Board of Directors

Matt Ainley has over 40 years of experience in the Canadian construction industry, retiring in 2017 having held senior leadership positions with Bird, Carillion and Vanbots Construction. He began his career as a superintendent and has held positions as a project manager, chief estimator, Executive Vice President and President and Chief Operating Officer. Matt is currently Chair of the General Contractors Alliance of Canada and is a past Chair of the Ontario General Contractors Association (OGCA) in 2006/07. He was the recipient of the 2011 Chairman’s Award of Recognition from the OGCA, which honours individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the general contracting industry in Ontario and the 2018 Giffin Award from the Toronto Construction Association, which recognizes leadership and major contributions to the construction industry. Matt graduated from Centennial College as an Architectural Building Technologist. He completed the Executive Master of Business Administration Program at Queen’s University and the Directors Education Program.

Michele Goddard retired in 2018 from a long career as a financial services executive at BMO Financial Group. She has led significant transformational changes and successfully designed and implemented technology change programs within highly complex, regulatory environments. Michele is a Patient Advisor for Bridgepoint Active Healthcare, and was the Chair of the Board for Women in Capital Markets and a member of the Canadian Depository for Securities Board. She received her ICD.D in 2013 and recently completed courses on Board Oversight of Strategy and Audit Committee Effectiveness. Michele graduated from the University of Toronto, Commerce and Political Science.

Gabriel Granatstein is the CEO of Canada Tire, a tire distributor operating across Central and Eastern Canada. Gabriel is a veteran and continues to serve Canada as a reserve Deputy Judge Advocate in the Canadian Armed Forces. He served on the Board of the Royal Canadian Military Institute and the Board for Dr. Jay’s Children’s Grief Centre. Prior to joining Canada Tire, Gabriel was a lawyer at Norton Rose Fulbright and led Target Canada’s Employee Relations group. Gabriel holds a Bachelor of Civil Law from Université de Montreal, a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from McGill University and an MBA from the Ivey Business School. He is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and the Barreau du Quebec. Gabriel is fluent in English and French. Gabriel is married to the wonderful and patient Lauren Granatstein – both parents to their less patient daughter Charlotte and son Cooper.

Jay Kaufman is the President of KTA Inc. and the KTA Centre for Collaborative Government, a consultant with extensive experience as a senior government executive. Jay specializes in leading-edge public policy reform and negotiations. He is a former Ontario government Deputy Minister of Finance, Secretary to Treasury Board and Assistant Deputy Minister of Health; prior to which he had a long career with the Manitoba Government. He has led or been senior advisor on numerous major policy and program reforms, participated in many successful government restructuring initiatives, and managed large, complex organizations through difficult processes of change. Jay has prior governance/board experience, and is a resident of east Scarborough.

As Senior Partner and Executive with Lifeworks (formerly Morneau Shepell), Al has extensive experience and expertise advising Board committees in healthcare and financial institutions on risk management, governance, strategy, financial and policy matters regarding pension, investments, and employee benefits. Al has been a resident of Scarborough for more than 45 years, and also volunteers with the Association of Canadian Pension Management and the Knights of Columbus.

As Partner, Value Creation – Private Equity with PwC, Joseph is a seasoned board director and business executive. He works with investors and portfolio companies through all stages of the deal lifecycle, applying an operator’s lens to creating long term value. He has led transformative growth, turnaround and value creation initiatives in public and private company contexts as a CEO, an executive and a consultant. Active in the community, he serves on the boards of the Harvard Business School Club of Toronto and Canadian Club Toronto, and is a member of Young Presidents Organization. Previously he served on the corporate boards of Bell Technical Solutions and Movati Athletic.

Gale Rubenstein is a lawyer and has been a partner at Goodmans LLP for over 30 years. She has extensive commercial and corporate expertise, specializing in corporate restructuring, crisis and change management, corporate governance, pensions and regulatory matters. Recognized repeatedly as one of the top lawyers in Canada, Gale has played a key role in some of the country’s largest and most complex restructurings. Gale serves on the Goodmans LLP Partners Compensation Committee and previously, for 20 years, on their Executive Committee. At Hydro One, Gale served on and chaired a number of committees during 11 years on the Board, including the Regulatory, Public Policy and First Nations Committees, Corporate Governance and Human Resources Committees, and was a member of Audit & Finance, Strategy, and Health, Safety & Environment Committees. Gale is a member of the Lawyers Advisory Committee for the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal, a board member for Outside the March Theatre Company, and is active with the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto. She was previously a board member of the Insolvency Institute of Canada, where she chaired the National Membership Committee and on the board of Osgoode Hall Law School Alumni Association.

