Who We Are

Founder

Jane Philpott

Dr. Jane Philpott is Chief of the Department of Family Medicine at Markham Stouffville Hospital and Assistant Professor in the University of Toronto’s Department of Family & Community Medicine. She is Lead Physician of the Health for All Family Health Team in Markham, Ontario which is co-located with the Markham Family Medicine Teaching Unit. Dr. Philpott studied medicine at the University of Western Ontario. She completed a Family Medicine residency at the University of Ottawa and a Tropical Medicine fellowship in Toronto. In 2012 she completed a Master of Public Health degree at the University of Toronto. Dr. Philpott worked in Niger Republic, West Africa from 1989 to 1998 where she practiced general medicine and helped to develop a training program for village health workers. She is the founder of the “Give a Day to World AIDS” movement which started in 2004 as a way to engage Canadians in responding to HIV. Since 2004, Give a Day has grown in the medical, legal and business communities and has raised over 3.5 million dollars to help those affected by HIV in Africa. Dr. Philpott is the Family Medicine lead in the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration (TAAAC). In this capacity she has helped colleagues at Addis Ababa University to develop the first training program for Family Medicine in Ethiopia which is scheduled to begin in September 2012. She is a co-curator of TEDxStouffville founded in 2012. She and her husband have four children.

Advisory Board

Todd Barclay

Todd Barclay is the Senior Vice President of Restaurant Development at Cara Operations Ltd. where he is responsible for Real Estate, Franchising, Construction and Restaurant Design. Todd joined Cara in 2007 as Vice President, Supply Chain and Strategic Sourcing. Previously he held numerous executive and management positions over a period of 12 years at Lexmark International in both Canada and the United States. Most recently he was the President of the Lexmark Canadian Division. Todd holds a Bachelor degree from McMaster University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Toronto’s, Rotman School of Management.

Mike Fekete

Michael Fekete is a partner in the Business Law Department of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, where he is Co-Chair of the Technology Business Group and a member of the firm’s Billing Management Committee. Michael has been recognized in numerous peer rankings as a leading practitioner in the fields of information technology and public procurement. Additionally, Michael serves as Co-Chair of the Legal Affairs Forum of the Information Technology Association of Canada and as Co-Chair of the legal community fundraising campaign run by the not-for-profit “Give a Day for World AIDS”.

Brendan Howley

A former CBC investigative reporter and frontline HIV/AIDS worker and now an award winning content- and digital media/brand-strategist, Brendan Howley lives in Stratford, Ontario, where he’s head manning UBIQUID.US, a groundbreaking collective intelligence engine, with partners in Los Angeles, Palo Alto, Montréal and Adelaide, Australia. Brendan’s also a very happy dad and husband and the screenwriter of a new feature film, 90 DAYS, set in Uganda in 1972. He’s delighted to be part of the GIVE A DAY project.

Karen Jones

Karen Jones got involved with Give a Day in 2007 after being inspired by the impactful message and wisdom of the Give a Day campaign. She works in the non-profit sector, with over fifteen years experience in program design, management and communications.

Jennifer Keenan

Jennifer Keenan practiced law for 8 years prior to deciding to spend more time with her children and moving to the United States. She has been involved with the Give a Day Campaign since 2006 and has served as co-chair of the Legal Campaign and more recently, as an Advisory Board member.

Lynda Kuhn

Lynda Kuhn is Senior Vice-President, Communications for Maple Leaf Foods Inc. In this capacity she has executive responsibility for the Company’s corporate communications, change management communications and public relations activities. Prior to joining Maple Leaf, Ms. Kuhn managed a consulting practice specializing in crisis communications, branding and change management. Her previous work experience also included seven years working on a Miq’Maq native community in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. In these roles, Ms. Kuhn was extensively involved in community-based economic development, industrial promotion, government relations and developing and implementing social and education programs. Lynda has traveled and volunteered in Kenya for many years, and in 2009 founded Nyota, a home and education project in central Kenya for children who have lost their parents. Nyota currently cares for and educated over 45 children ages 3 to 17.

