OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Brad Quinn
Board Chair
Brad holds an honours bachelor’s degree in economics and business administration from Brock University. He is a seasoned consultant, coach and advisor to boards and executives with decades of hands-on experience in not-for-profit governance, leadership, and strategy. Prior to founding tng in 1994 he held positions in the financial services sector and was on the Faculties of Continuing Education at several Ontario Colleges. For three-decades Brad has brought his passion, expertise and innovation in governance to hundreds of not-for-profit clients in sectors ranging from real-estate, financial services and construction, to healthcare, children’s services and regulatory agencies. Brad and his boutique firm are recognized throughout Canada for their depth of hands-on experience, straight-forward approach, and attention to their clients’ complex challenges. Their proven models, frameworks, tools, and guides are used by not-for-profit boards across Canada.
Brad is an expert group facilitator, articulate speaker and engaging executive coach. Outside of work, Brad enjoys spending time with his wife, daughter and friends traveling, boating, snowmobiling, and enjoying their new home in Prince Edward County.
Jeremy Laurin
Vice Chair
Jeremy has enjoyed a career working at the intersection of innovation, entrepreneurship and higher education. Industry academic collaboration has been at the heart of the second half of his career and technology start-up through scale up was how it all started - over twenty-five years ago.
Jeremy has held a number of progressive leadership roles in Higher Education and across the Ontario innovation ecosystem. Formally, the Vice President of Business Development and Partnerships at OCE - leading an experienced team of Business Development Managers who helped commercialize innovations, transfer technologies and develop promising talent to grow the Ontario economy.
Prior to OCE, Jeremy was the founding President and CEO of ventureLAB, an innovation hub for Central Ontario and the northern GTA in the heart of Canada's largest technology cluster that reaches more than 1.8 million Ontarians.
An entrepreneur at heart, he founded his first of three technology firms in Kingston, Ont., in 1997. All three were born global, responsibilities included opening offices in China, Europe, Japan, Korea, and the United States.
Jeremy was recognized by St. Lawrence College with its inaugural Alumni of Distinction Award.
JCI, an international non-profit that encourages young people to be active citizens for global development, honoured him with their Entrepreneur of the Year Award and he received the Business of the Year Award from the Bank of Nova Scotia.
A featured TEDx Speaker Jeremy spoke about how his life as an entrepreneur has made an impact on people and communities.
He is an Adjunct Professor in York University’s Faculty of Health and an active member in good standing of the Future Talent Council.
Charlie Thompson
Secretary - Treasurer
Charlie has been a member of the Board since 2019, and is a retired CPA, CA. His professional career encompassed providing accounting, audit, and tax services to numerous corporate organizations, both large and small, not-for-profit entities, and personal and estate tax clients in Toronto and later, in eastern Ontario. His greatest satisfaction has come from supporting the small business communities in the towns that he has lived in. He is a graduate of Western University, and the University of Windsor. He is the Chair of the Finance Committee and is a member of the Investment Review Committee. He also sits on the Board and various committees of a national charitable organization.
Scott Lavender
Scott joined the Board in early summer of 2017. Scott was born and raised in Prince Edward County. After graduating from Prince Edward Collegiate Institute, he received an Honours Degree in Administrative Studies from Trent University in 1993, and immediately started his professional career with Investors Group Financial Services. Scott is a Certified Financial Planner and a Registered Retirement consultant. He currently manages over $50 million in Investment Assets for over 250 families and businesses in the greater Quinte Area. Scott and his wife Wendy reside in Bloomfield and are the proud parents of three very active boys. Scott has always been involved in his community. He has served as Past President of the Rotary Club of Picton, where he has been a member for over 15 years. He is also a Past President and current Board Member for the Prince Edward County Minor Hockey Association, and continues to coach numerous local youth sports teams. Scott is a proud alumnus of the Wellington Dukes, and officiated both Junior and University Hockey for 20 years with the Ontario Hockey Association.
Paul McAuley
Paul McAuley is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of 3SO, a provider of shared services for healthcare in Southeastern Ontario. Paul took on his current role following more than two decades of progressively responsible leadership experience. This included playing a lead role in the development and execution of strategic plans for Quinte Health Care, and implementing a formal improvement approach based on the Toyota Management system and adopting the LEADS Leadership Development framework. Previously, Paul was involved in eHealth, serving as the Regional Chief Information Officer for the South East Local Health Integration Network and the Health Care Network of Southeastern Ontario and Director of Information Management at the former Kingston General Hospital. He has Bachelor and Master’s Degrees in Applied Science from the University of Waterloo as well as a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from McMaster University. He also completed the Advanced Health Leadership Program at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.
Cher Powers
Cher is an experienced professional with extensive project management, operations management and partnership development experience in the Canadian innovation ecosystem, including 16 years working with start-ups and SMEs to develop and scale up their operations and technologies. She has a degree in Global Development Studies (Queen's University), a Chemical Engineering Technician Diploma (Loyalist College) and is currently completing an MBA through the Carleton University Sprott School of Business. Cher is a Manager of Business Development and Commercialization at Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) for the Eastern Ontario region and is passionate about facilitating connections and building relationships in the innovation ecosystem.
Glen Loo
Glen has worked with communities to re-invent themselves through new economic development programs or by telling their story more effectively for over 30 years. He has worked with governments and community organizations to redevelop their communities; develop the physical, cultural, and branding assets that sets them apart from their competition; set up innovation and entrepreneurial programs; and help communities design and implement their economic development work. After directing a department at the University of British Columbia’s business school, Glen took that experience to Ottawa to become a member of the national design team of the Main Street Canada downtown revitalization program. This program has been implemented in whole or in part in over 300 communities across the country and has formed the basis of several provincial programs that came after. In 1992, Glen founded the St. Clements Group Inc. which focused primarily on the needs of small to medium and rural communities. Glen has worked in several hundred communities and with over 500 organizations in all parts of the country – including Lennox & Addington – to develop economic and community development strategies, programs, and operations.
