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KWS Board of Directors

  

A biography is available for indicated Board Members.

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Board Member Biographies

Ron Craigen, Chair

A partner in Gowlings Commercial Litigation Group, Ron Craigen practises exclusively in the area of civil litigation and is Head of Gowlings Waterloo Region Advocacy Department.

For many years prior to joining Gowlings Waterloo Region office in 1997, Ron Craigen was a partner with a respected Toronto litigation firm. Called to the Ontario Bar in 1984, he received his Law Degree from Osgoode Hall Law School.

Mr. Craigen represents and advises a broad range of corporate, institutional and private individuals on civil litigation matters, and has acted as an advocate in all levels of the Ontario Court system, appearing on behalf of clients before numerous tribunals and administrative boards.

Frequently retained by other counsel, Mr. Craigen has extensive experience in commercial litigation matters including civil injunctions, the problems associated with departing employees, breach of confidence and breach of fiduciary duties, contractual disputes, shareholder disputes, banking litigation and professional liability issues concerning financial advisors and stockbrokers. In addition to representing clients in court, his practice includes advising clients about the most effective means of avoiding litigation.
An avid supporter of alternative dispute resolution initiatives, Mr. Craigen was instrumental in the establishment of one of Ontario's first private ADR forums.

George Lange, Treasurer

George Lange was born in Edmonton where he received his early education, graduating from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. Following that, he became a Chartered Accountant and obtained an MBA from the University of Western Ontario (now the Ivey School of Business).

His entire 33-year business career was spent with Canadian National Railways. George moved to Kitchener from Montreal in 1994 on his retirement from that company. During his time with CN, he served as a member of the board of director of both the Edmonton and Toronto symphonies. In 1996, he served as Acting Managing Director of the K-W Symphony for several months. He was a member of the board of directors of the Association for three years from 1996 to 1999. He rejoined the Board in 2001 and resigned in February 2004.

In addition to being a subscriber and donor, George was active as a member of several committees including finance, artistic advisory, conductor search, executive director search, and strategy review. He is currently chair of the Finance Committee and a member of the executive committee of the Association.

Steve Hornett, Secretary

Steve is Manager of Shared Technical Infrastructure with the Wealth Management Unit of Manulife Financial. His technical and management pedigree spans more than 25 years with additional employers such as Air Canada, National Trust and Applied Communications.

Skills that Steve has demonstrated throughout his career also include strategic planning, applicant interviewing, vendor/relationship management, meeting facilitation and risk management. As a long-time symphony subscriber, Steve is a big believer in the numerous ways in which the arts can enrich any person's life - especially true of music, because of its universal language. Steve also fondly recalls the opportunity that he had to learn a musical instrument (tuba) through the local public school system. For that reason, Steve and his wife Laura Robertson are also strong supporters of the KWS Youth Orchestra program.

Carolyn Arnason

Carolyn Arnason is Associate Professor of Music Therapy at Wilfrid Laurier University. She holds degrees in piano performance, music therapy and social work. She and her partner, Boyd McDonald, composer/pianist, attend and participate in concerts that span Classical, New Music, Jazz and Improvisation genres. Her professional life includes being a member of Laurier's Faculty Association Executive (WLUFA) and Research Ethics Board as well as representing Laurier on the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations Board (OCUFA). She looks forward to supporting the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra and Association members.

Kurt Christie

Kurt Christie was born and raised in Guelph, ON. After attending Guelph CVI he enrolled in Waterloo's fledgling co-op engineering program in its inaugural year of 1957, graduating from the University of Waterloo with a degree in electrical engineering.

After living and working in Kitchener and Waterloo, he returned to Guelph to become a founding brother (one of six) and Vice-President of business forms producer Fastforms Inc. He semi-retired in 2001. He also serves on the Board of a Guelph real estate investment firm and a Mississauga business to business sales company.

Kurt has been active over the years in volunteer organizations in Guelph and Waterloo Region. He serves on church committees and has just completed two years as Council Chair. He continues to serve as Chair and President of Lutheridge. He has also been involved in a variety of local charities. Kurt is a director and an active participant in Canadians Aiding Nicaragua (CAN), a Guelph and Listowel area group that travels annually to Nicaragua.

Kurt has enjoyed forty-six years of married life with Sandra, his high school sweetheart. His two children and three grandchildren bring great joy.

