N. Jane Pepino, CM, QC, LLD, Chair
Jane Pepino is the current chair of the board at Womens’ College Hospital. A senior partner at Aird & Berlis LLP and the founder of the firm’s Municipal and Land Use Planning Group, Pepino provides advice on planning, zoning and land development throughout Ontario. She regularly appears before decision-making bodies controlling land development, including local planning committees and council, conservation authorities, the Ontario Municipal Board and the courts. As a volunteer, Pepino has served as a member of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, the Federal Council on the Status of Women, and as the founding chair of Metropolitan Toronto Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children. She was appointed by the Minister of Health to create and chair the Ontario Women’s Health Council (1997–2007). She joined the Women’s College Hospital Board in 1995, served as chair until 1998, and chaired the Women’s Health Committee of Sunnybrook and Women’s. She is an honourary life member of the Women’s College Hospital Board, and was appointed to chair of the board again in 2011. In 2000, she was appointed a member of the Order of Canada.

Helen P. Batty MD, CCFP, MEd, FCFP
Since her faculty appointment in family and community medicine at the University of Toronto in 1975, Dr. Helen Batty has taught postgraduate residents, undergraduate and graduate students, community clinicians and faculty in a wide variety of health-care professions around the world. She has been active in the field of women’s health and is founding director of numerous health and academic programs. Two annual University of Toronto faculty of medicine awards were named after her, and her goal is to facilitate the professional development of happy health professional teachers who will enhance student learning and health-care system effectiveness.

Dr. Batty’s clinical practice is at Women’s College Hospital, where she has had the privilege of caring continuously for the same families across as many as four generations since 1974.

Darleen Bogart
Darleen Bogart is a long-time member of the Association of Volunteers at Women’s College Hospital. She taught high school before becoming a stay-at-home mom and a volunteer. Bogart has been involved in numerous fundraising activities for the association and has served on the executive in every capacity. She is currently in her second term as president. She chaired Region 6 of the Hospital Auxiliaries Association of Ontario and sat on its provincial board. Bogart also volunteers for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) where she was the founding chair of the CNIB Library board, served on the national board for over 25 years and is the national braille convenor. Bogart has received many honours as a volunteer, two of which are health and welfare Canada’s Lifestyle Award and Flare Magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Lesley Byrne, PhD
Lesley Byrne is a senior strategic communications advisor to government and the private sector. Byrne has worked for all three levels of government and in recent years has worked on major government publications including the budget of Ontario and a wide variety of policy reports. She has also been providing editorial and communications advice to several major Canadian financial service organizations. Byrne, a member of the Editors’ Association of Canada, is the author of several books on Toronto and several academic articles on women in politics. She is the chair of the Toronto chapter of Equal Voice, a volunteer group dedicated to electing more women to public office. Byrne joined the board in June 2008 and is serving as chair of the governance committee.

Alice Dong, MD, FCBOM, ABPM
Dr. Alice Dong is an occupational medical physician who graduated from the University of Toronto and completed an intensive residency in occupational medicine at University of California, San Francisco. She is Canadian and American board certified and is a fellow of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. She has worked in both the public and private sectors in organizations where 70 per cent of the workforce is women. Dr. Dong has expertise in disability management and is committed to rehabilitation and return to function. She feels strongly that work provides meaning and purpose to injured and ill workers. She is currently a medical consultant to RBC Insurance (Life and Health) and St. Michaels’s Hospital.

Dr. Dong is past chair of the OMA committee on work and health and former chair of the Canadian Board of Occupation and Environmental Medicine. She is currently vice chair of the governing council of the University of Toronto. As a member of the board of directors of Women’s College Hospital, she serves on the finance committee and is the board representative to the hospital’s alternate funding plan management board.

Debbie Douglas
Debbie Douglas has been the executive director of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI) for the past 10 years. Prior to arriving at OCASI, Douglas spent over 15 years working in the non-governmental (NGO) sector in direct service organizations as a manager, director and consultant.

