National Council

John Chippindale currently serves as the Vice Chairman at HKMB HUB International in Toronto, Ontario. With a career spanning several decades, he has a proven track record in the insurance and risk management industry, particularly in the fields of Enterprise Risk Management and Program Administration. His expertise extends across various industries, including automotive, manufacturing, financial institutions, healthcare, real estate, and religious organizations. 

John's career highlights include a remarkable 15-year tenure at HUB International, where he holds the position of Vice Chairman and Partner. In this role, he is an integral member of the Executive Management Team (EMT), serving as the Manufacturing Practice Leader and playing a key role in business development. Notably, prior to that, John also spent a significant portion of his career at Marsh Canada Limited, where he served as the CEO of Global Consumer & Commercial Business. 

Diana Gazdar is a dynamic executive who connects higher purpose with customer centricity to consistently improve brand equity, capture market share, and develop new markets.

As Medline Canada’s Vice President of Marketing, Corporate Communications, and Consumer Sales, Diana is responsible for the brand, communications, and activation strategy across Acute, Long Term Care, Primary Care, and Dental channels. Diana also leads the go-to-market and P&L activities for the Home Healthcare and Retail channels.

In 2022, Diana led the integration and transformation of the Medline brand in Canada to connect to the company’s purpose of Together Improving Care™. Diana places superior customer experiences and digital innovation at the heart of Medline’s marketing strategy.

Diana is an executive sponsor for Medline Canada’s Brave Conversations and Women’s Alliance employee resource groups, which focus on starting critical conversations, unearthing biases, promoting access and inclusion, and mentoring and development opportunities for underrepresented employees.

Before joining Medline, Diana held sales and marketing leadership roles for technology and professional services organizations, including Xerox Canada and RR Donnelly. Diana currently serves on Medtech Canada’s Board of Directors and is a member of their Federal Affairs Committee. She is also proud to serve on the Arthritis Society’s National Council to help Fight the Fire of arthritis through awareness, education, advocacy, research and innovation.

President & Co-founder, Bosseini Developments

Alison is a Canadian retail leader and former President of Hudson’s Bay. Having held various Senior Executive roles over 20 years at HBC she was an integral part of the revitalization and growth of this iconic brand. Drawing on her extensive experience in merchandising, marketing, store operations and financial expertise Alison brings strategic oversight and insights that benefit the bottom-line. In a highly competitive and ever-changing industry she has ‘done it all’ with a strong sense of urgency balanced with a long-term view of where the business is going.

Alison is also an active member in the community, having served on the Board of Directors Providence Healthcare Foundation (part of the Unity Health Toronto hospital network) and is a member of Providence’s Strategic Advisory Council. As a contributor to The Collective Wisdom of High Performing Women (Barlow Publishing), Alison dedicates time mentoring and offering sage advice to young people — especially young women — about how they can move up in organizations while remaining true to themselves and to their families. Alison’s greatest joy comes from her wonderful children and husband and the success each of them has had while being her biggest fans.

Bill is currently the Regional Vice President for Desjardins Insurance, one of the largest financial institutions in Canada with more than 55,000 employees across the country. With 25+ years of experience in the insurance industry, Bill is recognized for his expertise, his passion for helping people be their best, and his proven track record of delivering results to clients. Since joining Desjardins in 2019, he has played a key role in the expansion of the organization outside of Quebec and in reshaping the entrepreneurial culture. Bill is known as a transparent leader with a collaborative and innovative approach to people, products and solutions. He is a member of the Benefits Canada Healthcare Survey Steering Committee as well as the National Council for the Arthritis Society Canada.
Bill holds an honours BA in Economics from York University and has a passion for construction and design.

Venture Partner, Lumira Ventures

Senior Vice President, Head Atlantic Provinces
BMO Corporate Bank

Specialist, Marketing & Client Relations
Bennett Jones SLP

Since he co-founded Kanish & Partners in 2000, Kanish has been committed to providing high-quality consulting advice and accounting services to small and medium-sized, owner-operated businesses. Kanish is both a Chartered Accountant and a Certified Management Accountant. He has more than three decades of experience in public practice focusing on Assurance Services, Tax, Corporate Finance, and Business Consulting.

He is recognized not only for his professionalism in his chosen field, but also for his entrepreneurial spirit and his dedication to finding growth-oriented solutions for clients.

