Dr. Travor Brown is both the Director of the Masters of Employment Relations program, as well as a full Professor (Human Resources & Labour Relations) with Memorial University. Dr. Brown has a BA from Memorial University, a Masters of Industrial Relations (University of Toronto) and a PhD (University of Toronto). He has taught at the three universities (University of Toronto, Ulster University in Northern Ireland, and Memorial University) and is co-author of the new textbook Industrial Relations in Canada (Nelson Series in HRM). Prior to joining Memorial University, Dr. Brown worked in various human resources and labour relations roles with Abitibi-Price and Nortel Networks. Thus, his academic background is coupled with over 15 years of human resources and consulting experience in Canada and the United States. Dr. Brown’s expertise has been recognized locally, nationally and internationally. He has presented at national and international conferences and has published in numerous journals where he often focuses on employee and management development. In addition, he has received two national SSHRC research grants. Given this background, Dr. Brown is recognized for his ability to deliver sessions that blend the academic and practitioner elements of human resources management.
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Verna was born in Charlottetown, PEI and received her early education there. She studied at Mount Allison and Carleton Universities, graduating with a degree in Economics.
Verna began her public service career as an Administrative Trainee with the Prince Edward Island Government in May, 1974. She held various positions with the Treasury Board, Education, Hospital and Health Services Commission, Cabinet office and Social Services. In 1985, she was appointed Director of Home Care and Support and developed the first integrated home care program in PEI.
In 1988, Verna was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister with responsibility for Social Programs, and moved to Deputy Minister in 1990. At the Deputy level, Verna served in Health and Social Services, Provincial Treasury (Finance and Management Board), PEI Housing Corporation, Intergovernmental Affairs and Higher Education. In 1996, she became Clerk of Executive Council and Clerk of the Legislative Assembly.
In 1998, Verna moved to the Government of Canada, as Associate Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs Canada, a position she held until her retirement in April, 2008. During her career, Verna was especially interested in social programs and leadership.
Verna is currently President of the Vanier Institute of the Family, and co-chair of CHANCES, a not-for-profit organization in PEI, focused on strengthening parents’ ability to parent, early child development, and support for families with children at risk. In the past, Verna was active in numerous organizations, including Sunday school teacher and Superintendent, youth group leader, and chair of the PEI United Way Campaign.
Verna resides in Charlottetown, PEI. The joys of her life are her children, Nigel and Becky, and 3 grandchildren.
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As an Adler Certified Professional Coach (ACPC), Deborah brings to the table an energizing and positive approach to finding your best self, whether it be transitioning to a new leadership role or finding the optimum work life balance to sustain your health and well-being. Deborah’s style is warm and engaging with the passion and commitment to ensure your highest aspirations are in sync with your fundamental core values. Deborah works one on one with leaders to structure a coaching engagement that formulates their personal vision and co-creates a plan of action to achieve optimum results.
Deborah has a strong background in career development working with diverse teams and people in executive leadership roles. For more than three decades, Deborah served in the Canadian Federal Civil Service. Highlights include executive portfolios in Human Resources, Audit, Client Services and Debt Management.
Throughout her extensive career with the Federal Government, Deborah has been in receipt of numerous awards for innovation and excellence in Leadership and the 2008 Commissioner’s Award of Excellence for her part in an extensive Change Management Project for the Canada Revenue Agency. She was also in receipt of the Assistant Commissioner’s Award of Excellence for her work in managing and facilitating a communications skills program for Appeals Divisions across Canada. Deborah has hands on experience facilitating Action Learning Groups, coaching and team building workshops with leaders in the government setting.
A Certified General Accountant, Deborah understands the nuances and complexities of today’s business in the Global and Canadian context. Working closely with lawyers and accountants representing entrepreneurs and corporations, Deborah has extensive hands-on experience with the challenges of Canadian and Foreign business affairs particularly in the government context.
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Jim has been described by many as an ‘accountability coach’, a thinking partner with a strategic, systems perspective and a relaxed, down-to-earth collaborative, business approach. Solidly grounded in integrity, respect, fairness and honesty, he strives for clarity in the midst of chaos and complexity and focuses on results within a framework of accountability.
