Chapters

Board of Directors

Members of the CIOCAN Boards of Directors are busy executives who volunteer their time to serve as Directors of the Association. They are active supporters of this national community that advances the CIO profession and the IT industry in Canada.

Mary Anne Ballantyne | Assistant Head, Technology and Innovation, BSS

Mary Anne Ballantyne is Toronto Chapter President for the CIO Association of Canada and Assistant Head, Technology and Innovation with The Bishop Strachan School (BSS).

With 25 years experience in the technology industry as programmer, analyst, manager and senior leader, her passion today lies in the fusion of technology within the continuum of learning. As well as being founder and co-chair of the board for the CIS eLearning Consortium, Mary Anne also sits on the Ontario chapter board for the CIO Association of Canada, the largest association in Canada for CIOs.

A firm advocate of the holistic leadership the CIO role plays in any organization, Mary Anne recognizes building innovative capacity is a challenge and currently leads the BSS effort in a formal IT Shared Services initiative with other Independent Schools.

Kelvin Cantafio | Visiting Scholar, University of Waterloo; Executive Lead, Information Services, International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

Kelvin Cantafio has over 20 years of senior-level national and international experience in IT for Business and the Non-Profit Sector, including 13 years as the Chief Information Officer and Director of IT for a multi-national NGO. Kelvin is a Visiting Scholar for the University of Waterloo where he assists with various projects related to the MMSC Online program in Management of Technology.

Kelvin is a founding member of NetHope and currently serves as Vice Chair. NetHope is an information technology consortium of 27 leading international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with combined annual revenue of over US$30 billion. He previously served on the Advisory Board for the CIO Executive Council of Canada and is a member of the IT advisory board for Oxfam Canada. As the CIO for Plan International, an international children’s development agency, Kelvin used his knowledge in Organizational Development to successfully lead IT transformation in a complex, global, multi-cultural environment. Previously, as the Chief Information Officer for Foster Parents Plan of Canada, Kelvin was responsible for the overall strategic and operational management of information systems.

Prior to his involvement in non-profit sector, Kelvin served as the Project Director for the Management of Information Processes and Systems (MIPS) initiative at Canadian Tire. The initiative revolutionized the way Canadian Tire sold over 56,000 of its products. Cantafio has been credited as the developer of the MIPS concept. Kelvin is the recipient of several prestigious international awards for IT innovation, including the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) Global IT Excellence Award.

Nabil Harfoush, PhD | Assistant Professor, OCAD University

Nabil is currently a Senior Fellow at the Strategic Innovations Lab and Assistant Professor at OCAD University's Strategic Foresight & Innovation graduate program. He is also a Fellow of the College of Design, Engineering & Commerce of Philadelphia University. Prior to that he served as Chief Information Officer for HelpCaster Technologies, MedcomSoft, and Nightingale Informatix.

Nabil has over 40 years of professional experience as an engineer, technology executive, and entrepreneur. He has consulted for enterprises, national governments, and international organizations including the World Bank, WHO, UNESCO, and IDRC. Nabil serves on the board of the CIO Association of Canada (Toronto Chapter), on the TRIEC Council, and on the Board of Tides Canada. He is co-founder of the Canadian Dawn Foundation and volunteers for several organizations including the International Development & Relief Fund (IDRF), the Canadian Center for Diversity (CCD), and the One Million Acts of Innovation initiative. He is a regular volunteer mentor for men and women seeking to start new enterprises.

Steve Heck | CIO, Microsoft Canada

Steve Heck has oversight of all Information Technology activities within Microsoft Canada. This includes both the traditional business facing infrastructure and applications but also ensuring that Microsoft IT understands and responds to the priorities of Microsoft Canada. Through this understanding, and by running IT like a business, Steve have evolved MS IT into an enabler of Microsoft Canada's business aspirations.

In addition to internally facing responsibilities, Steve is an ambassador of Microsoft IT to Microsoft Customers and Partners who are interested to learn how Microsoft manages its own IT infrastructure and related IT challenges.

