MS Society Board of Directors 2022-2023

Susan Senecal (British Columbia), Chair

Susan Senecal is the President and Chief Executive Officer at A&W Food Services of Canada. In this role, Susan has responsibility for strategies to market and grow the business of one of the country’s top restaurant brands.

Susan joined A&W in 1992 and has held positions of increasing responsibility in Operations, Development and Marketing. She is a former Director and Past Chair of the Board of Restaurants of Canada and has also served as a Director on the Board of the British Columbia-based Coast Capital Savings. Susan holds a Bachelor of Science degree from McGill University.

Susan plays a major role in A&W’s work with MS Canada. For the past ten years, A&W and MS Canada have created a variety of fundraising events and activities leading up to Burgers to Beat MS Day in August. Since 2009 A&W has raised $ 13 million toward supporting MS Canada in its mission to find a cure for MS and improve the lives of those touched by MS.

John Clifford (Ontario), Vice Chair

John is a senior partner of McMillan LLP (Toronto), where he focuses his practice on M&A transactions. He has extensive experience advising a diverse group of clients on domestic and cross-border acquisitions and divestitures and the legal requirements for establishing new businesses in Canada. John also is a recognized expert on antitrust/competition matters.

John has been a dedicated volunteer of MS Canada since 2002, when he was first elected director of the Ontario and Nunavut Division. While on the board (from 2002 – 2014), John held numerous leadership positions including chair, vice-chair and honorary legal counsel. From 2007 to 2011, he also served as a director of the National board of MS Canada. During his tenure on MS Canada and Ontario and Nunavut Division boards, John was very active on both division and national committees. He chaired both the national and Ontario and Nunavut Division governance committees, was chair of the government relations committee, and was a member of the endMS campaign Ontario cabinet.

Joe Healey (Manitoba), Treasurer

Joe is the office managing partner of the Winnipeg office of Ernst & Young. Joe volunteers with the Manitoba division of MS Canada and is the past chair, Manitoba division board of directors. Joe has been an active supporter and participant of MS Walk and MS Bike, serving as the MS Bike event chair in 2014.

Joe has over 20 years of transactions and restructuring experience advising clients across a wide range of industries, including agriculture, transportation, aviation, oilfield services, pipeline and facility construction, manufacturing and distribution, real estate, aquaculture, forestry, food processing, technology, and retail.

Prior to joining the EY Winnipeg office in 2008, Joe worked in the St. John’s, NL, Saint John, NB and Edmonton, AB offices of Ernst & Young, where his responsibilities included progressively senior roles delivering restructuring and corporate insolvency mandates, mergers and acquisition advisory services, and valuation advisory services. Joe is currently the chair of the investment committee and a member of the finance, audit and risk management committee.

Marilyn Emery (Ontario), Secretary

For over three decades, Marilyn Emery has been a transformational leader within Ontario’s healthcare system, producing outstanding results in various positions in both clinical and leadership roles.

For the past 12 years, Marilyn led the innovative redesign of Women’s College Hospital into Canada’s only academic, ambulatory hospital with a focus on the health of women.

Her passion and dedication to revolutionizing healthcare and closing health gaps through innovation in clinical, research and education resulted in unprecedented solutions for some of the most pressing issues facing our health system.

Marilyn lives her commitment to advance the health of women and girls through extensive community partnerships and services that have increased access and reduced barriers for the diverse communities the hospital serves while championing patient-informed, inclusive and responsive care.

Beyond her role as CEO of WCH, Marilyn is also recognized as one of the most innovative leaders in Ontario’s health sector and has been a hospital CEO since 1989. At St. Joseph’s Health Centre, she not only revamped the hospital’s financial and business performance, but also transformed the patient experience, attaining the greatest improvement in patient satisfaction ever achieved by an Ontario hospital. As president and CEO of Markham Stouffville Hospital, Marilyn oversaw the construction of a new 220-bed community hospital – on time and under budget. As CEO of the Central East Local Health Integration Network, Marilyn led the planning, co-ordination and integration of healthcare services reaching 1.4 million people.

Throughout her career, Marilyn was a mentor and helped propel the careers of countless health professionals, researchers and leaders. Her mentorship has been key to developing women as executives and in leadership positions at WCH and across the country.

Marilyn’s leadership, courage and pioneering spirit have made her a popular and inspirational guest speaker and lecturer. She holds a Master of Science in Nursing Education from University of Western Ontario.

Michael Giuffre (Alberta)

As a Clinical Professor of Cardiac Sciences and Pediatrics at the University of Calgary, Dr. Giuffre maintains a portfolio of clinical practice, cardiovascular research, and university teaching. He maintains on-going involvement in both the health care and biotechnology business sectors. Dr. Giuffre is Past President of the Calgary and Area Physicians Association (CAPA) and a past representative to the board of the Calgary Health Region. Dr. Giuffre holds a B.Sc. in cellular and microbial biology, an MD and an MBA. His Canadian Royal College board certified specialties include Pediatrics, Pediatric Cardiology and a subspecialty in Pediatric Electrophysiology. He serves on the Medical Advisory Board of the SADS Foundation. He is a past six year national board member of Unicef Canada and a past nine year board member of the Alberta Medical Association (AMA). He has been a past board member of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and sits on CMA committee’s Nominating Committee and Indigenous Health. He has also been an MD-MP contact for the Canadian Medical Association. Dr. Giuffre received a Certified and Registered Appointment by the American Academy of Cardiology, “Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Cardiology”. Dr. Giuffre also sits as a board of director member of several biotechnical companies, and is chair of the board for Foodchek Systems Inc.

