Our Leadership

Susan Cowan is a senior capital markets executive with over 20 years experience in the financial services industry including debt capital markets and investment management. Susan served as a Managing Director at BMO Capital Markets. Her focus was on origination, structuring and execution of complex public and private corporate debt financings in a variety of sectors, including infrastructure and project finance, real estate/REITS, diversified and industrial products and income trusts. Prior to this, Susan was an Investment Officer in Sun Life’s Private Placement Investment Group originating and managing a multi-billion dollar portfolio of corporate bonds, venture capital, leasing, and oil and gas equity investments.

Susan works extensively with numerous organizations. She knows how to build group capacity, empowering teams and stakeholders to exceed expectations and is respected as a leader, both within the workplace and in the wider business community.

Susan has served on the Board Development Committee for Crohn’s and Colitis Canada since 2017, building relationships to raise the funds needed to power research and develop key programs. She became a Board Director in 2018 serving on the Development and Finance and Governance Committees. Susan is also a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors and “theBoardlist”. She has a Honours degree in Economics from the University of Toronto. In November 2020, Susan stepped down as a Board Director to serve as the interim CEO of Crohn's and Colitis Canada.

Adrianna is a partner at Persistence Capital Partners (PCP), a private equity firm that focuses exclusively on investments in the Canadian healthcare industry. As partner, Adrianna is responsible for all aspects of the investment process, from sourcing, evaluating and executing on investment opportunities to managing existing investments.

Adrianna has over 15 years’ experience in mergers and acquisition (M&A), audit, consulting, valuation and private equity. Before joining PCP, Adrianna was a Partner in Deloitte’s M&A transaction services practice, where she led the National Private Healthcare M&A Practice. Adrianna holds the CPA-CA and CBV designations and has an Honours Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Wilfrid Laurier University.

Ron Dunn is an accomplished and experienced health industry executive with a track record of success throughout Canada and the United States. He has held a variety of sales leadership, management and executive positions throughout his career in the health informatics industry.
 
In February of 2016, Ron retired from his position as vice president of McKesson Technology Solutions Canada. During his 25 years at McKesson, he was responsible for the overall leadership of McKesson Corporations’ healthcare information technology business in Canada. 
 
In 2012, Ron was awarded the Queens Diamond Jubilee Medal for service to the Canadian health informatics industry. He remains a strong advocate for and continues to be an active promoter of Canada’s health ICT industry domestically and abroad.
 
Since retiring from McKesson, Ron has established his own executive advisory consulting firm focused on assisting healthcare software and services companies to maximize their growth and opportunity potential in the Canadian and US markets.
 
He currently serves as a health technology advisor for Lumira Capital and MaRS Ventures Services. He also serves on the board of directors for various companies and not-for-profit organizations.
 
Since his own diagnosis of Crohn’s Disease in 1985, Ron has been involved with Crohn’s and Colitis Canada in various ways – from being a user of educational and support services to being a fundraiser and volunteer at many events over the years. 
 
Ron and his wife Lynn live in Burlington, Ontario during the summer and fall months and in Sarasota, Florida during the winter and spring months. 
 

Sonu is a partner in Torkin Manes' Litigation Group and practises in all areas of civil litigation, with a particular focus on business law. She is the recipient of the 2018 Lexpert Rising Star: Leading Lawyers Under 40. She is a highly respected instructor, lecturer and facilitator. Sonu is a member of the Canadian Bar Association, Ontario Bar Association, Advocates' Society, 10 + Standing Committee,  and the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC).

Sonu is highly passionate about our Promise and Mission, as she is personally impacted by the disease.

Keith Persaud has worked for over 20 years in the financial and capital markets sectors. He has guided organizations to implement effectiveness and growth strategies through structural and system changes, revenue improvements and targeted cost management. Some of the functions he was responsible for include Finance, Human Resources, Technology, Risk Management, Strategy and Project Management. 

Keith is a CPA, CA and is recently retired. His last position was the Chief Administrative Officer at the Capital Markets Authority Implementation Organization. Prior to that he was the Senior Vice President, Finance and Administration at the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, and has held senior roles at capital markets firms. Keith holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto.