Jim has 25 years business experience in the standards, energy and consulting fields. During his 12 years in senior management, Jim led many teams involved in such functions as strategic and business planning, marketing, communications, new product and business development, product management (health care, medical devices, food safety, forestry, quality management, environmental management, aerospace, automotive), finance and accounting, acquisitions and strategic alliances.
Jim also led a wide range of programs, national steering committees and technical committees representing a diverse cross-section of industry sectors, non-government organizations and government in health care, sports and recreational equipment, occupational health and safety and public safety, quality, risk management, environmental management and technologies and many others. Jim led the establishment of the International Organization for Standardization / Technical Committee on Environmental Management (ISO 14000) and its operations for eight years along with ISO / TC (ISO 9001) for worldwide standards on quality management for six years. Membership in each of these committees consists of approximately 60 countries and 50 international organizations.
Through his international standards work, Jim has traveled and worked in more than 25 countries around the world.
In summary, his work involved the management of many teams, country and organization delegations and resources, and the facilitation of consensus-building and conflict resolution among thousands of committee members.
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Cassandra Dorrington is the President of Vale & Associates Human Resource Management and Consulting Inc., a company specializing in providing Human Resource Management Services and/or consulting advice to small to medium-sized companies regionally, nationally and internationally. Given the emerging success of Vale in the Caribbean Marketplace, Cassandra has been asked to speak at seminars and conferences in Canada and across the Caribbean in countries such as Trinidad, Barbados, and Guyana.
Prior to starting her own business, Cassandra worked in the high-tech / telecommunications / consulting industry for 20 years with organizations such as Aliant Inc., xwave, and Deloitte Consulting. Cassandra specializes in Human Resource Strategy/Advisory Services, Employment Equity/Diversity, and Training and Development and has provided consulting services to a number of national and international clients in the private, para-public, public and not-for-profit sectors.
A graduate of Saint Mary’s University with a Bachelor of Commerce and a Master of Business Administration Degree (Executive Program), Cassandra has acquired her CMA (Certified Management Accounting) designation as well as her CHRP (Certified Human Resource Professional) designation and her CMC (Certified Master Coach). Based on the accomplishments of her career, and her contributions to the profession and to the community, Cassandra was awarded a Fellow of the CMA Society in 2007. Cassandra is currently enrolled in the Chartered Directors Program at the DeGroote School of Business - McMaster’s University.
Currently Cassandra sits as the Vice Chair for the National Board of Directors of CMA Canada, Chair for the Black Business Initiative, Treasurer of Techsploration (an organization that works to promote young women in non-traditional roles in trades and technologies). In addition to these roles Cassandra is a member of the Atlantic Provinces Board of Directors as well as a member of the Board of Governors for Mount Saint Vincent University.
In addition to her wide range of experiences in the business world, Cassandra’s community involvement has garnered her
both the Commemorative Medal for the 125th anniversary of Canadian Confederation and the YWCA Woman of Distinction award for Community Service.
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Michele Dorsey received her law degree in 1988 and has been working in human resources and labour relations exclusively since 1995. While Michele works with her clients on a wide variety of HR and labour matters including, grievance arbitration, Human Rights, Occupational Health and Safety, Workers Compensation, her passion is labour negotiations.
Michele has taught Industrial Relations at the university level and does education and training for her clients supervisory and management teams. Her focus is providing good clear information combined with appropriate skill development opportunities to enable managers to navigate the complexities of a unionized environment.
Michele has also served as an investigator on harassment complaints, as well as a consultant for organizations or work units experiencing dysfunction. This work often involves high conflict, which allows Michele an opportunity to utilize her softer skills which assist in diffusing tense situations.
Michele has been certified in Conflict Resolution and regularly uses alternative dispute resolution techniques in all areas of her work, including interest based negotiations and mediation/arbitrations. She believes that an interest based approach is often helpful for many disputes and allows people to deal with issues in a positive manner.