With a flair for numbers, Diane is an objective financial expert, as well as a risk, governance and controls professional with over 35 years’ experience providing accounting and auditing services to all types of financial institutions and within a global bank. Retired since May 2022, Diane was deputy chief auditor of TD Bank Group and former leader of EY Canada’s Financial Services Organization. Giving back is second nature for Diane, who has served on volunteer Boards including as Chair of the YMCA of Greater Toronto and the Kidney Foundation of Canada in Toronto.  Diane is a recipient of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award for community service, as well as the 2020 Ontario Volunteer Service Award. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University, was made a Fellow of Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA) Ontario in 2011, and has completed the Institute of Corporate Directors education program.

Ali Suleman has been Vice President and Treasurer of Hydro One Inc. since 1999.  During this time, Hydro One has become one of the largest non-financial corporate debt issuers in Canada. He oversees the debt funding, financial risk management, cash management and banking operations, insurance and claims, and manages relationships with banks, credit rating agencies and fixed income investors. Previously, he held various positions within Ontario Hydro’s Treasury Division, and worked for a number of years in the US Municipal Finance and Mortgage Backed sectors with Kidder Peabody & Company of New York. He was also a consultant to numerous municipal bond issuers. He sits on the Board of the Montreal based Institute for Research on Public Policy and serves as Chair of its Investment Committee. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Wellesley Institute of Toronto from 2012 to 2018, and he continues to serve as a member of its Finance and Investment Committee, which he chaired from 2015 to 2018.

Krishan Suntharalingam is a Chartered Professional Accountant and Chartered Accountant. He owns and operates the chartered accounting firm Suntharalingam Professional Corporation- CA in Scarborough, which specializes in accounting, taxation, and business advisory services to private enterprises, not-for-profit entities, and charities. He has served on several Boards of Directors, previously serving as a Treasurer/Board member of Scarborough Centre for Healthy Communities. He has also acted as an external advisor to a number of not-for-profit and charitable organizations. Krishan grew up in Scarborough and attended the University of Toronto. He has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) degree, as well as a Chartered Accountant designation.

Karen Webb is currently Principal of KWebb Solutions Inc., Board Chair of MicroSkills (a United Way member agency), Board Governor at Seneca College, and Treasurer Camp One (engineer’s obligation). Karen has held senior positions in NFP and public organizations including VP Student Services at CGA Ontario, VP Operations at Foresters, VP Operations for Manulife’s US Pension business, Project and Product Management VP roles at Rogers Wireless, and a variety of roles at Imperial Oil. She earned her ICD.D from the Rotman School of Business at University of Toronto, her MBA from York University, and a degree in Systems Design engineering from the University of Waterloo.

A University of Toronto graduate, Dr. Catharine Whiteside served as Dean of Medicine and Vice Provost Relations with Health Care Institutions at the University of Toronto from 2006 -14 and was recognized with WXN Canada’s Most Powerful Women Top 100 Award in 2012. Dr. Whiteside was awarded the 2007 Medal for Research Excellence from the Kidney Foundation of Canada and the Canadian Medical Association 2009 May Cohen Award for Women Mentors. Dr. Whiteside is a founding member of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and former President. She currently chairs the Board of the Banting Research Foundation. Until June 2022, she served on the Scarborough Health Network Foundation Board. In 2016, she was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada. Dr. Whiteside now holds the position of Director of Partnerships for Diabetes Action Canada, the CIHR-Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) Network in Diabetes and Related Complications

Ruth has more than 30 years executive experience in professional services management, investment banking and consulting. She is the Chief Operating Officer of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, where she is responsible for Finance, IT, HR, Facilities and Administration. Prior to Osler she was a founding partner of Hugessen Consulting Inc, Senior Vice President; Global Head of Human Resources at Scotia Capital; and a Founding Director of Women in Capital Markets. Ruth has served on the Bishop Strachan School and Royal St. George’s College Boards of Governors as Vice-Chair and Chair respectively, and on the board of Kinross Gold Corp. She is also a Past Member, Sick Kids Leaders for the Hospital for Sick Children Foundation. Ruth graduated from the University of Toronto with a Masters of Business Administration, majoring in Finance, and from the University of Waterloo with a Bachelor of Mathematics, majoring in IT.