Our Board - About Us - Volunteer Canada

Volunteer Canada Leadership

Our board of directors is responsible for setting Volunteer Canada's strategic direction. The board represents a pan-Canadian perspective on volunteering and civic participation. Collectively they bring a breadth of experience and wisdom that is crucial to the development of sound organizational policies and maintenance of good governance.

Board Members

Jane Hennig – Chair

Jane Hennig is the Executive Director of the Volunteer Action Centre Waterloo Region, which provides services that strengthen the capacity of over 200 charity and nonprofit organizations to engage and support volunteers.

Jane’s expertise in volunteer management and board governance along with over 40 years of experience in volunteering for local, regional, and national organizations have contributed to her belief in the value of volunteer involvement and the incredible impact of volunteers. She currently provides sector leadership through her work on the steering committee for Wellbeing Waterloo Region; she serves as chair of the Board of Directors for Volunteer Canada and of the Council of St Luke’s Lutheran Church; and she is an active participant in the Ontario Volunteer Centre Network. Jane continuously works to demonstrate the value of community engagement locally and beyond.

She holds degrees from the University of Calgary and Wilfrid Laurier University.

Photo of Lisa Mort-Putland Lisa Mort-Putland - Vice Chair

Lisa Mort-Putland joined Volunteer Victoria as their Executive Director in June 2011. Lisa holds a B.A. in Drama and a Masters in Public Administration with a focus on non-profit management. Prior to working with Volunteer Victoria Lisa was the Development Manager for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Victoria and spent 25 years working and volunteering in the museum and heritage sector.

Kirk Muise – Treasurer

Currently residing in Dieppe, New Brunswick, Kirk holds responsibility for Eastern New Brunswick & PEI Commercial Financial Services business. Supported by a team of 16 financial services professionals, they work to maximize RBC’s position in the market and bring the best of RBC to businesses, their owners and their employees.

Born and raised in Cape Breton, Kirk joined RBC in 1996 and has progressively advanced his career. He has held various senior leadership roles in Atlantic Canada, as head of Human Resources, Regional Vice President for Northern New Brunswick, Eastern New Brunswick & PEI, and Regional Vice President, Financial Planning prior to be being appointed to his current role in May 2018.

Kirk is a business graduate of Cape Breton University, and also holds his Personal Financial Planner designation through Canadian Securities Institute. He was a recipient of the RBC Leo Award in 2016 in recognition of his community leadership.

Kirk has always been very involved in community activities through fundraising and volunteerism and is past chair of Greater Moncton & South Eastern NB United Way campaign for 2016 and 2017. He is presently serving on the Friends of the Moncton Hospital Board of Directors, Volunteer Canada’s Board of Directors, United Way of Greater Moncton & Southeastern NB Board of Directors, co-chair of Moncton’s Wake Up Call Breakfast for Prostate Cancer research and is part of 100 Men Who Care group in Greater Moncton.

Kirk and his wife Manon have two children, Janelle and Dominic aged 11 and 8.

Jonathan Wade - Secretary

Jonathan Wade is a non-profit professional with more than 30 years of experience as a staff member, volunteer, board member, and consultant in social purpose organizations and non-profits. In the last 15 years as a consultant, he has provided coaching, training, and professional consulting services to non-profit organizations, co-operatives, and individuals seeking to start or expand a social enterprise.

Jonathan is currently the Social Entrepreneur in Residence at the IMPACT HUB in Ottawa, an Innoweave social enterprise coach, a facilitator and instructor at social enterprise workshops and trainings, and the principal marketing instructor and coach for the Social Enterprise Institute. He is a CCEDNET member and is active in the Ontario Social Economy Roundtable. He is a past board member of several organizations such as the Social Enterprise Council of Canada, and he was the co-founder of the Ottawa-based Center for Social Enterprise Development (CSED).

Jonathan is an active volunteer with organizations at the community, regional and national level. He has been a board member and has volunteered for several senior strategic planning, funding review, and advisory bodies for non-profit organizations, foundations, and co-operatives. He believes strongly in the value and strength of an active voluntary sector to improve and sustain the strength of our communities.

Michel Alexandre Cauchon - Member at Large

Michel Alexandre Cauchon received a Bachelor of Social Science degree with honors from the University of Ottawa, followed by a Master's degree in Political Science from Laval University before working as a Parliamentary Assistant to a Member of the House of Commons. Subsequently, he turned to community where, for nearly 10 years, he worked to improve the living conditions of the poor.

In February 2016, he started at the Federation of Volunteer Centers of Quebec (FCABQ) as a public relations advisor, with a mandate to tie the various actions leading up to National Volunteer Week. That same year, he became responsible for research and development at the FCABQ, a position he held for two and a half years, which enabled him to understand the challenges and issues that volunteer centers must face and address.

More recently, he was responsible for the overall coordination of the “Regroupement des cuisines collectives du Québec”, a provincial organization aimed at developing food self-sufficiency through popular education. Currently, Michel is still at FCABQ as General Manager since May 2019, Michel Alexandre is happy and enthusiastic to put his professional energies at the service of volunteerism.

Jackie Hunt - Member at Large

Jackie Hunt is a training consultant, community leader and Volunteer Manitoba’s Executive Director. She is also the co-founder of The Kindred Project, a non-profit organization that provides feminine hygiene products for over 300 women in need each and every month.