Jodene Baker is the Director of Impact Innovation and Evaluation at United Way Winnipeg, where she develops compelling ways to share the impact of donor dollars in the community and also leads the organizational Data Strategy and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategy. Jodene obtained her PhD in Social Psychology from McGill University in 2005 and worked in the post-secondary education sector for 15 years prior to joining United Way Winnipeg.

Jodene lives in Winnipeg with her spouse and two children. She is personally affected by ulcerative colitis and is passionate about growing awareness of IBD.

Janis Byrne is an experienced corporate director and recently retired as Executive Vice President – Legal, with Pennecon Limited, a leading provider of integrated solutions in the heavy civil, industrial, services & maintenance, and marine sectors across Canada.

Janis has served on numerous boards, with more than 25 years’ experience on non-profit and for-profit boards. She is Director and Chair of the People and Culture Committee and member of the Governance Committee, Atlantic Lottery Corporation; as well as Director and Chair of the Regulatory Committee and member of the Governance and Human Resources Committee of the Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation. She is also a Director and Chair of the ESG Committee, Canadian Manganese Company Inc. She is a past Chair of the St. John’s Board of Trade, and a past President of the Canadian Bar Association (NL Branch).

Janis is a graduate of Memorial University, and holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Windsor as well as a Bachelor of Civil Law from the University of Ottawa. She received the Institute of Corporate Directors Designation in 2017 and an ESG certification from Competent Boards Canada in 2022.
 

Since graduating from the University of Montreal in 1989, Sylvain has worked in the healthcare industry, occupying roles of increasing responsibility all while having his team at heart and an unwavering focus on patients. Sylvain started his career with the pharmaceutical company Glaxo before joining the medical device company ConvaTec, where he stayed for 21 years and held the role of Vice-President/General Manager for Canada during his last 11 years with the company. Following his tenure at ConvaTec, Sylvain joined Patterson Dental as the Managing Director for Canada. Sylvain has and continues to oversee all aspects of the business including sales, marketing, finance, human resources, supply chain, regulatory affairs, and legal. Sylvain worked for three years in the United States, leading the most important global division of ConvaTec as the Global Director of Ostomy Care. During his career, Sylvain has been responsible for countries such as Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. 

In addition to his responsibilities as country lead over the last decade, Sylvain was an active member of a culture transformation committee while being on the Americas Leadership Team.

Sylvain has been volunteering at the Ostomy Youth Camp in Calgary and helped raise funds for mental health initiatives while being involved in coaching his two daughters. As part of his work with a leading medical device company, Sylvain has been exposed to the challenges and resilience demonstrated by individuals living with IBD. Sylvain looks forward to the opportunity of contributing to this important cause.

Sara Gottlieb is General Counsel of Ontario Tech University, where she is responsible for all legal services including corporate legal matters, academic affairs, intellectual property, human rights and gender-based violence issues – among many other areas.

Sara joined Ontario Tech University from the University of Toronto, where she was Senior Legal Counsel and Director, with a focus on the health sciences sector. Prior to that, she was Legal Counsel with the Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario, which reviews and resolves complaints from the public about provincial government organizations. She began her career as an Associate with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP in New York City, followed by Goodmans LLP in Toronto.

Her experience also includes roles as a volunteer board member and governmental appointee with health, equity and diversity initiatives.

As an individual impacted by Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, Sara is committed to helping those living with the diseases as well as supporting research and fundraising initiatives that help find a cure and treatments.

Post-doctorate – Children and Women’s Hospital, Department of Paediatrics, Division of Gastroenterology
Ph.D. – University of Victoria, Department of Microbiology and Biochemistry
B.Sc. – University of Victoria, Department of Microbiology and Biochemistry

Dr. Deanna Gibson is an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia on the Okanagan Campus. She is a translational scientist who studies how the gut microbiome develops in response to the environmental cues, like dietary patterns, and how this drives immunometabolic responses. She has shown dietary lipids and patterns of diet are major predictors of which types of microbes and bacterial metabolites produced in the mammalian gut. For example, early life is an important time for microbial colonization and she has shown maternal dietary patterns alter the breast milk fungal and bacterial communities which is passed on from mother to offspring. She has found that host behaviours, such as exercise, predict microbiome diversity associated with metabolite production in the human gut; diet, the lived environment as well as food pesticides associated with agricultural practices are also important factors that drive the gut microbiome.

