Staff and Board
Contact Us
| Mailing Address: | PO Box 970, Uxbridge Ontario, L9P 1N3 |
| Courier Address: | 96 Elgin Park Drive, Uxbridge Ontario, L9P 0C2 |
| Phone: | 905.852.1101 |
| Office Hours: | Monday – Friday 8:30 am – 4:30 pm |
| Email: | To reach our Accounting Team, please email accounting@gao.ca |
| For general inquiries, please contact our Administration Team at admin@gao.ca | |
| To ask about making a donation in support of golf in Ontario, contact Fundraising@gao.ca | |
| If you have any Handicap & Course Rating questions please contact our Team members at handicapcr@gao.ca | |
| Contact Golf Ontario Human Resources staff at humanresources@gao.ca | |
| For all matters related to Sponsorship, Marketing & Communications, please send your email to Marketing@gao.ca | |
| If you have any Membership related questions please contact our Memberships Team at membership@gao.ca | |
| To contact our Rules Officials, please email rules@gao.ca | |
| For all matters relating to Golf Ontario Competitions, please contact our Competitions Team at tournaments@gao.ca |
Staff Listing
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Executive Team
Kyle McFarlane – Chief Executive Officer – ext. 228
Aja Crawford, CPA, CMA – Chief Financial Officer – ext. 257
Ryan Finn – Chief Sport Officer – ext. 262
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Membership & Member Services
Craig Loughry – Senior Director, Membership & Core Services – ext. 230
Colton Sansom – Manager, Membership – ext. 253
Austin Ryan – Coordinator, Handicap & Course Rating – ext. 248
Regional Team
Jane Hooper Perroud – Regional Manager, Simcoe / Dufferin/York – ext. 247
Carrie Julie – Regional Chair, Niagara / Hamilton / Haldimand / Brant
Amanda Cookson – Regional Manager, Southwestern Ontario – ext. 227
Rob Mason – Regional Manager, Southwestern Ontario – ext. 244
Carol Ann Baxter – Regional Manager, Ottawa & Area – ext. 250
Owen Rigg – Regional Manager, Northern Ontario – 705-262-1524 -
Participation / Competitions / Performance
Mallory Dayman – Director, Participation – ext. 237
John Lawrence – Director, Competitions & Performance – ext. 226
tournaments@gao.ca (all competition questions)
Rob Watson – Manager Competitions – ext. 223
Connor Doyle – Coordinator, Competitions – ext. 229
Mason Cowan, Coordinator, Competitions – ext. 225Alexandra Taylor – Manager, Junior Performance – ext. 245
Arden Payne, Junior Performance Assistant – ext. 222Reggie Millage – Head Provincial Coach – ext. 248
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Marketing, Communications & Fundraising
Chris Fry – Director, Marketing & Communications
Raphael Root – Manager, Fund Development – ext 233
Greg Mitchell – Coordinator; Brand, Communications & Marketing – ext. 111 -
Finance & Administration
Alex Blaker – Director, Business Operations – ext. 242
Lisa Cook – Director, Human Resources & EDI – ext. 236
Olga Ivoditov – Controller – ext. 238
Gaby Campbell – Volunteers & Administration Coordinator – ext. 234
2024 Board of Directors
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Leslie Ferrari – Chair
Leslie joined the Board in 2018 and is a member of the HR & Compensation Committee, and Governance Committee and the Facilities Work Group. During the mid-1980s, Leslie tried her hand at professional golf, playing on the Futures Golf Tour in the US for 5 years. She remains an avid recreational golfer to this day. Leslie is a member of Ladies Golf Club of Toronto and was a Board member from 2014 – 2018.
Leslie Ferrari is a multi-dimensional business leader with a proven track record of delivering year-over-year growth within the North American manufacturing and consumer goods sectors. She is known as a strategist, change agent, and collaborative partner in making things happen within complex and competitive settings. She has taken on and successfully met challenges in senior positions spanning Sales, Operations, General Management and Human Resources – culminating in the role of CEO for ABM Canada. Lifting from this experience and passion for human development, Leslie chose to continue her career part-time as a professional leadership coach with President of Enterprising Organizations – Leadership. PEO cultivates and accelerates members’ leadership abilities to achieve great impact through the organizations they lead, the communities they serve and the lives they live.
Leslie attended Queen’s University and earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree. She then joined the Conference Board of Canada as a Research Associate to Dr. James Nininger, working with him to launch the Compensation Research Center. After two years, she returned to school to pursue a Master’s degree in Industrial Relations at the University of Toronto.