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Kelly Dye has been teaching and training in the field of business management since 1998, in various
capacities, including one-day seminars, customized training, and master’s level management courses. She is an Associate Professor at the F. C. Manning School of Business at Acadia University and currently teaches Organizational Behavior, Gender and Diversity in Organizations, and Change Management. Key areas of her research include gender and diversity in organizations and organization change. Her work has been published internationally in various books, encyclopedias, and journals. Recent publications include a coauthored textbook titled Understanding Organizational Change (Routledge, 2008), entries in the Encyclopedia of Case Study Research (Sage, 2009) and The International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (MacMillan Library Reference, 2007) and a coauthored journal article in the Journal of Change Management.
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Carol Gabanna brings more than twenty years of management experience to her current role as a facilitator and educator. She has for the past 10 years, delivered customized workplace training and facilitation to organizations in the public sector, private sector and the not-for-profit sector. Carol, with others, designed and delivered the successful Pathways to Leadership program, a leadership development program for provincial public sector managers. Her particular interests and experience are in the areas of governance, management, organizational development and work performance. She is highly skilled in engaging people in workplaces in planning and problem-solving.
Carol is an experienced consultant to boards in the non-profit, voluntary and public sectors. Carol is co-author of The OnTarget Board Member: 8 Indisputable Behaviors published by the Elim Group and The Policy Governance Fieldbook published by Jossey Bass. She and her partners, Catherine Raso and Mike Conduff, have organized and facilitated a highly successful series of 11 symposia for Policy Governance practitioners. She is a past board member of the International Policy Governance Association.
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Gail Harcourt-Roberts has been a senior communications practitioner for more than 25 years and a trainer/facilitator for more than thirty years.
With her partner Bart, they founded their highly specialized consulting, training and facilitation practice in 1990, Mindszenthy&Roberts. Since then they have focused on organizational change, conflict, crisis and issues management, and strategic communications planning. During the past 19 years they’ve worked with more than 170 organizations, across all sectors and in several countries.
In association with the Niagara Institute, Gail and Bart developed and delivered training programs in the areas of strategic communications planning and crisis management. A number of their management skills development programs are in broad application across the private and public sectors. Gail has facilitated strategic planning sessions with physicians, boards of directors and management teams.
Gail has also held management positions in the entertainment industry and international banking. She is an associate faculty member in the Royal Roads MBA program and serves as a director of the AKW Charity. She is past Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Speech Foundation (which address the developmental needs of children with severe speech disabilities).
Gail and Bart have spearheaded delicate and strategic communications planning and support for what until recently was the largest North American financial institution collapse; the collapse of the Red Cross; the Toronto SARS/Rolling Stones concert, and what is called Canada’s ‘sports scandal of the century’
As well, they are frequent presenters at conferences and corporate retreats. The firm also has developed and licenses a suite of communications-based training programs to help employees understand how to behave strategically in their communications; how to break down cross-cultural barriers to effective communications; and, how to plan and develop effective issues/briefing notes.
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Laura Lee Langley began her career as a journalist in the early 1980's. She has worked in both radio and television, as a reporter, anchor and producer, making a career transition to public relations and strategic communication in the late 1990's. Since making that change, she has developed a specific expertise in communication for leaders and employees, and strategic management - interests she discovered while completing a Masters in Public Administration at Dalhousie University (2002).
In June 2004, she was appointed the first Assistant Deputy Minister for Communications Nova Scotia - a full service communications agency supporting the province of Nova Scotia. In January, 2010 she became Acting Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture and Heritage and in January 2011 was appointed Deputy Minister of Communities, Culture and Heritage as part of the Nova Scotia government's change agenda.
She is a part-time faculty member at Mount Saint Vincent University - and a consultant offering professional development training in the corporate world. Laura Lee is an active contributor in her community, having served as a member of the board of directors of the Atlantic Journalism Awards, and several community organizations including Bedford and District Minor Hockey Association, Scotia Soccer Club, the Canadian Public Relations Society, Halifax Dance, and Phoenix House Centre for Youth.
Laura Lee is known as a champion for diversity and inclusiveness, and has been recognized by the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission as a Champion of the Workplace for her work in this area.
She is married, with two children – one a student at St. FX, the other a high school student in Fall River.
