Print this page
|
| ISSUES OF THE DAY |
|
| INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES |
|
| WORKING OF GOVERNMENT |
|
| CMA WORKSHOP |
|
Marcus is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto, as well as Masters in Business Administration degree from Wilfrid Laurier University. Marcus has had extensive experience in both performing audits and in being audited. Prior to joining FocusROI, he was a senior audit manager at BDO Dunwoody LLP and Manager of Financial Reporting for a large multinational automotive parts manufacturer. At BDO Marcus was responsible for performing audit, tax, and accounting engagements for entities ranging from municipal and provincial government, manufacturing, high-tech, to distribution. He also performed engagements to improve operational efficiency and internal control. He is the co-author of the CICA Professional Engagement Manual and teaches Accounting, IFRS, Auditing and Assurance courses for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario.
|
Sari Cantor is a recruiting manager with Robert Half Finance & Accounting where she specializes in the full time placement of finance professionals in the Ottawa / Gatineau and surrounding area. Sari has worked for Robert Half Canada for 13 years in a variety of positions including Division Director for OfficeTeam, Robert Half Technology and Robert Half Finance & Accounting, and was responsible for launching OfficeTeam in Ottawa. Prior to joining the organization, Sari worked abroad and is highly sensitive to regional and cultural variances. For the past 10 years she has provided guidance to public and private sector organizations in the Ottawa area and has been involved with the Canadian Mental Health Association and the Cure for Breast Cancer. Sari holds a Bachelor of Administration and Commercial Studies degree (Human Resources) from the University of Western Ontario and is involved in local finance associations including CMA Ontario and the Algonquin College Financial Services advisory committee. In addition, Sari is a spokesperson and leading presenter of Robert Half’s professional development presentations where she is able to provide deep insight into the financial hiring trends within the marketplace.
Ian is on an executive interchange to the federal government from his position as Chief Executive Officer (National Office) of St. John Ambulance. Prior to joining St. John Ambulance in 2007, Ian held a variety of senior federal government positions including Assistant Deputy Minister, Acquisitions Branch, Public Works and Government Services Canada. Ian has been an active and long-standing supporter of United Way (Ottawa) serving on a number of Committees. Ian has been a member of Alterna since 1978, is married with four daughters and is an avid distance runner. Ian holds a Masters degree in Public Administration from Carleton University and a B.A. (History) from the University of Waterloo. In recognition of his contributions as a federal public servant, Ian has received a number of awards including the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal and the Canada 125 medal.
| INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES |
Bill Matthews, Assistant Comptroller General, Financial Management Sector, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
Mr. Bill Matthews joined the Office of the Comptroller General in 2004. He was appointed Assistant Comptroller General of the Financial Management Sector of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat effective August 24, 2009. His policy responsibilities include government accounting, financial management, costing and user fees and strengthening the financial management community through a range of initiatives. He is also responsible for financial reporting in the areas of the Public Accounts and departmental financial statements.
Bill is a Chartered Accountant and has over 20 years of experience in accounting and financial management in both the public and private sectors.
He has worked with all levels of government in Canada and with governments of several other countries on financial reporting improvement initiatives.
|
Aniket Bhushan joined The North-South Institute as a Researcher in the Finance for Equitable Growth thematic group in 2007. His work focuses on finance, trade and economic development; with special interest in financial crises. His ongoing projects cover topics such as fiscal and financial resource mobilization and public expenditure reform in Sub Saharan Africa, the transmission and impact of the recent financial crisis in developing countries, institutional and policy responses to crises with an emphasis on global economic governance and emerging economies.
His past work at the institute focused on trade policy including: a primer on “Trade Policy and Human Rights Law” for the Department of Foreign Affairs, Canada; and “Liberalization Shocks and Social Protection Strategies: Lessons from the East Asian Crisis” (co-authored with Dr. Chantal Blouin, published in Globalization and Health: Pathways, Evidence, Policy, Routledge, 2009). His work on trade and health is featured as a reference for the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization. He has also completed research on development finance for the UN, the African Development Bank, the Department for International Development (UK), the Danish Foreign Ministry, Ford Foundation (New York), and Heinrich Boell Foundation (Germany), in addition to his work with Canadian partners.
