Staff, Board & Committees

STAFF:

BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
Members of the Board of Directors of CWCF live in and care about Centre Wellington. Working with donors, they are passionate about building a stronger and more resilient community. As an organization run entirely by volunteer effort, the vision and dedication of our Directors, Advisors and Committee members present, and past, has directly benefited our local Community

Dr. Peter McPhedran is a retired Family Physician who has lived in Centre Wellington since 1984. He founded Family Practice Associates of Elora and was on staff at Groves Memorial Community Hospital for 36 years. From 2012-2020 Peter was involved in medical teaching and health care administration, including a role as Clinical Lead for rural Wellington. He is a past board member of Hospice Wellington and Groves Hospital Foundation.

Peter is pleased to be involved with CWCF and sees it as an opportunity to contribute to the local community in a meaningful way.

Penny Lipsett is a retired investor relations consultant who has also played a role in federal politics as an assistant on Parliament Hill. Once in the 70s and again in 1993. Penny has spent time in corporate Canada as Director of Corporate Affairs at Xerox Canada in the 1980s.

Recently retired as Vice-Chair of the LCBO and Chair of Ontario Place and the Bank of America (CanadaBank) board of directors. She is now on the board of ICL.

Penny has lived in Elora since 2004.

Advisors:
Cindy Lindsay, Community Foundations of Canada

Investment Committee:
Randall Howard, Chair
Jean Prichard, Treasurer
Wayne Byrd
Ian McArthur
Don Vallery

Social Determinants of Health Committee:
Dr. Peter McPhedran, Chair
Harvey Thomson
Don Fisher
Jason Thompson
Penny Lipsett

Friends of the Community Foundation Committee:
Harvey Thomson
Penny Lipsett

Community Champions Committee:
Jason Thompson
Rick Hulley
Randall Howard

Donor Stewardship Committee:
Eric Oakley
Toni Ellis
Dr. Peter McPhedran

Vital Signs Committee:
J Raymond Soucy
Carolyn Skimson, Co-Chair
Susan Thorning, Co-Chair

Don Fisher is a retired lawyer with 33-year career in-house with City of Kitchener, Region of Waterloo and the City of Hamilton. Don Specialized in land-use planning and development law. He served as a Centre Wellington Township Councillor from 2014-2018. Currently, he is Chair of the Centre Wellington Healthy Growth Advisory Committee. A long-time resident of Elora, Don has lived on West Mill St. In Elora since 2001. Harvey Thomson and his wife, Linne, moved to Fergus in 2005 after a career in management consulting. They found in Centre Wellington a vibrant community with a strong sense of civic pride and were eager to lend their support. Harvey recently stepped down from the National and Ontario Branch boards of the Kidney Foundation of Canada and Chair of its National Governance Committee as well as from the Cancer Care Ontario Board of Directors. In 2011, Harvey launched the Food Cycle Ride, an annual fund raising cycling event that raises funds for the Centre Wellington Food Bank. He sees the Centre Wellington Community Foundation and its emphasis on capacity building and philanthropy as the ideal means to contribute more. Harvey received his Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and was an Associate Professor of Organizational Behaviour at McGill University in Montreal, Canada prior to joining Schaffer Consulting, an international consulting firm dedicated to organization development.
Toni Ellis, a graduate of Mount Allison University, is a long-time community activist who has worked in the environmental field for more than 30 years. Since moving to Elora in 1990, she helped start the Elora Environment Centre (EEC) and the Elora Centre for the Arts. In 2009, she was recognized as Centre Wellington’s Citizen of the Year. Currently, she coordinates NeighbourWoods on the Grand, working the strengthen Centre Wellington’s urban forest. Toni is on the board of the EEC and is president of the Ontario Urban Forest Council based in Toronto.
Randall Howard, Board Chair is the founding partner of VERDEXUS which provides management and investment to global technology companies. Previously, he was CEO of Coreworx and, in 1984, he founded MKS, one of Canada’s leading enterprise software vendors and, as CEO, grew it into a leading public company. Randall is a seasoned board member/advisor long committed to the environment, the arts and building of community. He is a Board member with Roseneath Theatre Company, Flush Ink Productions, and Elora Environment Centre. Randall is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council of Lazaridis School of Business & Economics, a Board member at Golden Triangle AngelNet, and was a founder of Communitech Technology Association. He holds an Honours B.Math from University of Waterloo and was the 2005 Communitech Impact Award recipient and the 1997 High Technology Entrepreneur of the Year.
Richard Hulley has been a human resources professional since 1990, with the last seven as the first full time HR Manager at our municipality. Rick, and his wife Yvonne, have been residents of Centre Wellington since 2010. They loved the community, and its ‘vibe’, so much that they built a house in Elora. Rick is a past director on Boards at the provincial level in municipal human resources and with the start-up Canadian Economic Development Assistance to Southern Sudan organization, as well as other community volunteerism. Rick is a graduate of University of Waterloo and Fanshawe College.


Alayna Longstaffe is a lawyer at Wolfe, Smith & Forster in Fergus, practising in the areas of real estate, wills and estates, and corporate commercial law. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Science degree from The University of Western Ontario and a Bachelor of Laws degree from Dalhousie University. Since moving to Fergus in 2014 with her husband, James, and three children, Oliver, Eleanor and Ivy, Alayna has enjoyed living and working in the Township of Centre Wellington and looks forward to contributing to the community through CWCF.
Eric Oakley, a graduate of Concordia University (BA) and the University of Toronto (MA) is a retired English teacher and former head of English at C. W. Jefferys Collegiate in Toronto. He also taught at Haliburton Secondary School and at Doncaster College in Doncaster England. As one of the founders and later president of the Ontario Student Debating Federation he helped bring competitive debate to most secondary schools in the province. For 10 years he served on the executive of the Classic Jazz Society of Toronto.His interest in the Centre Wellington Foundation began in 2013 when he and his partner, Susan Thorning, moved to Elora. With a desire to leave a legacy to the community they established the Micklebring Fund.As avid equestrians, Eric and Susan own Paso Fino horses and are members of the Central Canada Paso Fino Association, the Wellington-Grand Trail Riders , and the Wellington-Waterloo Hunt Club.

Jean Prichard, Treasurer, is a Chartered Accountant and Certified Financial Planner and a Partner at BDO Guelph. Jean has extensive experience in the not for profit sector. She is a Board member at United Way Guelph Wellington Dufferin.
Jason Thompson, Marketing Committee Co-Chair is a resident of Fergus since 2003, is Faculty of Science Liaison for Teaching Excellence at University of Waterloo in which he supports faculty with teaching & learning and the effective use of technology. He holds a B.Ed in Experiential Education from Queen’s University and a B.Sc – Environmental Biology from University of Guelph. Jason was drawn to CWCF as a local organization that gives back to his community. He has a personal affinity for fundraising and is often organizing fundraising events focused on unique food & drink events from which proceeds are typically donated to CWCF. When not in meetings or fundraising, he can often be found on outings in the community with his son Jakob.