CHAIR
Francis
Mackan
Horne LLP Chartered Accountants
After
joining Horne LLP, a Burlington based accounting firm, in 1998, Francis
became a Partner in 2006. With over 20 years of Public Accounting
experience,
Francis' expertise is in advising owner managed businesses, and he has a
strong expertise in personal and corporate income tax planning for
family owned businesses. He is currently serving as Treasurer of the
Board of Museums Burlington and Treasurer of the Board of the Hamilton
Philharmonic Orchestra. He is an active member of the Burlington Chamber
of Commerce where he has acted as Chair of the Membership Committee and
Board Liaison of both the Political Action and Health Advocacy Committees. Francis graduated from Brock University with a Bachelor of Business
Administration Degree. Francis and his wife Aimee and their family are
long time residents of Burlington.
VICE CHAIR
Jamie Cunningham
ActionCOACH business coaching
Jamie
is a managing partner for ActionCOACH
business
coaching with offices in
Burlington and Cambridge.
Jamie’s
passion is people and business.
His
experience with marketing and building teams has enabled Jamie to create
significant results for his clients.
With
a strong head for finance, Jamie brings a well-rounded approach to
building businesses.
He
currently owns
three
businesses and maintains a well balanced life enjoying
the outdoors, travel and extreme sports.
Jamie has been a member of the Chamber's Programs
Committee for several years, the last two as that committee's Chair.
SECOND VICE CHAIR
Tamer Fahmi
Hearth & Home Realty Inc., Brokerage
Tamer E. Fahmi is the Broker
of Record and President of his company, HEARTH & HOME REALTY INC.,
BROKERAGE founded in 1989. He has been a resident of the Burlington area
since 1970, a practicing REALTORŪ since 1976 and a business owner since
1989. Tamer has served on a number of boards and committees over
the years, most recently as a Former President of the Ontario Real Estate
Association as well as the REALTORSŪ Association of Hamilton-Burlington. He is currently serving on the Burlington Downtown
Association's Board of Management. Tamer resides in the Tyandaga
area with his wife and business partner Janet; they have been married
since 1985 and are proud parents of two young Burlington citizens.
DIRECTOR OF FINANCE
Jason
Safar
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Jason
Safar is a partner in the Tax Services practice. He specializes in high
net worth taxation, working exclusively in the area of tax planning for
Canadian private companies and their shareholders. He has a wealth of
experience dealing with entrepreneurs in all stages of their
professional and personal lives. Jason has taught several levels of the
CICA In-Depth Tax course to tax practitioners across the country. He has
also taught introductory tax courses with the McMaster University
Continuing Education Department. He
is a Chartered Accountant who received a Bachelor of Commerce degree
from the University of Toronto.
PAST CHAIR
Janet
Whitehouse
Bell
Canada
Janet
is a life-time resident of Burlington and
a graduate of Sheridan
College.
Her career with Bell started 30 years ago, and she is
currently a Regional Director in Community Affairs. In this
position Janet interfaces with the community by sponsoring consumer and
business events, such as the Burlington Sound of Music Festival, the
Chamber Business Awards and events through southern
Ontario. She also works on business
development with a focus on health, education and economic development.
In addition to her role as Past Chair of the Burlington Chamber of
Commerce, she currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Oakville
Chamber; Joseph Brant Hospital Foundation, and is the Chair of the
hospital fundraiser, the Crystal Ball Gala; Halton Chairman's Roundtable
on the Environment; the co-chair of the Hamilton United Way Mayors gala;
sits on the Burlington professional Firefighters gala committee and was
a past Director on the Sound of Music Board.
DIRECTOR
Philip
Evenden
Integrity Wealth Management
Phil
has been involved in the financial industry since 1983 where he started
with a major Canadian insurance firm. He has held positions in
sales and management and has served as President of an Agents' Marketing
Advisory Council. Phil started Integrity Wealth Management in 2001 and focuses
on helping entrepreneurs avoid personal cash crises through proactive
planning. Phil is very active with the Burlington Chamber and
chaired the Programs Committee in 2005 - 2006. He has lived in
Burlington since 1981 and is married with four children.
DIRECTOR
Nigel Jacobs
Taylor Leibow LLP Accountants and Advisors
Nigel Jacobs is the CEO of
Taylor
Leibow LLP Accountants and Advisors, a full service accounting firm.
Nigel is an acknowledged expert in the practice management of
professional services firms and continues to be involved in various
speaking engagements. Nigel
serves on the editorial advisory board of CPA Practice Management Forum,
for which he writes articles on a regular basis.
He is only the second Canadian to win the highly prestigious ACE (Achievement, Commitment and Excellence) award
for the management of an accounting firm in 2004 from the Association of
Accounting Administration (“AAA”).
Nigel was elected by his peers to the Board of Governors of
CMA Ontario in 2006 and is presently fulfilling his
term of office. He is also the
Director of Education of the AAA based in the USA and is the only Canadian on this
Board. Nigel is an active member
of the Burlington Chamber of Commerce and has served as a member of the
Business Awards Task Force for the past four years.
He is a Certified Management Accountant and received his Bachelor
of Commerce degree from the
University
of Cape Town.
DIRECTOR
Shelley McQuade
SalesFertilizer.com
Shelley’s
career in sales and marketing goes back 25 years. Her
keen
understanding of what influences customer behaviour propelled her into
leadership positions where she played an integral part in the
exponential growth of organizations working with the likes of HP, Kodak,
Mazda, Motorola and LG. She also taught as an adjunct professor in the
School of Business and Entrepreneurship at Niagara College.
Most
recently, she was a partner at a training and consulting company where
she turned their highly effective, yet intangible services into a
tangible, systemized approach with a technology component. Now she’s off
exploring new frontiers with the start up of SalesFertilizer.com.
Shelley sits on the Business Excellence Awards
Task Force
and
is the founding Chair of the Value Accelerator Group.
DIRECTOR
Jeremy
Okolisan
Byrne
Engineering Inc.
As
the Vice President for Byrne Engineering, a Burlington-based consulting
engineering company, Jeremy Okolisan brings 15 years of management and
consulting experience to the Board. Previously, Jeremy was a
Manager at Deloitte Consulting, providing management-consulting
solutions to Canada's largest companies. He is active in the
community serving as director for the Burlington Museum Board and as
chair for several Burlington Chamber Task Forces. Jeremy is a
Professional Engineer who received his MBA from Queen's University and
his Bachelor of Applied Science, Mechanical Engineering from the
University of Toronto.
DIRECTOR
Rod Wright
Blair Blanchard Stapleton Limited
Rod
joined Blair Blanchard Stapleton Limited in April 1999 after spending
several years in commercial real estate with a national firm. Rod
specializes in Commercial Real Estate in Burlington. In the past 12
years Rod has been involved in more than 900 transactions for over
6,000,000 square feet. Prior to Rod's involvement in real estate
he worked as a property manager which gives him extensive experience and
knowledge in construction, HVAC and operations of a building. Rod
graduated from the University of Guelph with an Honours degree in
Bachelor of Applied Science.
CHAMBER
OF COMMERCE PAST PRESIDENTS
The Chamber is strongly supported by the Past Presidents of the Burlington
Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber's Past Presidents are a group of
business leaders who have the best interests of business in Burlington at
heart. The Chamber is proud to have these individuals as representatives
and ambassadors of the Burlington Chamber of Commerce.
To
learn more about the newly established Past Presidents Council, go to
our Past Presidents page.
