Kelly Kubrick is Vice President and General Manager of Morrison Lamothe Inc., a third-generation frozen food manufacturer founded by her grandfather in 1933. Today, Morrison Lamothe Inc specializes in frozen prepared, hand-held pies or turnovers. Kelly has served on Morrison Lamothe Inc’s board of directors since 2002.

Kelly holds the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors, an MBA from New York University, and a certificate from the Radcliffe Publishing Course at Harvard University. Her career spans senior executive leadership and digital innovation. She previously served as Vice President of dStrategy Media and as Director of eCommerce Development for Time Inc., the consumer marketing division of Time Warner in New York.

In 2002, she founded Online Authority, a digital analytics services firm. She also co-founded My Liberty Inc., a national medical supply e-commerce company, serving as Chief Operations Officer until its successful sale in 2025.

Kelly served as Chair of the Digital Strategy Conference, co-authored the Six Dimensions of Digital Maturity Model, and led foundational research initiatives in digital transformation. Her commitment to community and industry leadership includes serving as a member of the Mayor of Ottawa’s Task Force on eGovernment and a contributor to numerous academic and industry advisory boards.

Carol is a Fellow Chartered Professional Accountant (FCPA)  and a Chartered Buisness Valuator (CBV) with over 40 years of experience including  38 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (“PwC”) where she was a  partner for 25 years followed by five year as CFO  of  Equality Fund.  She is now semi-retired holding independent and advisory director roles.  She is currently on the Board of Directors of State Street Canada Trust where she serves as the  Finance and Audit Committee Chair. She is also on the Indpendent Review Committee of Alberta Treasury Board Investment Management.

Carol  has a long history of  volunteering on Not for Profit Boards in Ottawa including CHEO Foundation, Ashbury College, Ottawa Community Foundation and National Art Centre Foundation where in each case she chaired the board’ s respective audit Committee. She obtained her ICD.D in 2017 and  completed the Women’s Director Developlment Program at Kellogg/Northwestern in 2019.

She is an active member of the International Women’s Forum in Ottawa and has a passion for helping and promoting women.

Following a 32 year career in the Financial Markets Department of the Bank of Canada, Robert White served from 2002 to 2009 as President and Chief Executive Officer of Tradex Management Inc., one of the oldest and most respected mutual fund companies in Canada. At the beginning of 2010, he stepped down as President of Tradex to begin to phase in his retirement. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of British Columbia.  Robert served as a Director of Beechwood from 1992 to 2020, when he stepped down as a Director. He was immediately appointed Director Emeritus in recognition of his 28 years of service to Beechwood.

As partner of the Business Law Group of Norton Rose Fulbright LLP in Ottawa, Richard Wagner B.A. (Hons), LL.B., Ontario Bar 1983 represents Canadian and foreign clients in their business operations in Canada, and in a wide range of federal regulatory matters, including international trade law, competition law and government procurement law. Richard represents clients in dealings with Canadian departments and in cases before tribunals, such as the Canadian International Trade Tribunal and the courts. He has served on the Board of Directors of several corporations including The Beechwood Cemetery Company since 2002, and has served as a Foundation Director since 2001.

Cajo Brando OMM, CD has over forty-two years of service in the Royal Canadian Air Force, with a broad background in operations, project management, human resources, and policy development. Following graduation from the Royal Military College of Canada, he flew as a pilot, flying instructor and flight evaluator, going on to command a NATO surveillance squadron in Germany and subsequently Canadian Forces Base Ottawa and 7 Wing Ottawa. Career staff positions include Director of Plans, Programs and Requirements for the NATO Early Warning Force in Mons, Belgium, Canadian Forces Director for J3 Ops Chemical and Biological Defence, Director General for Aerospace Development, and Director General for Air Force Human Resources. After retirement Cajo studied mediation, with certificates from The Canadian Institute for Conflict Resolution, National Defence, and Harvard University. Currently also serving as a director with the Canadian Battlefields Foundation, Cajo was previously a director with the Canadian Institute for Conflict Resolution, and a member of the Board of Governors, Royal Military College, Kingston, Ontario.  Cajo joined the Beechwood Cemetery Foundation as a director in 2018.

Clare Beckton BA LLB(Sask.) MPA(Harvard) Fulbright scholar and Littauer fellow 2005, is an award-winning advocate for women’s leadership, the author of Own It Your Success, Your Future, Your Life – a book which has inspired many women. She is a sought-after speaker, media commentator, consultant, facilitator, mentor and coach. She is the founder of OWN Your OWN Success - her consulting and leadership business and Executive in residence - External Relations and Partnerships at the Centre for Research on Inclusion at Work at Carleton University.