Steve joined Microsoft Canada in 2005 to run the Database Marketing and Customer Analytics program. His 15 years in this highly IT-centric industry positioned him well to take on the challenge of running IT like a business for Microsoft IT in 2008. During his tenure in IT, Steve has been able to strengthen the brand of MS IT within MS Canada to become a trusted business advisor and innovative, business-centric partner.

Steve holds both an Honours Bachelor and Masters Degrees in Economics from University of Waterloo and an MBA from York University.

Catherine Koop | Former VP Systems & Productivity, McGraw-Hill Ryerson

Catherine joined McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd. in April 2000. With a career in publishing spanning 17 years and three global companies, Cathy has held a variety of management and senior management positions in sales, marketing, editorial, operations, and IT. During that time, she has launched database marketing, direct marketing, e-marketing, loyalty programs as well as being involved with three separate ERP implementations (JD Edwards, SAP, and Oracle).

While at McGraw-Hill, Cathy was appointed Director of the Global Transformation Project for McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd. reporting to the CEO. GTP was a significant North American Enterprise Resource Planning undertaking by McGraw-Hill Education, a segment of the McGraw-Hill Companies. In her role as Director, Cathy led the Canadian operation (and pilot site) through an upgrade and two subsequent releases, and in partnership with McGraw-Hill Education brought the North American platform to successful completion in October 2004.

Cathy was promoted to Director of Technology & Productivity and Division Head in 2004 leading the IT division, and subsequently to Vice President Information Systems and member of the McGraw-Hill Ryerson Executive on May 1, 2005. She also served as a member of the Global Technology Solutions staff for McGraw-Hill Education. She has provided leadership and direction to McGraw-Hill Ryerson’s use of information and has represented McGraw-Hill Ryerson’s interests in enterprise-wide (McGraw-Hill Education and McGraw-Hill Companies) IT strategy development. Cathy holds a bachelors degree from the University of Toronto and is a graduate of the Ryerson University Executive IT Leadership Program.

Samantha Liscio | Corporate Chief Strategist, Government of Ontario

As the Corporate Chief Strategist since September 2010, Samantha helps position the Ontario government in the broader context of global changes toward e-government and e-business. In this role, Samantha champions the importance of I&IT as a key corporate enabler and driver of business opportunities, leads the alignment of I&IT strategy, policy and technology with government priorities and directions, leads and facilitates the development of government-wide I&IT directives, policies and standards and provides strategic advice to the Management Board of Cabinet on major I&IT decisions.

Previously, Samantha was the Chief Information Officer with the Government of Ontario in the Central Agencies I&IT Cluster. As CIO, Samantha provided information and information technology leadership to the ministries of Finance, Revenue, Energy & Infrastructure and Cabinet Office. During her tenure, Samantha delivered key initiatives including the Ontario news room, infrastructure stimulus tracking portal, Ontario taxes online and launched one of the first public sector telework pilots with 10% of staff working remotely 3-days per week.

Samantha’s career has spanned technical training, web development, change management, project management and business consulting. A manager and IT consultant since 1996, Samantha joined the Government of Ontario in 2001. From 2002 to 2007, Samantha was the Head of the Project Management Office and Customer Service in Infrastructure Technology Services (ITS) in the MGS. She joined the Central Agencies Cluster in 2007 as Head, I&IT Strategy and Planning, where she provided leadership in strategic planning, communications, project and information management, IT security, privacy and architecture.

Hailing from Northern Ireland, Samantha earned a Bachelor of Science and a PhD from Queen’s University in Belfast. She is a Project Management Professional and has worked in both the private and public sectors in Canada.

Sherif Sheta | Regional CIO for Baxter Canada and Latin America Emerging Markets

Sherif has over 20 years of experience in the IT industry spanning the disciplines of software development, project management, infrastructure services, and consulting. He worked in Canada, the US, and overseas covering diverse industries like software consulting, automotive, building materials, and healthcare.

Sherif’s passion lies in realigning IT with the business and ensuring that IT investments are put to work to enable the strategic imperatives of the business. He is adept at transformational change: culture; structure; people; and technologies. He has led the transformations at two large multi-nationals employing his process and people skills.

Currently Sherif is the IT Director with responsibility for Canada and ten other emerging economies in Latin America, for Baxter International where he combines his efforts with those of thousands more to save and sustain lives every day.