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Michael Lamontagne – Vice Chair
Mike joined the Golf Ontario Board in April 2021. Mike sat on the Board of Special Olympics Canada from 2009 to 2019 and chaired the Board from 2015 – 2017. Mike also held the positions of Treasurer, Vice Chair and Past Chair. His passion for Special Olympics and golf led him to set up and coach a competitive golf program for Special Olympics Ontario at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club, where he has been a member since 2015. Mike’s athletes have been successful at provincial, national and international games. Mike has played golf for over 50 years and prior to joining HG&CC, was a member of Clublink from 2005 to 2014.
Mike has had a successful professional career over the past 30 years holding executive positions at Gentherm Canada, Etratech Enterprises, and Wolseley Canada. Mike retired from Gentherm Canada in 2019 after the successful sale of Etratech Enterprises in 2017 to Gentherm. While at Wolseley, Mike was responsible for completing 10 acquisitions and re-structuring the finance organization across Canada. Mike holds a Bachelor of Administration from Brock University and holds the designations CPA/CA and CBV. He also completed the Directors Education Program of the Institute of Corporate Directors at the Rotman School of Management and holds the ICD.D designation. Mike currently sits on the Board of Special Olympics Canada Foundation as well as a start-up company in the energy management sector.
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Nancy Bertrand
Nancy Hoi Bertrand is Managing Director and Head of Citi Private Bank, Canada. In this role, she is responsible for the growth of the business in Canada, which serves and advises ultra-high net worth families, foundations and single-family offices on wealth preservation and creation, with a particular focus on alternative and international investments.
Citi Private Bank is dedicated to serving the world’s wealthiest individuals and their families. From 52 locations across 20 countries, the Private Bank offers services to more than 14,000 ultra-high net worth clients from nearly 100 nations. Its Canadian offices are in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
Having originally joined Citi Private Bank in 2006, Nancy has over 20 years of capital markets experience. Prior to Citi, she practiced U.S. securities law at the global law firm, Shearman & Sterling LLP, specializing in cross-border corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions.
Nancy sits on the board of the Golf Association of Ontario and is Past-President of the Toronto CFA Society and former Chair of its Governance and Nominations Committee. She was a member of the CFA Institute’s Capital Markets Policy Committee and a member of CFA Institute’s Global Corporate Governance Task Force and received her Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 2002.
Nancy is a graduate in Business Administration (Dean’s List) from the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University and a Bachelor of Laws (great distinction) from McGill University. She has been called to the bars of the State of New York, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Province of Ontario. She previously sat on the cabinet of the Royal Ontario Museum’s Young Patrons’ Circle, speaks Mandarin, Cantonese and French, is married and raising a teenage daughter. -
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Murray Blair
Murray joined the Board in 2018 and is a member of the HR & Compensation Committee, the Nominating Committee and co-chairs the Public Player Work Group. As a respected club, resort and branding executive, Murray has made golf his passion and his career.
Murray grew up in Calgary where he learned to play golf at Earl Grey Golf Club. He played collegiate golf in the United States for two years at Arizona Western College before transferring to Ferris State University in Michigan for his final two years. Upon graduation from University, Murray began his career in the golf industry where he worked as a Golf Professional at a number of high profile golf courses in the United States and Canada.
Following his time as a golf professional, Murray has held senior management roles within the golf industry including Executive Director of Fairmont Golf, Fairmont Hotels Golf Division; Vice President of Member Services for ClubLink; and General Manager of Granite Golf Club. He is currently a Director at GGA Partners, an international consulting firm and trusted advisor to golf courses, private clubs, and residential communities. In this role, Murray works with clients to help them transform their businesses and implement a game plan for long-term success and sustainability.
Murray earned a business degree, majoring in marketing, from Ferris State University. He recently regained his amateur status and has begun competing in senior amateur events. Murray and his fiancée live in Port Perry, Ontario.
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Julian Franklin
Julian Franklin is a Canadian Marketing Hall of Fame member, entrepreneur, and business leader with 20+ years experience in consumer-packaged goods and sports industries. His expertise includes strategic planning, communications, and marketing.
