Governance | FRIENDS of Canadian Broadcasting

FRIENDS’ LEADERSHIP

Executive Director and Spokesperson

Daniel Bernhard

Daniel Bernhard is FRIENDS' Executive Director and Spokesperson. Daniel has spent his career working to advance the public interest. He comes to FRIENDS from Mushroom Cloud consulting, a Toronto-based leading edge firm he built to meet the strategy, operational and software needs of charities, government and social purpose business clients working in the public benefit sector. Daniel is a first generation Canadian. His parents immigrated to Canada from Chile in the 1970s, when the country was ruled by a military dictatorship. Daniel is fluent in English, French and Spanish.

Chair of the Board

Raymonde Lavoie

Raymonde Lavoie lives in Montréal where her career spanned all the aspects of marketing-communications. She has lead creative and strategic teams inside multinational and local agencies and was co-owner of two agencies. She presides the Québec Assembly of Advertising Standards Canada and taught ‘Strategic and Creative Techniques’ at Université de Montréal. She sits at the Managing Committee of IWF Montréal and on the Boards of Drug-Free Kids Canada and Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.

Board of Directors

Brenda Baker

Brenda Baker is a writer, performer, and creativity coach from Saskatoon, who holds a BFA in visual art. For adults, as a songwriter she toured Canada, releasing two critically-acclaimed CDs and a story collection that won a Saskatchewan Book Award (SBA), among other accolades. A novel for young adults also won an SBA, as well as a JV Hicks Award and a High Plains Book Award in the U.S. For children, she starred in a national TV series, released three CDs and a DVD, and was shortlisted for a Canadian Indie Award. Since 2005 Brenda has been the Founding Director of Kids of Note, Saskatoon's hit choir for children with and without disabilities. She will be forever grateful that she had the opportunity to work part-time for CBC Radio as a host and arts journalist from 1985 to 1990. Significant leadership roles include Access Copyright, Sask. Writers Guild, Sask. Arts Alliance and “captain” of CBC: Ours to Keep Sask. Campaign, 1996-97.

Daniel Bernhard

Ex-Officio

Daniel Bernhard is FRIENDS' Executive Director.

Ani Hotoyan-Joly

Treasurer

Ani Hotoyan-Joly is a member of the Board of Directors of Women’s College Hospital in Toronto where she chairs the Governance and Nominations Committee. She is also a member of the Executive Board of Armenian Relief Society of Canada and a board member of FRIENDS of Canadian Broadcasting where she chairs the Audit Committee. Most recently, she served as a board member of Ontario Power Generation for four years and was a member of the Audit and Risk Committee, and Compensation, Leadership, and Governance Committee. In June 2020, she became a member of the Community Services Sector Audit Committee for the Province of Ontario. Most recently, Ani was the Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary of Coventree Inc. Prior to that, she was the VP Finance and Chief Financial Officer at Swiss Reinsurance Company Canada (P&C). From 1989 to 2002, she worked for Zurich Canada and held various senior positions. Ani is a graduate of University of Toronto’s Bachelor of Commerce programme. She is a Fellow Chartered Professional Accountant (FCPA), and has the ICD.D designation from Institute of Corporate Directors and the GCB.D designation from ESG Competent Boards.

Scot Keith

Scot Keith is the founder and President/CEO of 123w, an idea and design collective based in Vancouver which has worked with clients such Kal Tire, Destination BC, lululemon, Hockey Canada, Muskoka Brewery, White Spot, BC Lottery Corporation, BCAA, CAA, Save-On-Foods, Tim Hortons, YVR Airport and the Canada Media Fund. With almost 30 years years experience, Scot has been fortunate enough to help lead campaigns that have won or been nominated for over 500 creative and effectiveness awards, including Hockey Canada's "Relax, it's just a Game" initiative that combated bad parent behaviour at the rink, which was featured on Oprah. He has spoken all over the world, including the Cannes International Festival of Creativity where he has twice been a keynote speaker.

Raymonde Lavoie

Vice-Chair

Ethan Rabidoux

Ethan Rabidoux is an award winning writer, broadcaster and communicator who currently resides in his beloved hometown of Stratford, Ontario with his wife Tracey. A former military man, Ethan earned his BA (Honours) from Queen’s University and his MA Journalism from Western University. In 2005, students at Queen’s elected him President and C.E.O. of the Alma Mater Society. He won the Dalton Camp Award in 2010 which began his long association with the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting. Ethan spent eight years working in print, radio and online media before moving on to Business Development and Communications.

Raj Shoan

A policy consultant and lawyer, Mr. Shoan has broad experience in communications law and regulatory affairs within the public and private spheres. In 2013, he was appointed to the CRTC as its Ontario Commissioner and participated in several high-profile licensing and policy decisions. Prior to his appointment to the CRTC, he served as Director of Regulatory Affairs for CBC/Radio-Canada and Astral Media Radio Inc. During his career, he has served on various committees and organizations, including the Board of Directors of FACTOR (Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings) and the Governance Council for Pelmorex’s national emergency alert system. Mr. Shoan holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of New Brunswick and a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University, and is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada and the Canadian Bar Association.

Gregory Taylor

Gregory Taylor is an assistant professor in the University of Calgary’s Department of Communication, Media, and Film, where his teaching and research focuses on the politics and economics of the Canadian broadcasting and wireless industries. His first book, Shut Off: the Canadian Digital Television Transition (McGill-Queen’s, 2013), was short listed for the 2014 Donner Prize for Best Public Policy Book by a Canadian. Gregory received his PhD from McGill University in 2010.

Aritha van Herk

Past Chair

Aritha van Herk is a Member of the Order of Canada and the author of five novels, Judith, The Tent Peg, No Fixed Address, Places Far From Ellesmere, and Restlessness. Her non-fiction ranges from In This Place: Calgary 2004-2011 and Prairie Gothic (photographs by George Webber, words by Aritha van Herk) to Mavericks: An Incorrigible History of Alberta, and The Age of Audacity (a history of the University of Calgary). Her most recent work, Stampede and the Westness of West, melds poetry and place-writing. She has published hundreds of articles, reviews and essays. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, member of the Alberta Order of Excellence, and recipient of the Lorne Pierce Medal, she has been honoured as one of the twenty-five most influential artists in Alberta.