair-Canadian Commercial Corporation; Vice Chair and Lead Director-Migao Corporation; Chair-Migao Special Committee for Going Private; Chair-Swiss/Canadian Chamber of Commerce; Director in Residence-Institute of Corporate Directors; Board Director-Changfeng (CF) Energy Inc (gas distribution, clean energy); Board Director-American Chamber of Commerce (Ontario Council). Robert was a teaching Board Member in the Integrative Thinking Practicum of the MBA Degree Program at the University of Toronto. He is a former Deputy Judge, Superior Court of Justice of Ontario, SCC branch. Earlier in his career, Robert served as Personal Assistant to the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada.

Robert contributes his time as Chair of the Royal Canadian Military Institute Audit Committee. Robert is also a Member of the American Judges Association, and the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Dr. William E. Reichman, an internationally-known expert in geriatric mental health and dementia care, is President and CEO of Baycrest, one of the world’s premier centres focused on aging, seniors’ health and residential care and brain function. Baycrest is home to both the largest research institute and the most comprehensive innovation accelerator in the global senior care industry. Dr. Reichman also serves as President and CEO of two commercial subsidiary firms, Cogniciti and Baycrest Global Solutions. He holds an academic appointment as Professor of Psychiatry in the Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Toronto.
 
Dr. Reichman is the current President of the International Psychogeriatric Association and is a former president of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry and the Geriatric Mental Health Foundation. He has advised the World Health Organization and several levels of government in the United States, Canada and China on the impact of an aging society on health care demand and the mandate to support innovative approaches to service delivery. He has been instrumental in the development of Canada’s new National Dementia Strategy and co-chairs the federal panel overseeing its implementation across the nation. He is a passionate advocate for building innovation capacity in the senior care sector and speaks across the globe on this theme to care providers, policy makers, academic audiences and industry.
 
Dr. Reichman was the founder and inaugural Chair of the Seniors Quality Leap Initiative, a collaborative of prominent eldercare organizations and their affiliated universities in the United States and Canada, working together to advance the effectiveness of long-term care across the globe.  
Among honors received, Dr. Reichman was named among the Best Doctors in America and Canada, and has been recognized by the New Jersey Society on Aging as Gerontologist of the Year. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Canadian-based OCAD University for his work in advancing innovation in seniors care. Dr. Reichman is a recipient of a Telly Award for an educational documentary film that he co-created and hosted entitled, Reflections of Memory Lost: Understanding Alzheimer’s disease.

Ms. Yaffe has held a number of strategic positions in film and television in Canada since the 1980s including Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. and Chief Executive Officer of Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting Inc.  Most recently, she served as Consul General to New York for the Government of Canada from July 2016 through December 2019.  In addition to being Chair of the Board of the Cineplex Entertainment Inc. she currently serves on the Board of Directors of Blue Ant Media, a privately held Canadian media company. She has previously served on the boards of Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, Torstar Corporation and Astral Media Inc. In 1999, Ms. Yaffe was selected as the Canadian Women in Communications Woman of the Year and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Women in Film and Television in 2000. In 2006, she was included in the Women’s Executive Network’s list of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women; in 2007, she was inducted into the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Broadcast Hall of Fame; in 2015, she was honoured as a recipient of the Order of Canada.  In her volunteer time, Ms. Yaffe has previously served on the Boards of Directors for Baycrest Health Sciences and Women Against Multiple Sclerosis, as well as the Chair of the Board of Governors for Ryerson University.
 

Jakov Zaidman is a Principal Information Technology Consultant with decades of technology and business experience, with over 30 years in technology consulting. Jakov holds an ISC2 Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification.

Jakov specializes in Cybersecurity and Information Privacy, IT Architecture, Network Security and Infrastructure, and in assessing and enhancing customer cybersecurity programs by following best practices and industry regulations.

Jakov founded InterLAN Consulting in 1991, to focus on providing advisory services in the areas of network infrastructure and cybersecurity. Over the years, Jakov advised organizations, established cybersecurity programs, and designed and built secure network architectures. Jakov worked with enterprises in both public and private sectors and a wide range of verticals, ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands of employees. Jakov was also the lead IT architect behind the creation of the Ontario Telemedicine Network.

Jakov started his professional career in the Israeli Air Force, working on the nation-wide deployment and maintenance of modernized air traffic control systems. Before founding InterLAN, Jakov worked in senior IT architecture roles for companies Digital Equipment and Intel.

Joni Kent is Baycrest’s Executive Vice President Corporate Services and Chief Human Resources Officer. Joni has responsibility for Human Resources, Organizational Effectiveness, Occupational Health and Safety, Volunteer Services, Legal Services, Strategy, Stakeholder Relations, Redevelopment, Support Services and Food Services.

Prior to joining Baycrest in 2006, Joni was Vice President, Human Resources & Organizational Effectiveness at Queensway Carleton Hospital in Ottawa for six years. Prior to this, Joni was at University Health Network as the Director, Employee Relations and with the Greater Niagara General Hospital as Director, Human Resources.

Joni previously practiced law in Toronto for five years with Mathews, Dinsdale and Clark.

Joni grew up in Montreal, graduated from McGill University in Industrial Relations in 1987 and graduated from The University of Western Ontario in Law in 1990. Joni is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada

ROBERT C. KAY is a seasoned Corporate Director and Business Advisor. He combines business and legal skills with extensive experience in international commerce to develop and assess complex strategies with multinational companies and governments.

Robert has served as a Corporate Director in both privately held and publicly listed companies, serving on Governance, Audit, Strategy, and ESG Committees. He is currently Chair, Advisory Board, the Migao Group (fertilizer manufacturing, clean energy, mining); Chair, Baycrest Hospital and Long-Term Care Residence (cumulatively 734 beds); Corporate Director, EquityLine Mortgage Investment Corp; Corporate Director, Baycrest Seniors Care Corp; Corporate Director, the Royal Canadian Military Institute; Corporate Director, the Canada Eurasia Chamber of Commerce (Toronto).

Notable governance roles have included: Chair-Canadian Commercial Corporation; Vice Chair and Lead Director-Migao Corporation; Chair-Migao Special Committee for Going Private; Chair-Swiss/Canadian Chamber of Commerce; Director in Residence-Institute of Corporate Directors; Board Director-Changfeng (CF) Energy Inc (gas distribution, clean energy); Board Director-American Chamber of Commerce (Ontario Council). Robert was a teaching Board Member in the Integrative Thinking Practicum of the MBA Degree Program at the University of Toronto. He is a former Deputy Judge, Superior Court of Justice of Ontario, SCC branch. Earlier in his career, Robert served as Personal Assistant to the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada.

Robert contributes his time as Chair of the Royal Canadian Military Institute Audit Committee. Robert is also a Member of the American Judges Association, and the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Dr. Michael Borrie, MB ChB, FRCPC is a Geriatrician and Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine, The University of Western Ontario.

He is the Medical Director for the Aging Brain and Memory Clinic, an investigator with the Cognitive Clinical Research Group CCRG), Past President of the Consortium for Canadian Centres for Clinical Cognitive Research (C5R).

His research interests include investigator-initiated studies for predictors of conversion from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer Disease (AD), including sensitive neuroimaging techniques, blood and cerebral spinal fluid biomarkers. He is the platform lead for the Comprehensive Assessment of Neurodegeneration and Aging (COMPASS-ND) observational study of the Canadian Collaboration on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA).

Since 1995 the CCRG has been a leading Canadian research site conducting randomized controlled trials of new potential treatments for Subjective Cognitive Decline, Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease.

Secretary, Baycrest Board of Directors
Chair, Finance & Audit Committee

Barry Cracower is the former CEO of Baycrest Global Solutions and a senior executive with solid marketing and management credentials. As founder and president of Rexall Pharmacy and Vice President of the Katz Group, he was instrumental in developing the organization into Canada’s second largest drug store chain.
 
Mr. Cracower has extensive experience in the retail sector where he was founder of the Steals People, Canada’s first retail computer store. In addition Mr. Cracower was senior Merchandise Manager of the T. Eaton Co. and Vice President, General Electric.  Currently, as the President of Marketing Alternatives he does consulting to consumer product and service companies.
 
He is a seasoned board executive currently serving on the boards of Jewish Community Centre (JCC), The Heart and Stroke Foundation and The Partnership for Stroke Recovery Research, where he is Chair. In addition to Baycrest, the Partnership includes other hospital research centres from across the country. He also serves on two private company boards.
 
Mr. Cracower has a BCom from Concordia in Montreal and an M.B.A. from Columbia University in NYC and has received his ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.
 
Mr. Cracower is a member of the Baycrest Board of Directors.  In addition, he serves as Treasurer and Secretary, as well as Chair of the Finance & Audit Committee.
 

Amy Flaster, M.D., M.B.A. is a physician executive, value-based care strategist, and practicing internal medicine physician. Dr. Flaster has focused her career on leveraging clinical innovation, data, and technology to improve clinical outcomes, champion patient-centered care, and lower the cost of care. She is passionate about work at the intersection of population health, value-based care, primary care, and digital innovation.

At ConcertoCare, Dr. Flaster serves as Chief Medical Officer and oversees the strategy and operations of the company. ConcertoCare delivers primary and complex care to seniors and other adults with multiple comorbidities, primarily in the home. The company delivers a human-first, tech-enabled model of care powered by a proprietary population health and analytics engine. ConcertoCare takes an intensive, interdisciplinary approach, staffed by internists, geriatricians, geriatric psychiatrists, social workers, nurses, and community health workers. ConcertoCare is exclusively engaged in value-based capitated arrangements, enabling it to deliver cutting-edge population health at scale across the United States.

Prior to joining ConcertoHealth in 2021, Dr. Flaster served as the Senior Vice President for Population Health at Health Catalyst, a leading healthcare data and analytics company (NASDAQ: HCAT). There, she led a team that worked with large integrated delivery systems, Accountable Care Organizations and Clinically Integrated Networks throughout North America on their journey to leverage data and analytics to support alternative payment model adoption. Dr. Flaster also previously served as Associate Medical Director of Population Health at Mass General Brigham (MGB), a Boston-based non-profit hospital and physician network that includes Massachusetts General Hospital and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, among others. In this role, she managed a portfolio of clinical population health programs to drive healthcare transformation across the network. This included the nationally recognized Integrated Care Management Program (iCMP), clinical oversight of the self-insured health plan at MGB (the largest private employer in Massachusetts), and a range of Medicaid programming for the system, including launching an ED Navigation program focused on vulnerable Medicaid patients that are frequent utilizers of the Emergency Departments.

Prior to her work at MGB, Dr. Flaster co-founded myProxy, Inc., which developed the TrueNorth Healthcare platform (acquired 2019) to engage patients and surrogate decision makers in advance care planning. She also previously worked for the Brigham and Women’s Physician Organization, the World Health Organization, and has provided consulting services to healthcare delivery organizations and venture capital incubators.. Dr. Flaster also serves as course director for “Value Based Care and Population Health Management” at Harvard Medical School. She continues to practice internal medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Dr. Flaster completed a BA from Dartmouth College, an MD at Harvard Medical School, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine in the Primary Care track at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and is board certified in Internal Medicine. She was raised in Thornhill, Ontario, volunteered at Baycrest Hospital as a student. She now lives in Boston with her husband and daughter.

Since the 2015 merge of the health care organizations in Quebec, until November 2021, Barbra Gold has been the Director of the Support Program for the Autonomy of Seniors for the Integrated Health and Social Services University Network for West-Central Montreal. In this role, Ms. Gold was responsible for long-term care facilities, home care and intermediate resources for our territory.

At the present time, this includes 1,177 skilled nursing home beds located on seven sites, 313 intermediate resource beds on four sites and one million direct hours of homecare for an annual budget of $180 million dollars. In addition, she was responsible for ensuring the quality of care at four different private facilities (550 beds).

Ms. Gold began her career in 1979, working in various administrative positions at the Jewish General Hospital. In 1991, she was hired as Executive Director of the Donald Berman Maimonides Geriatric Centre, and took on the additional role of Executive Director at Jewish Eldercare in 2005. Under her leadership, both Maimonides and Jewish Eldercare received a number of national awards and recognition for patient-centered care. Both were the first long-term care centres in North America to receive gold designation, which is the highest level of designation from Planetree – an international organization focused on patient-centred health care (2013).

