John Capobianco is a Senior Vice President and Partner and National Practice Lead for Public Affairs in Fleishman-Hillard’s Toronto office. With over 22 years of grassroots political experience at all three levels of government, Mr. Capobianco offers a strong, seasoned and influential voice in public affairs. This experience has enabled John to build an extensive political network, which he can leverage to the benefit of organizations looking to engage with senior government officials.
Before joining Fleishman-Hillard in 2010, Mr. Capobianco was Senior Vice President of Edelman’s Public Affairs practice. Since joining Edelman in 2006, Mr. Capobianco has helped numerous private and non-profit organizations build and maintain strong relationships with key government decision-makers at the federal, provincial and municipal level. Mr. Capobianco has a vast knowledge of helping companies navigate through the intricacies of government, including successfully helping the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario secure $15 million in federal government funding for a Centre for Stroke Recovery; providing strategic counsel to the Ontario Teachers’ Private Capital for its historic $52 billion acquisition of Bell Canada, and assisting a world-leading security company get their new tobacco control stamps issue through to the federal government at both the political and bureaucratic levels.
Before joining Edelman, Mr. Capobianco was Vice President and Business Unit Leader at another major global public affairs firm, where he worked with all industry sectors and successfully managed the provincial PA team. Mr. Capobianco has also worked as a senior political advisor for the Ontario government and spent ten years in the financial sector.
Mr. Capobianco has twice won the Conservative Party of Canada nomination for the Toronto-area riding of Etobicoke-Lakeshore and ran as a federal Conservative candidate in the 2004 and 2006 elections under the leadership of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Mr. Capobianco is recognized as a leader in the conservative movement and is a regular political commentator in Canada’s national media.
He is the Immediate Past President of the Canadian Club of Toronto, President of the Public Affairs Association of Canada, Chair of the Board for the National Broadcast Reading Services Inc., and currently sits on the Boards of the Albany Club of Toronto, Editorial Advisory Board for Campaigns & Election Magazine (Canada) and is Treasurer of the PC Party of Ontario. Mr. Capobianco earned his bachelor of arts degree in political science and economics at York University.
Betty is an adult educator and is currently the Department Head of the Program for the Visually Impaired at Vancouver Community College. She has a Master's Degree in Higher Education. Betty is President of the Canadian Braille Authority and a former member of the CNIB national board. Her volunteer work also includes serving as the Chair on the Board of the CNIB Library for the Blind, and the Board of The Accessible Channel. She received the 2000 YWCA Woman of Distinction award in the category of education, training and development. Betty served for six years as an NBRS director, the last three as its corporate secretary. An NBRS Life Member, Betty was Elected to the TAC Board in 2007 for a 3-Year Term.
Senior Vice President, General Manager
The Family Channel Inc., Astral Television Networks
Promoted in October 2010 to Astral’s Senior Vice-President and General Manager, Kids, Joe Tedesco joined Family Channel in 2001 as Vice-President & General Manager of the network. During his tenure, Mr. Tedesco has overseen the launch of three additional kids networks and is now responsible for the day-to-day operations, strategic development and overall financial performance of four premium kids channels: Family Channel, launched September 1998; Disney Junior, launched as Playhouse Disney in November 2007; the French language Disney Junior which launched July, 2010 and Disney XD, launched June 2011. Prior to joining Family Channel, Mr. Tedesco held the position of Senior Vice President, Finance & Business Affairs with Astral Television Networks. In this role, he was responsible for managing key supplier and customer relationships, including negotiating long-term supply and distribution agreements. Before joining Astral, Mr. Tedesco held senior financial positions in cable, packaged goods and automotive manufacturing. Mr. Tedesco is a Chartered Accountant and has a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Toronto. Mr. Tedesco is very active in his community. He currently serves as Vice Chair of Accessible Media Inc.’s Board of Directors, a company that operates two not-for-profit television channels dedicated to providing entertainment for the visually and hearing impaired. He has served as a Board Member of St. Mildred’s Lightbourn School, a not-for-profit educational institution located in Oakville and has also participated in the Peel Early Years Steering Committee, as an appointee of the Ontario cabinet. He is also active in youth recreational activities with the Oakville Soccer Club and the Oakville Basketball Association.
Deputy CFO, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care. Previous posts include Vice President, Finance and Support Services at Toronto Grace Health Centre, and a variety of senior financial management posts at The Hospital for Sick Children. Chartered Accountant, who trained and worked with Price Waterhouse in both the UK and Canada.
Lauren has had a successful career as a senior executive and director in both the business and public sectors. She has had leadership roles with responsibility for business strategy, policy development, stakeholder relations and corporate governance, as well as human resource development; has taught at the University of Calgary; and has served as co-head of mission for the Government of Canada overseas during the International Expo 2000 held in Germany. Lauren was an elected member of her professional association in Alberta and a national member of a board formed through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to enhance economic partnerships with China. She has also served as a director for publicly-traded and other commercial company boards as well as non-profit and charitable boards including the Calgary Region Arts Foundation, the Calgary Heritage Advisory Board, the LEAF Endowment and the United Way. Lauren was elected to the NBRS Board in June 2008 and was appointed to the TAC board in July 2008.
Alain is the general manager of the OMNI Station Group, as well as the OLN, G4 and Bio specialty channels. He also oversees all of the development and production of independently-produced programs, including initiatives resulting from the various Citytv and OMNI tangible benefits.
Prior to his direct involvement in the television group, Alain was responsible for regulatory and business affairs at Rogers Media. In that role, he provided legal, regulatory and policy advice on all broadcasting industry related matters, including the CRTC, the Copyright Board and Industry Canada. During that time, he worked with the TV group on a number of strategic, programming and business development projects.
