Renascent’s Boards of Directors
Renascent is comprised of two strategically aligned organizations, each governed by its own Board of Directors. Renascent Fellowship is governed by the Renascent Fellowship Board of Directors and is an accredited leader in the provision of addiction treatment services in Ontario. Renascent Foundation is governed by the Renascent Foundation Board, and is dedicated to supporting the work of the Renascent Fellowship through revenue generation and asset management. Together, the two Boards of Directors work in a joint manner to provide strategic governance and direction to the organizations.
All Board members have a passion to help people recover from substance addictions so that they can reach their full potential — with compassion, respect, empathy, and understanding.
The Boards meet jointly at least quarterly to share information. We have a committee structure to guide our work. Our Annual General Meeting is held in September.
Karen Martin, President and Chair, Renascent Fellowship and Renascent Foundation Boards
Chief Practice Information Officer (CPIO) and Senior Director Health Professions & Practice Transformation for University Health Network (UHN). Through both of these roles, Karen is responsible for creating and implementing clinical practice and digital transformation mandates for UHN. With overall accountability for Health Professions Practice across the 4 hospitals of UHN, Karen provides corporation-wide leadership for directors, managers, clinical leaders and point-of-care staff. Karen additionally holds operational accountability for Spiritual Care and Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) clinical services for UHN.
Karen has held a number of progressive clinical & leadership positions in healthcare and the social services sector; most recently, prior to UHN, as Executive Director for Clinical Information Transformation at the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health (CAMH), where she was the organizational lead for the procurement, design, build and implementation of CAMH’s clinical information system.
Karen holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology (Dalhousie University) and a Master of Social Work Degree (with Distinction) & Graduate Diploma in Social Administration (both, Wilfrid Laurier University). She also notably holds Health Information Technology Leadership Certification from Harvard University School of Public Health (Boston) and is Adjunct Professor at the Factor-Inwentash School of Social Work and a Lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry, both at the University of Toronto.
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Sue Jaffe, Past President and Chair, Renascent Fellowship and Renascent Foundation Boards
Bio forthcoming
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Ron Brooks, Treasurer, Renascent Fellowship and Renascent Foundation Boards
I am a finance professional with extensive experience as Chief Financial Officer of both private and public companies in North America, a Bank executive, Board Member, and Financial Consultant. I am presently, CFO of a major Credit Union in Hamilton and am a Board Member and Chair of the Audit Committee of the Global Financial Group of Companies with Assets Under Administration of $1 billion. I am a CPA, CA, and I hold the designation ICD.D after completing the Directors Education Program at Rotman School of Management in 2016.
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Board of Directors: Renascent Fellowship
James Clarkson, Renascent Fellowship
Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA), who is the Managing Director and Treasurer of the Toronto Transit Commission Pension Fund Society (TTCPFS). With almost approximately 20 years of experience in the financial industry, my background includes progressively senior roles at Ernst & Young LLP on the Assurance Advisory Business Solutions team, Financial Services at London Capital Management (Investment Management division at London Life Insurance Company), and at Kraft Foods. As the Managing Director and Head of Finance at the TTCPFS, he oversees a number of functions including the annual external audit of approximately $8 billion of invested capital (head of Audit Committee), employee benefits, payroll for retirees and staff, expense budgets and is a regular presenter at all Board and Annual General Meetings.
Involved in the high-level strategic planning for the TTCPFS alongside the CEO, Managing Director of Investments, and Director of Administration. He attended the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario and obtained an Honors Business Administration degree. Lastly, he has been actively engaged in a number of volunteer roles, which included
Ambassador for the RBC Run for the Kids, to support access to mental health services for youth, and currently also volunteers as a Director for the United Church Pension Plan Advisory Committee. In his spare time, he enjoys running and skiing.
