Our Board of Directors

Prior to assuming his current position, Sean led the Home Equity Financing business. He led a team responsible for managing all aspects of residential lending, including developing the strategic plan to drive profitable market leading growth, acquisition and distribution strategy, product and performance management, pricing, policy andregulatory management, client segmentation and innovation.

Sean joined RBC in 1995 and has held increasingly senior positions in Finance, Personal Lending, Commercial Account Management, Credit Cards, Group Risk Management, and Home Equity Financing.

Sean has a Bachelor of Commerce degree and is a CPA, is active in several leadership, diversity and mentorship programs and is a board member of the Prince’s Charity Responsible Business Network. Sean lives in Toronto with his wife and son.

A critical part of his role is about ensuring excellence in member service, effective member engagement and an ongoing commitment to evolve and improve the value Alberta Central offers its member credit unions. To be effective in this includes collaborating with the executive management team, employees and the Board of Directors as well as with other credit union Centrals and affiliates. In his most recent role, Ian served as CEO of the Alberta Real Estate Association (AREA), where he focused on revitalizing the mandate and strategic direction of the association. In the role, he worked closely with the Board of Directors, employees, members and related industry groups. With the majority of his career spent in regulated industries (telecommunications, banking and retail finance) and as the leader for two insurance companies, Ian has a strong portfolio of governance and regulatory work to go along with his corporate operational experience.

Ian also holds an MBA from the University of Regina and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Calgary

After graduation, David continued his journey with the brand, joining the corporate team in 1992, where he held a variety of positions including Vice President of Operations for Western Ontario, Vice President, Training, Operations Standards and Research and Development and Chief Operating Officer, United States and International.

With his expansive expertise, brand passion and in-Restaurant experience, David became President and Chief Operating Officer for Tim Hortons Canada in 2014. Two years later, he was appointed to his present advisory position – Chairman of Restaurant Brands International Canada.

Since 2003, Sophie has been a managing partner with Brightspark, an early stage venture capital firm. She has led or overseen more than 50 investments in technology companies in Canada and abroad over the past 20 years. Sophie was involved in a number of successful VC backed companies including Touchtunes, Servicesoft, Think Dynamics, Protecode and Grapple. Sophie also played a pivotal role in the investment, growth and exit of Radian6, leading to a 23x multiple on capital invested — one of the most successful technology exits in Canadian history. Brightspark Ventures has won the Canadian Venture Capital Association “Deal of the Year Award”, twice for the sale of ThinkDynamics to IBM and for the sale of Radian6 to Salesforce.com.

Sophie is also a Board member of Centech, the accelerator and incubator associated with ESTS (EScole de Technologie Supérieure) in Montréal. Sophie is active in the Montreal tech community and mentors a number of young founders with a special interest in helping young female founders to strive in the ecosystem. As managing partner at Brightspark Sophie sits on the Board of Directors of a number of companies. Sophie won the “angel of the year” award for her contribution to the angel investment community in 2017, nominated by the National Angel Capital Organization of Canada.

In addition, David is leading CIBC’s Enterprise Payments program. David serves as a Director of CIBC Mellon, a joint venture between CIBC and Bank of New York Mellon. Previous roles in Technology supported CIBC Retail Bank’s Branch, Mobile, Web and Contact Centers as well as responsibility for a global team maintaining CIBC’s data centers, operations and application infrastructure.

With over 30 years of IT and Operations leadership experience, David was previously with Hewlett Packard responsible for delivering Infrastructure Managed services in Canada and the US and also worked in Outsourcing and Software development organizations in Canada and Australia.

Before joining the group, Yann was the Chief Marketing Officer for a large Canadian bank where he worked on understanding, anticipating and influencing the behaviour and needs of clients by developing quantitative prediction models, strategies and marketing campaigns based on the channel’s clients use to interact with the Bank. He also oversaw traditional and digital marketing, brand management, community relations and charitable activities, as well as all activities associated with payment products, including credit cards.

Within his 14 year tenure in the bank, he has held various executive positions within the organization, including in Product Management, Credit Risk and Operations. He was on the board of Ficanex LLP.

Previously, Yann has worked as a senior consultant for a firm based in the USA, that specialized in risk management and business intelligence. Moreover, he has over 10 years of experience at a major Canadian telecommunications company.

Yann has an MBA from the University of Maryland and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from HEC Montréal.