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Alex Lowy is co-author of several best-selling business books including The Power of the 2 x 2 Matrix (Jossey Bass, 2004, with Phil Hood) and Digital Capital (Harvard Business School Press, 2000, with Don Tapscott & David Ticoll). His new book, No Problem, was published in 2007, and is being taught in business schools in Canada, the USA and Malaysia. Alex’s expertise is primarily in the field of business strategy, with strong emphasis on innovation and process design.
He began his career as an educator, and spent ten years as Director of Training & Development for the City of Toronto. Following this, he joined Shell Canada where he helped to design and launch a series of high performance work sites. In 1994 he co-founded a think tank called The Alliance for Converging Technologies with Don Tapscott and David Ticoll. As head of research and then President of the firm, he helped build the company to sixty consultants serving a global client list of over 30 major corporations.
Alex consults widely as a strategic advisor and educator, helping organizations address major dilemmas in a systematic and effective manner. His clients have included technology firms (HP, IBM), banks (CIBC, BMO) resources companies (Shell) and government (Province of Ontario, City of Toronto, Metropolitan Toronto Police Force). He is an adjunct faculty member at three business schools (Schulich, Toronto, Saint Mary’s, Halifax and Memorial, Newfoundland) where he teaches critical thinking skills to executives. He writes extensively on the topic of strategy and decision-making, with articles in such journals as Strategy & Leadership, Business 2.0 and Group & Organization Studies.
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A nurse-lawyer with a Diploma in Nursing from the Prince Edward Island School of Nursing, a Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing from the University of New Brunswick and a Bachelor of Laws from Osgoode Hall Law School, Patsy brings twenty-one years of practical experience in the delivery of health care services and as a senior public servant with the provincial government. She practiced adult and pediatric nursing for eleven years before entering law school in 1990. Upon graduation she returned to the Health and Social Services System in Prince Edward Island to serve in various positions as an Assistant Director of Nursing of Acute Care and Mental Health Services, a senior policy analyst, legal counsel and later as the Interim Executive Director of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Patsy broadened her public sector experience serving as Assistant Deputy Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General with the Office of the Attorney General. As a management consultant and partner at HRA, Patsy works on many projects within the health, social services, and education sector in the area of strategic policy and planning, facilitation and negotiation. Patsy particularly enjoys the opportunity to apply an interest-based process to her work whether that be problem-solving with her public and private sector clients or facilitating tripartite discussions amongst Federal, Provincial and First Nations Government representatives.
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Dr. Montgomerie has been consulting in the area of strategic management for over 15 years, establishing a record of success in challenging and demanding circumstances. He has developed proven experience in supporting senior management in the theory, techniques and application of the concepts of public involvement and strategic management in the public, private and voluntary sectors. Ian has demonstrated experience in the areas of strategic, business, and policy planning; public involvement; survey and research methodology; facilitation; service quality and alternative service delivery; cross-organizational initiatives; and organizational change.
Ian brings 15 years of experience in policy development, consultation, and strategic planning with the Government of Alberta. During a varied and challenging career in public service, Ian acquired a breadth of experience that provides a comprehensive understanding of policy-making processes throughout government, extending from policy research to the decision-making systems of Cabinet.
In 1994, Ian completed a Ph.D. in Educational Administration at the University of Alberta. His research concentrated on the management of the public policy process, with a dissertation addressing the role of public consultation in the formulation of public policy. He is a Past-President of the Wild Rose (Alberta) Chapter of the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) and Past Board Chair of the Canadian Cancer Society, Alberta/NWT Division.
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Françoise has been a Faculty Member at Queen’s University’s prestigious Industrial Relations Centre since 1994, and was made a Fellow in 2006 (www.industrialrelationscentre.com). She has played a key role in developing and implementing a suite of new Organizational Development programs intended for practitioners, which are delivered all across Canada.
As a consultant, Françoise is a major contributor to the field of Organizational Development. Her practice takes her all over the country and internationally.
She offers services that enhance the performance of organizations, teams and individuals. Her main area of expertise is Leadership Development; through a variety of interventions, Françoise helps leaders, organizations and communities enhance their leadership capacity. She is a much in demand speaker in both official languages and regularly presents at major conferences across the country and abroad.