In 2015, both Maimonides and Jewish Eldercare were merged with seven other healthcare organizations to form the Integrated Health and Social Services University Network for West-Central Montreal, which serves a population base of 380,000 people and a budget of $800 million dollars. From 2009 until 2011, Ms. Gold served as President of the Association of Jewish Aging Services of North America, which is based in Washington, D.C.

Ms. Gold has a Master’s degree in Health Administration from the University of Ottawa.

Gord Nelson joined Cineplex Odeon Corporation in 1988 and has held various successive financial roles. He was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Cineplex Galaxy Income Fund (predecessor entity to Cineplex Inc.) in 2004. Mr. Nelson oversees the finance, purchasing, risk management, legal and corporate development areas of the company. Mr. Nelson holds an MBA from the University of Toronto as well as the accounting designations of Fellow Chartered Professional Accountant (FCPA, FCA). He also holds the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors. In 2016, Mr. Nelson was named Canada’s CFO of the Year by Financial Executives International – Canada, PwC and Robert Half.

Scott Ovenden is the President & CEO of the Baycrest Hospital and the President of The Baycrest Day Care Centre. Since joining Baycrest in 2016, Scott has held a number of leadership positions including Director of Quality and Patient Safety, Chief Operating Officer of Baycrest Global Solutions and most recently, Executive Vice President, Clinical Programs.

Scott is a healthcare executive who has held progressive leadership positions in acute care hospitals and as a management consultant. These professional experiences have allowed him to work with a wide variety of stakeholders across Ontario. Scott started his healthcare career as a physiotherapist in a number of clinical environments including; acute care, inpatient rehabilitation, complex continuing care and outpatient services. He holds a BPE, BSc (Physiotherapy) and a Masters of Health Administration (MHSc) from the school of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto.

Scott is a member of the Ontario Long Term Care Association Board of Directors, and currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the Quality Committee.  Prior to that, he was a Trustee at Grandview Children’s Centre and completed his final term on the Board as the Vice-Chair.

Annamie Paul is a lawyer, former diplomat, social entrepreneur, and politician. Ms. Paul has worked in the office of the Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court and in Canada's Mission to the EU. She is co-founder of the Barcelona International Public Policy HUB, founder of the Canadian Centre for Political Leadership and co-founder of the Operation Black Vote Canada 1834 Public Policy Fellowship. Ms. Paul holds a Master of Public Affairs from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Ottawa and is called to the Bar of Ontario. She is an Action Canada Fellow, Echoing Green Fellow, Government of Canada Policy Leaders alumna and a BPPA Harry Jerome Award recipient. She is a vocal advocate for senior care and long-term care reform.

Dr. Rulan S. Parekh is Vice President, Academics, Women’s College Hospital, Staff Nephrologist n at Women’s College Hospital and Hospital for Sick Children and Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine in the Departments of Medicine, Paediatrics, Epidemiology and Health Policy and Management Evaluation at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Rulan Parekh is a clinician-scientist, and an international leader in clinical epidemiology and translational research in kidney disease. Her work has revealed novel genetic risk factors leading to kidney disease and increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality for children and adults with kidney disease. At the University of Michigan, Dr. Parekh was uniquely trained in Pediatrics and Internal Medicine with subspecialty training in both Pediatric and Adult Nephrology and research training, completing her Master’s in Biostatistics and Study Design. She subsequently went on to post-doctoral training at Johns Hopkins University and joined the faculty in 2000. She successfully competed for an NIH Career Development Research Award and the American Society of Nephrology Carl W. Gottschalk Award for young investigators, establishing successful research programs in the genetics and cardiovascular complications of kidney disease.

In 2008, she returned to her native Canada and accepted a faculty position at the University of Toronto (UofT) and a Scientist position within the SickKids Research Institute and now Women’s College Hospital. Since 2000, Dr. Parekh has maintained a record of sustained NIH and CIHR funding. She has significant productivity with more than 175 published manuscripts, over 11,738 citations, and a stellar track record of training and mentoring 80 students and post-doctoral trainees. She has received several awards, including the National Kidney Foundation of Maryland Award, Advising, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Mentoring, and Teaching Research Award, and was elected into academic honor societies such as the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, the Pediatric Academic Society, and the American Pediatric Society. Dr. Parekh previously held a Canada Research Chair in Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology and now holds the F.M. Hill Chair in Health System Solutions.

Lorie Shekter-Wolfson brings a wealth of experience to her role as a Board Director and Committee Chair. A graduate from the University of Toronto Masters of Social Work program and several Executive programs at the Rotman School of Management, she has worked in a variety of settings and roles, including health care, education, government and community as a clinician, administrator and consultant. Her invaluable first-hand experience as a leader and change agent has been very helpful for those institutions and businesses undergoing change. In addition, her expertise in interprofessional and team-based care has led to several award winning initiatives.

Lorie has held a variety of positions over the years. As President and CEO of JVS Toronto, she led the organization through a time of tremendous change, including addressing its financial challenges, a new strategic framework, new Mission, Vision and Values, and implementing a more efficient governance model.
At George Brown College, Lorie was a member of the senior management team. As Dean, Health Sciences and Community Services and later as AVP Waterfront Campus, Lorie co-led the development, design and implementation of George Brown College’s new $175M Waterfront Campus that opened in the Fall 2012. The Campus houses the Centre for Health Sciences. The new facility is designed to embrace an interprofessional learning education framework enhancing wellness and health promotion.

Lorie has also authored articles on social work, marital and family therapy, interprofessional education and its impact on design, as well as two books on eating disorders. She is a frequent speaker at industry events and is the recipient of the Colleges Ontario 2010 Exemplary Service Award and the Ontario Association of Social Workers’ 2011 Inspirational Leader Award.

Lorie has been an active member on several agency and government committees and professional boards both locally and across Canada, as well as community boards. These have included the UHN Family Health Team Board, Regent Park Community Health Centre, Baycrest’s Clinical Strategy, Quality and Safety Committee, Ministry of Health’s Interprofessional Education Working Group, Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative (CIHC), and Jewish Family and Child Care Services. She has also chaired the United Way campaigns at several organizations and has been the recipient of the United Way Spirit Awards.

Julia Shin Doi is General Counsel, Secretary of the Board of Governors, and University Privacy Officer of Ryerson University. As an Executive Group member, she provides legal and governance advice and has operational responsibility for access to information, privacy, records management, and compliance. Julia’s areas of practice are corporate/commercial law, privacy law, intellectual property law, administrative law and litigation.

Julia is an elected Bencher of the Law Society of Ontario, chair of the Law Society Tribunal Committee, and an adjudicator of the Law Society Tribunal.

Julia is an adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University where she has taught Legal Drafting since 2001. She is the co-author of the leading Canadian text on drafting contract clauses, Behind and Beyond Boilerplate: Drafting Commercial Agreements (Thomson Reuters).

Julia is a founder and president of the National GC Network which supports racialized in-house counsel leaders across Canada and promotes equity, diversity, and inclusion. She is also a founder of the Korean Legal Clinic, Women General Counsel Canada, Roundtable of Diversity Associations, Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers, and Korean Canadian Lawyers Association.

Her awards and recognition include WXN Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada in 2014, Ontario Bar Association Linda Adlam Manning Award for Volunteerism in 2015, Canadian Corporate Counsel Association R.V.A. Jones Award in 2016, and Canadian Corporate Counsel Association Award of Excellence in 2017. Julia was named one of the Top 25 Most Influential in Canada in 2017 by Canadian Lawyer Magazine. In 2019, Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers recognized her with the Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2020, Julia won the inaugural Chambers Diversity and Inclusion Award for outstanding contribution by in-house counsel in Canada.

Julia attained a BA from the University of Toronto (1989), and JD (1992) and LLM (2007) from Osgoode Hall Law School, and was admitted to the Bar in Ontario in 1994.

Kenneth Wiener retired on December 31, 2017 after thirty years as a partner and securities law specialist with the Goodmans LLP law firm. Mr. Wiener was a member of the Asia Practice Group of Goodmans and in that capacity assisted Canadian companies planning to do business in Asia and Asian enterprises planning to establish a presence in Canadian capital markets. Prior to joining Goodmans in 1988, Mr. Wiener was Director, Listed Company Policy and Regulation at The Toronto Stock Exchange. Mr. Wiener participated in continuing education programs sponsored by the Ontario Bar Association, The Law Society of Ontario and other organizations. He served as chairman of the Business Law section of the Ontario Bar Association. Mr. Wiener was a director of the public company CML HealthCare Inc.

Jakov Zaidman is a Principal Information Technology Consultant with decades of technology and business experience, with over 30 years in technology consulting. Jakov holds an ISC2 Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification.

Jakov specializes in Cybersecurity and Information Privacy, IT Architecture, Network Security and Infrastructure, and in assessing and enhancing customer cybersecurity programs by following best practices and industry regulations.

Jakov founded InterLAN Consulting in 1991, to focus on providing advisory services in the areas of network infrastructure and cybersecurity. Over the years, Jakov advised organizations, established cybersecurity programs, and designed and built secure network architectures. Jakov worked with enterprises in both public and private sectors and a wide range of verticals, ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands of employees. Jakov was also the lead IT architect behind the creation of the Ontario Telemedicine Network.

Jakov started his professional career in the Israeli Air Force, working on the nation-wide deployment and maintenance of modernized air traffic control systems. Before founding InterLAN, Jakov worked in senior IT architecture roles for companies Digital Equipment and Intel.

David Kassie has been Executive Chairman of Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. since May 2010 and was Chairman and CEO from April to October 2015. David was Principal, Chairman and CEO of Genuity Capital Markets (November 2004 to May 2010) at which time Genuity was acquired by Canaccord Financial. He is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CIBC World Markets and the Vice Chairman of CIBC (1979 – 2004).
 
Mr. Kassie has extensive experience as an advisor, underwriter and principal.  He sits on a number of corporate boards. Mr. Kassie is actively involved in community and charitable organizations and is a Director and former Chairman of Baycrest Health Sciences, Chairman of Baycrest’s commercialization activities and was formerly on the Boards of the Toronto International Film Festival Group, the Hospital for Sick Children and Ivey School of Business.
 
Mr. Kassie holds a B.Comm. (Honours) in Economics from McGill University, 1977 and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario, 1979.

Secretary, Baycrest Board of Directors
Chair, Finance & Audit Committee

Barry Cracower is the former CEO of Baycrest Global Solutions and a senior executive with solid marketing and management credentials. As founder and president of Rexall Pharmacy and Vice President of the Katz Group, he was instrumental in developing the organization into Canada’s second largest drug store chain.
 
Mr. Cracower has extensive experience in the retail sector where he was founder of the Steals People, Canada’s first retail computer store. In addition Mr. Cracower was senior Merchandise Manager of the T. Eaton Co. and Vice President, General Electric.  Currently, as the President of Marketing Alternatives he does consulting to consumer product and service companies.
 
He is a seasoned board executive currently serving on the boards of Jewish Community Centre (JCC), The Heart and Stroke Foundation and The Partnership for Stroke Recovery Research, where he is Chair. In addition to Baycrest, the Partnership includes other hospital research centres from across the country. He also serves on two private company boards.
 
Mr. Cracower has a BCom from Concordia in Montreal and an M.B.A. from Columbia University in NYC and has received his ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.
 
Mr. Cracower is a member of the Baycrest Board of Directors.  In addition, he serves as Treasurer and Secretary, as well as Chair of the Finance & Audit Committee.
 

Noah is a technology entrepreneur. His most recent venture, Checkout 51, is a mobile app that helps shoppers save money on their groceries, and offers packaged goods brands real-time consumer insights and strategic targeting that they can't get anywhere else. Checkout 51 was acquired by News America Marketing (NAM), a division of News Corporation, in July 2015.

Post-acquisition, Noah ran NAM’s digital businesses and innovation unit, and oversaw the development/launch of Freedom, a new business that enables packaged goods brands to easily run sophisticated, data-enriched campaigns at massive scale.