Douglas is a member of numerous boards and working groups including the Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigrant Settlement (CERIS), the Voluntary/Non-Profit Human Resources Sector Council, and the City of Toronto’s City-Wide Local Immigration Partnership Steering Committee. Debbie also co-chairs the National Working Group on Immigration and Settlement at the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR).

An active feminist, Douglas has participated in public discussions and debates on employment equity and has long been an advocate for the establishment of anti-discriminatory systems in public institutions. At OCASI, she lends her voice and efforts to the gay and lesbian community, highlighting issues of sexual orientation within the immigration system and promoting the creation of safe, welcoming spaces within settlement and integration programs and services.

In 2004, Douglas was honoured with the prestigious YWCA Toronto Women of Distinction award in the area of social action and justice.

Marilyn Emery, President and CEO, Women's College Hospital
Marilyn Emery is president and chief executive officer of Women’s College Hospital. 

For more than two decades, Emery has produced outstanding results for some of the province’s leading health-care organizations. Since 2007, Emery has been leading Women’s College Hospital, one of Canada’s pre-eminent health-care institutions. She is overseeing the hospital’s evolution as it becomes the world’s pre-eminent academic ambulatory care facility dedicated to women’s health.

In frequent demand as a guest speaker/lecturer, Emery inspires audiences on a broad range of leadership topics. As a member of the first group of women named Canada’s Top 100 Women, she received national recognition as a leader in the public sector. Emery has consulted to boards of directors and senior executives in health-care organizations, universities and government. In March 2003, Emery was appointed one of 10 lead reviewers for the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care peer review process designed to assist hospitals in developing a balanced budget plan.

Emery holds a master of science in nursing education from the University of Western Ontario.

Tamara Finch, MBA, CFA, ICD.D
Tamara Finch joined Teachers’ Private Capital in 2002 and has played a key role in developing its portfolio management team, which she has led since January 2009. The team focuses on value creation, operational improvements, board effectiveness and cross-portfolio initiatives across the direct investment portfolio.

Prior to her portfolio management role, Finch was involved in several control transactions including the management buyout of Osprey Media, the recapitalization of Samsonite Corp. and the acquisition of Alliance Laundry. Before joining Teachers’, Finch worked in corporate credit at Scotiabank.

A CFA charter holder, Finch earned a BA (honours economics) from Queen’s University, an MBA in finance from the University of Toronto, and holds the ICD.D designation. She has been a board observer on several portfolio companies, joined the board of Women’s College Hospital in 2007, and currently sits on the Audit & Finance Committee of the Hospital & the Foundation as well as the Joint Investment Committee.

Marcia Gilbert
Marcia Gilbert currently serves as the chair of the equity committee of the Women’s College Hospital board and is a member of its executive committee.

Gilbert, president of Gilbert, Schachter Consulting Services, is an organizational consultant serving the not-for-profit sector for over 30 years. She has a proven record in fundraising, government relations, public relations, event planning, volunteer recruitment/retention and leadership development.

Prior to opening her consulting firm, Gilbert held a senior position in the Office of the Premier of Ontario followed by taking on the job as executive director of the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League. Gilbert has been married to Shalom Schachter for 30 years and together they have two grown sons and a daughter-in-law. Gilbert and her husband were the principals in the Supreme Court of Canada decision of Schachter vs. The Queen, establishing the jurisdiction of courts to remedy under-inclusive legislation. As a result of that challenge, there are now 35 weeks of parental employment insurance benefits available to every family.

Christopher S.L. Hoffmann
Christopher Hoffmann is president of Brompton Financial Limited, a merchant banking firm which is part of the Brompton Group. He joined the Brompton Group of companies in 2004 and participates in the direction of all activities of the group. From 1990 to 2004 Hoffmann was a partner at McCarthy Tétrault, a national Canadian law firm, focusing on corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions. From 1987 to 1989 he was executive vice president and chief operating officer of Granite Street Inc., a private investment and holding company.