One focus of Dr. Gibson’s research has been how to improve diets for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients, including a clinical trial on the Mediterranean diet pattern in people with Ulcerative Colitis. One of her major areas in her research lab is to figure out how to alter the course of the microbiome through novel therapeutics. One example is via improving the bioavailability of probiotics to improve the disease-associated microbiome that stimulates unbalanced inflammation. To this end, she has bioengineered live biotherapeutic products to treat intestinal inflammatory conditions including IBD and metabolic comorbidities as well as on the gut-brain axis.

She is passionately involved in finding the cure for IBD and is currently the Co-Chair for the Crohn’s and Colitis Canada Scientific and Medical Advisory Council, a member of the Crohn’s and Colitis Canada COVID-19 & IBD Task Force, a member of the steering committee of Mentoring in IBD, as well as a member of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology WomenCAN.

She was the recipient of an NSERC research scholar award, a UBC Killam research award and the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology 2018 Young Investigator Award.  She has been the recipient of grant funding from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Canadian Foundation for Dietetic Research, NSERC and Crohn’s and Colitis Canada.

You can find Dr. Gibson’s publications here

Additional Links
Centre for Mibrobiome & Inflammation Research - Gibson Lab
University of British Columbia - Gut Health

Darren Kerr is a joint replacement Orthopaedic Surgeon in Saint John, NB, whose practice focuses on adult reconstructive surgery and trauma. He received his medical degree from Dalhousie University before completing his Orthopaedic Surgery residency at Queen’s University. He then completed additional training at Queen’s and Harvard University before starting his surgical practice in 2001. He is currently the Clinical and Academic Head of the Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Dalhousie University (Saint John, NB campus).

He is heavily involved in medical education – teaching and training Dalhousie University Orthopaedic Surgery residents, Family and Emergency Medicine residents, and undergraduate medical students.

Darren’s involvement with Crohn’s and Colitis Canada is a result of having a son, and more recently a niece, with ulcerative colitis. He resides in Rothesay, NB with his wife and is an avid sports participant.
 

Jess Messias, MSc, Pht. is a physiotherapist and director of Dynamix, a fitness club and physiotherapy clinic in Montreal where he provides honest, empathetic care to help others build and sustain a healthy lifestyle and achieve their wellness-related goals.

Jess was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis at 22, just prior to a move to Melbourne, Australia. Following a year of visits to unbelievable gastroenterology teams in Montreal and Melbourne, he was put on a biologic treatment and has fortunately been in good health ever since. Supporting his community has always been important to Jess; he has served in volunteer roles for local Montreal organizations including Federation Community Jewish Appeal, Israel Cancer Research Fund, West Island College Alumni Foundation, and Beth Tikvah Congregation.
Since 2015, Jess has supported Montreal’s Generation C initiatives, chairing fundraising events focused on 18-to-30-year-olds: Slashing Crohn’s & Colitis, a two-day hockey tournament; and Bottoms Up, a casual gala event.

Jess is returning to McGill University in the fall 2023 for an MBA program at the Desautels Faculty of Management.

Ruth Scully is mother of Sarah & Adam Scully, both of whom have inflammatory bowel disease: Sarah has ulcerative colitis and Adam has Crohn’s disease. As a result of their conditions, Ruth has been very actively involved with the Crohn’s and Colitis Canada since 2004. Over the years, Ruth has sat on the organization’s Board Advisory Council, the Marketing Task Force, the Grants in Aid Review Committee, the Development Committee and was Vice President of the Toronto Chapter, volunteer at Gutsy Walks, Toronto Galas, Golf Tournaments and M&M Barbecues.