D’Arcy has broad financial service experience in Canada and the US mainly in Marketing, Product Management, Distribution, Customer Experience, and leading Money-In businesses. He’s worked in Banking, Wealth Management, Insurance and across many corporate functions; most recently D’Arcy lead the Retail Savings & Investing business at another big 5 Canadian bank.

D’Arcy completed his undergraduate degree at Laurentian University and completed his MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business. He’s a long time Board Member of the Wellspring Cancer Foundation, he lives in Oakville with his wife, Laura, and daughters Sydney & Chloe. In his spare time, he enjoys Biking, Skiing, Running, and Hiking.

Bill began his career at Ferraro’s Ltd., Super Valu Stores, serving 13 years with the company in both B.C. and Alberta in a variety of store, operations, merchandising, procurement and general management roles. He has held a variety of progressively senior marketing and merchandising roles in the consumer packaged goods industry and has played an active leadership role in a number of industry and charitable organizations. He is the recipient of the Golden Pencil Award, the Canadian grocery industry’s highest honour; the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors Robert Beaudry Award of Retail Leadership Excellence; the Retail Council of Canada’s Lifetime Achievement Award; and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for his commitment and service to Kids Help Phone.

Bill and his wife Donna reside in Meaford, Ontario.

Mark recently led the multi-year initiative to combine Interac Association and Acxsys Corporation into a single share capital corporation, with a new governance and funding model to enable greater flexibility and innovation on behalf of its stakeholders and all Canadians.

Mark has extensive experience in the payment and banking technology industries. Prior to joining Interac, Mark was Executive Vice President, Finance Market at Emergis Inc., where he served on the Interac Association Board of Directors for two years. He has also held senior positions at NCR Corporation in the U.S., as well as Fintech companies OnX Solutions and Footprint Software.

An honours graduate of McGill University and the University of Windsor’s Commerce and MBA program, Mark has also studied executive finance at the Harvard Business School. He currently serves on the Chancellor’s Board of McGill University.

Frank’s career in banking has spanned over 20 years. Having joined TD in 2010, he has held numerous senior leadership roles in both TD Merchant Solutions and TD Credit Cards, including most recently leading TD’s Canadian Credit Card Business. Prior to joining TD, Frank worked in various capacities for a number of leading payment organizations, including Moneris Solutions and American Express. Frank has a strong payments industry background that he has brought to TD.

Frank represents TD on the Canadian Bankers’ Association Operations Committee and on the VISA Canada Advisory Board.

Frank is a graduate of Queen’s University where he completed a Bachelor of Commerce. In 2008, Frank obtained his Executive MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and the Schulich School of Business at York University.

Frank lives in Markham, Ontario with his wife, Tina.

In addition to her professional activities, Ms. Swiderski has been involved throughout her career in various organizations. She was director and treasurer of Théâtre Denise-Pelletier as well as Co-President of the theatrical benefit evenings from 2014 to 2016. She is currently director of the Food Banks of Quebec and since September 2017 of the Francois- Michelle Foundation.

She has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry and has held various positions that have allowed her to develop a proven experience in different sectors.

Lisa Swiderski holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from École des Hautes Études Commerciales. She also holds the Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA) designation.

Derek joined BMO in 1998 and has held progressively senior positions including Head of North American Treasury Product Management and Head of Treasury & Payment Solutions Sales for BMO Capital Markets.

Derek currently serves on the Board of Directors of Interac Corp. and Board of Governors for Junior Achievement Central Ontario. He is also the Co-Chair of Payments Canada’s Industry Steering Committee (ISC) and member of Payments Canada’s Member Advisory Committee (MAC). He is a former Board Member of Payments Canada.

Derek holds a Specialized Honours BA in Economics and Business from York University and an Executive MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business.

Paul is married to Kathleen Flynn and has two sons and one daughter. The oldest son, a Professor at Guelph University, the middle son trying to survive in retail and his daughter finishing up High School.

Paul has always had an interest in education and the arts. He is presently serving or has served as a Director of Durham College Foundation, Ontario University’s Foundation, Director and Board Chair of Kingsway College School and a Director of the Toronto Film Festival. He is also a past Director of Women’s College Hospital.

Paul’s leisure interests include biking, golfing and skiing and summers reading books at their cottage on Lake Couchiching. Paul used to play tennis until a knee replacement three years ago made him hang up his racket. Paul’s friends suggest his tennis retirement has more to do with his wife Kathleen being a much better athlete and Paul just got tired of losing.