Hoffmann is a member of the Law Society of Ontario and a graduate of McGill University and the University of California, Berkley. He is also a director of Brompton Corporation, MKS Inc. and The Northern Trust Company, Canada.

Hoffmann is also chair of the board of Women’s College Hospital Foundation and sits on the Campaign Cabinet of the Campaign for Women’s College Hospital.

Nan Hudson, Rev. Dr.
Nan Hudson has been a director of the Women’s College Hospital board since 1997, and is a member of the community advisory panel and the equity committee. She has been a passionate advocate on the board for the development of a lesbian health focus at the hospital and for the inclusion of a welcoming, inclusive sacred space site within the plans for the new hospital. She is the executive director of the Institute of Cultural Affairs – Canada, based in Toronto, and lives north of Kingston. She is also an ordained minister of the United Church of Canada.

Michele Landsberg, OC,  LLD,
Michele Landsberg, OC is an award-winning journalist, author, social activist and feminist whose Toronto Star column served as a clarion voice of women’s rights at home in Canada, in North America and in the developing world for 25 years. She has written several bestselling books, won numerous awards and received a number of honorary degrees. In 2006, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Landsberg has been an ardent supporter of Women’s College Hospital for 40 years, and served as chair of the board for the hospital following the demerger from Sunnybrook. She is married to Stephen Lewis and has three grown children.

Mary Lou Maher, FCA
Mary Lou Maher is the chief financial officer and chief administration officer for KPMG in Canada, responsible for finance, administration, information technology, knowledge management, real estate, procurement and continuous improvement initiatives. Maher, who holds a Fellow Chartered Accountant designation, is deeply committed to her profession. She is actively involved with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario and has held various roles: chair of its Audit Committee and a member of its executive committee and the bylaws committee. Maher was appointed to the finance and audit committee of Women’s College Hospital and joined the WCH board in 2011. She was named a Trailblazer for Women CAs by CA Magazine in 2005, and was also awarded the honour of Top 100 Powerful Women in the professional category by the Women’s Executive Network in 2006 and 2010. She participates in the Women’s Network Mentoring Program, which matches young women executives with the Top 100 Women to share experiences and career ideas.

Mina Mawani, MHSc/HA
Mina Mawani is the chief executive officer of His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan Shia Imami Ismaili Council for Canada.  Mawani has over 15 years of professional experience in health care and non-profit management. She served as a management consultant in KPMG’s and PricewaterhouseCooper’s Health Practices and also as a senior policy advisor in the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. Mawani is dedicated and committed to social and economic causes and is passionate about volunteering her services for the benefit of the community at large. Mawani joined the board in June 2009 and serves as a member on the Quality Academic Committee and the Governance Committee.

Diane de Camps Meschino, BSc (Hons), MD, FRCPS
Dr. Diane de Camps Meschino is a full-time psychiatrist in the Women’s Mental Health Program at Women’s College Hospital and assistant professor at the University of Toronto. She serves as the program head of the Reproductive Life Stages Program, an internationally known resource with highly specialized clinical, educational and research expertise that incorporates, supports and is informed by the cultural discourse on girls, women, motherhood and the communication of these through parenting. She and her colleagues have trained and consulted for numerous health-care practitioners in Ontario and further afield who have modelled their initiatives after this interdisciplinary, multigenerational, patient-centred program. In the past, Dr. Meschino served in the development of and as a director of the Pelvic Health Centre, a unique model of interdepartmental and interdisciplinary care at Sunnybrook and Women’s Health Sciences Centre and as chair of the medical records committee at Women’s College Hospital. She serves on the board of directors at the Linden School, a private school for girls whose mandate is to develop the ‘voice of girls’ in an academic- and social justice-based educational setting using feminist pedagogical principles.