Mert Cramer

Although born at an early age, Mert Cramer has a varied personal, work and academic history. He holds degrees from UCLA IN Theatre Arts, a BS and MS from Caltech, a MS from West Coast University and a MS and PhD from UW. He has worked as a stage hand for CSM at UCLA and at the Berkshire Playhouse in Stockbridge.

He was the first Auditorium Technical Director at Caltech's Beckman Auditorium and supervised the campus audio-visual services. He holds two patents for electronic circuits. Commercial experience includes JBLansing, Capitol Records, CitiBank, Berkey Colortran and Technical Products Corp.

is musical training was nil. He plays only CDs and an Indian taxi horn. His claims to fame are: forcing the University of California to allow him to go to UCLA and Caltech at the same time and being the oldest, and probably the most irascible, PhD graduate in Computer Science at the UW.

David Crozier

A graduate of the University of Guelph Arts (English) honours program, Dave is an enthusiastic supporter of the written, fine and musical arts.

Dave is Vice President, Commercial Insurance, for The Economical Insurance Group and a proud patron of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. Prior to joining Economical in 2007, Dave was Vice President of the Chubb Insurance Company of Canada, most recently overseeing the prairie provinces. He was also a cofounder and member of the Board of Directors of Slingshot Communications Inc., a marketing, web integration and communications consulting company.

Born in Leamington, Ontario, Dave has made residence in Guelph, Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary. He, Jolean and their two young sons look forward to establishing roots and being part of the community in Kitchener-Waterloo.

Sandy Delamere

Sandy is Vice-President, Human Resources for SLF Canada.  Sandy is responsible for consulting with the Canadian Executive Team and translating the SLF Canada business strategy into HR strategies. In this role, Sandy draws on her wide-ranging experience within Sun Life working in different areas of the business and Human Resources over the past 20 years.

Sandy has lived in the Waterloo Region all her life and is married with three sons.  Sandy was the Chair of the Sun Life Financial National United Way Campaign for 2007 and will continue with this position for 2008.  Sandy was on the Board of Directors for the Kitchener-Waterloo YWCA and on the Allocations Committee for KW U-Way for a few years. 

Glen Dyrda

Glen Dyrda was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. After graduating high school, he went on to complete an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Manitoba. Glen was admitted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Manitoba to membership in June of 1981, and later elected a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Manitoba.

Glen joined Price Waterhouse in June of 1978 and over the next 12 years he held a variety of managerial positions until he was admitted as a partner of the firm in 1990. In July of 2007, Glen then relocated to the Waterloo office of PricewaterhouseCoopers as the Managing Partner, Southwest Ontario Region and Managing Partner, Waterloo office; a position which he still holds today. He was appointed to the Canadian Leadership Group of PwC Canada on July 1, 2005 and is still involved to this day.

Glen has always maintained connections to the community in which he grew up. Glen was an Associate of the Asper School of Business (University of Manitoba), Treasurer and member of the Board of Directors from 2001-2006. He has also been involved in the Manitoba Theatre Centre- Treasurer and various Executive positions including Chair of the Board of Trustees for two years, from 1999-2007 inclusive.

Linda Fabi

Linda Fabi is currently the Director of Education and Secretary to the Board of the Waterloo Region District School Board. Linda holds positions with a variety of groups within this community. For example, she is an Instructor with the Supervisory Officers’ Qualification Program (SOQP), on the Board of Directors for the Ontario Public Supervisory Officials’ Association (OPSOA) and the President-Elect for the Ontario Public Supervisory Officials’ Association.

Linda has been a teacher of student choirs and music, both vocal and piano. She has a very diverse educational background including both a Bachelor and a Master of Arts degree, as well as qualifications in advanced leadership, Principal qualifications and her Supervisory Officers’ Certificate.

Linda has a variety of professional interests including: Educational Leadership Development, Team and Educational Culture Building, Organizational Social-Emotional Intelligence, Building Educational Partnerships, and Strategic Planning and Organizational Development.

Her personal interests include travel;  the history, culture, religion and archaeology of ancient civilizations, music, wine and cooking, and fashion design. 

Miro Forest

Miro Forest, B.A.Sc., P. Eng. completed a degree from the University of Toronto (Electrical Engineering - 1969), holds a Professional Engineering License, a Certificate of Authorization for private practice from the Professional Engineers of Ontario ( P.E.O.), and is  a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers ( IEEE). He is the founding President of the IEEE Canadian Foundation.

In 2005 the Ontario Government honoured him with its Citizenship Award for his work with the P.E.O. and the IEEE awarded him the Wallace S Read Outstanding service Award  "for significant and sustained leadership over two decades as director and president of the IEEE Canadian Foundation and its predecessor organization, IEEC Inc."

