June 16, 2023
Toronto, Ontario

The Ontario Genealogical Society – Ontario Ancestors elects five new members
to its Board of Directors

The Ontario Genealogical Society – Ontario Ancestors (“OGS”) is pleased to announce the election of five new directors to the OGS’s Board of Directors at its Annual General Meeting held Saturday, June 10, 2023.

The OGS welcomes the following new Directors to the Board.

Roger Robineau was elected as the Vice-President, Finance. He returns to the board after a four-year absence, having served previously as Director-at-Large and Vice-President-Finance. His education includes Certified Management Accountant, Master of Business Administration and Chartered Financial Analyst. His work experiences honed his skills in internal audit, corporate finance, pension fund management, strategic asset allocation, policy development, corporate governance, and investment research and investment risk management. He has served on several professional, community, and conference organizing committees and on the Board of the Pension Investment Association (PIAC), for which he also acted as chair.

Anne Currie-O’Brien was re-elected as Corporate Secretary, having served in this role from 2015-2017 and 2021-2023. Anne was employed by IBM Canada Ltd., for 33 years, the last half of her career as a Business Process Re-Engineering Analyst, where responsibilities included re-engineering and documenting IBM’s administrative, accounting and financial processes. Anne has played an integral role in OGS policy and procedure development, facilitating the initial 2015 development of OGS office business process flow charts and documentation for the administrative, accounting and membership functions, and many special projects. Anne has also been an active volunteer and board member with the Association of Community Theatres, Central Ontario and with the OGS York Branch.

Pascal Calarco was elected as Director-at-Large. Pascal has served in academic libraries in the United States and Canada since graduating from McGill University’s Master of Library and Information Studies program in 1995, 20 of those years in administrative positions. He is currently the administrator for four academic libraries, leading a large team of library faculty and staff. Pascal brings extensive experience and skills in strategic and organization planning, analytics, library technologies, problem-solving, leadership and teamwork. He is one of the original members and a valuable contributor to the OGS IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Accessibility) Team.

Dianna Fulton was re-elected as Director-at-Large, having served in this role for four of the past five years. Dianna has volunteered for OGS in many capacities, sharing her skills in event planning, and leading with her open communication style and ability to connect with members of the Society. Dianna chaired the OGS in-person Genealogy Conferences in 2018 and 2019 and during the pandemic she helped the OGS deliver its first virtual conference in 2020. Currently, she is also the Chair of the British Home Child Special Interest Group, and active in her local OGS Niagara Branch.

Anne Thornley-Brown was elected as Director-at-Large. Anne is a Jamaican-born team-building specialist, actress, writer and entrepreneur who owns a Toronto Team building firm. She brings skills in event management, marketing strategy, social networking and media, and diversity training. She is passionate about genealogy, and started her quest to learn about her family and African roots when she was eighteen years old. Anne previously served on the Board of Directors for The Toronto Chapter of The Ontario Training and Development Society now The Institute for Performance and Learning (I4PL), the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers Toronto Chapter, and the MBA Women’s Association.

They join current board members:

Heidi Deschenes, President
Paul Goodyear, Vice President
Ben Dawson, Director-at-Large
Colleen L’Abbé, Director-at-Large
Megan Houston, Executive Director

Farewell to Outgoing Board Members

Heather McTavish Taylor served two years as President and one year as Past President, and previously as Director-at-Large. She was integral to strengthening the governance and strategic focus of the board, guided us through the incredible challenges of the pandemic, and built the capacity of the organization in everything we do. We are thankful for her collaborative leadership and her deep commitment to the OGS and very grateful for her work on the board.

Ray Wright was elected to the board in June 2017 and has served three terms as Vice-President, Finance. He was instrumental in strengthening the OGS accounting function, updating and creating a common accounting process for the OGS office and the 35 Branches and Special Interest Groups. He has dedicated his time and expertise to supporting and building the accounting-finance team across the organization. Ray has provided invaluable fiscal oversight and perspective to OGS through his time on the board, and we are deeply appreciative of his work.

Kathryn Lake Hogan served one term on the board. As the first Chair of our IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility) Team, she led the development of our first IDEA statement and critically enabled the organization to start focusing on inclusion. Kathryn was an active member of two other committees, and we are grateful for her ideas and dedication to the board.

Heather Oakley served one term on the board. She was chair of the Awards Committee. As an active local volunteer and member of other project teams, she has provided thoughtful and invaluable insight to help the board find optimal solutions to address issues and strengthen our communications. We are appreciative of her commitment and contributions to the board.

The Ontario Genealogical Society – Ontario Ancestors is truly grateful to these outgoing board members who volunteered to guide the organization and have dedicated significant expertise, time and energy to help chart our past, present and future.

For more information on the Board of Directors and governance of the Ontario Genealogical Society please see our website https://ogs.on.ca/about/governance/.

About The Ontario Genealogical Society – Ontario Ancestors
www.ogs.on.ca

The Ontario Genealogical Society – Ontario Ancestors (“OGS”), an Ontario not-for-profit corporation and a registered Canadian charity (Reg. # 119248680 RR0001), was founded in 1961 with the vision of being recognized as the authority and leader in all aspects of Ontario related family history research, preservation and communication. The mission of the Society is to encourage, bring together and assist those interested in the pursuit of family history and to preserve Ontario’s genealogical heritage. Ontario Ancestors has 30 geographically based Branches across Ontario and 6 Special Interest Groups (British Home Child, Eastern Europe, Genetic Genealogy, Ireland, Irish Palatine and Scottish).

Ontario’s genealogical tapestry has been woven with many threads, each unique and significant, creating a brilliant and rich mosaic. OGS seeks to acknowledge and honour our genealogical diversity, to improve access to more records, welcome inclusiveness in our storytelling, and strive for equity for everyone seeking to understand their family histories.

OGS welcomes new members and offers many genealogical learning opportunities throughout the year and an annual conference. Registration is open for the 2024 OGS conference which will be held June 14-16, 2024. https://conference2024.ogs.on.ca