Jane Mosley, RN, MScN
Jane Mosley is the chief nursing executive & health disciplines, professional affairs at Women’s College Hospital. Joining Women’s College Hospital in 2009, she has brought her previous experience as a CNE as well as senior leadership in quality, risk and clinical management to her role.

Her current portfolio emphasizes the highlighted expectations for enterprise-wide quality initiatives and health information. Mosley focuses on the planning, implementation and evaluation of strategies that set a standard of excellence for nursing and health disciplines professionals, and quality of patient care. Jane’s activities include ongoing academic responsibilities, both as adjunct professor for the Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto, and as a sessional faculty member at the Daphne Cockwell School of Nursing at Ryerson University.  Augmenting her Masters degree, she recently completed the J & J Wharton Fellows Program in Management for Nurse Executives at the University of Pennsylvania.

Wanda O’Hagan, Secretary
Wanda O’Hagan is a long-time volunteer and activist in women’s causes. She is secretary of the Women's College Hospital board as well as a member of the Women’s College Hospital Foundation board. Some of her past activities include working with Canadian Women’s Foundation, Legal Education and Action Fund and YWCA of Metropolitan Toronto. She was instrumental in building the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and sat on that hospital’s first board. A bursary in her name has been established at University College, University of Toronto and she is a member of the board of the Canadian studies program.

James Ruderman, MD, CCFP, FCFP
Dr. James Ruderman is a graduate of the University of Toronto in the department of family and community medicine. He has had a diverse practice incorporating a variety of interests. As a member of the faculty of medicine, he has been involved in the training of medical students, residents and others throughout his career.

On April 1, 2006, Dr. Ruderman assumed the position of chief of staff at Women’s College Hospital as well as continuing on in his position as chief of family medicine.

Paulette Senior
Paulette Senior has been a passionate advocate for women’s issues for more than two decades. As CEO of YWCA Canada, she works tirelessly to raise awareness of issues affecting women and girls and leads the development of programs and services that bolster their economic and social empowerment.

Senior is on the board of directors for the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund Canada. Previously, she chaired several committees and was part of the executive board leadership for Rouge Valley Health System. Senior has served as vice-president for the Black Business and Professional Association (BBPA), treasurer of the Centre for Social Justice and chair of the Malvern Family Resource Centre, as well as a member of the Police Race Relations Monitoring Board, the Scarborough Black Education Organization and the College of Occupational Therapists.

Senior is the recipient of the African Canadian Achievement Award, receiving the Matilda Van Cooten Award for Excellence in Single Parenting in 2004. She was the first recipient of the Microskills Canada Margot Franssen Leadership Award, and in 2009, she received the Black Women’s Civic Engagement Network Champion Award.

Sheerin A. Sheikh, MBA, Treasurer
Sheerin Sheikh has extensive private and public sector experience including expertise in entrepreneurial real estate development; large capital project delivery requiring complex and strategic planning; real estate advisory services; and consulting for asset management, acquisitions and start-ups.

Sheikh has been a long-time volunteer with a number of public objectives organizations in areas of social justice and entitlement. Currently, she is a director on the board of Toronto Community Housing Corp, chairing its city building committee; and chair of the board of the not-for-profit Inter Faith Homes.

In addition to executive level professional development training courses, she holds an MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University, Toronto.

She joined the Women’s College Hospital board in June 2009 and currently serves as treasurer. She also serves on the governance and capital redevelopment committees.

Catharine Whiteside, MD, PhD, FRCPC
Dr. Catharine Whiteside joined the department of medicine at the University of Toronto in 1985 as a clinician-scientist and has engaged in basic research in the field of cellular mechanisms of kidney disease, with a particular interest in the study of diabetic nephropathy. In 1996, Dr. Whiteside became a full professor of medicine. Throughout her career as a nephrologist at the University Health Network and as a researcher, she has engaged in education at all levels in the medical school. She is a two-time winner of the W.T. Aikins Award for contributions to teaching in the undergraduate medical education curriculum.

