Board of directors

James Doak - Vice president

James Doak has over 30 years investment experience including research analyst, proprietary trading and investment management. He is currently Chairman of the Board of Khan Resources Inc. and a director of Cascades Inc., Eurocopter Canada Ltd. and Purepoint Uranium Group Inc. He is past Chair of Alliance Française de Toronto, Toronto French School and the Toronto Society of Financial Analysts. He established the Robert Salter Fellowship at the Hospital for Sick Children. Mr. Doak has published a number of columns in two Canadian financial publications. He holds a Diplôme des Etudes Collégiales from McGill University and a B.A. Economics from the University of Toronto and a Chartered Financial Analyst designation

Therese Gaudry

TGV & Assoc (mgt consultant to public and not-for-profit corporations);

Formerly: Pres, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute Foundation 2000-01; Exec Director Jules and Paul Émile Léger Foundation 1995-99; Pres. Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation 1992-94 (VP 1988-92)

Other: VP French Ctee City of Toronto 2002-09; Consultative Ctee Member MBA Program in Phi-lanthropy York University 1994-03; Co-Founder, Pres. Prof Assn of Philanthropic Execs 1988-09

Ed.: MBA University of Quebec at Montreal, M.Phil University of London (UK), BA History Con-cordia University

Hon. Bill Graham

Former MP Toronto-Centre-Rosedale (1993 to 2007), Min of Foreign Affairs 2002-04) Min of National Defence 2004-06) Leader of the Official Opposition 2006 Interim Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada 2006

Currently : Chancellor Trinity College, Univ. of Toronto 2007-09; Chair, Atlantic Council of Canada; Co-Vice Chair Canadian International Council; Hon. L.Col. Governor General’s Horse Guards (2008)

Eric Jennings

Director of Graduate studies and Associate Professor of History, UofT

Ed.: PhD French History, Univ of Calif Berekely, 1998

Other: author books and articles in French and on French colonial history; board of editors of several historical societiesl; dual citizen: France-Canada

Hon. Robert Kaplan

Lawyer Davies Ward & Beck

Formerly: MP (25 years - 1968-93), retired 1993

Other: VP Alliance Française, represented Canada at the General Assembly of the UN

Ed: LLB Un of Ottawa

Other: Chevalier de l'Ordre de la Légion d'Honneur

Akshara Kothari

Akshara Kothari is a Business Analyst in the Toronto office of SECOR Consulting, a Montreal-based management consulting firm. Prior to joining SECOR, she worked with Travelex Worldwide, a multi-national foreign exchange company, and Barclays Global Investors. Akshara completed a year at the Grande École ESSEC in Paris before graduating as a Beta Gamma Sigma scholar from the School of Business at Queen’s University, where she acted as Co-Chair of the Equality Issues Committee.

Education: Queen’s School of Business (Kingston), Grande École ESSEC (Paris)

Previously: Travelex Worldwide (Toronto); Barclays Global Investors (Toronto)

Other: Instructor, Junior Achievement (Toronto); Co-Chair, Equality Issues Committee (Kingston); Teaching Assistant, Queen’s School of Business (Kingston)

Jennifer Lang

Jennifer has worked for over 18 years as head of communications, both in the public and private sectors, as well as for various federal and provincial politicians. She is currently Director of Communications at the Ministry of Tourism and Culture and at the Ontario Senior’s Secretariat, where she handles strategic communications. From 2007 to 2009, she was Director of Communications at the Ministry of Government Services. In that capacity, she was responsible for all internal communications in the Ontario public service, working for 28 different ministry programs, including ServiceOntario, HROntario, as well as for the Office of the Corporate Chief Information and Information Technology Officer. Her first position in communications in the Ontario public service was that of Director of Communications for the Ministry of Intergovernmental Affairs, from 2005 to 2007. There, she managed the communications for various Premiers’ meetings and provided advice on strategic communications related to intergovernmental issues, such as budgetary imbalances and the equity campaign.