Previously, Noah co-founded GigPark, an online social media platform that allows users to find local businesses through recommendations from friends. In August 2009, GigPark was acquired by Canpages, the largest independent directories publisher in Canada (since acquired by Yellow Pages Group).

Prior to GigPark, Noah was the Founding Publisher of Dose, a national daily newspaper and digital media business backed by CanWest that he took from 0 to 340,000 daily readers in less than a year. Targeting young adult Canadians, Dose reached 10% of 18-24 year olds in its markets every single day.

With an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University, Noah has experience in corporate strategy / business development at both Time Warner and MTV Networks in New York. He started his career as a media investment banker at Salomon Smith Barney (now Citigroup) in New York and grew up as a child actor in Toronto.

Noah is married with 3 amazing kids (Chase, Lincoln & Britton) and works with a few non-profits, which includes his role as a Vice Chair of the Baycrest Foundation, Co-Founder of The Brain Project, and Co-Chair for the SixPoints Jewish Venture Philanthropy Fund.

David Green is a semi-retired business person with a broad background in numerous aspects of real estate.  Both alone and with various family companies, David has developed, built and managed multi-family residential buildings, industrial buildings and office buildings in Toronto and South Florida.   David is currently active in community affairs, having served in Board of Directors and/or Committee capacities the UJA, Baycrest Health Sciences, Miles Nadal JCC, YMCA-GTA and Canadian Friends of Kishorit.  He is the founder and chairman of Canadian Friends of Rambam Health Care Campus (Haifa).  David holds an M.A. degree in Urban Geography from the University of Chicago.   He is a 5^th dan Karate student of the late Masami Tsuruoka.  David enjoys fishing and cottage life and lives in downtown Toronto with his wife, Daphne Wagner and children Lita and Michael.

Mr. Jacob has been working in the motion picture exhibition industry since 1987. Prior to assuming his current position as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation in 2003, Mr. Jacob was Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Galaxy. Prior to founding Galaxy, Mr. Jacob represented Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. as Head of Integration during 1998 and 1999. From 1987 to 1998, Mr. Jacob held various positions with Cineplex Odeon Corporation as Vice President, Finance, Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and, ultimately, Chief Operating Officer. In addition to his role as a Director of the Corporation, Mr. Jacob also serves as a director and member of the Audit and Risk Committee of Rogers Communication Inc.

He is the Chairman of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), an executive committee member of the Global Cinema Federation (GCF) as well as a member of the Board of Directors of the Movie Theatre Association of Canada. He also serves as a director and member of the audit committee of the Toronto International Film Festival.

Mr. Jacob is an active community member, currently serving as a member of the Board of Directors at Toronto’s Baycrest Centre for Geriatrics, where he also sits on the Executive Committee and is a member of Baycrest’s Finance and Audit Committee. Along with his position at Baycrest, Mr. Jacob is a founding director of the Canadian Children’s Literacy Foundation as well as a member of the Board of Governors for Mount Sinai Hospital. He holds an MBA from the Schulich School of Business as well as the accounting designations of Fellow Chartered Professional Accountant (FCPA), Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA) and Fellow Certified Management Accountant (FCMA). He also holds the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors. In 2010, Mr. Jacob was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada, in 2013 he was recognized as Canada’s Most Innovative CEO by Canadian Business Magazine, in 2014, he was recognized as Canada’s Most Admired CEO, Enterprise, by Waterstone Human Capital and in 2019 he received the ICTA Global Cinema Innovation Award

Anthony (Tony) Melman is a highly accomplished Senior Executive, Entrepreneur, Advisor, and Board Member with more than 35 years of success across the financial services, strategic acquisitions, healthcare, technology, transportation and gaming sectors. His broad areas of expertise include business development, global strategy, corporate finance, private equity, due diligence, growth, and mergers & acquisitions.

Tony holds a key leadership position as the Chairman of NuMiner Global and the Chairman & CEO of Nevele Inc. where he provides strategic business and financial advice to a wide range of businesses. He also served as the CEO of Acasta Capital and as the CEO of Acasta Enterprises.

Prior to Acasta, Tony served for over 22 years as Managing Director and Partner of Onex Corporation where he led many of the major acquisitions, and made an enormous contribution to Onex's success, creating billions of dollars in value for Onex shareholders and co-investors. He negotiated the acquisition of Sky Chefs, a leading provider of food services to major airlines and was involved in the acquisition and roll-up of ProSource Inc. a major player in the US food distribution industry. He was the driving force behind the acquisition of Celestica Inc. which generated enormous value for Onex and its shareholders. He also structured Onex’s bids for Labatt Breweries and Air Canada and arranged substantial and innovative related financings. During his tenure, Onex grew from $50M to more than $15B in assets under management, becoming one of Canada’s largest companies during his tenure.  

Prior to joining Onex, Tony was the Head of Global Project and Acquisition Financing for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce where he was in charge of worldwide merchant banking, project financing, acquisitions, and other specialized financing activities.

Tony is a Founder and key member of the Board of Baycrest Global Solutions and previously served for five years as Chair of The Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, one of the world's premier academic health sciences centers focused on aging. He was appointed Chair of the Board of Directors of Cogniciti Inc., a for-profit joint venture created by Baycrest and MaRS Discovery District.

He also served on the Board and was Chair of the Finance Committee of CP Rail, having joined with Bill Ackman CEO of Pershing Square and the ‘Directors for Change’. He was previously on the Board of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation as a director and Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee.  and the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation. He was instrumental in the growth of the Childhood Cancer Charitable Council of the Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario (POGO) and a member of the Board of Governors of Mount Sinai Hospital.

Tony obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand, a Master of Business Administration degree (Gold Medalist) from the University of Cape Town, and a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of the Witwatersrand.

David Posluns possesses more than 30 years of experience in finance, business, and technology development, and has established many global business relationships.

Mr. Posluns serves as Chairman and Managing Director of Cedarpoint Investments Inc., a private equity and alternative investments management firm. He is a board member of NXM Labs Inc, a Blockchain based IOT Cyber Security Firm, and is a board observer of Telmediq Inc, a healthcare communications Technology company (now Perfect Serve). He formerly served on the board of 4Tell Inc. until 2016 when it was acquired. In addition, Mr. Posluns has developed and financed real estate projects in the commercial and self-storage sectors.

Mr. Posluns serves on the advisory committee of The Rising Tide Seed Fund in San Francisco, California.

Mr. Posluns is currently Chairman of the Investment Advisory of the Baycrest Hospital Foundation and the past chair and current member of the Jewish Federation of Toronto Endowment Fund Advisory Board. He also sits on the Board of Cogniciti and Baycrest Global Solutions.

Mr. Posluns holds a BS in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, and a Master’s Degree in Finance from the University of Chicago.

Dr. William E. Reichman, an internationally-known expert in geriatric mental health and dementia care, is President and CEO of Baycrest, one of the world’s premier centres focused on aging, seniors’ health and residential care and brain function. Baycrest is home to both the largest research institute and the most comprehensive innovation accelerator in the global senior care industry. Dr. Reichman also serves as President and CEO of two commercial subsidiary firms, Cogniciti and Baycrest Global Solutions. He holds an academic appointment as Professor of Psychiatry in the Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Toronto.
 
Dr. Reichman is the current President of the International Psychogeriatric Association and is a former president of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry and the Geriatric Mental Health Foundation. He has advised the World Health Organization and several levels of government in the United States, Canada and China on the impact of an aging society on health care demand and the mandate to support innovative approaches to service delivery. He has been instrumental in the development of Canada’s new National Dementia Strategy and co-chairs the federal panel overseeing its implementation across the nation. He is a passionate advocate for building innovation capacity in the senior care sector and speaks across the globe on this theme to care providers, policy makers, academic audiences and industry.
 
Dr. Reichman was the founder and inaugural Chair of the Seniors Quality Leap Initiative, a collaborative of prominent eldercare organizations and their affiliated universities in the United States and Canada, working together to advance the effectiveness of long-term care across the globe.  
Among honors received, Dr. Reichman was named among the Best Doctors in America and Canada, and has been recognized by the New Jersey Society on Aging as Gerontologist of the Year. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Canadian-based OCAD University for his work in advancing innovation in seniors care. Dr. Reichman is a recipient of a Telly Award for an educational documentary film that he co-created and hosted entitled, Reflections of Memory Lost: Understanding Alzheimer’s disease.

Mr. Weisz is currently working with Auberge Resorts Collection as their Executive Advisor. He provides advice and direction to the Board and the Senior Management Team to help them develop and execute a strategic plan for Auberge Resorts Collection to become a global luxury brand.
 
Randy has extensive experience in all aspects of the development and operation of luxury hospitality companies and their properties. Most recently, he has been involved in designing and building a new luxury brand with a view to global recognition and expansion. Over the years he has been involved in    structuring and implementing transactions involving more than 75 hotel and resort properties worldwide and multiple corporate transactions in the hospitality industry.
 
Previously, Randy held the position of Executive Vice President Business Administration and General Counsel at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, where he was responsible for managing the worldwide business and legal affairs of the company relating to property investments and other corporate initiatives. Randy was a member of the Management Committee of Four Seasons, responsible for running their business affairs worldwide, and was involved in all of the corporate transactions critical to the emergence of Four Seasons as a globally recognized hospitality brand.
 
He is a graduate of the Law School of the University of Western Ontario and previously practiced corporate and commercial law as a Partner of Goodmans LLP in Toronto, Canada.

ROBERT C. KAY is a seasoned Corporate Director and Business Advisor. He combines business and legal skills with extensive experience in international commerce to develop and assess complex strategies with multinational companies and governments.

Robert has served as a Corporate Director in both privately held and publicly listed companies, serving on Governance, Audit, Strategy, and ESG Committees. He is currently Chair, Advisory Board, the Migao Group (fertilizer manufacturing, clean energy, mining); Chair, Baycrest Hospital and Long-Term Care Residence (cumulatively 734 beds); Corporate Director, EquityLine Mortgage Investment Corp; Corporate Director, Baycrest Seniors Care Corp; Corporate Director, the Royal Canadian Military Institute; Corporate Director, the Canada Eurasia Chamber of Commerce (Toronto).

Notable governance roles have included: Chair-Canadian Commercial Corporation; Vice Chair and Lead Director-Migao Corporation; Chair-Migao Special Committee for Going Private; Chair-Swiss/Canadian Chamber of Commerce; Director in Residence-Institute of Corporate Directors; Board Director-Changfeng (CF) Energy Inc (gas distribution, clean energy); Board Director-American Chamber of Commerce (Ontario Council). Robert was a teaching Board Member in the Integrative Thinking Practicum of the MBA Degree Program at the University of Toronto. He is a former Deputy Judge, Superior Court of Justice of Ontario, SCC branch. Earlier in his career, Robert served as Personal Assistant to the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada.

Robert contributes his time as Chair of the Royal Canadian Military Institute Audit Committee. Robert is also a Member of the American Judges Association, and the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Dr. Michael Borrie, MB ChB, FRCPC is a Geriatrician and Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine, The University of Western Ontario.

He is the Medical Director for the Aging Brain and Memory Clinic, an investigator with the Cognitive Clinical Research Group CCRG), Past President of the Consortium for Canadian Centres for Clinical Cognitive Research (C5R).

His research interests include investigator-initiated studies for predictors of conversion from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer Disease (AD), including sensitive neuroimaging techniques, blood and cerebral spinal fluid biomarkers. He is the platform lead for the Comprehensive Assessment of Neurodegeneration and Aging (COMPASS-ND) observational study of the Canadian Collaboration on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA).

Since 1995 the CCRG has been a leading Canadian research site conducting randomized controlled trials of new potential treatments for Subjective Cognitive Decline, Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease.

Secretary, Baycrest Board of Directors
Chair, Finance & Audit Committee

Barry Cracower is the former CEO of Baycrest Global Solutions and a senior executive with solid marketing and management credentials. As founder and president of Rexall Pharmacy and Vice President of the Katz Group, he was instrumental in developing the organization into Canada’s second largest drug store chain.
 
Mr. Cracower has extensive experience in the retail sector where he was founder of the Steals People, Canada’s first retail computer store. In addition Mr. Cracower was senior Merchandise Manager of the T. Eaton Co. and Vice President, General Electric.  Currently, as the President of Marketing Alternatives he does consulting to consumer product and service companies.
 