His recent publications include: Widening Global Governance: Building on the G20 which appears in The North South Institute’s flagship Canadian Development Report; Why Enhance Domestic Resource Mobilization in Africa (co-authored with Roy Culpeper); Reorienting Development Finance (Canadian Development Report 2009); Emerging Economies Challenge the Bretton Woods Institutions (Danish Institute of International Affairs 2009); his forthcoming publications include: How to Prevent the Next Crisis: Lessons from Countries that Weathered the Storm Better and Domestic Resource Mobilization for Effective Development. His forthcoming work in 2010 includes a study of Canada’s resilience to the global financial crisis focusing on Canada’s housing finance system.
Aniket frequently contributes opinion pieces, lately on the recent financial crisis, in The Mark, a Canadian online news magazine.
His academic background includes B. Com (Mumbai University, India), B.A. (politics and economic, University of Windsor) and M.A. (politics and international affairs, Carleton University, Ottawa). Prior to moving to Canada Aniket worked in the business news media and at a technology start-up in India.
Luc Bélanger, Director of Financial Risks, Canadian International Development Agency
Luc Bélanger holds a bachelor in business administration with a major in Finance from the University of Québec in Hull. He also holds an MBA with a major in international management from the University of Ottawa. Part of the international management specialty was done through a study leave spent at at l’École Supérieure de Commerce of the University of Reims, France. Mr. Bélanger is also a graduate of the FI leadership program.
Mr. Bélanger started his public service career in 1990 with the Canadian Internal Development Agency (CIDA). During the 8 years that followed, while completing his MBA on a part-time basis, he held several positions in the financial operations field (accounting operations, systems and financial policies).
From 1998 to 2001, he held several positions within financial systems both at the Public Service Commission and the Receiver General of Canada, working, among other things, on the implementation of the Financial Information Strategy (FIS).
Back to CIDA in 2001, as Manager of financial services for Asia branch, he was mostly involved, during his 5 year tenure, in providing advice on issues related to grants and contributions made to Asian countries. As such he had to travel extensively to several Asian countries.
In July 2006, Mr. Bélanger joined the department of Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC) as a director of consulting services for the Grants and Contributions Centre of Expertise where he was actively involved in the development of a risk management policy and related tools.
Back to CIDA in 2009 as a director of financial risks, he is in charge of the development of several policies and tools related to fiduciary risk management, the assessment of financial viability of organizations partnering with CIDA and finally the audit of financial compliance of Canada’s international assistance recipients.
| WORKING OF GOVERNMENT |
Mary Campbell, Director General, Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate, Department of Public Safety Canada
Mary Campbell is the Director General of Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate in the Department of Public Safety Canada. The Directorate provides advice and support to the Minister in his public policy leadership role in corrections and criminal justice, and is responsible for providing advice on the strategic priorities of the correctional agencies, and on a broad range of domestic and international correctional and criminal justice program, policy, and legislative issues and activities.
Ms. Campbell has a BA from the University of Toronto, an LL.B. from Queen’s University, and an LL.M. from McGill University. She has been a federal public servant since 1984. In addition, she teaches at the university level and publishes widely. She has particular criminal justice expertise in the areas of sentencing, corrections and community reintegration.
Monica Donnelly, Legislative Counsel, Department of Justice
Alexandra Schorah, Legislative Counsel, Department of Justice
Alexandra Schorah has been Legislative Counsel with the Legislative Services Branch since September 2007. Before joining the Department of Justice, Alexandra practised in the areas of labour and employment law at a local Ottawa firm, working primarily on files that involved grievance arbitration and judicial review. Before taking up a career in law, Alexandra held teaching positions in a variety of contexts, including York University in Toronto and the Free University of Berlin in Germany. A certified translator with a Masters degree in translation, she also managed a small translation business.