Before rejoining the Ontario public service, Jennifer held different positions, including Director of Communications in the Toronto regional office of the Department of Canadian Heritage, where she organized forums on cultural diversity, in the presence of interested parties and various media. Previously, she was Vice-President of accounts in General Service and Public Relations at Edelman Public Relations Worldwide, where she advised clients such as the CBC, Parmalat and Home Depot in the area of strategic communications, and handled several communications files in situations of crisis.

Prior to holding these positions, Jennifer worked for 10 years in provincial and federal politics, for both Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and Allan Rock, while he was Minister of Justice and Sollicitor General of Canada.

Jennifer has a BA in sociology and French from McMaster University, as well as a Masters in 17th Century French Literature from Queen’s University. She currently sits on the board of directors of the Théâtre français de Toronto and is an avid jogger.

Gail Lord

President, Lord Cultural Resources Planning & Management Inc., 1981–09 (to present); specializ-ing in Management Consulting, Facilities Plan-ning, Exhibition Development, Heritage Site Man-agement

Formerly: was with the Information Branch, Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, 1980–81; Instructor, Art History and Multi–disciplinary Studies, Ryerson University, Toronto, 1970–75; Art Critic and Feature Writer for the Toronto Star, 1964–69; Commentator on weekly CBC national broadcast, The Arts in Review, 1968–70 Contributor to Chatelaine, Toronto Telegram, Toronto Calendar, and other publications Authored publications include The Manual of Museum Management, The Manual of Museum Exhibitions

Ed: Graduate Studies, History, U of T 1968–70; Hon. B.A. History, U of T 1968

Deni Martin

Corporate controller Desgrippes Gobe Group 2001-09, International branding and design agency.

Formerly: Senior Audit Mgr BDO Dunwoody, LLP CA’s 1995-99

Other: Bd Mbr Etobicoke Municipal Employees’ Credit Union,

Ed : B.Comm, UofToronto.

Gordon McIvor - President

VP Strategic Acquisitions, Public and Government Affairs, Cda Lands Company, 1995-09

Formerly: VP, Public Affairs, CN Real Estate, 1988-95

Other Boards: Pointe-à-Callière Archeology Museum, Montréal; Vision TV (Board of Directors), Communications and Public Relations Foundation (National Board of Directors)

Previous Boards: Bd Mbr, President Le français pour l’avenir/French for the Future***,, Canadian Unity Council (Board of Governors)

Paul Perron

Former Principal University College, U of T

Author: 30 books

Formerly: professor (semiotics), head Dept French Studies UofT

Ed: Doctorate French Studies, Un of Bordeaux early education in Manitoba and B.C.

Boards: Board Mbr Alliance Française (2001-04), Mbr Standing Ctee on Policy & Planning and Standing Ctee on Nominations--Ontario Council of Ontario Universities

Other: Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Legion d’Honneur; Officer Ordre des Palmes Académiques (for services to French culture)

Donald Rumball - Treasurer

Born in South Africa in 1941, Donald Rumball has lived in the U.K and Canada since 1963. In 1962, he obtained his B.A. at Witwatersrand University, majoring in Mathematics, French and Economics. In 1966, he became a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries (F.I.A.) in London.

He left the actuarial profession in 1972 to become a journalist for the Financial Post, where he rose to become Business Editor, winning numerous prizes and awards for his writing. In 1981, he started Canada’s first national magazine for entrepreneurs, The Magazine That’s All About Small Business (now called Profit), leading it through its growth pangs to become both widely respected and profitable by the time he left in 1987. He has since contributed to several major newspapers and magazines. Since 1975, he has been a regular commentator on business and economics for Radio Canada and the French channel of TV Ontario.