He is a seasoned board executive currently serving on the boards of Jewish Community Centre (JCC), The Heart and Stroke Foundation and The Partnership for Stroke Recovery Research, where he is Chair. In addition to Baycrest, the Partnership includes other hospital research centres from across the country. He also serves on two private company boards.
 
Mr. Cracower has a BCom from Concordia in Montreal and an M.B.A. from Columbia University in NYC and has received his ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.
 
Mr. Cracower is a member of the Baycrest Board of Directors.  In addition, he serves as Treasurer and Secretary, as well as Chair of the Finance & Audit Committee.
 

Margot DaCosta is the Vice President, Inpatient Services and Clinical Support, and Chief Nursing Executive. She started at Baycrest in 2014 as the Director of Complex Care, Rehabilitation and Specialized Geriatrics.

Ms. DaCosta is a healthcare leader with over 30 years of hospital management experience in progressively responsible roles spanning various clinical areas, primarily in the acute care sector. Prior to coming to Baycrest her most recent positions were at Peterborough Regional Health Centre where she was the Program Director, Regional Renal, Metabolic & Cancer Care Programs, and Rouge Valley Health System where she was the Program Director, Medicine & Patient Flow.

Ms. DaCosta holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Western University, and a Master’s degree in Nursing from the University of Toronto.

Amy Flaster, M.D., M.B.A. is a physician executive, value-based care strategist, and practicing internal medicine physician. Dr. Flaster has focused her career on leveraging clinical innovation, data, and technology to improve clinical outcomes, champion patient-centered care, and lower the cost of care. She is passionate about work at the intersection of population health, value-based care, primary care, and digital innovation.

At ConcertoCare, Dr. Flaster serves as Chief Medical Officer and oversees the strategy and operations of the company. ConcertoCare delivers primary and complex care to seniors and other adults with multiple comorbidities, primarily in the home. The company delivers a human-first, tech-enabled model of care powered by a proprietary population health and analytics engine. ConcertoCare takes an intensive, interdisciplinary approach, staffed by internists, geriatricians, geriatric psychiatrists, social workers, nurses, and community health workers. ConcertoCare is exclusively engaged in value-based capitated arrangements, enabling it to deliver cutting-edge population health at scale across the United States.

Prior to joining ConcertoHealth in 2021, Dr. Flaster served as the Senior Vice President for Population Health at Health Catalyst, a leading healthcare data and analytics company (NASDAQ: HCAT). There, she led a team that worked with large integrated delivery systems, Accountable Care Organizations and Clinically Integrated Networks throughout North America on their journey to leverage data and analytics to support alternative payment model adoption. Dr. Flaster also previously served as Associate Medical Director of Population Health at Mass General Brigham (MGB), a Boston-based non-profit hospital and physician network that includes Massachusetts General Hospital and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, among others. In this role, she managed a portfolio of clinical population health programs to drive healthcare transformation across the network. This included the nationally recognized Integrated Care Management Program (iCMP), clinical oversight of the self-insured health plan at MGB (the largest private employer in Massachusetts), and a range of Medicaid programming for the system, including launching an ED Navigation program focused on vulnerable Medicaid patients that are frequent utilizers of the Emergency Departments.

Prior to her work at MGB, Dr. Flaster co-founded myProxy, Inc., which developed the TrueNorth Healthcare platform (acquired 2019) to engage patients and surrogate decision makers in advance care planning. She also previously worked for the Brigham and Women’s Physician Organization, the World Health Organization, and has provided consulting services to healthcare delivery organizations and venture capital incubators.. Dr. Flaster also serves as course director for “Value Based Care and Population Health Management” at Harvard Medical School. She continues to practice internal medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Dr. Flaster completed a BA from Dartmouth College, an MD at Harvard Medical School, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine in the Primary Care track at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and is board certified in Internal Medicine. She was raised in Thornhill, Ontario, volunteered at Baycrest Hospital as a student. She now lives in Boston with her husband and daughter.

Since the 2015 merge of the health care organizations in Quebec, until November 2021, Barbra Gold has been the Director of the Support Program for the Autonomy of Seniors for the Integrated Health and Social Services University Network for West-Central Montreal. In this role, Ms. Gold was responsible for long-term care facilities, home care and intermediate resources for our territory.

At the present time, this includes 1,177 skilled nursing home beds located on seven sites, 313 intermediate resource beds on four sites and one million direct hours of homecare for an annual budget of $180 million dollars. In addition, she was responsible for ensuring the quality of care at four different private facilities (550 beds).

Ms. Gold began her career in 1979, working in various administrative positions at the Jewish General Hospital. In 1991, she was hired as Executive Director of the Donald Berman Maimonides Geriatric Centre, and took on the additional role of Executive Director at Jewish Eldercare in 2005. Under her leadership, both Maimonides and Jewish Eldercare received a number of national awards and recognition for patient-centered care. Both were the first long-term care centres in North America to receive gold designation, which is the highest level of designation from Planetree – an international organization focused on patient-centred health care (2013).

In 2015, both Maimonides and Jewish Eldercare were merged with seven other healthcare organizations to form the Integrated Health and Social Services University Network for West-Central Montreal, which serves a population base of 380,000 people and a budget of $800 million dollars. From 2009 until 2011, Ms. Gold served as President of the Association of Jewish Aging Services of North America, which is based in Washington, D.C.

Ms. Gold has a Master’s degree in Health Administration from the University of Ottawa.

Dr. Catalina Lopez de Lara is a medical graduate of the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara in Mexico. After moving to Canada, she pursued a Master’s degree in human genetics at McGill University. She then completed her psychiatry residency at Dalhousie University in 2013 and geriatric psychiatry subspecialty training at the University of Toronto in 2014. She has been working at Baycrest in the Department of Psychiatry since 2015. She currently works at the Ambulatory Mental Health Clinic and in the Consultation-Liaison service to the hospital and the Apotex. She is the President of the Professional Staff Association and is a member of the Medical Advisory Committee and the Medical Education Committee. She also is the Baycrest Postgraduate Site Director for the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Gary Naglie completed his medical school training at McGill University, specialty training in Internal Medicine and Geriatric Medicine at the University of Toronto, and graduate training in Clinical Epidemiology at McMaster University. He is a full Professor in the Department of Medicine and the Institute of Health Policy, Management & Evaluation at the University of Toronto, and he holds the George, Margaret and Gary Hunt Family Chair in Geriatric Medicine.

Dr. Naglie is the Vice President of Medical Services, Chief of Staff, and Chief of Medicine at Baycrest Health Sciences and is a scientist at Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute and at the University Health Network-Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. His research has focused on outcomes evaluation and quality of life in cognitively impaired and medically complex older adults. His current major research interests are driving issues in older adults, especially those with cognitive impairment, and innovative models of care for frail, complex older adults.

Gord Nelson joined Cineplex Odeon Corporation in 1988 and has held various successive financial roles. He was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Cineplex Galaxy Income Fund (predecessor entity to Cineplex Inc.) in 2004. Mr. Nelson oversees the finance, purchasing, risk management, legal and corporate development areas of the company. Mr. Nelson holds an MBA from the University of Toronto as well as the accounting designations of Fellow Chartered Professional Accountant (FCPA, FCA). He also holds the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors. In 2016, Mr. Nelson was named Canada’s CFO of the Year by Financial Executives International – Canada, PwC and Robert Half.

Scott Ovenden is the President & CEO of the Baycrest Hospital and the President of The Baycrest Day Care Centre. Since joining Baycrest in 2016, Scott has held a number of leadership positions including Director of Quality and Patient Safety, Chief Operating Officer of Baycrest Global Solutions and most recently, Executive Vice President, Clinical Programs.

Scott is a healthcare executive who has held progressive leadership positions in acute care hospitals and as a management consultant. These professional experiences have allowed him to work with a wide variety of stakeholders across Ontario. Scott started his healthcare career as a physiotherapist in a number of clinical environments including; acute care, inpatient rehabilitation, complex continuing care and outpatient services. He holds a BPE, BSc (Physiotherapy) and a Masters of Health Administration (MHSc) from the school of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto.

Scott is a member of the Ontario Long Term Care Association Board of Directors, and currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the Quality Committee.  Prior to that, he was a Trustee at Grandview Children’s Centre and completed his final term on the Board as the Vice-Chair.

Annamie Paul is a lawyer, former diplomat, social entrepreneur, and politician. Ms. Paul has worked in the office of the Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court and in Canada's Mission to the EU. She is co-founder of the Barcelona International Public Policy HUB, founder of the Canadian Centre for Political Leadership and co-founder of the Operation Black Vote Canada 1834 Public Policy Fellowship. Ms. Paul holds a Master of Public Affairs from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Ottawa and is called to the Bar of Ontario. She is an Action Canada Fellow, Echoing Green Fellow, Government of Canada Policy Leaders alumna and a BPPA Harry Jerome Award recipient. She is a vocal advocate for senior care and long-term care reform.

Dr. Rulan S. Parekh is Vice President, Academics, Women’s College Hospital, Staff Nephrologist n at Women’s College Hospital and Hospital for Sick Children and Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine in the Departments of Medicine, Paediatrics, Epidemiology and Health Policy and Management Evaluation at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Rulan Parekh is a clinician-scientist, and an international leader in clinical epidemiology and translational research in kidney disease. Her work has revealed novel genetic risk factors leading to kidney disease and increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality for children and adults with kidney disease. At the University of Michigan, Dr. Parekh was uniquely trained in Pediatrics and Internal Medicine with subspecialty training in both Pediatric and Adult Nephrology and research training, completing her Master’s in Biostatistics and Study Design. She subsequently went on to post-doctoral training at Johns Hopkins University and joined the faculty in 2000. She successfully competed for an NIH Career Development Research Award and the American Society of Nephrology Carl W. Gottschalk Award for young investigators, establishing successful research programs in the genetics and cardiovascular complications of kidney disease.

In 2008, she returned to her native Canada and accepted a faculty position at the University of Toronto (UofT) and a Scientist position within the SickKids Research Institute and now Women’s College Hospital. Since 2000, Dr. Parekh has maintained a record of sustained NIH and CIHR funding. She has significant productivity with more than 175 published manuscripts, over 11,738 citations, and a stellar track record of training and mentoring 80 students and post-doctoral trainees. She has received several awards, including the National Kidney Foundation of Maryland Award, Advising, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Mentoring, and Teaching Research Award, and was elected into academic honor societies such as the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, the Pediatric Academic Society, and the American Pediatric Society. Dr. Parekh previously held a Canada Research Chair in Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology and now holds the F.M. Hill Chair in Health System Solutions.

Lorie Shekter-Wolfson brings a wealth of experience to her role as a Board Director and Committee Chair. A graduate from the University of Toronto Masters of Social Work program and several Executive programs at the Rotman School of Management, she has worked in a variety of settings and roles, including health care, education, government and community as a clinician, administrator and consultant. Her invaluable first-hand experience as a leader and change agent has been very helpful for those institutions and businesses undergoing change. In addition, her expertise in interprofessional and team-based care has led to several award winning initiatives.

Lorie has held a variety of positions over the years. As President and CEO of JVS Toronto, she led the organization through a time of tremendous change, including addressing its financial challenges, a new strategic framework, new Mission, Vision and Values, and implementing a more efficient governance model.
At George Brown College, Lorie was a member of the senior management team. As Dean, Health Sciences and Community Services and later as AVP Waterfront Campus, Lorie co-led the development, design and implementation of George Brown College’s new $175M Waterfront Campus that opened in the Fall 2012. The Campus houses the Centre for Health Sciences. The new facility is designed to embrace an interprofessional learning education framework enhancing wellness and health promotion.

Lorie has also authored articles on social work, marital and family therapy, interprofessional education and its impact on design, as well as two books on eating disorders. She is a frequent speaker at industry events and is the recipient of the Colleges Ontario 2010 Exemplary Service Award and the Ontario Association of Social Workers’ 2011 Inspirational Leader Award.