Paul MacDonald

Paul is a retired lawyer who practiced at McMillan LLP in Toronto for over 27 years, the last 23 as a partner. While at McMillan, Paul specialized in commercial litigation and corporate restructuring and appeared in the Supreme Court of Canada and in courts at all levels in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Paul is a former director of Daily Bread Food Bank Foundation and currently is an active volunteer at Perram House, a not-for-profit hospice that provides residential palliative care for individuals with limited life expectancy.

Tim O’Shea

Dr. Tim O’Shea received his BSc in biomedical sciences from the University of Guelph before completing his medical degree at McMaster University and a Masters of Public Health at Harvard University. He trained in internal medicine, infectious diseases and medical microbiology at McMaster, and is Royal College certified in each of these disciplines. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases. He has served as the International Electives coordinator for the Michael Degroote School of Medicine at McMaster University, and as an internal medicine consultant for the Shelter Health Network in Hamilton.

Jo-Anne Sheffield

Jo-Anne Sheffield is the Design Director at Idea Workshop, an integrated communications firm where she oversees the design and digital departments. With over 25 years in the communications industry, Jo-Anne gained international experience in the UK and ran her own successful design firm for 12 years. She has been instrumental in creating branding and digital campaigns for some of Canada’s leading companies. Jo-Anne is a mother, runner, piano student and volunteer with Give a Day to World AIDS.

Staff

Julie Weiss

Julie Weiss is the Campaign Director for Give a Day and has been with the organization since 2008. Prior to this Julie worked as a teacher and gained a wide range of experience with non-profits by volunteering intensely with several groups. She has served as a volunteer and mentor to the charity Free the Children and its sister organization, Me to We. She was a contributor and advisor for the books “Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World” and “The World Needs Your Kid”, and served as an adult member of the Board of Directors for OneChild, an NGO of Canadian youth who are leading the action against the global sex trade in children. She is also a team leader for the Out of the Cold program.

Michelle Hayward

Michelle joined the Give a Day team as Coordinator early in 2011. She has been an avid volunteer for both Dignitas International and the Stephen Lewis Foundation for several years. She has over 20 years’ experience in marketing and communications.

Legal Community Campaign – Honourary Chair

The Honourable Frank Iacobucci, CC, QC, LLD, LSM, former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.

Legal Community Campaign – Co-Chairs

Roy Filion

Roy Filion, senior partner at Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti LLP, has practiced exclusively in the area of labour and employment law for his entire career. In addition to his expertise in labour relations and employment law, Roy is certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as a specialist in civil litigation. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. For many years, Roy has been named by Lexpert® as one of the leading 500 lawyers in Canada and is ranked in the Lexpert® directory as Most Frequently Recommended.

Victoria Prince

Victoria is a partner at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP. A member of the Corporate Commercial Group, Victoria is the National and Toronto Regional Chair of BLG’s Not-For-Profit Practice Group. Her practice involves advising not-for-profit organizations and charities on issues such as governance, by-laws, incorporation, obtaining registration as a charity, contracts and agreements of all types. Victoria also is the Business Department Manager in Toronto and a member of the Toronto Regional Management Committee. Among volunteer positions held in the industry, Victoria is a Director and Secretary of Kids Up Front (Toronto) and part of the Give A Day legal community campaign. Until recently a Director and officer (including President) of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada, Victoria continues to be involved with that organization. She is also a Director and President of The BLG Foundation.

Mike Fekete

Michael Fekete is a partner in the Business Law Department of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, where he is Co-Chair of the Technology Business Group and a member of the firm’s Billing Management Committee. Michael has been recognized in numerous peer rankings as a leading practitioner in the fields of information technology and public procurement. Additionally, Michael serves as Co-Chair of the Legal Affairs Forum of the Information Technology Association of Canada and as Co-Chair of the legal community fundraising campaign run by the not-for-profit “Give a Day for World AIDS”.