Since 1981, he has concentrated primarily on entrepreneurs. He has published three books – The Entrepreneurial Edge (1988), Peter Munk: The making of a Modern Tycoon (1996 and 1997) and The University Club of Toronto: Its Life, Its Times (2009); he has completed two other manuscripts – a biography of Sándor Demján, a highly successful Hungarian entrepreneur who succeeded under both communism and capitalism (to be published in 2010) and a biography of Frank Stronach, Chairman and Founder of Magna International, which was not published.

During 1991-93, he ran a national network of entrepreneurs (the National Entrepreneurship Development Institute), sponsored by the federal government, and played a major role in creating a comparable network in Ontario (the Innovators Alliance). He has consulted to the publishing industry and to clients of the Industrial Research Assistance Program, on strategy, marketing and financing. He has also designed seminar programs for new entrepreneurs for the Business Development Bank of Canada.

He was Entrepreneur-in-residence at the Centre for Entrepreneurship in the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Toronto (1993-95) and Executive-in-residence at Ryerson University (1995-97). He was named a Fellow of Ryerson in 1990. He has served on the boards of the Canadian Council of Small Business and Entrepreneurship and the International Council for Small Business. He has researched and written numerous studies (in both official languages) on entrepreneurs for the federal and Ontario governments, especially those committed to rapid growth. He also led a research program at the University of Toronto on entrepreneurship in the arts and cultural sector. He designed the intellectual content for the Toronto Stock Exchange’s Visitor Centre (Stock Market Place), including a video on the history of money and several games illuminating the role of the stock market in the economy.

He is Past President of the University Club of Toronto and York Cricket Club, as well as Pleiades Theatre and is currently the President of Théâtre français de Toronto. He has also served on a number of volunteer boards, including the Alliance Française de Toronto and the Lycée Français de Toronto.

Solange Strom

Solange Strom is currently the President of the French Chamber of Commerce in Canada. Born in Lyon, her father was from Marseille and her mother from Montreal. She arrived in Canada in 1989 and first settled in Montreal where she worked for Laboratoires Boiron before moving to Vancouver, where she met her husband and founded a family. Attached to her father’s Provencal culture, she opened a shop “L’Occitane en Provence” in Vancouver in 1999 and one year later, after taking over the distribution of L’Occitane in Canada she opened a second shop in Toronto. Managing 12 shops until 2009, this Franco-Canadian was involved in the Charitable Foundation of l’Occitane, which helps people with sensory disabilities.

Formerly : CEO and owner of « L’Occitane en Provence” Canada, Toronto, 1999-2009 ; Communication director and new strategies coordinator for STROMS PHARMACIES, 1997-1999, Vancouver Island, BC ; Director of sales for Western Canada 1994-1996, sales representative and medical trainer 1989- 1994, LABORATOIRES BOIRON, Montréal.

Education : EMBA McGill-HEC 2012 ; Lyon Medical School, France (1979-1985).

Awards : Best Bistributor of L’Occitane International 2007 ; Profit 100- Canada’s Fastest Growing Companies 2007; Profit W100 - Canada’s Top Women Entrepreneurs, ranked in 2005, 2006 et 2007 ; France – Canada personality of the year 2003.

Others : Foreign Trade Adviser for France; Founding committee member of Club Excellence 2005-2009 ; Volunteer for Sick Kids “Scrubs in the City” 2000-2003.

Francine Watkins - Secretary

Pres. Francine Watkins Translation Services Inc, 1999-09; Prof. Translation, Glendon College Formerly: Director Communications & Information Services Metro Toronto 1997-99; Director Translation and Interpretation Metro Toronto 1991-99; Asst Regional Director - Official Languages Ontario Region of Dep’t of Secretary Of State 1989-91

Ed: DEUG Certificat de maîtrise d’anglais 1972-73 and DEUG d’études françaises, University of Strasbourg

Other: Pres Parent-Teacher Assn of Gabrielle-Roy (2 yrs), Mbr-founder Council of French Schools of Metro Toronto, Bd Mbr French Canadian Assn of Ontario, Mbr of French Ctee of City of Toronto