Lorie has been an active member on several agency and government committees and professional boards both locally and across Canada, as well as community boards. These have included the UHN Family Health Team Board, Regent Park Community Health Centre, Baycrest’s Clinical Strategy, Quality and Safety Committee, Ministry of Health’s Interprofessional Education Working Group, Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative (CIHC), and Jewish Family and Child Care Services. She has also chaired the United Way campaigns at several organizations and has been the recipient of the United Way Spirit Awards.

Julia Shin Doi is General Counsel, Secretary of the Board of Governors, and University Privacy Officer of Ryerson University. As an Executive Group member, she provides legal and governance advice and has operational responsibility for access to information, privacy, records management, and compliance. Julia’s areas of practice are corporate/commercial law, privacy law, intellectual property law, administrative law and litigation.

Julia is an elected Bencher of the Law Society of Ontario, chair of the Law Society Tribunal Committee, and an adjudicator of the Law Society Tribunal.

Julia is an adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University where she has taught Legal Drafting since 2001. She is the co-author of the leading Canadian text on drafting contract clauses, Behind and Beyond Boilerplate: Drafting Commercial Agreements (Thomson Reuters).

Julia is a founder and president of the National GC Network which supports racialized in-house counsel leaders across Canada and promotes equity, diversity, and inclusion. She is also a founder of the Korean Legal Clinic, Women General Counsel Canada, Roundtable of Diversity Associations, Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers, and Korean Canadian Lawyers Association.

Her awards and recognition include WXN Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada in 2014, Ontario Bar Association Linda Adlam Manning Award for Volunteerism in 2015, Canadian Corporate Counsel Association R.V.A. Jones Award in 2016, and Canadian Corporate Counsel Association Award of Excellence in 2017. Julia was named one of the Top 25 Most Influential in Canada in 2017 by Canadian Lawyer Magazine. In 2019, Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers recognized her with the Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2020, Julia won the inaugural Chambers Diversity and Inclusion Award for outstanding contribution by in-house counsel in Canada.

Julia attained a BA from the University of Toronto (1989), and JD (1992) and LLM (2007) from Osgoode Hall Law School, and was admitted to the Bar in Ontario in 1994.

Kenneth Wiener retired on December 31, 2017 after thirty years as a partner and securities law specialist with the Goodmans LLP law firm. Mr. Wiener was a member of the Asia Practice Group of Goodmans and in that capacity assisted Canadian companies planning to do business in Asia and Asian enterprises planning to establish a presence in Canadian capital markets. Prior to joining Goodmans in 1988, Mr. Wiener was Director, Listed Company Policy and Regulation at The Toronto Stock Exchange. Mr. Wiener participated in continuing education programs sponsored by the Ontario Bar Association, The Law Society of Ontario and other organizations. He served as chairman of the Business Law section of the Ontario Bar Association. Mr. Wiener was a director of the public company CML HealthCare Inc.

Jakov Zaidman is a Principal Information Technology Consultant with decades of technology and business experience, with over 30 years in technology consulting. Jakov holds an ISC2 Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification.

Jakov specializes in Cybersecurity and Information Privacy, IT Architecture, Network Security and Infrastructure, and in assessing and enhancing customer cybersecurity programs by following best practices and industry regulations.

Jakov founded InterLAN Consulting in 1991, to focus on providing advisory services in the areas of network infrastructure and cybersecurity. Over the years, Jakov advised organizations, established cybersecurity programs, and designed and built secure network architectures. Jakov worked with enterprises in both public and private sectors and a wide range of verticals, ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands of employees. Jakov was also the lead IT architect behind the creation of the Ontario Telemedicine Network.

Jakov started his professional career in the Israeli Air Force, working on the nation-wide deployment and maintenance of modernized air traffic control systems. Before founding InterLAN, Jakov worked in senior IT architecture roles for companies Digital Equipment and Intel.

Jeffrey Blidner is the Senior Managing Partner of Brookfield Asset Management Inc., responsible for Strategic Planning as well as Transaction Execution.

Prior to joining Brookfield in 2000, Mr. Blidner was a senior partner at a Canadian law firm. Jeff's practice focused on merchant banking transactions, public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, management buy-outs, restructurings and private equity transactions.

Mr. Blidner was called to the Bar in Ontario as a Gold Medalist in 1974.

Mr. Blidner was Chair of the Baycrest Centre Board from 2013 to 2015.

John is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Relay Ventures as well as Co-Founder and Board Member of Alate Partners and Playmaker Capital. John has over 20 years of experience helping entrepreneurs shape their vision and capital plans for long-term, sustainable growth. John’s tenure in finance spans both venture capital and private equity, where he has assisted entrepreneurs through all stages of the startup lifecycle, from seed financing to IPO and M&A. His ability to work alongside company management teams and offer guidance around hiring, governance, and scaling has been vital to the success of Relay’s investments.

John is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the Schulich School of Business. John is also on the Board of TouchBistro and the Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation, and serves as an advisory board member to the Ryerson – DMZ.

Dr. Sara Diamond is President Emerita of OCAD University, Canada's "university of the imagination". While sustaining OCAD U’s strengths in studio-based learning, Diamond guided OCAD University to become a leader in digital media, design research and curriculum through the Digital Futures Initiative, new research in Inclusive Design, health and design, as well as in sustainable technologies and design; built two additional campus locations and almost doubled the student population . Diamond implemented Indigenous and racialized diversity inclusion efforts, recruiting Canada’s first Indigenous chancellor and a Tier One Canada Research Chair; undertaking Indigenous and Black cluster hires, and ongoing priority hires and student recruitment. Diamond created a strong network of partnerships for OCAD University in the cultural sector, design industries, ICT industries, financial sector, health sector and government – in essence wherever design, strategic foresight and creativity are needed.

Diamond holds an ICD.D (Directors Designation) Institute of Corporate Directors and Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, a PhD in Computing, IT and Engineering from the University of East London, a Masters in New Media Arts from the University of Arts, London, and a Bachelor of Arts, Honours, History and Communication, Simon Fraser University. In 2020 Simon Fraser University awarded her a Doctor of Science, honoris causa and she received the Exceptional Women of Excellence Award from the global Women’s Economic Forum. She is appointed to the Order of Canada C.M. and the Order of Ontario and received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for Service to Canada. She has received two digital media “pioneer” awards, an Inspiring 50 award for the Advancement of Diversity in STEM fields (Government of Netherlands and Senate of Canada); and was designated a Canada 150 leader, champion and luminary and one of Toronto Life’s 50 Most influential in 2014.

Diamond leads and co-leads funded research projects and networks in urban data analytics (iCity), wearable and mobile technologies and applied data analytics, AI and visualization (.e.g. Centre for Information Visualization and Data Driven Design and BRAIN) and cultural analytics (supporting cultural industries, audiences and funding agencies) and was co-principal investigator on the Centre for Information Visualization/Data Driven Design). Diamond was founding Chair of the Mobile Experience Innovation Centre, founded OCAD University’s Imagination Catalyst Incubator and OCADU CO, its commercialization agent. Diamond continues to write and lecture on the subjects of digital media history and practice, visual analytics, strategic foresight; mobility and design strategy for peer-reviewed journals. Her artwork (1982 – 1995) is held by prestigious collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, NYC, and the National Gallery of Canada.

Diamond currently serves as co-Chair of Toronto’s Year of Public Art with Counsellor Crawford and is Chair of the Scotiabank Nuit Blanche Toronto Advisory Committee. Diamond has served the larger university community as Vice-Chair of the Council of Ontario Universities and through her membership on committees of Universities Canada. Diamond was a member of the 2011-2012 Council of the Canadian Academies' expert panel on the State of Science & Technology in Canada. She is a member of Toronto Regional Board of Trade and City of Toronto’s Smart City Working Group, and on the Government of Canada Service Advisory Council.

Diamond was the Artistic Director of Media and Visual Art and Director of Research at the Banff Centre, where she created the Banff New Media Institute (BNMI) in 1995 and led it until 2005. In this role she assisted with the development, incubation and support of many of Canada's leading new media companies, as well as international think tanks and collaborations in ICT, digital media and science research with artists, designers and scientists from Latin America, Africa, Asia, Central and Western Europe and the U.S.A., as well as Canada.

Ken Dryden was a Member of Parliament and was Minister of Social Development in the Martin government. He played goal for the Montreal Canadiens during the 1970s, during which time the team won six Stanley Cups, and was a member of Team Canada 1972. Mr. Dryden is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, and is the author of six books, including The Game and, most recently, Becoming Canada. He teaches at McGill, Calgary, Ryerson, Saskatchewan and Memorial universities. He and his wife, Lynda, live in Toronto and have two children.

Mr. Dryden is a member of the Baycrest Centre Board of Directors.

Mr. Freedman is a Corporate Director and private investor. Mr. Freedman is co-founder or Chairman of a number of technology companies including WeBookCare, Total Containment Inc, Rad AI and Band of Coders. Mr Freedman was formerly an executive at Brookfield Asset Management, one of the world’s foremost alternative asset management organizations with more than $625 billion in assets under management. During his 17 year tenure at Brookfield between 2002 and 2019, Mr. Freedman held a number of positions including Co-Head of Private Equity, General Counsel, head of merger and acquisition transaction execution and Co-Head of fund formation and fund operations. Mr. Freedman is also a director of the Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, and Bridgmarq Inc..

Over his 30 year career Chris has been an engineer, entrepreneur, executive, and advisor. He has worked across a number of industries, but he has specific knowledge of software solutions related to eCommerce, Retail, Data, Loyalty, Martech, and Fintech. Chris has been on the founding team of two UK tech startups - the first, uSwitch, was acquired for over £200m, and the second, KidStart, is profitable and now has over 1m members. Chris also spent six years on the leadership team at Google Canada, where he helped to grow the business from 50 people to over 300 and was responsible for all relationships with Retailers, Telcos and Tech clients in Canada. Chris also led a two-year turnaround of Computacenter France, a €400m IT company - transitioning the business from products to services and into profitability. Most recently, Chris was also part of the executive team at RBC which built RBC Ventures - an internal corporate incubator. While at RBC, Chris was an active member of RBC's Venture Board, RBC's Innovation Committee and RBC's Diversity & Inclusion Council.

Chris is a Venture Partner at The Group Ventures and an Advisor at Next Canada and Loyal Ventures. He is also a Non-Executive Board Director at KidStart, BEAN Partners, and the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI). He is Chair of the Advisory Committee at Juniper. Chris has an MBA from INSEAD, in France, and an Engineering degree from Queen's University, in Canada.

Shirlee Sharkey is recognized as one of Canada’s foremost experts on home care and healthy aging. As a registered nurse and the long-time CEO of SE Health, a unique not-for-profit social enterprise, she has dedicated her career to empowering people, championing compassion and advancing social innovation to forever impact how people live and age at home. In May 2022, Shirlee stepped down from SE Health following 30 years of breakthrough leadership.

Shirlee shares her passion and expertise as a thought leader, speaker, author and mentor. In 2020, she collaborated with a range of experts to co-author The Future of Aging, a book that has been described as “a brilliant and powerful challenge to locked-in ageist mindsets, policies and service models.” Naturally curious and committed to lifelong learning, Shirlee regularly engages with students, entrepreneurs and business leaders from other industries. Academically, she is cross-appointed to the University of Toronto’s Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation as an adjunct professor.

Shirlee’s commitment to public service is evident in her leadership and involvement on many boards, including University Health Network, the Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation, and BAYADA Home Health Care. She also serves as a senior fellow of Canada’s top think tank, the CD Howe Institute. Internationally, Shirlee is a Healthcare DENMARK ambassador. Committed to global influence, she has gained and shared health system insights through her experiences in the Middle East, Australia and northern Europe.

Shirlee has received many accolades and awards throughout her distinguished career, including the IHPME Graduate Leadership Award, the Innovation Award for Health Care Leadership, and being named one of the top 10 Canadian Women Leaders in Digital Health. In 2017, she was presented with an honourary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.

Katie Smith Sloan is president and CEO of LeadingAge, a national association of over 5,000 mission-driven providers primarily for older adults. Sloan advances the organization’s strategic priorities to support members and improve our current system of housing, services and supports, guided by the organization’s mission to be the trusted voice for aging.

Sloan also serves as the executive director of the Global Ageing Network, an organization with a presence in over 50 countries committed to improving the quality of life for people as they age through shared learning, exploration and innovation.

