Shirley Madill – President
Executive Director, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery
Shirley Madill is the Executive Director of the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery. Prior, she was Curator of Contemporary Art and Photography at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, Chief Curator and Director of Programming at the Art Gallery of Hamilton and later Vice-President and C.O.O., Director and CEO at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, and Director/Curator, Rodman Hall Art Centre, Brock University. In 2009 she completed the Getty Institute Museum Leadership program in Los Angeles and in 2015 completed the International Leadership Programme in Visual Arts Management from Deusto University and Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain and New York University Steinhardt. In 1993 Madill spent a year’s residency in Valenciennes and Pontoise, France.
Shirley has served on the Boards of the International Council of Museums Canada; Ontario Association of Art Galleries and Canadian Art Museum Directors Organization as well as the BIA Board, City of Kitchener, and served on varous public art working committees and arts and culture committees at the City of Kitchener, St. Catharines, Victoria and Hamilton.
She has also taught courses at the University of Winnipeg, University of Manitoba, Brock University, and Museum Management and Cultural Resource Management at the University of Victoria.
Bryn Jones – Vice President
Professor and Program Coordinator, Building Systems Engineering, Conestoga College
Bryn Jones, M.A.Sc., P.Eng., is a Professor of Building Systems Engineering in the School of Engineering & IT at Conestoga College, manages business development with Mapply and is an Adjunct Professor of Building System Services at the University of Waterloo. Bryn has over 15 years of engineering experience in building systems engineering and asset management within the arts and public sectors. Bryn has collaborated with ArtsBuild Ontario for the past 6+-years working through, and helping develop, the Asset Planner for the Arts program, as well as the Creative Spaces Mentoring Network program.
Bryn works with client organizations and strategic partners to design and execute integrated asset management strategies from the ground up, as well as evolve currently in-place programs. Bryn specializes in facility condition assessments, data management, strategy development, and financial analysis to support decision-making and infrastructure capital spending for building owners and managers while balancing cost, profit, and risk.
As a College professor, Bryn teaches courses in Thermodynamics, building science, HVAC, fire protection and materials engineering to undergraduates within the Building Systems Engineering, Building Interior Design and Architectural Project and Facility Management degree programs. Bryn’s research focuses on improving building systems performance in the areas of occupant comfort and user experience, fire protection, risk-based life cycle modelling, and building analytics through laboratory testing, field monitoring, and economic simulations.
Bryn’s overall goal is to educate building owners, managers and the next generation of buildings professionals to improve the success of capital projects. He is also an elected board member of the Rotary Club of Kitchener (established in 1922).
Bill Ralph – Treasurer
Special Advisor, Infrastructure Ontario’s Loan Program
With over 25 years of financial and managerial experience with the Government of Ontario, Bill is a proven leader in shaping the way that infrastructure projects are financed and delivered in Ontario. He established the Ontario Strategic Infrastructure Financing Authority (OSIFA) – an innovative, affordable and efficient public infrastructure loan program and the first of its kind in Canada. Prior to OSIFA, Bill led the development of Ontario’s Infrastructure Planning, Finance and Procurement Framework as well as a number of high-profile projects for the Ministry of Finance.
Bill has an Honours BA in Economics from Queen’s University and an MBA from York University.
Zainub Verjee – Secretary & Advisory Committee Chair
Executive Director, Galleries Ontario Galeries (GOG)
Zainub Verjee, currently the Executive Director of Galleries Ontario Galeries (GOG), Toronto, is an accomplished leader in the art and culture sector and over four decades has shaped culture policy at all levels of governments and contributed to building of cultural institutions and organizations in Canada and internationally.
Newly politicized at Simon Fraser University in the mid-70s, fully engaged with Feminist Labour history as well as Artists-run-centres, the setback of the Applebaum-Hébert Cultural Review Committee Report (1982) and second wave of feminism was seized upon by Zainub to put the agenda of women and race on the table. She was directly instrumental in the founding of cultural institutions In Visible Colours; B.C.Arts Council; Vancouver Asian Heritage Month; Racial Equity Office in Canada Council for the Arts and developed policy initiatives, advanced vital interests of artists, and created spaces and access for artists across different disciplines in Canada.
Zainub has served as a public servant over decades of an effective role on all sides of the table. At City of Mississauga, her work as the inaugural Director led to setting up of its Culture Division and the first Culture Master Plan. As Senior Policy Advisor, Department of Canadian Heritage and Program Officer at the Canada Council for the Arts, she served on cross-sectoral portfolios.
Zainub is an accomplished writer, critic, curator, contemporary artist and public intellectual. At the forefront of the two decades of cultural politics of the 1980s and 1990s in Canada, Zainub was the co-founder and Festival director of the critically acclaimed In Visible Colours: An International Film/Video Festival & Symposium for Third World Women and Women of Colour (1988-90). She was co-guest editor of The Capilano Review and has published in numerous academic, cultural and critical fora including, Leonardo Journal (MIT), Kinesis, Parallelogram, Fuse, Horizon, Canadian Art Magazine, Journal of Art and the Public Sphere etc. She is invited to speak nationally and internationally, on cultural policy, contemporary art and cultural diplomacy.
Her art work has been shown at the Venice Biennale, Museum of Modern Art, NY, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland US, and resides in private and public collections (Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada).
Steven Ayer
CEO & Founder, Common Good Strategies Consulting
Steven Ayer is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Common Good Strategies, a social impact research firm based in Kitchener, ON. He is a social strategist, data scientist, and public speaker. Combining his extensive management & social impact experience, Steven leads projects that bring a wealth of knowledge & networks to clients seeking strategy and research support. Steven is the author of dozens of reports on the nonprofit sector, corporate social responsibility, fundraising, revenue development strategies, and social issues like affordable housing, precarious work, food insecurity, and mental health. Steven has had senior strategy and marketing roles in several of Canada’s largest organizations, in both the private and charitable sector.
Tara Mazurk
Director of Arts & Culture, PAA Advisory | Conseils
Tara brings 10 years of experience in arts management and cultural policy, with a particular focus on the not-for-profit and charitable sector, network stewardship and coalition-building. Her expertise in policy writing, strategic monitoring, and stakeholder engagement helps clients easily understand and navigate relevant federal policies and programs. Outside of her work at PAA, Tara helped co-found Mass Culture, a Canadian cultural research network. She also regularly guest lectures at universities and colleges to support the next generation of professionals. Tara holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Arts Management and Studio Art from the University of Toronto.