Clare was founding Executive Director of the Carleton University Centre for Women in Politics and Public Leadership (now merged with the Centre for Research on Inclusion at Work) where she led and facilitated cutting edge research initiatives and programs to advance women’s leadership. She led the development of a five-day advancing women in leadership program and is a facilitator in this highly-rated program which has already been offered to more than 600 women. She also sought and obtained scholarships for Indigenous women to be able to participate in the program and grow their leadership capacity. She has also provided custom leadership programs to a number of organizations in Canada for young women and women rising in leadership. In Jordan, she provided training through the Forum of Federations to a group of university students and to their mentors.

She is a lawyer, a former senior executive in the Government of Canada including roles as head of the agency for Status of Women Canada and Assistant Deputy Attorney General Aboriginal Affairs Justice Canada and former professor of law at Dalhousie University. She has extensive experience in leadership, strategy, vision, development and facilitation of leadership programs for different cohorts of women and girls.

Several recent high impact studies of the Centre (led or co-authored by Clare), with its partners, include A Force to Reckon With, Women, Entrepreneurship and Risk, Women’s Leadership Matters, The impact of Women’s Leadership in the Canadian Public Service and Everywhere, Every Day Innovation, Women Entrepreneurs and Innovation. These studies have inspired changes in practices in financial institutions relating to loans for women entrepreneurs and in government policy to support women entrepreneurs including influencing the 2018 budget respecting the strategy for women entrepreneurs. She supports women entrepreneurs through partnering on important research that amplifies their voices and advocates for change to enable the growth of women-owned businesses. She is also co-developing and facilitating programs to offer development to women entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and advance their leadership and voices.

Her study on women in mining has sparked new initiatives to open supplier opportunities to women entrepreneurs, thus supporting growth and jobs. Working in partnership with Equal Voice, she produced much-needed advice for women running for office and assisted with the creation of an accessible portal of information on women in politics in Canada.

Clare taught law at Dalhousie University, published a book The Media and the Law in Canada, and a number of articles on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. She was widely recognized for her work, including by the Supreme Court of Canada respecting freedom of expression and equality. As a law professor, she was an advocate for human rights - including women’s rights - and was a representative on the president’s committee to increase the representation of women and minorities in faculty positions.

Clare is a recipient of a Fulbright scholarship to Harvard and was awarded a Littauer fellowship by Harvard (for leadership and contribution to Public Service). She studied at the Kennedy School of Government in 2004-2005 with an emphasis on cross-cultural leadership.

She serves on a number of boards including the subcommittee of the Invest Ottawa board developing a strategy to advance female founders and to create a culture of diversity and inclusion, director and vice-chair of Beechwood Cemetery Company and Beechwood Cemetery Foundation, and chair of the governance committee of the International Women’s Forum (IWF) Canada board. She is a founding member of the women and philanthropy program at the Queensway Carleton Hospital. Clare was a member of the Harvard Women’s Leadership Board for 8 years, and UNICEF’s 25th team working to advance maternal and new born health in developing countries.

Clare served on the Queensway Carleton Hospital board including as Chair of the Board, vice-chair and chair of the governance committee. While leading the hospital board she was able to increase women’s participation to 50 per cent. Clare was a member of the Canadian Task Force for Women’s Business Growth and a member of the advisory board of the Canadian Board Diversity Council. She is a sought-after mentor and coach serving as a mentor in the Women’s Executive Network, Women in Communications and Technology and the IWF international’s elite athlete program, and the IWF Fellows program. She gives many hours freely to coach and mentor young women and those going through transitions in their lives.

Clare led delegations for Canada to the UN in both New York and Geneva on Human rights, to the Women’s Leadership Network of the Asia -Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum, to the Inter-American Commission of Women, and to Moscow (on behalf of the Canada School of the Public Service).

She has been recognized three times by the Women’s Executive Network as one of Canada’s 100 most powerful women and recently named to the WXN Hall of Fame, given a leadership award from Canadian Women in Communications and Technology, named by Women of Influence as one of Canada’s diversity leaders, named by Federated Press as their women leader of the year and recognized by the Women’s Professional Network for the work of her Centre. In September 2023, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Businesswoman of the Year Awards (BYAs).

She is also the recipient of a Canada 125 medal for Public Service. She has also received a Women Who Work award from the Embassy of Gabon.