For seven years, Jackie was an elected official in the RM of Ritchot. She began her involvement with the RM as a counselor and then as the mayor. She believes in the power of strong communities and service to others, and she has built a strong reputation working with government, community leaders, organizations and individuals who share those same values.

In her current role as Executive Director, Jackie combines her extensive experience in community engagement and her strong leadership style to position Volunteer Manitoba as the leader and catalyst for engaging all Manitobans.

Photo of Karen Link

Karen Link - Member at Large

Karen in the Executive Director of Volunteer Alberta, whose mission is to strengthen Alberta’s nonprofit sector organizations through knowledge exchange and strategic connections.

Karen is at heart a community builder. She has expertise in cross sector collaborative models, partnership brokering, system design, change management and project management.

She has volunteered and worked for, with and in the nonprofit sector for more than 30 years. Her commitment to the sector is exemplified by the wide range of work she does with countless local, provincial and national nonprofit organizations as well as the fun she has volunteering for many arts, music and cultural organizations and festivals in the Edmonton region.

Karen is a founding member of the Alberta NonProfit Network (ABNN) that seeks to advance a unified response on strategic sector-wide issues.

Don McRae - Member at Large

Don McRae worked with voluntary groups and charities for over 30 years with the federal government. During that time, he was involved with the National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating, the National Survey of Nonprofit and Voluntary Organizations and the Satellite Account of Nonprofit Institutions and Volunteering. He has been a volunteer for over fifty years (learning at the age of 13 that dogs are suspicious of people handing out pamphlets, but he persisted).

Since his retirement, Don has undertaken research on the ebbs and flows of the charitable sector. The research looks at those charities whose charitable status is revoked and the new charities that are registered each year.

Lawrence (Lawrie) Portigal – Member at Large

Lawrence (Lawrie) Portigal is a native of Calgary and attended the University of Alberta, where he received degrees in Science and Law. He is a retired member of the Alberta Bar. Lawrence was first employed by the City of Calgary and later was a senior executive in the coal, electricity and natural gas industries. He moved to Richmond in 2002. Lawrence is active in the volunteer sector and is currently a director and Past President of Volunteer Richmond Information Services; a director and Treasurer of Touchstone Family Association and a director and President of Volunteer BC.

Anna Tran – Member at Large

Anna Tran is the Co-founder and Director of Operations of the Parsec Youth Network (PYN), a non-profit with a global network of thousands of volunteers. In March 2020, in response to COVID-related school closures, Anna led her team to launch a free national online tutoring program to help students with the challenges of online learning, connecting over 500 Canadian students coast-to-coast with volunteer tutors for one-on-one tutoring. She also launched a free summer workshop program to provide over 150 workshops to 300+ families across Canada, in lieu of the cancellation of summer camps and activities due to COVID-19.

Anna holds a BSc. in Honours Life Sciences from McMaster University and studied Human, Social, and Political Sciences at the University of Cambridge. She is currently a research associate at McMaster, and has presented her work at various national and international medical conferences. She actively volunteers in a variety of research-related and leadership roles, including in her role as a Climate Action Catalyst Team Lead for which she has collaborated with municipal partners and healthcare organizations to reduce the ecological footprint of local hospitals.

Penelope Rowe – Member at Large

Penelope M Rowe is CEO of the Community Sector Council, Newfoundland and Labrador - a registered charity dedicated to linking social and economic development, strengthening the community sector and promoting volunteerism.

Rowe has spent much of her career in the policy and nonprofit fields holding numerous Order-in-Council appointments such as vice chair of the Social Sciences Research and Humanities Council (the first non-academic to hold this senior position); co-chair of the Canadian Health Network; chair of the NL Workers Compensation Board, and chair of the Social Policy Advisory Committee which developed a policy framework for the NL Government’s groundbreaking strategic social plan. As a volunteer she has contributed to national and provincial advisory committees and voluntary organizations including the National Executive of the Governor General’s Leadership Conference; the Joint Coordinating Committee for the Federal Government - Voluntary Sector Initiative; Imagine Canada’s Advisory Committee; the Community Panel of the Cooperators Group; and Statistics Canada’s Advisory Group for non-profit research. Currently on the Boards of the Social Enterprise Council of Canada and the Provincial Council of the Rural Secretariat, she is also a member of Memorial University’s Innovation Strategy External Advisory Committee. She has authored many reports including the Atlantic Regional Report of the National Survey of Nonprofit and Voluntary Organization and The Leadership Gap: Perception or Reality.

Penelope has an MSc London School of Economics and an honorary doctorate of laws from Memorial University. Her contributions have been recognized throughout Canada. Named one of Canada’s 50 influential women by Chatelaine Magazine and one of Atlantic Canada’s top 50 CEO’s by Atlantic Business Magazine, she is a member of the Order of Canada cited as a tenacious advocate for the social and economic well-being of Canadians and a champion for volunteerism.

Volunteer Canada Leadership

Board Members

Jane Hennig – Chair

Kirk Muise – Treasurer

Michel Alexandre Cauchon - Member at Large

Lawrence (Lawrie) Portigal – Member at Large

Anna Tran – Member at Large

Penelope Rowe – Member at Large

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