Board of Governors

List of 12 items.

• 

  Blake Hutcheson ’80

  Chair
  Blake was appointed to the Board by the Association Council in 2016 and was appointed Chair in January 2021. He has had many senior volunteer roles at UCC including Trustee on the Foundation Board and Co-Chair of the Think Ahead Boarding Cabinet. He also served on the Think Ahead Campaign Cabinet.
  
  Blake Hutcheson is President and Chief Executive Officer of OMERS. He is responsible for the overall leadership and performance of the OMERS enterprise. Prior to OMERS, Blake was the Head of Global Real Estate with Mount Kellett Capital Management, a New York-based private equity firm with offices in key locations around the globe. Previously, he was Chairman and President of the Canadian, Latin American, and Mexican operations for CB Richard Ellis, the world’s largest real estate services company.
  
  

  A recipient of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, Blake holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Western University, a Graduate Diploma in International Relations and Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics and a Master’s in Real Estate Development from Columbia University.
  
  Blake and his wife Susan have a son, Trevor ’17.
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• 

  Nina Abdelmessih

  Vice-Chair
  Nina was appointed to the Board in 2017.

  
  

  She is Chief of Operations and External Relations for the Canadian practice of The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a global management consulting firm. She has more than 20 years of experience at BCG, with a unique career path that spans both client service and leadership of global and national practices. Prior to joining BCG, Nina worked in product management for Kraft Foods Canada.

  
  

  Nina holds a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University and an MBA from the Ivey Business School at Western University. She has two sons, Jackson ’18 and Troy ’20.
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• 

  Dr. Joseph Wong

  Vice-Chair
  Joe was appointed to the Board in 2020. He joins UCC with a wealth of experience in the education sector.

  
  Joe is the University of Toronto’s Vice President, International. He is also the Roz and Ralph Halbert Professor of Innovation at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. In addition, he is a professor of political science at the University of Toronto, a former director of the Asian Institute at the Munk School, and a past Canada Research Chair in Health, Democracy and Development.

   

  Joe has authored a number of academic articles and several books and has been a visiting scholar in many leading global institutions, including the U.S., Taiwan, Korea, and the U.K. His current academic research focuses on poverty and social policy innovation.
  
  Joe and his wife Jennifer have a son, Oliver '24. 
  
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• 

  Joel Feldberg

  Member At Large
  Joel Feldberg is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Global Furniture Group. Prior to joining Global Furniture Group, Joel was an associate at the law firm of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt in Toronto where he focused his legal practice on the areas of corporate finance, and mergers and acquisitions.
  
  Joel has a Bachelor of Laws degree from Osgoode Hall and is a member of the Canadian and Ontario Bar Associations. Joel serves on the Boards of Sick Kids Hospital Foundation, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center; BIFMA (member since May 2008).
  
  Joel and his wife, Dr. Melissa Feldberg, have four children, including their son, Jay '24.
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• 

  Karen Hacker

  Member At Large
  Karen was appointed to the Board in 2018.

  
  

  Karen’s legal and executive career spans more than 30 years and includes ten years practising law at Goodman and Carr and senior roles at Cineplex Odeon Corporation, Irwin Toy, Spin Master Ltd. and St. Joseph Communications. In 2010, she was appointed General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for the Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games Organizing Committee and in 2014 added responsibility for human resources, volunteer recruitment and workforce planning to her portfolio. She served as an interim Chief Operating Officer at U Sport, formerly Canadian Interuniversity, in 2016.
  
  Karen now dedicates her time and expertise in the areas of law, governance and sport to a number of not-for-profit boards.

  
  

  Karen and her husband Irv have a daughter, Robin, and two sons, Sean ’11 and Mattie ’13.
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• 

  Dr. Ifedayo Kuye ’05

  Member At Large
  Ifedayo is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He is also the Associate Medical Director of Value Based Care in the Johns Hopkins Office of Population Health, where he leads initiatives to improve the health care system’s population health and value-based care strategy.
  
  Ifedayo received his undergraduate degree in Economics at Harvard College. He also received his MD degree from Harvard Medical School and an MBA from Harvard Business School (Baker Scholar).
  
  He completed his residency in internal medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital where he served as a clinical fellow at Harvard Medical School.
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• 

  Joannah Lawson

  Member at Large
  As co-founder and president of her family foundation, Joannah feels honoured to collaborate with other philanthropic foundations, not-for-profits, universities and think tanks who are pushing the boundaries to move Canada and the world toward nutrient dense food systems that are produced sustainably to help mitigate climate change.