With HR expert Amal Henein, CHRP, she has written Made in Canada Leadership, published by John Wiley and Sons, Canada in May 2007. The book is the product of a large research on best practices on leadership excellence and development, featuring the wisdom of 295 exceptional leaders and 66 leadership development professionals from all sectors of the economy and regions of the country. It has now become a Canadian top ten bestselling business book and has received many accolades. The authors are now moving forward with the implementation of the book’s recommendations. www.leadership-canada.com
In 2008, Françoise was made a Fellow of the prestigious Wallace McCain Institute for business leadership, whose mission is to expand the leadership capacity of New Brunswick most promising entrepreneurs. This initiative constitutes a cornerstone of the province’s vision and strategic plan for an autonomous, sustainable and prosperous future. www.wallacemccaininstitute.com
Françoise sits on the editorial advisory board for HR Professional, the bi-monthly publication of HRPA, and serves as a judge on the prestigious Excalibur HR Tournament which pits university students from across the country in a case solving competition.
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With two primary goals: to create an organization and attain relationships with others to bring out the best in everyone with whom she works; and to work with clients to help them achieve similar outcomes, Susan brings values-centered leadership into the corporate world. She has the uncanny ability to find and open spaces in organizations where creativity and a fresh perspective can germinate and grow.
As a teacher, master facilitator, Executive coach, accomplished consultant and research collaborator, Ms Nind has contributed to and learned from a diversity of organizations, leaders and colleagues.
Susan’s approach is built on her gift of systemic conceptualizing and seeing the “big picture” coupled with the ability to bring together seemingly disparate aspects and diverging agendas. She engages the passion of individuals in a vision that allows everyone to see their role and understand the essential part they play in creating the future for their organization.
Areas of Expertise:
Facilitating Transformation - has the gift of deep listening and the ability to ‘walk a mile in the moccasins’ of others, inviting them to connect with and live from their personal sense of purpose; facilitates experiential learning for leaders at all levels of organizations; models Transformational Leadership. She has engaged primarily with large healthcare and public sector organizations.
Organizational/Coaching/Therapeutic Context - effectively completes individual, and team/organizational assessments/culture audits; creates environment where synergistic solutions can be found; inspires personal and team development and growth; coordinates services and action plans.
Curriculum Design/Teaching/Public Education Context - intentionally matches content and methods to achieve desired outcomes; develops educational materials and workshop designs; devises innovative learning and evaluation methods; fosters self-directed and collaborative learning; presents at conferences, seminars and leadership retreats-to groups from 10-250+.
Research/Program Development Context - Conducts effective needs analysis, data analysis, report writing; designs viable model programs for intervening and curtailing the rising spiral of dysfunction in teams and groups; prepares proposals and projected budgets; implements comprehensive selection procedure for applicant selection.
Education:
Master of Science Degree - Family and Consumers Studies, Specialization in Marital and Family Therapy- with Distinction, University of Guelph, 1983
Bachelor of Arts, University of Waterloo, 1973
Diploma in Applied Arts, Early Childhood Education, Conestoga College, Kitchener, Ontario, 1973
Susan is co-owner of Insights Learning and Development (Atlantic) since 2001, lives in Fredericton, NB and has 3 grown children who are the light of her life. She travels widely for work and pleasure and spends as much time outdoors as her schedule will allow, biking, hiking, and gardening.
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A Commonwealth, World and Olympic Champion rower, Dr. Jennifer Walinga draws heavily upon her experience as an elite athlete when facilitating personal and organizational change and development. An educator for 20 years, she is a professor of Communication at Royal Roads University in Victoria, BC. Her areas of teaching and research include organizational communication, research methods, strategic planning, and decision-making grounded in theories of optimal performance, creative insight, and leadership. Along with her partner, Dr. Tanis Farish, Jennifer operates Integrated Focus Consulting, a performance consulting firm that prepares individuals and organizations for peak performance. Integrated Focus interventions blend organizational, educational, and sport psychology in order to penetrate barriers, confront the challenges of change, and unlock innovative solutions. Jennifer is currently facilitating projects in both the public and private sectors with a special emphasis on problem solving, human sustainability, and organizational learning.
Centre for Life-Long Learning