Sloan serves on the Board of Directors of the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI) based in Toronto, HelpAge USA, the Long Term Quality Alliance (LTQA), ValueFirst, and the Alliance for Home Care Quality and Innovation. She is national co-chair of Dementia Friendly America, a multi-sector national collaborative with a mission to foster dementia friendly communities.

Andrew Szende was the Founding President and CEO of the Electronic Child Health Network (eCHN), Canada's first province-wide integrated electronic health record system. Previously, Mr. Szende worked for the Ontario government in various roles, including Associate Secretary of the Cabinet, Assistant Deputy Minister of Health, and Ontario’s Senior Agent in Hong Kong. Mr. Szende has been actively involved in the not-for-profit sector. He is a former member of the University of Toronto’s Governing Council and a Director of Family Service Toronto. He is the current Chair of the Board of Health Claims for Auto Insurance Processing, Director of OECM, and Director of the Canadian Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation.

Mr. Szende received a BA in Political Science from the University of Toronto and an MSocSci from the National University of Singapore.

Leo van den Thillart is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Sera Global, a real assets private markets advisory firm.

Prior to Sera Global, Mr. van den Thillart was a Managing Partner at Brookfield Asset Management which he joined in 2008 and held several roles across the organization in Canada, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom until his retirement in February 2020, including the role of Global Head of the Private Funds Group, where he was responsible for the global marketing strategy, fundraising and product development for all of Brookfield’s private funds. Mr. van den Thillart is a business builder and has over 20 years of financial and asset management experience in senior management positions in firms including Brookfield Asset Management, Bear Sterns/J.P. Morgan and Crane Capital Associates.

Mr. van den Thillart is currently a Foundation Board Member and Foundation Investment Committee Member of The Menninger Clinic, a leading specialty psychiatric hospital that is a nationally ranked leader in psychiatry in the US for 30 consecutive years.

Dr. Allison Sekuler is the Vice-President, Research, and the Sandra A. Rotman Chair at Baycrest Health Sciences. Dr. Sekuler joins Baycrest after a long and distinguished career as a Professor in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour at McMaster University, where she was the first Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience (2001-2011). She is also the Chair of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada‘s (NSERC) Scholarships & Fellowships group along with being a member of NSERC’s Committee for Discovery Research.

The recipient of numerous awards for research, teaching and leadership, Dr. Sekuler has a notable record of scientific achievements in aging and vision science, cognitive neuroscience, learning and neural plasticity, and neuroimaging and neurotechnology, as well as vast experience in senior academic and research leadership roles.

David Kassie has been Executive Chairman of Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. since May 2010 and was Chairman and CEO from April to October 2015. David was Principal, Chairman and CEO of Genuity Capital Markets (November 2004 to May 2010) at which time Genuity was acquired by Canaccord Financial. He is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CIBC World Markets and the Vice Chairman of CIBC (1979 – 2004).
 
Mr. Kassie has extensive experience as an advisor, underwriter and principal.  He sits on a number of corporate boards. Mr. Kassie is actively involved in community and charitable organizations and is a Director and former Chairman of Baycrest Health Sciences, Chairman of Baycrest’s commercialization activities and was formerly on the Boards of the Toronto International Film Festival Group, the Hospital for Sick Children and Ivey School of Business.
 
Mr. Kassie holds a B.Comm. (Honours) in Economics from McGill University, 1977 and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario, 1979.

Secretary, Baycrest Board of Directors
Chair, Finance & Audit Committee

Barry Cracower is the former CEO of Baycrest Global Solutions and a senior executive with solid marketing and management credentials. As founder and president of Rexall Pharmacy and Vice President of the Katz Group, he was instrumental in developing the organization into Canada’s second largest drug store chain.
 
Mr. Cracower has extensive experience in the retail sector where he was founder of the Steals People, Canada’s first retail computer store. In addition Mr. Cracower was senior Merchandise Manager of the T. Eaton Co. and Vice President, General Electric.  Currently, as the President of Marketing Alternatives he does consulting to consumer product and service companies.
 
He is a seasoned board executive currently serving on the boards of Jewish Community Centre (JCC), The Heart and Stroke Foundation and The Partnership for Stroke Recovery Research, where he is Chair. In addition to Baycrest, the Partnership includes other hospital research centres from across the country. He also serves on two private company boards.
 
Mr. Cracower has a BCom from Concordia in Montreal and an M.B.A. from Columbia University in NYC and has received his ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.
 
Mr. Cracower is a member of the Baycrest Board of Directors.  In addition, he serves as Treasurer and Secretary, as well as Chair of the Finance & Audit Committee.
 

Noah is a technology entrepreneur. His most recent venture, Checkout 51, is a mobile app that helps shoppers save money on their groceries, and offers packaged goods brands real-time consumer insights and strategic targeting that they can't get anywhere else. Checkout 51 was acquired by News America Marketing (NAM), a division of News Corporation, in July 2015.

Post-acquisition, Noah ran NAM’s digital businesses and innovation unit, and oversaw the development/launch of Freedom, a new business that enables packaged goods brands to easily run sophisticated, data-enriched campaigns at massive scale.

Previously, Noah co-founded GigPark, an online social media platform that allows users to find local businesses through recommendations from friends. In August 2009, GigPark was acquired by Canpages, the largest independent directories publisher in Canada (since acquired by Yellow Pages Group).

Prior to GigPark, Noah was the Founding Publisher of Dose, a national daily newspaper and digital media business backed by CanWest that he took from 0 to 340,000 daily readers in less than a year. Targeting young adult Canadians, Dose reached 10% of 18-24 year olds in its markets every single day.

With an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University, Noah has experience in corporate strategy / business development at both Time Warner and MTV Networks in New York. He started his career as a media investment banker at Salomon Smith Barney (now Citigroup) in New York and grew up as a child actor in Toronto.

Noah is married with 3 amazing kids (Chase, Lincoln & Britton) and works with a few non-profits, which includes his role as a Vice Chair of the Baycrest Foundation, Co-Founder of The Brain Project, and Co-Chair for the SixPoints Jewish Venture Philanthropy Fund.

Mr. Jacob has been working in the motion picture exhibition industry since 1987. Prior to assuming his current position as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation in 2003, Mr. Jacob was Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Galaxy. Prior to founding Galaxy, Mr. Jacob represented Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. as Head of Integration during 1998 and 1999. From 1987 to 1998, Mr. Jacob held various positions with Cineplex Odeon Corporation as Vice President, Finance, Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and, ultimately, Chief Operating Officer. In addition to his role as a Director of the Corporation, Mr. Jacob also serves as a director and member of the Audit and Risk Committee of Rogers Communication Inc.

He is the Chairman of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), an executive committee member of the Global Cinema Federation (GCF) as well as a member of the Board of Directors of the Movie Theatre Association of Canada. He also serves as a director and member of the audit committee of the Toronto International Film Festival.

Mr. Jacob is an active community member, currently serving as a member of the Board of Directors at Toronto’s Baycrest Centre for Geriatrics, where he also sits on the Executive Committee and is a member of Baycrest’s Finance and Audit Committee. Along with his position at Baycrest, Mr. Jacob is a founding director of the Canadian Children’s Literacy Foundation as well as a member of the Board of Governors for Mount Sinai Hospital. He holds an MBA from the Schulich School of Business as well as the accounting designations of Fellow Chartered Professional Accountant (FCPA), Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA) and Fellow Certified Management Accountant (FCMA). He also holds the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors. In 2010, Mr. Jacob was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada, in 2013 he was recognized as Canada’s Most Innovative CEO by Canadian Business Magazine, in 2014, he was recognized as Canada’s Most Admired CEO, Enterprise, by Waterstone Human Capital and in 2019 he received the ICTA Global Cinema Innovation Award

Anthony (Tony) Melman is a highly accomplished Senior Executive, Entrepreneur, Advisor, and Board Member with more than 35 years of success across the financial services, strategic acquisitions, healthcare, technology, transportation and gaming sectors. His broad areas of expertise include business development, global strategy, corporate finance, private equity, due diligence, growth, and mergers & acquisitions.

Tony holds a key leadership position as the Chairman of NuMiner Global and the Chairman & CEO of Nevele Inc. where he provides strategic business and financial advice to a wide range of businesses. He also served as the CEO of Acasta Capital and as the CEO of Acasta Enterprises.

Prior to Acasta, Tony served for over 22 years as Managing Director and Partner of Onex Corporation where he led many of the major acquisitions, and made an enormous contribution to Onex's success, creating billions of dollars in value for Onex shareholders and co-investors. He negotiated the acquisition of Sky Chefs, a leading provider of food services to major airlines and was involved in the acquisition and roll-up of ProSource Inc. a major player in the US food distribution industry. He was the driving force behind the acquisition of Celestica Inc. which generated enormous value for Onex and its shareholders. He also structured Onex’s bids for Labatt Breweries and Air Canada and arranged substantial and innovative related financings. During his tenure, Onex grew from $50M to more than $15B in assets under management, becoming one of Canada’s largest companies during his tenure.  

Prior to joining Onex, Tony was the Head of Global Project and Acquisition Financing for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce where he was in charge of worldwide merchant banking, project financing, acquisitions, and other specialized financing activities.

Tony is a Founder and key member of the Board of Baycrest Global Solutions and previously served for five years as Chair of The Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, one of the world's premier academic health sciences centers focused on aging. He was appointed Chair of the Board of Directors of Cogniciti Inc., a for-profit joint venture created by Baycrest and MaRS Discovery District.

He also served on the Board and was Chair of the Finance Committee of CP Rail, having joined with Bill Ackman CEO of Pershing Square and the ‘Directors for Change’. He was previously on the Board of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation as a director and Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee.  and the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation. He was instrumental in the growth of the Childhood Cancer Charitable Council of the Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario (POGO) and a member of the Board of Governors of Mount Sinai Hospital.

Tony obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand, a Master of Business Administration degree (Gold Medalist) from the University of Cape Town, and a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of the Witwatersrand.

David Posluns possesses more than 30 years of experience in finance, business, and technology development, and has established many global business relationships.

Mr. Posluns serves as Chairman and Managing Director of Cedarpoint Investments Inc., a private equity and alternative investments management firm. He is a board member of NXM Labs Inc, a Blockchain based IOT Cyber Security Firm, and is a board observer of Telmediq Inc, a healthcare communications Technology company (now Perfect Serve). He formerly served on the board of 4Tell Inc. until 2016 when it was acquired. In addition, Mr. Posluns has developed and financed real estate projects in the commercial and self-storage sectors.

Mr. Posluns serves on the advisory committee of The Rising Tide Seed Fund in San Francisco, California.

Mr. Posluns is currently Chairman of the Investment Advisory of the Baycrest Hospital Foundation and the past chair and current member of the Jewish Federation of Toronto Endowment Fund Advisory Board. He also sits on the Board of Cogniciti and Baycrest Global Solutions.

Mr. Posluns holds a BS in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, and a Master’s Degree in Finance from the University of Chicago.

Dr. William E. Reichman, an internationally-known expert in geriatric mental health and dementia care, is President and CEO of Baycrest, one of the world’s premier centres focused on aging, seniors’ health and residential care and brain function. Baycrest is home to both the largest research institute and the most comprehensive innovation accelerator in the global senior care industry. Dr. Reichman also serves as President and CEO of two commercial subsidiary firms, Cogniciti and Baycrest Global Solutions. He holds an academic appointment as Professor of Psychiatry in the Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Toronto.
 
Dr. Reichman is the current President of the International Psychogeriatric Association and is a former president of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry and the Geriatric Mental Health Foundation. He has advised the World Health Organization and several levels of government in the United States, Canada and China on the impact of an aging society on health care demand and the mandate to support innovative approaches to service delivery. He has been instrumental in the development of Canada’s new National Dementia Strategy and co-chairs the federal panel overseeing its implementation across the nation. He is a passionate advocate for building innovation capacity in the senior care sector and speaks across the globe on this theme to care providers, policy makers, academic audiences and industry.
 