Professionally, Ruth is a marketing consultant with over 30 years in the business. Her career began in 1982 in consumer packaged goods marketing at Procter & Gamble. In 1989, she started her own business - Mainline Marketing Consulting. Ruth’s specialty is in sponsorship and experiential marketing for the corporate and not-for-profit sectors.

Kyle Steward is the Founder, and Lead Strategist at KRAS Sales Consulting Co., a management consultancy focused on helping start-ups, scale-ups, and enterprises create, implement, and measure sales and business development strategies.

Kyle is accredited by the Canadian Professional Sales Association as a Certified Sales Leader (CSL), recognizing Canada's top sales leadership talent. Kyle recently earned a Master of Communication Management (MCM) degree from McMaster University and Syracuse University. 

Crohn's disease turned Kyle's life upside down, from a healthy 10-year-old to the intensive care unit in a matter of days. Kyle was eventually put on Remicade in 2001 and has been in relatively good health. 

Since his diagnosis, Kyle has supported Crohn's and Colitis Canada. In 2007, Kyle was the Ontario Youth Advisory Council (YAC) representative, in 2009, he was the recipient of the UCBeyond Crohn's Disease Scholarship, and in 2010, he served as the Halton Honorary Chair to the organization's Heel n' Wheel-a-Thon (now known as Gutsy Walk).

Dan Tanenbaum comes from a long family history of giving and is proud to be a part of a large philanthropic family. His passion for philanthropy is demonstrated in his personal as well as his professional life, and when Dan’s twin boys were recently diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, he became focused on helping Crohn’s and Colitis Canada.
 
Dan was the founder of the first electronic 50/50 raffle software program with his company Bump Worldwide Inc. After building, growing and, in turn, selling the company Dan then became the Chief Innovation Officer at Ascend Fundraising Solutions, which has helped more than 500 Not-for-Profit organizations raise hundreds of millions of dollars by offering various fundraising technology platforms. As the CIO, Dan’s role has been to create new and innovative ways for the charitable industry to raise money through new technologies. His latest ‘Round-up’ program allows charities to empower their supporters to become monthly donors via their everyday activities.  

John Van de Pol recently retired as Senior Vice-President and CFO of Painted Pony Energy. Prior to joining Painted Pony Energy, John served as President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Rock Energy for nearly three years following his service as Vice-President and CFO. That was preceded by a number of senior executive roles held in various organizations including Taqa North, Northrock Resources, and Sceptre Resources. John is a member of the Financial Executives International (Canada) and the Institute of Corporate Directors and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree (Accounting) from the University of Calgary, with a C.A. designation.

He and his wife reside in Calgary and are active participants in many Crohn’s and Colitis Canada events, including our annual Gutsy Walk.

Dr. Kaley Wilson is currently the Director of Business Development at Quark Venture, a Vancouver based venture capital group that invests globally in health science.  Investing out of the $500M USD Global Health Sciences Fund, Dr. Wilson works closely with Quark’s Investment Committee to identify and diligence potential investment opportunities. 

Dr. Wilson is also currently the interim CEO of Sitka, a biotherapeutics company with a breakthrough nanoparticle platform technology to deliver compounds to difficult to penetrate tissues.  Sitka’s lead asset, STK-01, is Phase 1 ready and is being developed for the treatment of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.  Dr. Wilson joined Sitka in March 2020 to raise a Series A financing to take Sitka’s lead asset into the clinic. 

From January 2018 until September 2019, Dr. Wilson was also the interim CEO of ARTMS Products Inc. a global leader in the development of disruptive medical isotope production technologies. Prior to joining Quark Venture, Dr. Wilson was the Associate Director, Partnerships, at the Centre for Drug Research and Development. 

Dr. Wilson is also an Advisor and Mentor for Ontario Bioscience’s Capital Access Advisory Program (CAPP), a member of GlycoNet’s Commercialization Committee, Nanomedicines Innovation Network’s (NMIN) Research Management Committee, a Director on the Board of Sitka, Canary Medical and Microbion and an Observer on the Boards PHEMI and ARTMS. 

Dr. Wilson obtained her PhD from the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada, in 2007.