She is a sought-after speaker on leadership speaking at many events nationally and internationally and is a frequent media commentator on a wide range of issues related to women’s advancement. Her advice is regularly sought by Parliamentary Committees and organizations seeking to advance women.

Maurice Baril CMM, MSM, CD proudly served in the Canadian Forces for 40 years. During his military career, he held command and staff responsibilities across Canada, Europe, the United States of America, the Middle East and Africa. In the 1990s, he was successively commander of the Army Combat Training Centre, Military Advisor to the Secretary General of the United Nations in New York and Commander of the Army. Maurice was promoted to the rank of General in 1997, and became Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff in 1997. He retired from the Canadian Forces in 2001. Maurice has been a Director of The Beechwood Cemetery Foundation since 2003.

For over 28 years, Dr. Davidson served in progressively demanding roles within the Canadian Forces Medical Services, engaging in clinical practice, research, training, operations, management, and command positions in the air and maritime domains.

He earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from McMaster University in 1980 and a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Texas in 1985. In 1986, he completed a residency in Aerospace Medicine with the United States Air Force and received board certification from the American Board of Preventive Medicine in Aerospace Medicine.

Upon returning to military service in Canada, he served as the Base Surgeon at the Canadian Forces Base Hospital in Cold Lake, Alberta, before being assigned to the Directorate of Flight Safety in Ottawa as a human factors aircraft accident investigator.

In the early 1990s, Dr. Davidson held positions as Director of Operational Medicine and Director of Medical Assessment and Training at the Defence and Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine in Toronto before being posted to the West Coast as Deputy Chief of Staff Medicine and Medical Advisor to the Commander of Maritime Command Pacific.

During the final five years of his military career, Dr. Davidson represented Canada as Head of Delegation on NATO's Aeromedical Panel and the AGARD Air and Space Interoperability Council. His last military appointment was as Medical Advisor to the Chief of the Air Staff and Aviation Medical Advisor to the Minister of National Defence.

After retiring from the Canadian Forces in 2005 as a Colonel and Aerospace Medicine Specialist, Dr. Davidson spent two years as a policy advisor to the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, later serving as the President of the Ottawa-Orléans Electoral District Association and Deputy Campaign Manager for six years, including through two federal elections.

In 2008, he returned to his medical roots and founded Turning Stone Medical (TSM) Inc., an occupational medicine consulting company that provides expert advisory services to public and private sector clients.

Over the next decade, he worked as a part-time contractor in Transport Canada’s Civil Aviation Medicine Branch, where he served as the Regional Aviation Medical Officer responsible for the medical certification of civil aviation pilots and air traffic controllers in the Atlantic and International Regions.

Dr. Davidson has maintained a strong commitment to global healthcare and disease prevention throughout his career. In 2012, he joined the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem (MHOSLJ), an ancient heraldic Order established in 1098. The Order is dedicated to caring for the sick and dying, promoting Christian unity, and alleviating the suffering of those affected by leprosy. In 2013, he was elected to the MHOSLJ's Board of Governors.

In May 2019, Dr. Davidson was honoured to receive a knighthood and the title of Chevalier in an elaborate ceremony in Digby, Nova Scotia. Don Francisco de Borbon y von Hardenberg, the Spanish Grand Master of the Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, officiated the ceremony.

In 2019, Dr. Davidson was also elected as Board Director for Effect Hope (The Leprosy Mission Canada), a global health organization that assists disadvantaged individuals affected by Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) such as leprosy.

In 2020, he joined the Board of Directors of the Beechwood Cemetery Foundation, Canada’s National Cemetery and National Military Cemetery. He looks forward to contributing his skills and expertise to this esteemed organization, which is also his final resting place.

In 1983, Dr. Davidson married Janet Davidson (née) Hilcox), a former Canadian Forces aeromedical evacuation flight nurse. They have five adult children and two adorable grandchildren.

Ms. Léger was born in Moncton and raised in the nearby valley of Memramcook, New Brunswick.

She joined the Department of External Affairs, now Global Affairs Canada, as a Foreign Service Officer and Trade Commissioner in 1981. For the next 35 years, Ms. Léger represented Canada in seven different countries. She started her diplomatic career in Colombia, then went to Belgium, Switzerland and Israel before returning to Ottawa.

While based in Ottawa, Ms. Léger held a variety of positions, including Executive Director and Deputy Director General of the Summit of the Americas and Director General of Client Services of the Trade Commissioner Service.

In 1995, she was appointed Ambassador of Canada to Panama and, in 2001, to Costa Rica with accreditation to Nicaragua and Honduras.  Her last posting abroad took her to Miami, Florida where she was Consul General of Canada until her return to Ottawa in 2016.