Filipe Dinis, Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Finance and Administration Branch, Canada Revenue Agency
Mr. Filipe Dinis began his public service career in 1991 with Canada Customs in Montreal. Since then, he has held a variety of positions including Agency Assistant to the Minister of National Revenue. Mr. Dinis' diverse experience includes representing Canada in various bilateral and multilateral fora through his Customs work on NAFTA as well as at the World Trade Organization while on assignment with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
Mr. Dinis also worked as Director General, Strategic Management and Program Support Directorate and Director General, Resource Management Directorate with the Finance and Administration Branch of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
Mr. Dinis is a graduate of the CRA's Middle Management Development Program, the Canada School of Public Service Direxion Leadership Program and holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree with a specialization in Finance and Marketing from McGill University in Montreal. He is also a Certified Management Accountant.
Serge Gascon, CGA, Director General (CFO), Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
Serge Gascon is the Chief Financial Officer for the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) and the Director General of the Corporate Planning and Services Branch. He joined the IRB in June 2008, and has been in the public service for 28 years.
He currently directs the orientation of four directorates: Corporate Planning and Management Practices; Procurement, Security and Administration; Corporate Finance; and Information Systems. Furthermore, he provides functional direction of these services to the regional offices.
Prior to his work with the IRB, he was the Director of Integrated Management Services at the Parole Board of Canada (PBC), formerly the National Parole Board. While at the PBC, he assumed the roles of Chief Financial Officer, Chief Information Officer and Departmental Security Officer.
Mr. Gascon has a Bachelor of Business Administration with a specialization in accounting from the Université du Québec à Hull. He has also been a Certified General Accountant with the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada and the Ordre des comptables généraux accrédités du Québec since 1991.
| CMA WORKSHOP |
Bruce Manion, BComm, CMA, FCMA, Faculty Member, Canada School of Public Service
Since February 2010, Bruce Manion has been on assignment as a faculty member with the Canada School of the Public Service. In that role, he is delivering elements of the School’s learning curriculum and conducting research into a number of key issues such as leadership and organizational learning.
Bruce Manion was appointed Chief Financial, Officer of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) in March 2008. In that role, he was responsible for all aspects of financial management and stewardship of an annual expenditure base of nearly $100B and a key player in supporting the Deputy Minister in her role as Accounting Officer for the HRSDC portfolio. From October 2009 to February 2010, he served as Strategic Advisor to the Deputy Minister of HRSDC.
From 2004 to 2008, he was the Assistant Deputy Minister, Planning and Corporate Affairs, at the Department of Canadian Heritage. His main role was to promote management excellence while providing key enabling services in the areas of corporate planning, strategic policy and research, IM/IT, financial management, audit and evaluation and a G&C Centre of Excellence. During this time, he oversaw the Official Languages Secretariat during the period when the Government of Canada’s Official Languages Strategy was being evaluated and renewed, helped to finalize the negotiations between the Government of Canada and the Aga Khan Foundation to establish the Global Centre for Pluralism, and was a central player in negotiating an innovative partnership with Le Cirque du Soleil regarding their prominent role in Canada’s participation in the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.
Prior to that, he had been Director General, Financial Management Branch at Canadian Heritage since October 2001. In this role, he was successful in helping PCH get its financial house in order, in launching a G&C Centre of Expertise and a PCH Contracting Strategy, and in addressing numerous central agency initiatives on reallocation and financial management reform.
He was the Director of Managerial Accountability and Comptrollership in the Department of National Defence from October 1998 to October 2001. As part of his duties at DND, he was responsible for two major projects, the implementation of the Financial Information Strategy (FIS) and Modernization of Comptrollership and worked with many other jurisdictions such as Australia, South Africa, France and the U.S on financial management reforms. From 1991 to 1998, he held a number of executive and senior analyst positions at the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, Natural Resources Canada.
Bruce joined the Public Service in 1983 through the Financial Officer Recruitment Program (FORD) of the Office of the Comptroller General of Canada. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Ottawa and was accepted into the Society of Management Accountants of Ontario (CMA) in 1986. He became a Fellow (FCMA) of the Society in November, 2006.
Bruce is married and has two children. When he is not working, he is an avid tool guy and home renovation maniac. In past lives, he has been a professional musician, actor, stand-up comic and gravedigger. He is certainly not your average accountant.