Currently he is Vice President, Partnership Development & Strategy,
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment(MLSE) responsible for the corporate partnership portfolio at one of North America’s preeminent Sports & Entertainment organizations. His career is highlighted by senior roles at the Toronto Blue Jays, Weston Foods, Geometry Global, Kraft Heinz and as founder Franklin Management Group Inc. (FMG) a strategic consultancy firm
Julian has woven the foundations of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion through his volunteer work, currently sitting as President, University of Ottawa Alumni Council(Toronto Chapter), Board of Directors, Golf Ontario and Board of Directors- Sponsorship Marketing Council of Canada. He is also a Founding Member of POCAM(People of Colour in Advertising & Marketing), an association that advocates the inclusion and advancement of Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour(BIPOC) within the Canadian Marketing industry. POCAM is responsible for publishing the Visible and Vocal, the only annual study that exclusively focuses on the profile, perspectives and experiences of Canadian BIPOC advertising and marketing professionals. -
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David Herrera
David Herrera is Head of People and Organization Analytics for Korn Ferry. With more than 15 years of experience in consulting, Mr. Herrera’s expertise is designing and implementing transformative solutions that will enable organizations achieve their strategic imperatives.
David is a passionate DE&I practitioner and subject matter expert and has advised several organization globally on how to become more diverse and inclusive to their talent and customers/clients. While David is an amateur golf player, he has found passion in the game and how it can support the development of communities and youth.
During his consulting career, David has led various projects with global and local organizations in various sectors including non-for-profit, financial services, healthcare, retail and industrial. During his consulting career, Mr. Herrera has led projects in Canada, USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama and Chile and coordinated international projects with Europe, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, Singapore and Central America.
David holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM) and a Master’s Degree in Strategic Management from Universidad Europea Miguel de Cervantes. Mr. Herrera started his consulting career in 2006 with Hay Group in Mexico City. He later worked as a consultant with Mercer and Towers Watson in Mexico City, and Sintec in Monterrey.
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Lloyd Komori
Lloyd joined the Board of Golf Ontario in early 2020 and is a member of the Governance Committee and has served on the GO Task Force that was created in response to the global pandemic. He has been a member of Cedarbrae Golf Club where he has served on the Finance Committee as well as on the Board as the Club’s Treasurer for several years. He has been an active junior golf advocate and coach with one of his students being named Canadian Junior Golf Association Player of the Year twice.
His professional background spans over 35 years during which he has worked in the financial services, energy, consulting and institutional pension management in various senior executive roles that have included head derivatives trader, Chief Risk Officer, Partner and SVP and Head of Risk Management.
Lloyd is a founding faculty member of The Directors College where he has taught pension plan governance and risk oversight to board directors for the past 19 years. He is also an active faculty member of the College’s Innovation Governance Program where he teaches board director oversight of cyber risk and other risks that arise from digital innovations. He is also a founding faculty member of the Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst program delivered by Ryerson University where he teaches students how to navigate the intersection of cyber risk and business.
He holds all 3 Director College accreditations (e.g. Chartered Director, Audit Committee Certified as well as Human Resources and Compensation Committee Certified) awarded by McMaster University. In 2017 he completed a Professional Masters’ Degree in Information Security, Privacy and Data Protection at Ryerson and in 2018 he completed the Artificial Intelligence Impact on Business program at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (“CSAIL”).
He has served (and continues to serve on) numerous private, public and crown agency boards of directors and currently delivers insights and action steps to boards of large public corporations focused on information relating to cyber risk. He resides in Toronto and in Scottsdale Arizona and travels to see both ancient and natural wonders of the world.
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Barry O’Brien
Barry D. O’Brien joined Centennial College in 2014 as Dean of The Business School, where he has had the privilege of leading a team of talented administrators, staff, and faculty through a period of transformation and growth.
Barry began his career with the Ontario Government, serving in a variety of roles, including as a senior advisor to the Premier. Following that, Barry joined the LCBO as Director of Corporate Affairs. As a member of the LCBO’s senior management team, Barry was responsible for the development of programs related to public and government relations. Barry also served in other Director roles at the LCBO, including Vintages and Marketing.
Barry has significant governance experience, having served on the Board of the Scarborough Business Association and on the Community Health Board of the Canadian Red Cross (Ontario). Barry also brings strong business planning skills having held a long-standing faculty position at York University, where he teaches strategic management. In terms of education, Barry holds an MPA from Dalhousie University, a Masters of International Security Studies from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland and a BA from St. FX University.
A lifelong golfer and member of Islington GC, Barry resides in Toronto with his wife Kelly. -
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Aneesa Oumarally
Aneesa is a public player who has an interest in sparking the passion for golf among young women and people of colour.
Aneesa is a practicing lawyer in Ontario with over 20 years of experience in both private practice and as in-house counsel. During her tenure in private practice, she served as a Managing Partner and specialized in litigation, real estate, and corporate/commercial law. During her time as in-house counsel, she advised on complex corporate/commercial transactions. In 2019, she served as the Chief Executive Officer for the Toronto Caribbean Carnival (formerly Caribana), lending her skill set to community. Aneesa was named in Canada’s Top 100 Black Women to Watch in 2020 for her leading role in pivoting the festival to a digital format during the pandemic.