Dr. Reichman was the founder and inaugural Chair of the Seniors Quality Leap Initiative, a collaborative of prominent eldercare organizations and their affiliated universities in the United States and Canada, working together to advance the effectiveness of long-term care across the globe.  
Among honors received, Dr. Reichman was named among the Best Doctors in America and Canada, and has been recognized by the New Jersey Society on Aging as Gerontologist of the Year. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Canadian-based OCAD University for his work in advancing innovation in seniors care. Dr. Reichman is a recipient of a Telly Award for an educational documentary film that he co-created and hosted entitled, Reflections of Memory Lost: Understanding Alzheimer’s disease.

Len Fishman is director of the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Created by the Massachusetts Legislature in 1984, the Institute is the research, policy and public service arm of UMass Boston’s gerontology program, one of the oldest and largest aging studies programs in the world. From 2000 to 2013, Len was CEO of Hebrew SeniorLife, New England ’s largest non-profit provider of senior housing and healthcare, and an affiliate of Harvard Medical School. Before joining HSL, Len was president of Leading Age, in Washington D.C., which represents 6,000 non-profit senior housing and health care providers, serving over three million seniors in the U.S. and Canada. Len served in the cabinet of New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, as commissioner of the Department of Health and Senior Services. For a decade earlier, he practiced health care law in NJ and PA.

Dr. Jane Barratt is the Secretary General of the International Federation on Ageing comprising government and non government members in 62 countries and representing some 50 million older people. She brings to this position over 35 years experience in both public and private sectors in the fields of public health, community and aged care, and ageing and disability. Dr. Barratt has strived to strengthen the roles and relationships between government, NGOs, academia and the private sector in order to help shape and influence policy to improve the quality of life of older people.

This commitment has always been driven by her interest and passion in understanding the evolution of policy related ageing issues and the corresponding public and private sector responses globally. Dr Barratt is a strong contributor to the international dialogue on the intersection of social, cultural and physical environments that impact on the lives of older people. Adjunct academic positions internationally serve to strengthen her interest in the study of mature employment, the nexus between inclusion and marginalization, the impact of the environment on older people, quality care standards for patient care and the rights of older people.

Dr. Barratt is a Churchill Fellow, representative of the IFA at the United Nations Economic and Social Council and directly responsible for the formal relations with the Ageing and Life Course Department, World Health Organization. She holds executive positions on ministerial, government and non-government committees and the corporate sectors internationally and has many years experience in organizational management, staff development and the analysis of operations leading to improvements in program and client outcomes in the areas of health, ageing and disability.

Dr. Barratt is a member of the Baycrest Centre Board of Directors. She is Chair of Baycrest’s Education Advisory Committee and is also a member of the Executive Committee.

Jeffrey Blidner is the Senior Managing Partner of Brookfield Asset Management Inc., responsible for Strategic Planning as well as Transaction Execution.

Prior to joining Brookfield in 2000, Mr. Blidner was a senior partner at a Canadian law firm. Jeff's practice focused on merchant banking transactions, public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, management buy-outs, restructurings and private equity transactions.

Mr. Blidner was called to the Bar in Ontario as a Gold Medalist in 1974.

Mr. Blidner was Chair of the Baycrest Centre Board from 2013 to 2015.

Secretary, Baycrest Board of Directors
Chair, Finance & Audit Committee

Barry Cracower is the former CEO of Baycrest Global Solutions and a senior executive with solid marketing and management credentials. As founder and president of Rexall Pharmacy and Vice President of the Katz Group, he was instrumental in developing the organization into Canada’s second largest drug store chain.
 
Mr. Cracower has extensive experience in the retail sector where he was founder of the Steals People, Canada’s first retail computer store. In addition Mr. Cracower was senior Merchandise Manager of the T. Eaton Co. and Vice President, General Electric.  Currently, as the President of Marketing Alternatives he does consulting to consumer product and service companies.
 
He is a seasoned board executive currently serving on the boards of Jewish Community Centre (JCC), The Heart and Stroke Foundation and The Partnership for Stroke Recovery Research, where he is Chair. In addition to Baycrest, the Partnership includes other hospital research centres from across the country. He also serves on two private company boards.
 
Mr. Cracower has a BCom from Concordia in Montreal and an M.B.A. from Columbia University in NYC and has received his ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.
 
Mr. Cracower is a member of the Baycrest Board of Directors.  In addition, he serves as Treasurer and Secretary, as well as Chair of the Finance & Audit Committee.
 

Dr. Sara Diamond is President Emerita of OCAD University, Canada's "university of the imagination". While sustaining OCAD U’s strengths in studio-based learning, Diamond guided OCAD University to become a leader in digital media, design research and curriculum through the Digital Futures Initiative, new research in Inclusive Design, health and design, as well as in sustainable technologies and design; built two additional campus locations and almost doubled the student population . Diamond implemented Indigenous and racialized diversity inclusion efforts, recruiting Canada’s first Indigenous chancellor and a Tier One Canada Research Chair; undertaking Indigenous and Black cluster hires, and ongoing priority hires and student recruitment. Diamond created a strong network of partnerships for OCAD University in the cultural sector, design industries, ICT industries, financial sector, health sector and government – in essence wherever design, strategic foresight and creativity are needed.

Diamond holds an ICD.D (Directors Designation) Institute of Corporate Directors and Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, a PhD in Computing, IT and Engineering from the University of East London, a Masters in New Media Arts from the University of Arts, London, and a Bachelor of Arts, Honours, History and Communication, Simon Fraser University. In 2020 Simon Fraser University awarded her a Doctor of Science, honoris causa and she received the Exceptional Women of Excellence Award from the global Women’s Economic Forum. She is appointed to the Order of Canada C.M. and the Order of Ontario and received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for Service to Canada. She has received two digital media “pioneer” awards, an Inspiring 50 award for the Advancement of Diversity in STEM fields (Government of Netherlands and Senate of Canada); and was designated a Canada 150 leader, champion and luminary and one of Toronto Life’s 50 Most influential in 2014.

Diamond leads and co-leads funded research projects and networks in urban data analytics (iCity), wearable and mobile technologies and applied data analytics, AI and visualization (.e.g. Centre for Information Visualization and Data Driven Design and BRAIN) and cultural analytics (supporting cultural industries, audiences and funding agencies) and was co-principal investigator on the Centre for Information Visualization/Data Driven Design). Diamond was founding Chair of the Mobile Experience Innovation Centre, founded OCAD University’s Imagination Catalyst Incubator and OCADU CO, its commercialization agent. Diamond continues to write and lecture on the subjects of digital media history and practice, visual analytics, strategic foresight; mobility and design strategy for peer-reviewed journals. Her artwork (1982 – 1995) is held by prestigious collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, NYC, and the National Gallery of Canada.

Diamond currently serves as co-Chair of Toronto’s Year of Public Art with Counsellor Crawford and is Chair of the Scotiabank Nuit Blanche Toronto Advisory Committee. Diamond has served the larger university community as Vice-Chair of the Council of Ontario Universities and through her membership on committees of Universities Canada. Diamond was a member of the 2011-2012 Council of the Canadian Academies' expert panel on the State of Science & Technology in Canada. She is a member of Toronto Regional Board of Trade and City of Toronto’s Smart City Working Group, and on the Government of Canada Service Advisory Council.

Diamond was the Artistic Director of Media and Visual Art and Director of Research at the Banff Centre, where she created the Banff New Media Institute (BNMI) in 1995 and led it until 2005. In this role she assisted with the development, incubation and support of many of Canada's leading new media companies, as well as international think tanks and collaborations in ICT, digital media and science research with artists, designers and scientists from Latin America, Africa, Asia, Central and Western Europe and the U.S.A., as well as Canada.

Ken Dryden was a Member of Parliament and was Minister of Social Development in the Martin government. He played goal for the Montreal Canadiens during the 1970s, during which time the team won six Stanley Cups, and was a member of Team Canada 1972. Mr. Dryden is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, and is the author of six books, including The Game and, most recently, Becoming Canada. He teaches at McGill, Calgary, Ryerson, Saskatchewan and Memorial universities. He and his wife, Lynda, live in Toronto and have two children.

Mr. Dryden is a member of the Baycrest Centre Board of Directors.

Mr. Godfrey is the Executive Chairman of Postmedia Network.

Prior to this he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Postmedia Network from July 2010 to November 2017 and was Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from November 2017 to January 2019. Postmedia Network is a Canadian news media company representing more than 125 brands across multiple print, online, and mobile platforms. Prior to the start of Postmedia Network Inc., Paul Godfrey served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Post from January 2009 to July 2010.

Mr. Godfrey was appointed Chair of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) by the Ontario Provincial Cabinet and served in this role from January, 2010 to May, 2013.

Mr. Godfrey is a life-long Torontonian.  He attended Bathurst Heights Collegiate and graduated from the University of Toronto in 1962 with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering.

Mr. Godfrey’s career encompasses long stints in the publishing business, professional sports management and politics.

Mr. Godfrey entered politics in the previously known Borough of North York.  He was elected a Councillor in 1964 and an Alderman in 1966 and 1969.  He was appointed Controller in 1970 and was re-elected to that position in the general election in 1972.  In 1973, Mr. Godfrey was elected by the Metropolitan Toronto Council as its Chairman.  This was prior to the 1998 amalgamation of the City of Toronto.  Mr. Godfrey held this position, known as Metro Chairman, for four terms - a record 11 years.

In August 1984, Mr. Godfrey left the political world to take on the role as Publisher and Chief Executive Officer of the Toronto Sun newspaper.  In April 1991, he was appointed President and Chief Operating Officer of the Toronto Sun Publishing Corporation and, on November 5, 1992, was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer.  In 1996, Mr. Godfrey successfully headed up a management-led buy-out of the company and the Sun Media Corporation was subsequently formed in October, 1996.  Mr. Godfrey held the position of President and C.E.O. of Sun Media Corporation until his departure on June 30, 2000.

Following Rogers’ purchase of the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Club, Mr. Godfrey was appointed the Club’s President and Chief Executive Officer on September 1, 2000.  Mr. Godfrey was previously involved with the Club, as he was part of the group (during his career as Metro Chairman) which lobbied to bring a Major League Baseball club to Toronto, a dream that was realized when the Blue Jays played and won their first home game on April 7, 1977 at Exhibition Stadium on a snowy day.  

In September, 2008, Mr. Godfrey announced his decision to leave his role as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Blue Jays and Rogers Centre at the end of that year.

Mr. Godfrey serves on the following boards:

RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust   
Chairman

Cargojet Inc.
Director

Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care
Vice-Chair

Mr. Godfrey was Chairman of the Molson Indy Board of Trustees from 1987 to 2005 and also Chairman of its successor, the Grand Prix Charitable Foundation of Toronto, from 2006 to 2007.

Mr. Godfrey is a great fan of the National Football League and he continues to pursue, on behalf of Toronto, an NFL franchise for this wonderful city.

Mr. Godfrey has received many honours.  In 1990, he received the City of Toronto’s highest award, the Civic Award of Merit.  In 1998, Mr. Godfrey received the Award of Merit from B’nai Brith Canada.     In 1999, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada.  In 2001, he received an Honorary Doctorate (Hon.D.Eng). from Ryerson University.  In 2004, Mr. Godfrey was honoured to receive the University of Toronto’s Engineering Alumni Medal.  In January 2010, Mr. Godfrey received Ontario’s Highest Honour – the Order of Ontario.

He was the Salvation Army’s National Spokesperson from 2002 to 2009.

Mr. Godfrey is married to the artist, Gina Godfrey. They have three sons, Rob, Noah and Jay and nine grandchildren.

Mr. Jacob has been working in the motion picture exhibition industry since 1987. Prior to assuming his current position as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation in 2003, Mr. Jacob was Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Galaxy. Prior to founding Galaxy, Mr. Jacob represented Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. as Head of Integration during 1998 and 1999. From 1987 to 1998, Mr. Jacob held various positions with Cineplex Odeon Corporation as Vice President, Finance, Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President and, ultimately, Chief Operating Officer. In addition to his role as a Director of the Corporation, Mr. Jacob also serves as a director and member of the Audit and Risk Committee of Rogers Communication Inc.

He is the Chairman of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), an executive committee member of the Global Cinema Federation (GCF) as well as a member of the Board of Directors of the Movie Theatre Association of Canada. He also serves as a director and member of the audit committee of the Toronto International Film Festival.