Valerie Hussey (Ontario)

Valerie Hussey has held numerous leadership roles at MS Canada since 2008. In 2011, Valerie joined MS Canada's board of directors and served as chair for four years, as well as vice-chair and as chair of both the government relations and governance committees. Valerie was also a member of the renewal initiative task force, and the renewal initiative oversight committee. As a past director on the Ontario Division board, she served as board chair, vice-chair, past-chair and provided leadership to the governance committee. She served as a director on the board for the MS Scientific Research Foundation.

Valerie was publisher, president and chief executive officer of Kids Can Press from 1979 to 2006, having played a leading role in the evolution of the Canadian children’s publishing industry for more than 30 years. Under her direction, Kids Can Press developed an internationally successful publishing program.

She has served on numerous government advisory councils and industry and not-for-profit boards, including the Ontario Media Development Corporation, the Canadian Women’s Foundation, Women’s College Hospital and Tides Canada. She is currently on the board of CODE, an international development literacy organization, and COUNTY KIDS READ, a literacy organization in Prince Edward County. In 2007, Valerie received the Order of Canada for her work in publishing.

Nancy L.Y.Love (Ontario)

Nancy completed her 9th Year as Chair of the MSSRF. As chair she successfully spearheaded the “Acts of Greatness” campaign finishing with the MS Tower challenge.

Professionally Nancy is President of NLo Strategies Inc which invests in a variety of public and private opportunities. She sits on the board of Jona Capital She holds an HBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University.

Nancy has had an extensive career in the not for profit sector and has served on the boards of The Toronto Foundation, Ronald McDonald House (COCO), The Canadian Stage Company, Canada Blooms and the Garden Club of Toronto. She is a past president of the Junior League of Toronto. Nancy Is the current chair of the Jon & Nancy Love Foundation which supports MS research and education-oriented organizations.

Shashi Malik (Alberta)

Shashi Malik, MAcc, CPA, CA, J.D., TEP, is a senior partner practicing tax law. He helps clients with mergers, acquisitions, and corporate reorganizations. He is the former Managing Partner for the Calgary office and was a member of the firm’s Executive Committee from January 2014 to January 2019.

Shashi advises on tax matters relating to private and public equity and debt financing transactions, resource flow through financing structures, the use of partnerships and trusts as alternative business vehicles, and the structuring of cross-border investments and tax structuring and corporate advice to private multinational companies.

Shashi regularly advises on the tax effective acquisition of Canadian entities by multinational entities, involving in the appropriate circumstances hybrid entities and exchangeable shares, and on corporate restructurings involving multinational entities to improve tax efficiency and the flow of funds.

Shashi also has significant experience with dispute resolution involving taxation authorities. His tax experience also covers a broad range of commercial and corporate matters, including shareholder and partnership agreements and shareholder disputes.

Other leadership roles include previously serving as a member of the By-laws and Rules Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Alberta since 2009. Shashi also serves as a Director of several private companies. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Shashi practiced as a tax manager with two different national chartered accounting firms and has instructed for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Alberta. Shashi speaks frequently for the Canadian Tax Foundation and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, including with respect to tax planning for private corporations and their shareholders, the TOSI rules, Subsection 55(2), Life Insurance in Succession Planning, amendments to the Canada-U.S. Tax Treaty and cross-border investments, the taxable Canadian property rules, and the safe practice of taxation and tax adviser negligence.

Jean-Sylvain Ouellette (Quebec)

Mr. Ouellette has been a dedicated volunteer with MS Canada since 2016, where he was elected as Chair of the Board of Directors for Montérégie Chapter. Since then, he has been actively involved in the fundraising of the section. He has also been involved at the national level as a member of the Community Facing Task Force mandated to put in place the community collaboration model and as a community representative in the process of evaluating applications submitted at MS Canada's Annual Research Grants and Fellowships Competition.

On the academic level, he holds a Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree in Administration (MBA). On a professional level, he held various strategic positions in several line of business at National Bank of Canada for nearly 30 years.

Rheanna Robinson (British Columbia)

Dr. Rheanna Robinson is a Métis mother, scholar, and advocate for Indigenous health and education. She was raised on Wetsuwet'en territory (Smithers, BC) and has resided on the territory of the Lheidl T'enneh Nation (Prince George, BC) for the last twenty years. Rheanna completed her PhD in Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia in BC'S lower mainland, but has a deep commitment and love for Northern BC and all it has to offer.

Diagnosed with MS in 1997 at the age of 19, Rheanna was determined to still pursue her goals and dreams despite the adversity she was facing. Her post-secondary experiences bolstered her ambitions to contribute to research and knowledge translation and her desires to be part of important collective conversations about priorities for Indigenous people and their communities.

Prior to taking a leave from her active and engaging career as a professor at the University of Northern British Columbia due to significant MS progression, Rheanna did not ever disclose she lives with MS. However, now, as an Ambassador for MS Canada, disclosure has afforded her important opportunities to highlight the impact of MS on Indigenous people and their communities and systemic barriers in the health care system.

Always committed to principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion, Rheanna looks forward to engaging further with MS Canada and broadening the perspectives and voices for all Canadians impacted by Multiple Sclerosis.

Tracey Wahba (Saskatchewan)