Dr. Whiteside has particular interest in promoting research training for MDs and directed the Clinician-Scientist Training Program in the department of medicine from 1997 to 2002.

As of Jan. 1, 2006, Dr. Whiteside is dean of medicine and vice-provost relations with health-care institutions. In 2007, she was the recipient of the Kidney Foundation of Canada Medal for Research Excellence.

Susanne Williams, RN, BNSc, Med, Vice Chair
Sue Williams retired from Ryerson University after a 33-year career engaged in teaching, research and academic leadership. Her roles included serving for 10 years as director of the school of nursing, and most recently a five-year term as dean of the faculty of community services.

Williams has made significant contributions to the larger community through her dedicated service to the nursing profession. In addition to being a past president of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, she is a former chair of the Council of University Programs of Nursing and co-chair of the Provincial Steering Committee on the Future of Nursing Education. Williams joined the Women’s College Hospital board in 2001 and currently chairs the quality academic committee and serves on the capital redevelopment and executive committees. Williams also volunteers as a member of the board of the Wellesley Institute and chairs the board of the Saint Elizabeth Health Care Foundation. In addition to her Ryerson role, she has held associate professor status and was a research associate with the Nursing Health Services Research Unit at the University of Toronto’s Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing.

Carol A. Cowan
Carol Cowan is a child and family therapist in private practice. She has a master’s degree in social work and several post graduate diplomas in advanced clinical practice with individuals, children and families. Her long-standing interest in this area has been demonstrated in her work at the Hospital for Sick Children, the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, as a practitioner in her own professional practice, and currently, in her recent government appointment to the Transitional Council of the College of Registered Psychotherapists and Registered Mental Health Therapists of Ontario.

Cowan’s interests in health and welfare are reflected in a number of the boards of directors on which she has served - past chair of Women’s College Hospital, past chair of the former Women’s College Hospital Foundation, founding chair of the current Women’s College Hospital Foundation, past chair of the Crèche Child and Family Centre (currently the Child Development Institute), past director of Sunnybrook and Women’s College Health Sciences Centre, the Offord Centre for Child Studies and the National Ballet School Board.

Currently, she sits as an honorary member of the board at Women’s College Hospital, a member of the advisory board of the Child Development Institute, a director of the Women’s College Hospital Foundation and vice-president of the Transition Council of CPRMHTO.

Cowan remains a passionate advocate for excellence in health care.

Janet MacInnis, O.Ont
Janet MacInnis, O.Ont, is a community volunteer who has worked in several capacities for her school, her church, her university, her community, her children’s school and of course, her hospital. Some of her major responsibilities include chair, board of directors and campaign, United Way of Greater Toronto; vice chair, board of regents, Victoria University; chair, executive, Deer Park United Church; co-chair, Special Delivery Campaign, Women’s College Hospital. MacInnis and her husband, Gar, have four children and 14 grandchildren, most of whom were born at Women’s College Hospital.

Gail Regan, PhD
Gail Regan is president of Cara Operations, one of our country’s largest and most successful restaurant and food service companies. Regan began her career as an assistant professor and lecturer at the University of Toronto, where she taught in the faculty of education. Over the years, Regan has been actively involved in various not-for-profit organizations, including Women’s College Hospital in Toronto and the Energy Probe Research Foundation.

Beverley Richardson, MD, FRCPC
Dr. Beverley Richardson received her MD from the University of Toronto. Her teaching practice at Women’s College Hospital is centred on women’s health and digestive diseases.

She currently serves as the president of Medical Dental Midwifery Staff Association at Women’s College Hospital.

Dr. Richardson is a past chair of the City of Toronto status of women committee and the University of Toronto faculty of medicine gender issues committee. She was chief of medical staff affairs at Women’s College Hospital from 1990 to 2002. She is a member of the board of Women’s College Health Research, a not-for-profit that is a major financial donor to Women’s College Hospital and the Women’s College Hospital Foundation.