Mr. Jacob is an active community member, currently serving as a member of the Board of Directors at Toronto’s Baycrest Centre for Geriatrics, where he also sits on the Executive Committee and is a member of Baycrest’s Finance and Audit Committee. Along with his position at Baycrest, Mr. Jacob is a founding director of the Canadian Children’s Literacy Foundation as well as a member of the Board of Governors for Mount Sinai Hospital. He holds an MBA from the Schulich School of Business as well as the accounting designations of Fellow Chartered Professional Accountant (FCPA), Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA) and Fellow Certified Management Accountant (FCMA). He also holds the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors. In 2010, Mr. Jacob was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada, in 2013 he was recognized as Canada’s Most Innovative CEO by Canadian Business Magazine, in 2014, he was recognized as Canada’s Most Admired CEO, Enterprise, by Waterstone Human Capital and in 2019 he received the ICTA Global Cinema Innovation Award

David Kassie has been Executive Chairman of Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. since May 2010 and was Chairman and CEO from April to October 2015. David was Principal, Chairman and CEO of Genuity Capital Markets (November 2004 to May 2010) at which time Genuity was acquired by Canaccord Financial. He is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CIBC World Markets and the Vice Chairman of CIBC (1979 – 2004).
 
Mr. Kassie has extensive experience as an advisor, underwriter and principal.  He sits on a number of corporate boards. Mr. Kassie is actively involved in community and charitable organizations and is a Director and former Chairman of Baycrest Health Sciences, Chairman of Baycrest’s commercialization activities and was formerly on the Boards of the Toronto International Film Festival Group, the Hospital for Sick Children and Ivey School of Business.
 
Mr. Kassie holds a B.Comm. (Honours) in Economics from McGill University, 1977 and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario, 1979.

ROBERT C. KAY is a seasoned Corporate Director and Business Advisor. He combines business and legal skills with extensive experience in international commerce to develop and assess complex strategies with multinational companies and governments.

Robert has served as a Corporate Director in both privately held and publicly listed companies, serving on Governance, Audit, Strategy, and ESG Committees. He is currently Chair, Advisory Board, the Migao Group (fertilizer manufacturing, clean energy, mining); Chair, Baycrest Hospital and Long-Term Care Residence (cumulatively 734 beds); Corporate Director, EquityLine Mortgage Investment Corp; Corporate Director, Baycrest Seniors Care Corp; Corporate Director, the Royal Canadian Military Institute; Corporate Director, the Canada Eurasia Chamber of Commerce (Toronto).

Notable governance roles have included: Chair-Canadian Commercial Corporation; Vice Chair and Lead Director-Migao Corporation; Chair-Migao Special Committee for Going Private; Chair-Swiss/Canadian Chamber of Commerce; Director in Residence-Institute of Corporate Directors; Board Director-Changfeng (CF) Energy Inc (gas distribution, clean energy); Board Director-American Chamber of Commerce (Ontario Council). Robert was a teaching Board Member in the Integrative Thinking Practicum of the MBA Degree Program at the University of Toronto. He is a former Deputy Judge, Superior Court of Justice of Ontario, SCC branch. Earlier in his career, Robert served as Personal Assistant to the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada.

Robert contributes his time as Chair of the Royal Canadian Military Institute Audit Committee. Robert is also a Member of the American Judges Association, and the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Sheldon Levy is a higher education leader and visionary with a passion for innovation, entrepreneurship and the digital economy. Sheldon has been an instrumental figure in Canada’s innovation ecosystem in the last decade, spearheading the creation of such organizations as Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone (DMZ), the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship, and Scale Up Ventures, Inc.

As President and Vice Chancellor of Ryerson University from 2005 to 2015, Sheldon drove the creation of the Digital Media Zone (DMZ), an early-stage incubator for student entrepreneurs which has since become an international success. He is also a founder and advisor to Ryerson Futures Inc., an accelerator that has exported the DMZ concept to such locations as Calgary and Mumbai.

From 2015 to 2017 Sheldon served as Ontario’s Deputy Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development, where he helped prioritize innovation and entrepreneurship throughout Ontario’s postsecondary education and training system. In 2017 he became CEO of NEXT Canada, an organization that provides mentorship, education, networks and funding to Canada’s most promising entrepreneurs.

In December 2018, Sheldon was appointed Special Advisor to Canada’s Minister of Small Business and Export Promotion, Mary Ng, on the issue of scaling up small and medium-sized businesses.

Sheldon recently joined the Board of Directors of Baycrest Health Sciences.

Sheldon previously served as President of Oakville’s Sheridan College from 1997 to 2001, overseeing the growth of its renowned animation department during the early years of computer-generated imaging. Sheldon’s other prior positions have included Vice President Finance and Strategy, University of Ontario Institute of Technology; Vice President of Governmental and Institutional Relations, University of Toronto; and Vice President Institutional Affairs, York University. Sheldon recently received The Order of Canada.

Mr. Mirsky is a highly experienced food, beverage and consumer packaged goods executive. He is the CEO of Freshchange Foods Group, a company that invests in food companies across North America. The most recent investment is BHC Holdings Inc., a New Jersey based supplier of pet chews and supplements. This investment is jointly held with Imperial Capital, a Toronto based private equity company.

In addition, Mr. Mirsky is the Chairman of Beefeaters Holdings, Inc. which sells pet products under the Beefeaters™ brand name and is a portfolio company of Imperial Capital.

Mr. Mirsky’s operating career spans more than 30 years. Most previous to his current roles, Brian was the President of Europe for Campbell Soup Company, and has served in senior management positions with Pizza Hut, Pillsbury, and the H.J. Heinz Company. Brian currently serves on the Board of Directors of Inscape, a publicly traded (symbol: INQ.TO) maker of office systems and storage.

Mr. Mirsky has an MBA in marketing and a BA in Economics from York University in Toronto, Canada.

Mr. Mirsky is a member of the Baycrest Centre Board of Directors and serves as a member of its Commercialization and Strategic Planning Committees.

 
 
 
Mr Graeme Prior is the co-founder and CEO of Hall & Prior; which began with a single family-owned nursing home and now operates 31 aged care communities and 2 home care services across Australia, offering world-class care to over 1000 clients and employing approximately 2,500 permanent staff.
 
He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Western Australia and is a chartered accountant. Having worked with the top four international accounting firms Mr Prior recognised his passion for aged care while running his own accounting practice. Giving back to the local community while advocating for aged care globally has always been the cornerstone of his business ethos.
 
Along with his passion for the industry he has an innate understanding of the issues facing aged care; his commitment to supporting research and education and significant sector investment, including designing and building new, world-class aged care homes that respond to Australia’s growing demand for quality aged care choices in both workforce and care outcomes. 
 
His current positions include; President of International Federation on Ageing (UN Auspice Organisation based in Toronto), with a focus on delivering global outcomes in aged care; Board Member of Baycrest Health Sciences; Deputy Chairman of the CRC for Mental Health and Chairman of Audit and Risk Committee; Director of the Australian Aged Care Workforce Industry Council; Committee Member of the Commonwealth Department of Health’s Aged Care Sector Committee (Ministerial Appointment); Chairman of Australian Alzheimer’s Research Foundation, Board Member of ADNeT Ltd (Australian Dementia Network Ltd), Member of the Steering Committee National Comprehensive Dementia Centre and Member of the National Aged Care Advisory Council. 
 
 

Saäd Rafi has gained a well earned reputation as someone who goes into challenging departments and organizational situations with a commitment to deliver more resilient organizations and better results for Ontarians. He has been tapped to start new businesses — be that in Infrastructure Advisory or Pension management. As a result, Rafi has developed strong knowledge and experience in change management leadership, operations management, strategic infrastructure deployment, financial administration and governance. Mr. Rafi spent over 24 years in senior positions in the Ontario Public Service. He has also held leadership positions in Infrastructure Advisory and Project Finance and as the National Government and Public Services leader, both as a Partner at Deloitte LLP. Previously he was the Chief Executive Officer of the
Ontario Retirement Pension Plan Administrative Corporation (ORPPAC) where he was responsible for
starting up Ontario’s attempt at a provincial pension plan. Other former positions include: Chief Executive
Officer of the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Parapan Am Games Organizing Committee. His public service leadership roles included: Deputy Minister of Health and Long Term Care, Deputy Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, Deputy Minister of Transportation, and the Deputy Minister of Community Safety. Mr. Rafi graduated from Carleton University in 1983 with a B.A. in Law and then went on to earn a M.A. in Public Administration in 1988. Rafi also is a member of the Board of Governors for Sick Kids Hospital, a Board Member of the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Vice Chair of Trent University’s Board of Governors.
 

Dr. William E. Reichman, an internationally-known expert in geriatric mental health and dementia care, is President and CEO of Baycrest, one of the world’s premier centres focused on aging, seniors’ health and residential care and brain function. Baycrest is home to both the largest research institute and the most comprehensive innovation accelerator in the global senior care industry. Dr. Reichman also serves as President and CEO of two commercial subsidiary firms, Cogniciti and Baycrest Global Solutions. He holds an academic appointment as Professor of Psychiatry in the Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Toronto.
 
Dr. Reichman is the current President of the International Psychogeriatric Association and is a former president of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry and the Geriatric Mental Health Foundation. He has advised the World Health Organization and several levels of government in the United States, Canada and China on the impact of an aging society on health care demand and the mandate to support innovative approaches to service delivery. He has been instrumental in the development of Canada’s new National Dementia Strategy and co-chairs the federal panel overseeing its implementation across the nation. He is a passionate advocate for building innovation capacity in the senior care sector and speaks across the globe on this theme to care providers, policy makers, academic audiences and industry.
 
Dr. Reichman was the founder and inaugural Chair of the Seniors Quality Leap Initiative, a collaborative of prominent eldercare organizations and their affiliated universities in the United States and Canada, working together to advance the effectiveness of long-term care across the globe.  
Among honors received, Dr. Reichman was named among the Best Doctors in America and Canada, and has been recognized by the New Jersey Society on Aging as Gerontologist of the Year. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Canadian-based OCAD University for his work in advancing innovation in seniors care. Dr. Reichman is a recipient of a Telly Award for an educational documentary film that he co-created and hosted entitled, Reflections of Memory Lost: Understanding Alzheimer’s disease.

Ms. Yaffe has held a number of strategic positions in film and television in Canada since the 1980s including Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. and Chief Executive Officer of Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting Inc.  Most recently, she served as Consul General to New York for the Government of Canada from July 2016 through December 2019.  In addition to being Chair of the Board of the Cineplex Entertainment Inc. she currently serves on the Board of Directors of Blue Ant Media, a privately held Canadian media company. She has previously served on the boards of Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, Torstar Corporation and Astral Media Inc. In 1999, Ms. Yaffe was selected as the Canadian Women in Communications Woman of the Year and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Women in Film and Television in 2000. In 2006, she was included in the Women’s Executive Network’s list of Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women; in 2007, she was inducted into the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Broadcast Hall of Fame; in 2015, she was honoured as a recipient of the Order of Canada.  In her volunteer time, Ms. Yaffe has previously served on the Boards of Directors for Baycrest Health Sciences and Women Against Multiple Sclerosis, as well as the Chair of the Board of Governors for Ryerson University.
 

Jakov Zaidman is a Principal Information Technology Consultant with decades of technology and business experience, with over 30 years in technology consulting. Jakov holds an ISC2 Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification.

Jakov specializes in Cybersecurity and Information Privacy, IT Architecture, Network Security and Infrastructure, and in assessing and enhancing customer cybersecurity programs by following best practices and industry regulations.

Jakov founded InterLAN Consulting in 1991, to focus on providing advisory services in the areas of network infrastructure and cybersecurity. Over the years, Jakov advised organizations, established cybersecurity programs, and designed and built secure network architectures. Jakov worked with enterprises in both public and private sectors and a wide range of verticals, ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands of employees. Jakov was also the lead IT architect behind the creation of the Ontario Telemedicine Network.

Jakov started his professional career in the Israeli Air Force, working on the nation-wide deployment and maintenance of modernized air traffic control systems. Before founding InterLAN, Jakov worked in senior IT architecture roles for companies Digital Equipment and Intel.