Contributing to the larger community also plays a major role in his life as Kanish has donated his time to many organizations. He sat on the Providence Healthcare Foundation Board of Directors and was an advisor and counselor to the Association of Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario. In addition, he continues to be actively involved in several other non-profit charities and cultural groups.

Prior to Dye and Durham, Keith joined Emergis in 2001 and held various senior positions in the financial services sector, Keith was appointed Senior Vice-President, Financial Services Market in January 2007, in this role, he was responsible for the growth and management of the Emergis’ bank-centric business in the financial services sector, including managing the consolidated TELUS Financial Solutions portfolio after the acquisition of Emergis in 2008.  In 2014, Keith joined the TELUS Health Benefits & Payment Solutions managing Sales & Business Development and continuing on in 2020 by joining TELUS Business Solutions. In December 2021, Dye and Durham acquired TELUS Financial Solutions, where Keith continues to oversee the Financial Solutions business, helping Financial Institutions connect with their customers.

Mr. Nugara has over 30 years of experience in banking, insurance and financial services. He has held various positions with a major Canadian bank in operations, product management and sales. Previously, he managed his own consulting company specializing in technology solutions for electronic payments in the financial services sector.

Mr. Nugara holds an Honours Bachelor of Commerce in Business Administration from the University of Windsor. He received a Certificate for the completion of the Executive Leadership Program from the Rotman & INSEAD School of Business and Harvard Business School. He has Co-chaired several United Way campaigns and TELUS Cares events. He is a member of the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP), the Canadian Institute of Mortgage Brokers and Lenders (CIMBL) and Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD).  Keith is a former Member of the Board of Directors of the Interac Association, Scarborough Health Network and is currently on the board for Scarborough Business Association and Arthritis Society

Melanie Philip is the Associate Vice President Quality & Integrations for BGIS Global Integrated Solutions. She is responsible for the quality and continuous improvement strategy, implementation and maintenance of ISO Quality Standard 9001:2015. Melanie has built a strong team to drive value from the standard’s framework in productivity and cost effectiveness for BGIS and its customers and bring innovation to their service delivery. She is also responsible for the integration of acquisitions to BGIS technology and processes. She is passionate about driving results through building high performing teams.

Prior to this position, Melanie spent 21 years at Xerox Canada in sales, finance and continuous improvement roles. Using her finance and sales background, she became a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt leading transformational projects driving both strategic and profit focused results.

Melanie holds an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree from McMaster University. She lives in Toronto with her husband and has 2 children.

Nadia Malik is currently the Quality Manager for the Challenger Business Aircraft at Bombardier. Nadia started her career at Bombardier Aerospace as a summer intern and was hired upon graduation. Nadia has been extremely fortunate to have worked in many different roles with increasing responsibility throughout here 15 years including customer support engineering, project engineering, product planning/marketing, customer experience and now quality/production. Nadia graduated from McGill University with a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering followed by an MBA at HEC Montreal.

Division Director at IG Wealth Management

President and CEO, Arthritis Society

Trish Barbato brings more than 20 years of experience as a senior executive in the fields of health and senior living. She has built an impressive reputation as a leader skilled at driving organizational change, guiding organizations to innovate, harnessing technology and inspiring people to achieve clear strategic objectives. Prior to joining the Arthritis Society in 2020, Trish served with senior living provider Revera Inc. for over a decade in a variety of roles, most recently as Senior Vice President, Innovation and Strategic Partnerships. She was previously President & CEO of COTA Health, a rehabilitation, mental health, and support services organization. Trish holds a degree from the University of Waterloo and is a Fellow Chartered Professional Accountant.

Chief Development Officer, Arthritis Society

Jennifer Stewart has been a professional fundraiser for almost three decades, including 20 years as president and CEO of Providence Healthcare Foundation. She joined the Arthritis Society as Chief Development Officer in Spring 2020 to lead the national development team.  Among her many achievements at Providence, Jennifer guided the completion of the $28-million campaign to build the Cardinal Ambrozic Houses of Providence and the $5-million endowment fund that sustains it.  At the Arthritis Society, she directs a clear and compelling fundraising vision, with a goal to raise $40 million fundraising dollars annually to fund the organization’s research, advocacy, and information solutions for people with arthritis. Jennifer holds an honours BA from Western University, and a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) designation.