He has over 39 years of engineering, practical and management experience in the telecommunications industry in Canada and offshore.

In 2002, he founded Waterloo Data Fortress Inc, the leading high-security, high-reliability data centre serving the Waterloo and Wellington Regions and Southwestern Ontario. It offers and delivers global class hosting and data backup services to small, medium and large enterprises.

Diane Freeman

Raised in Woodstock, Ontario, Diane enrolled in Civil Engineering at the University of Waterloo in 1986.  Upon graduation, she accepted employment as an engineer with Conestoga-Rovers & Associates Ltd. (CRA).  Today, as a licensed professional engineer, she works as a Senior Project Manager with CRA in the air and noise department.

Diane believes in volunteering, and serves as Vice President of the Professional Engineers of Ontario.  She was the founding President of the Butterfly Learning Centre, a not-for-profit childcare facility located in North Waterloo.  Since 1999, Diane, her husband Peter, and her two children, Scott and Adam have resided in Ward 4.  Both boys attend the neighbourhood public school and are active participants in Waterloo Minor Hockey and Soccer.  Diane enjoys cheering for her two boys and can be found at many of their games.  She also shows Old English Sheepdogs.

Willy Heffner

Willy Heffner is the Vice President of Heffner Lexus Toyota, sponsor of the KWS Pops and KWS Guelph Pops series and the annual KWS Masterpiece Lottery. Willy has been a sponsor, supporter, donor and concert attendee since 1995, and also served on the Symphony Board for most of the last twelve years. His entire family enjoys attending Symphony concerts, especially the KWS Pops series.

Willy is a member of the St. Anthony Daniel Catholic Community. He is an avid gardener, both indoors and out, enjoys growing his prized orchids and other tropical plants, and is an active member of the Central Ontario Orchid Society.

Michael Klopchic

Michael spent most of his life growing up in central Toronto, but he has spent the last 10 years in Vancouver, Calgary, Windsor and Waterloo.

Michael began working at BMO as a part-time CSR back in 1989 while attending University. He left BMO in 1992 to pursue an opportunity with a foreign bank in their treasury department, ultimately becoming Assistant Treasurer reporting to the Canadian CEO. Michael then made a shift into Corporate & Investment Banking in 1995 where he developed the Canadian Strategy for Emerging Majors Marketing Initiative.  Michael later rejoined BMO as a Senior Manager in Corporate Finance in 1997.  In February 2004, Michael was then appointed to Vice President Windsor and in November 2006 he was appointed as Vice President Kitchener.

ichael’s educational background includes a B.A. in Economics with a Certificate in French Bilingualism from Glendon College at York University. In 2003, Michael graduated from the Dalhousie MBA program also earning a fellowship from the Institute of Canadian Bankers.

Michael is passionate about skiing, which he feels is a great family sport. He also enjoys cycling with his kids and is an avid sailor.

Jane Hill

"I graduated from the University of Toronto - Arts English - in 1957. My husband J.T.(Sam) Hill and I moved to Kitchener-Waterloo with our 3 children in 1963.

I was on the Volunteer Committee of The KW Little Theatre, on the Board of Directors of the YWCA and have been a supporter of the KW Symphony for many years I am excited to be working with the symphony family particularly with our new conductor Edwin Outwater and our new Executive Director Genevieve Twomey."

Charles Morrison

Charles D. Morrison is Professor of Music Theory in the Faculty of Music at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo. Since 1999 he has held the position of Dean of the Faculty. He has published on music of the twentieth century, particularly that of Ligeti, Schoenberg, and Bartok. His current research interests include aesthetics and the listening experience, aesthetic music education, and music in the context of liberal education.

Rachel Smith-Spencer

Rachel Smith-Spencer joined the Stratford Shakespeare Festival as Director of Advancement in October 2003. In that role, she is responsible for overseeing the all aspects of the Festival’s fundraising activities including annual support of $11M, the completion of the first $50M phase of the endowment campaign, and the Festival’s planned giving program.

Prior to coming to the Festival, she was the Assistant Dean, Alumni and Development for the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto and participated in the completion of Canada’s first $1 billion campaign in support of the university.

She has spent over 17 seasons as Director of Development for symphony orchestras in Canada, including tenures at the Toronto Symphony and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.

She was born and raised in Preston, a small community about 45 minutes from Stratford, and received her B.A. and M.A. from the University of Waterloo.
 
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