Board Members and Executive
 

Susan McGee, Executive Director Susan McGee serves as Executive Director of Homeward Trust Edmonton. She served in the same capacity at the Edmonton Joint Planning Committee on Housing. Susan served on Leadership Committee to End Homelessness. The Committee produced an action plan to end homelessness in Edmonton in 10 years called, "A Place to Call Home, Edmonton's 10 year Plan to End Homelessness." Susan is currently chair of the 7 Cities CBO's (Community Based Organizations), a collaborative group with representation from Calgary, Edmonton, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Red Deer, Fort McMurray and Grande Prairie. It works closely with the Alberta Secretariat for Action on Homelessness and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to end homelessness throughout Alberta.

Martin Garber-Conrad, Chair

Martin Garber-Conrad has been Chief Executive Officer of Edmonton Community Foundation since March 2005.  Current Foundation assets are approximately $250 million, the fourth largest community foundation in Canada.   ECF initiatives for which he is responsible include the Social Enterprise Fund and the Edmonton & Area Land Trust.

For the previous 18 years Martin was executive director of E4C—a community organization that operates a variety of programs for women, children and youth-at-risk, primarily in the areas of housing, feeding, employment and outreach.

Martin is vice-chair of Homeward Trust and on the steering committees for several collaborative programs in social and community services and education.

Early in his career, Martin developed competency-based training programs for resource industry companies in Alberta, BC and the Northwest Territories.

Sharon Buckley-Tkach

Sharon Buckley-Tkach graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Alberta in 2002. She was an associate with the firm of Nickerson Roberts Holinski and Mercer until 2007, when she moved to Ireland with her husband. Upon returning to Edmonton, Sharon resumed her legal career as a solicitor with Alberta Justice in the Office of the Public Trustee.

From 2001 to 2004, Sharon was a board member of the Prostitution Awareness and Action Committee of Edmonton. From 2005-2007 she was the board’s Vice President. While in law school, Sharon volunteered with Crossroads and Kindred House – agencies that provide assistance to people involved in street prostitution.

Gilman Cardinal, Secretary

Gilman was an employment and housing counselor/supervisor for 13 years for Alberta Manpower (Transitional Housing) supervising over 25 employees in eight urban offices.  This initiative was and alternative for younger Aboriginal families to move to urban locations to increase the economic capacity and well being of their families. For the next 12 years, Gilman went on to manage the Slave Lake Job Corps. A major highlight was the construction of new homes in four Northern Communities.  He then was seconded to Family and Social Services to deliver Job Corps on reserves which included the Alexis and Alexandra reserves.

Gilman was part of the Alberta Job Corps team from Edmonton who won Silver in The Premiers Award of Excellence in 1998. In addition to this, he was awarded the honor of a key to the town of Sylvan Lake, and was the first Aboriginal person to ever receive the award. His volunteerism efforts include serving on the Municipal Planning Commission, Friendship Centre Board, FCSS and the Slave Lake Housing Authority.

Currently retired, Gilman spends some of his time giving back to the community and has designed a cultural Awareness workshop to build relations with Aboriginal people in a respectful way.  He delivers this workshop for the Provincial and Federal staff, nonprofit societies, Industry, Chamber of Commerce, schools, colleges, Aboriginal groups, at risk youth and others.

Julian Daly

Julian Daly is currently the Executive Director of Boyle Street Community Services, an inner city organization working with Edmontonians who are experiencing poverty, mental health challenges, addictions and homelessness. Since taking up his position at Boyle Street Julian has dedicated a great deal of time and energy to supporting the growth and effectiveness of the Boyle Street programs that directly tackle homelessness.

Born in Ireland, Julian has over 23 years experience working in nonprofit, government and private sectors in Canada, the UK, Indonesia and his country of birth. He has managed programs and projects that have focused on a range of areas including housing, poverty reduction, community engagement, health, education and children and family services.

Clayton Kootenay, Vice-Chair

Mr. Kootenay brings a diverse background and unique insight to the team with a wealth of knowledge and experience being actively involved in the Aboriginal community. He has attained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Native Studies from the University of Alberta in 1997 and has been working for the Aboriginal community ever since.

He started his career working for his First Nation in 1997 as a Youth Program Coordinator. In 1998, he was recruited to work for Treaty Six as their Youth Program Coordinator. He soon found his niche with Oteenow Employment and Training Society. His first position was their Marketing and Communications Director and Youth Program Coordinator from 1999 to 2001. In 2001, he took over the role of Executive Director.

Mr. Kootenay is very passionate when it comes to urban service delivery. He has successfully managed the design, delivery and implementation of a multimillion dollar organization. He assisted in the design and implementation of policies and procedures that laid the foundation for the successful management of Oteenow.

Mr. Kootenay has also served as the Chairman of the Alexander First Nation Education Authority for one term and has served on the AFNEA board for three consecutive terms.

Mr. Kootenay is also an accomplished sculptor and painter a graduate of Victoria School of the Performing and Visual Arts. He has sold over 150 pieces of work that can be found throughout the world.

Michael Phair, Treasurer

Michael Phair is currently Director of Community Relations, External Relations, and is located in the University’s Enterprise Square building downtown. He is also an adjunct Professor of Education and a board member of the University’s City-Region Studies Centre.

Previously, Mr. Phair was an elected member of Edmonton’s City Council for 15 years, and represented Ward 4, the centre of the city which includes the University. As a member of City Council, Mr. Phair was particularly identified with issues of homelessness and affordable housing, establishment of the Edmonton Arts Council, the support and development of programs for newcomers/immigrants to Edmonton, environmental initiatives including collection and recycling of waste, water conservation, the preservation of natural areas, and ensuring that city buildings meet “green standards.”

Over the past 25 years, Michael Phair has been and continues to be an active member of and oftentimes a spokesperson for the Gay and Lesbian community in Edmonton and of the AIDS Network of Edmonton, which he helped to form in 1984.

Victor Tanti

Victor Tanti is a senior consultant with Calder Bateman Communications where he provides communications counsel to a diverse client base on public policy issues and social marketing initiatives. A graduate of Carleton University (MA) and the University of Alberta (BA), Victor served the Edmonton Public School Board with distinction for 15 years, most notably as Director of Communications.

Victor was a former Board member of Edmonton Joint Planning Committee on Homelessness and Housing where he also led the Advocacy and Awareness Committee. He is also an active member and former President of the Edmonton Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).

Victor brings over 25 years of experience involvement in the area of communications planning, social marketing, media relations and facilitation.