Alain holds a BA in Economics as well as a law degree from McGill University.
Anna-Karina Tabuñar is a veteran broadcast journalist and communications
strategist. She began her career in television news and current affairs with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Montreal. There, as covered political historic events such as the 1995 Quebec referendum on sovereignty. She also covered the precursor to Mixed Martial Arts fights. Her exclusive investigation was aired on internationally on CNN.
Anna-Karina moved to the nation’s capital to join CTV Ottawa where she reported for regional and national newscasts. As a senior reporter, she filed reports on court cases, healthcare, politics and education. She also acted as the main fill-in anchor for the top-rated newscast in Eastern Ontario. She anchored the late night, midday and weekend news programmes.
She currently works as a Senior Communications Advisor at the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority where she delivers strategic counsel on corporate and employee communications, media relations, as well as government and stakeholder relations. She was also the key spokesperson for the aviation security organization.
Anna-Karina is a graduate of Concordia University’s Broadcast Journalism programme. She has mentored journalism students and has given media and presentation training to MBA students, veteran police officers and executive managers from a range of industries.
She is the co-chair of the 2011 Filipino-Canadian Youth Achievement Awards and an enthusiastic Voiceprint volunteer. She has helped train AIM’s new reporters and producer in Ottawa.
Anna-Karina gained a first-hand understanding of vision impairment and mobility issues in 2009 after she was diagnosed with a variant of Guillain-Barre Syndrome which affected her vision and her motor skills. She is on the road to recovery.
Charlie has over 35 years of experience working with the government of Nova Scotia. He was the Province’s first Executive Director for the NS Disabled Persons commission, a position he held for fifteen years. Charlie is currently leading the Provinces diversity initiatives as Senior Consultant, Diversity Management at the NS Public Service Commission. Charlie holds a Bachelor of civil Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration. He has held several volunteer positions in the disability community over the past years. Currently Charlie is the Chair of the Tetra Society of Metro Halifax <
http://www.tetrasociety.org/community/chapters/halifax.php> and is a Director of Independent Living Nova Scotia, an affiliate of Independent Living Canada
http://www.ilns.ca. Charlie is blind and is accompanied by his guide dog Cosby.
Gord is self employed - the Sole Proprietor of G. Hope Enterprises. He holds a PhD in Social Psychology from Carleton University in Ottawa, and an MA in Clinical Psychology along with a Post-Doctoral Diploma in Professional Psychology from the University of Ottawa. For much of the time over the past 20 years he has run a private Psychotherapy practice - first in Ottawa, and now in Brantford and Hamilton. He has also held full-time employment with CNIB, and with the Canadian Council of the Blind.
Under the umbrella of G. Hope Enterprises he has also provided Consultant services to a wide range of Clients, including currently to Motivate Canada and its Esteem Team program, and to research work at the School of Fashion Design at Ryerson University.
Gord has excelled in sports endeavours, winning medals at the National and International levels in Blind sports; he has also received awards in recognition of his sports organizing efforts, including provincial and national level competitions in Athletics and Goalball for blind athletes.
Gord has served as an Officer of the Ontario and Canadian Blind Sports Associations, and with the Blind Organization of Ontario with Self-help Tactics (BOOST). He has also been a director and officer with a wide range of community organizations.
Currently, with a role on the Board of a community theatre company, and enjoying movies and sports casts with his three amazing daughters, Gord appreciates accessible entertainment. Further, using the internet as the backbone of the marketing for his business, and with the radio often playing in the background, he also has a high degree of appreciation for accessible information. Gord Hope is excited and honoured by the privilege of being invited to the Board of AMI in 2011.
Joined NBRS Board in 2005 – Secretary, Member Executive Committee.
Chief Internal Auditor for Cameco Corporation, one of the world’s largest uranium producers. He is a career internal auditor who has worked in this profession for over 30 years, progressing from a junior auditor through the appropriate levels of audit functions to being Chief Internal Auditor at a number of major enterprises. He has designed and built audit department structures, including staffing, risk-based audit universes, audit programs and procedures, all of which comply with a set of international audit standards. He has built relationships with audit committees, external auditors, professional associations and provincial and federal regulators. Geoff is a Certified Fraud Examiner, a Certified Internal Auditor, a Certified Information Systems Auditor and a Fellow of the Life Management Institute. Prior to joining Cameco, the majority of his auditing experience has been in the financial services industry, including a trust company, life insurance firm, a fraternal organization and a public pension fund.
Senior Partner, Audit & Accounting, BDO Dunwoody, provides auditing, accounting and advisory services to privately held companies with a focus on the manufacturing, retail trade, transportation and warehousing and food services industry sectors. He was awarded Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA) designation in recognition of his career achievements and leadership contributions to the community and the profession. He now is a member of the Boards for Hamilton-Burlington YMCA, Lynwood Hall Children’s Centre and Lynwood Hall Children’s Foundation.
Media Archivist / Librarian with CBC in Fredericton since 2005. In library field for 25 years. Have been volunteer reader at Audio Library at Trent University in Peterborough, at Ferguson Library for Print Handicapped at St. Mary's University in Halifax and presently at AMI-audio Fredericton. Volunteer with Silver Wave Film Festival in Fredericton, Guide Dog Users of Canada, Canadian Association of Disabled Skiers and CBC Employee Assistance Program.
Past board member of Nova Scotia Library Association, member of Atlantic Provinces Library Association, part-time student in Communications at Athabaska University.