Aneesa also served as the Chair of Governance of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival. She served on the Board of Directors of the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario from 2004-2006 and the Naparima Alumni Association of Canada (2001-2007) that was responsible for the installation of steelpan programs in high schools in the greater Toronto area.
Aneesa holds a degree Bachelors degree from York University in Public Policy and Administration, a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Windsor and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Toronto. -
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Matthew Pegg
Matthew is an avid golfer and is a member of the King Valley Golf Club.
Matthew is the Fire Chief in the City of Toronto, where he leads a team of 3,300 people and is accountable for $520+ million dollars annually. Prior to being appointed as Fire Chief in Toronto, he served as a Deputy Fire Chief in Toronto, Brampton, Ajax, and Georgina, and he is also a licensed mechanic and a commercial pilot, having also worked in both industries.
Matt is a graduate of Dalhousie University in both Leadership and Administration, Queen’s University in Labour Relations, and the Schulich School of Business’ in Public Management. He is a recipient of the Heroism and Community Service Medal, Ontario Medal of Firefighter’s Bravery, the Canadian Fire Service Exemplary Service Medal, and the Ontario Fire Services Long Service medal. He has also been awarded the Executive Chief Fire Officer Professional Designation and serves as Honourary Aide de Camp to the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.
Matthew is proud to serve as a board member for not-for-profit and sports-related organizations and is also proud to serve as an ambassador for Wounded Warriors Canada. He previously served 13 years on the Board of the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs, serving the last three years of his tenure as President, where he developed the implemented the “One Message – One Voice” government relations strategy.
Matt is excited to work with Golf Ontario to advance the vision of Golf For All, and to work with the team in continuing to grow the game of golf. -
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Thomas Yeo
Thomas joined the Board in 2022. Thomas is a partner at Torys LLP and has over 20 years of experience advising leading organizations on some of their most complex legal matters. His practice focuses on corporate/commercial law with a particular emphasis on advising federal and provincial Crown corporations and agencies on a variety of corporate governance, corporate/commercial and procurement matters and in implementing critical policy initiatives. He has also assisted both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations in structuring complex transactions.
Thomas is a frequent speaker and author on corporate governance matters, including acting as Co-Chair of the Canadian Institute’s Crown Corporate Governance Conference in 2021 and 2022. Thomas also served on the Securities Advisory Committee to the Ontario Securities Commission from 2016 to 2018.
Thomas is an avid golfer, having grown up playing public golf in the Niagara and Ottawa regions. Thomas was a member of Summit Golf & Country Club from 2001 to 2021 and and a member of The Toronto Golf Club since 2022. Thomas is happily married with two teenage boys who are very active in youth sports and he has served as a volunteer coach with the North York Baseball Association.
Thomas holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Ottawa (Honours, Gold Medalist) with specializations in Finance and Human Resources Management and a Bachelor of Laws degree from Osgoode Hall Law School.
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Susan Vail – Past Chair
Susan is currently completing her eighth and final year on the Board as Past Chair. She has served on the Golf Ontario Board of Directors since 2017 and was appointed President in 2021. Over her tenure, she has contributed to all Board committees, chaired the Governance Committee and currently chairs the Nominating Committee. Susan has served on the strategic planning work group, facilitated Board retreats and currently co-chairs the work group addressing facility partnerships.
Dr. Vail, now retired, was employed by York University for 28 years. Her last post at York was as the Associate Vice President Teaching and Learning. She has undergraduate and graduate degrees in Kinesiology and Health Science from McMaster and the University of Western Ontario. Her doctorate was completed at the University of Ottawa in Education Administration, with a specialty in organizational effectiveness. Prior to joining York, Susan was a consultant with Sport Canada for eight years and played a key role in establishing its Women and Sport Program. She has also served on the boards of such organizations as Tennis Canada and Parks and Recreation Ontario. Susan is a recreational golfer who values golf as a lifetime activity and who hopes to give back to the game some of what she has gleaned from it.
ACCESSIBILITY FEEDBACK PROCESS
Golf Ontario welcomes those who wish to provide feedback on the way we provide goods and services to people with disabilities. Feedback may be provided in person, in writing or by email to humanresources@gao.ca. All feedback will be directed to Human Resources, and a response can be expected within one to two business days. Complaints will be addressed according to our organization’s regular complaint management procedures.