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Akwatu Khenti, Renascent Fellowship
Assistant Deputy Minister for Ontario’s Anti-Racism Directorate, Cabinet Office, Akwatu was formerly Director of Transformative Global Health at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and Assistant Professor with the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. Akwatu has a Specialist Degree in Economics and a Masters in Political Science, both from the University of Toronto. He also has a PhD in Health Policy and Equity from York University. Akwatu was involved in a wide variety of international efforts to strengthen mental health and addiction for marginalized communities; and previously led CAMH’s specialized drug treatment and prevention programs for Black youth in Toronto, the Substance Abuse Program for African and Caribbean Youth (SAPACCY). He has been a principal investigator (PI) on several important research initiatives; including a CIHR funded randomized control trial (RCT) to test an anti-stigma intervention in primary health care in Ontario as well as a Grand Challenge in Global Health-funded project to improve mental health conditions in Gujarat, India using human rights-based approaches. Akwatu also led a hemispheric drug research capacity-building collaboration for 10 years with the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission of the Organization of American States (CICAD, OAS. This involves 30 universities and National Drug Commissions across Latin America and the Caribbean. He also led the development of easy-to-follow, culturally adapted cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) interventions for immigrants of Latin American as well as African Caribbean origin (both English and French speaking).
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Susan Raphael, Renascent Fellowship
Susan Raphael joined the Client, Program and Quality Committee of the Renascent Board in Sept. 2014 and was elected to the Renascent Board of Directors in Dec. 2015. Susan is a mental health and addiction clinician, founder and principal of Sustainable Recovery Counselling in Toronto. A Canadian and Internationally Certified Alcohol and Drug Counsellor and Co-occuring Disorders Professional, Susan has a degree from Glendon College, York University, a graduate education in applied psychology from the University of Toronto and has specialized in addiction and recovery since 1999.
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Manu Sud, Renascent Fellowship
Manu Sud joined the Renascent Board in 2019. He is a seasoned executive leader in the field of Business Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence and focuses on using analytics and innovation to improve policies and programs. He has a strong academic background in Engineering, Law, Sciences and Business. With more than 15 years of progressively senior management positions, Manu has broad experience across multiple sectors and organizations including federal and state Governments, IT, Finance, Automotive, Crown corporation, hospitals, and academia. Manu is a published author and has received numerous awards including Ontario Government’s Amethyst Award.
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Board of Directors: Renascent Foundation
Stephanie White, Renascent Foundation
I am an addiction specialist with a business background and extensive experience working with clients and families across North America. I have lectured to universities across Ontario on the topic of addiction and the effects on the family. I have created and facilitated programming on addiction for the Ontario Correctional Institute in Brampton, Ontario. I have been on the Renascent Foundation Board since 2017 and the CPQ committee since 2018. I am a graduate of McMaster University. I presently hold the following addiction education designations: ICADC, CADC and PTSD levels 1 & 2 from the Hincks-Dellcrest Centre in Toronto, Canada.
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Tim Russ, Renascent Foundation
Managing Director at RUSSULTS, a private healthcare consultancy. Tim has over twenty-five years of experience in the healthcare industry in a variety of roles. He provides support to clients in terms of go-to-market strategies for new products, mentoring healthcare start-ups in the FemTech space and consultation on the creation of new private medical clinics. Tim has owned and operated his own fertility and acne clinics and has been involved in the creation of new clinics across Canada.
Tim has held several positions over the years in sales, marketing and business development of pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device products. He has also directly launched multiple products to the Canadian market as well as helping clients launch products nationally and internationally. Currently, he is a mentor and Advisory Board Member for several innovation and accelerator programs that are affiliated with Canadian Universities and FemTech organizations.
Tim is currently enrolled in the Healthcare Management certificate program at Cornell University. He received his MBA from the Schulich School of Business in finance and marketing and his B.Sc. from the University of Western Ontario in neuropsychology and biology.