  
  

  Key recipients of the foundation’s philanthropic focus are the Joannah and Brian Lawson Centre for Child Nutrition in the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Lawson Centre for Sustainability at Trinity College, University of Toronto. Other organizations they support include Farmers for Climate Solutions, Canadian Organic Growers, Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario, Clearwater Farm and Community Food Centres Canada.

  
  

  Before becoming certified as a nutritionist, Joannah led a successful career in organization change management in the high-tech industry and was recognized with the Nortel President’s Award of Excellence in Innovation. She completed her graduate studies at the University of Toronto and is the proud recipient of the university’s Arbor Award for volunteer service as well as the Doctor of Sacred Letters (honoris causa) from Trinity College, University of Toronto.

  
  

  At Upper Canada College, Joannah chaired nutrition committees at both the Prep and Upper Schools over a nine-year period. In 2016 she joined the Association Council and the Wellbeing subcommittee of the Council, and in 2019, she was appointed to the UCC Board of Governors.  

  
  

  Joannah has served as co-chair of the Campaign Cabinet at the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Boundless Campaign executive.

  
  

  Joannah and her husband Brian Lawson ’78 are parents of three children, a daughter Gillian and sons Tristan ’17 and Alexander ’19.
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• 

  J.P. Mackay ’02

  Member At Large
  J.P. was formerly President of the Association Council, which represents the interests of Old Boys, parents, faculty, staff, and other community members with demonstrated interest in the College. He also serves as Chair of the Barbara A. Barrow Scholarship Foundation and is a member of the Lang Scholar Program Advisory Board.
  
  Professionally, J.P. is Senior Vice President, National Operations at Allied Properties Real Estate Investment Trust.
  
  J.P. holds a BA from the University of British Columbia and an MBA from the Ivey Business School.
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• 

  David Morgenstern '90

  Member At Large
  David was appointed to the Board by the Association Council in 2021.

   

  David is an active UCC parent and community member and currently serves on the Association Council as Chair, Events and Engagement Committee. His involvement with the College includes the Think Ahead Campaign (Boarding Cabinet), the Principal Search Committee, Founders Dinner co-chair and Annual Fund representative.

   

  Professionally, David is a Senior Managing Director at Accenture leading Accenture Canada’s Consumer and Industrial sectors. He is a member of Accenture’s Global Leadership Council, Accenture Canada’s Executive Committee and Inclusion and Diversity Council. He also serves on the INSEAD NAA Board of Directors.

   

  David received his BA from McGill University and his MBA from INSEAD. He has been based in Toronto since 2004 after a decade working abroad in Asia and Europe.

   

  David and his wife Caroline have two sons William ’23 and Matthew (Class of 2026).
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• 

  Cynthia Schyff

  Member At Large
  Cynthia was appointed to the Board in 2023 and has been a member of UCC’s Audit and Finance Committee since 2018.

  
  

  Cynthia is Chief Financial Officer of Fleet Complete, a global provider of fleet management solutions.  She has more than 30 years of international management experience developed in high growth and innovative technology industry environments. Prior to joining Fleet Complete, Cynthia served as CFO of Blue Ant Media and Algorithmics, and Worldwide Head of Operational Risk and Governance Risk and Compliance within the IBM Risk Analytics business.

  
  

  Cynthia holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University and is a CPA, CA. 

   

  Cynthia and her husband Gord have two sons, Josh ’21 and Cam ’23.
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• 

  Chanakya Sethi ’03

  Member at Large
  Chanakya Sethi is partner at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, where his practice focuses on high-stakes litigation matters. He is serving his second term on the Association Council. A proud member of Bremner's House, Chan graduated from UCC in 2003 with the J. Herbert Mason Medal. While a student, he was involved with Convergence, the World Affairs Conference, Ontario Model Parliament, and student government. Chan is a graduate of Princeton, Osgoode Hall, and Yale Law School. He lives in Toronto with his husband, Kevin.
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• 

  Richard Willoughby ’80

  Member At Large
  Richard Willoughby ’80 is a senior corporate partner with Torys LLP. He has a wealth of experience in domestic, cross-border and international mergers and acquisitions, giving practical and strategic counsel to some of Canada’s largest institutional investors, businesses and family enterprises. Richard is Chair of the UCC Campaign Cabinet, and has served the College as Chair of the Plan 200 committee (2020 to 2021), Chair of the UCC Foundation Board of Trustees (2014–2020) and was previously a Trustee of the UCC Foundations in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. In 2022 he received the John D. Stevenson Award for his UCC service. He is the parent of two Old Boys, Robert ’11 and Andrew ’15.
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