Following her retirement from Global Affairs Canada, Ms. Léger was asked to return to active duty and take on the role of Director General of Programs at the Summits Management Office, where she managed the large team that organized the G7 Summit in Canada hosted in Charlevoix, Québec. She is currently leading a large Human Resources project for Global Affairs Canada.

Throughout her career and even more so since retiring, Ms. Léger has been a strong advocate for women, especially women entrepreneurs.

Ms. Léger sits on the Board of Directors of the Ottawa Chapter of the International Women’s Forum and The Association of Retired Heads of Mission.

Ms. Léger holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Moncton and a Master's degree from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium.

Christine Tausig Ford is president of the Ottawa-based consulting firm, Higher Thinking Strategies Limited. She provides consulting services to universities, non-profit associations and federal government agencies in the areas of governance, leadership, higher education and research policy.

Christine was formerly vice-president and chief operating officer of Universities Canada. She has also served as interim executive director of the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences.

She is currently chair of the Ottawa Humane Society, and a member of the executive of the International Women’s Forum Ottawa chapter.

Christine holds an honours bachelor of journalism from Carleton University and a bachelor of arts in English from the University of Toronto’s Trinity College. She received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 for service to higher education.

Dr. Alykhan Abdulla, BSc, MD, LMCC, CCFP, DipSportMed CASEM, FCFP, CTH (ISTM), CCPE, Master Cert Phys Leader, ICD.D, works in comprehensive family medicine in Manotick, Ontario, doing house calls, long-term care, palliative care, addictions, tropical, and sports medicine. He received his Certification in the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CCFP) in 1994 after going to medical school at the University of Calgary and completing this family medicine training at the University of Toronto.

He is a Fellow of the College of Family Physicians (FCFP). He has specialty designations from the Canadian Academy of Sports and Exercise Medicine; the International Society of Travel Medicine; the Canadian Society of Physician Executives (CCPE); the Schulich Leadership Programme (Masters in Physician Leadership), and the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD.D).

In addition to his medical practice, Dr. Abdulla has taught, coached, and mentored internationally trained doctors, medical students and family medicine residents for more than 30 years as an assistant professor at the University of Ottawa. He is the Director of the Leadership Curriculum at the University of Ottawa Undergraduate Medicine. He is the author of more than 1000 publications and has conducted more than 550 media interviews (radio, TV, podcasts, and print).

Dr. Abdulla has more than 25 years of leadership experience, building collaborations as Chair of the Section of General and Family Practice, Chair of the General Assembly, Chair of OMA District 8, Chair of Audit and Finance in the Ontario Medical Association (OMA); President of the Ottawa Academy of Medicine and Medical Director for The Kingsway Health Centre, among others.

He is or has sat on various not-for-profit boards including the Bruyere Health, Bruyere Foundation, Beechwood Cemetery/Foundation, Ontario Medical Foundation, The Rideau Club, Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation, Eastern Ontario Regional Lab Association, Ontario Medical Association, Canadian Medical Association Finance and Audit, Carlton University Refugee Integration, Canada Games Council Finance and Audit, Equipe Sante Ottawa Ontario Health Team, and Shepherds of Good Hope.

He is honoured to have been awarded the Outstanding Family Physician of Eastern Ontario and Award of Excellence from the Canadian College of Family Physicians, Advocate for Students and Residents from the OMA, Professionalism Award from The University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Service Medal, King Charles III Coronation Medal for Public Service and the Top 40 Under Forty from the Ottawa Business Journal.

Dr. Abdulla believes in authenticity, acknowledging his personal struggles with mental health and finding joy in medical practice through work-life balance. He is passionate about improving the world around him. He is married to Tia and has five children. He loves pickleball, skiing, and exotic travel.

Timothy Killam O.O.M., B.A., B. Comm., L.L.B. joined the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1976. Prior to his retirement in 2011, he held the rank of Deputy Commissioner, Policing Support Services, and was responsible for the service lines of Technical Operations, the Chief Information Officers’ sector, the Chief Criminal Intelligence Officers’ sector, the Canadian Firearms Program, Forensic Science and Identification Services, the Canadian Police Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, the Canadian Police Information Centre and the Canadian Police College.

Timothy is a Life Member of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police. He is a recipient of the RCMP Long Service Medal, the Bronze Clasp & Star, the Silver Clasp, the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Commemorative Medal, as well as the Order of Merit of the Police Forces – Officer Level (O.O.M.). Timothy has been a Director of The Beechwood Cemetery Foundation since 2008.