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Money Khoromi, Renascent Foundation
Money Khoromi is an associate at Goodmans LLP, a full-service corporate law firm. His practice focuses on the areas of mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, securities, and general corporate law. Money acts for issuers and agents on public offerings, private placements, continuous disclosure obligations, general securities compliance, corporate governance matters, and more. Money holds a B.A.Sc. (Industrial Engineering) from the University of Toronto, a JD from Osgoode Hall Law School and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business. Over the course of his legal studies, Money was the recipient of numerous awards for academic standing including the Hennick Gold Medal for Academic Excellence awarded each year to the top student graduating from the Osgoode Hall Law School and Schulich School of Business Joint JD/MBA Program with the highest cumulative GPA. Prior to joining Goodmans, Money worked as an associate in the Business Law & Capital Markets group McMillan LLP, an international business law firm.
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Marilynne Madigan, Renascent Foundation
Marilynne Madigan has over 30 years of advisory experience within Professional Services, Human Capital, and International Consulting in the private and public, and non-profit sectors. She earned a B.A. Major in Sociology with a minor degree in Management at Concordia University. Since that time, she earned a postgraduate degree in Human Resource Management and is an accredited Canadian Human Resource Professional (C.H.R.P) Marilynne started her career in leadership positions in corporate human resources for two Canadian family-owned firms. She then was at Aon for 25 years in various capacities. In addition to starting the Human Capital Consulting practice, at Aon Consulting in Canada Marilynne had numerous executive leadership roles. The last is responsible for national client development and international client relationship management. This role also included National Marketing, Corporate Communications, and PR. Following Aon, she assumed a project role in the capacity of Managing Partner for Morneau Shepell to June 2016. Currently, Marilynne contributes as a Director on the Renascent Foundation Board, Volunteer at CAMH, Gifts of Light, and is a member of the CAMH Corporate Cabinet. Marilynne specializes in all areas of Human Capital – change, planning, and management from both a strategic and operational focus. A featured speaker for various professional organizations and a frequent contributor to industry publications/forums and education seminars. Marilynne’s personal focus is on understanding, educating, and eliminating the stigma of mental illness and addiction as a societal issue and making a difference while “giving back”. Supporting treatment and recovery by ensuring success through dignity and respect for the individual.
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Melanie Ormston, Renascent Foundation
Melanie Ormston is a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) with 15 years of progressive experience in fundraising, including eight years in management at national non-profits developing best-in-class donor relations programs and leading fundraising teams to success.
Melanie is the Senior Manager of Donor Relations at Kids Help Phone and part of their National Advancement team. Here, she has built a high-performing donor relations program from the ground up, improving donor and revenue retention. Previously, she led corporate and community fundraising teams at the Canadian Cancer Society to exceed revenue goals and expertly managed many of the charity’s largest partners.
Ensuring people can access quality health care – and that cost in never a barrier – is at the heart of Melanie’s career and lifetime commitment to giving, which began by volunteering alongside her mother as a young child and continues with her role on the Renascent Board of Directors.
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Stephen Waymire, Renascent Foundation
I was born in 1938 in Indianapolis, Indiana. After earning a BA from Wabash College and an MBA from Indiana University, I joined Eli Lilly and eventually became Director of Pricing Development. I have consulting experience with Peat Marwick and Partners, Boardroom Consultants, Equity Experiences, Boardroom Travel, and Yield Management.
I am married to Arlene and between us we have 7 children, 8 grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild.
My vocational interests include travel, reading, gardening, and volunteering with Renascent and other organizations who help people to live in the solution rather than the problem.
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Michael Younder, Renascent Foundation
Michael Younder is a Toronto based 25-plus year business veteran who’s worked across a variety of industries – the common purpose being product and partner development within technology services and platforms. These roles have taken him around the world and back and also saw him start his own data analytics company. In addition to serving on Renascent’s Board, Michael also volunteers his time with his local neighbourhood residents association, The Art Gallery of Ontario and WoodGreen, where he mentors new Canadians looking to enter the Canadian business world. When not doing that, he’s out on his bike, skis or windsurfer.
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New Board Members
David Struthers and Nick Banfield. Photos and Bios forthcoming.
Leadership
Leadership committed to helping people affected by addictions.