Omhra Fall Conference 2017 Speaker Bios
OMHRA FALL CONFERENCE 2017 SPEAKER BIOS
Jim Rovers:
Mr. Rovers has been actively involved in the fields of security, investigations and labour dispute for nearly two decades. With a background in manufacturing engineering, he has assisted many Fortune 500 companies in the development of contingency plans regarding security, transportation and temporary staffing. He has worked extensively throughout Canada and the United States on investigation of theft and narcotic issues in the workplace.
Mr. Rovers joined AFIMAC in 2004 as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. A former executive of HRPLD (Human Resource Professionals of London) and he is a member of ASIS, the American Society of Industrial Security. Mr. Rovers is in the process of completing his CHRP (Canadian Human Resources Professional) accreditation.
Celine Chiovitti:
Celine Chiovitti is the Vice President of Pension Operations with OMERS. In this role, Celine provides oversight and leadership to the Pension Operations team responsible for the day to day operation of the OMERS Plans. Her focus is on delivering excellent service to OMERS members and employers while ensuring strong compliance and due diligence surrounding pension processes.
Prior to joining OMERS, Celine spent her career in the public sector, most recently as the Director of Pension, Payroll and Employee Benefits at the City of Toronto. In this role she had overall accountability of payroll for over 35,000 employees, served as the Treasurer’s Representative on the City’s five pre-OMERS pension plans, and oversaw the employee benefit plans.
Celine’s experience has provided her with a deep understanding of the issues and challenges facing municipal stakeholders and the importance of public sector pension plans. Celine is a Certified Employee Benefits Specialist and has served as part of the United Way’s Pension & Benefits Committee and on the Board of the International Foundation of Employee Benefits Specialists, Toronto Chapter.
Drew Sousa:
Drew Sousa has been the manager of Employee Health Services at the City of Mississauga for over 15 year where she manages an interdisciplinary team of health care and claims professionals. Her mandate is to direct the City’s vision of being a leader in supporting health and wellness throughout an employee’s work life cycle.
Drew has been a certified occupational health nurse with a speciality in disability management for over 20 years. She sat on the board of directors for the Ontario Occupational Health Nurses Association for 6 years and was a member of the technical committee which created theNational Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace. She has published several articles in HR and Occupational Health periodicals and has spoken at numerous conferences.
David Beaulieu:
David Beaulieu is the Director of the Employment & Labour Policy Branch, a branch dedicated to policy and legislative development in relation to labour relations, employment standards, and other workplace issues.
David has worked in the field of employment and labour law and policy for almost two decades. During his employment with the Ministry of Labour’s Policy Division, he has worked on several significant legislative reform projects in relation to employment standards and labour relations.
In addition to these projects, he also spent time at the Ministry of Education working with representatives of school boards and teachers' federations to settle disputes arising out of their collective agreements. Before joining the Ontario Public Service, he articled at a Toronto labour law firm.
Mark Stone:
Mark Stone is a partner with the firm. Mark practises all areas of labour and employment law, representing both public and private sector employers before labour boards, arbitration boards, the courts and numerous employment-related administrative tribunals. Mark’s practice also involves providing proactive and strategic advice to employers in labour and employment matters. Mark has written and presented numerous articles and papers on labour and employment law matters to employer and academic groups.
Memberships and Affiliations
- The Labour Relations and Administrative Law sections of the Ontario Bar Association
- The Advocates Society
- The Metropolitan Toronto Lawyers Association
- The Canadian Association of Counsel to Employers
Education/Bar Admission
- Call to the Bar of the Province of Ontario - Law Society of Upper Canada, 1990
- Bachelor of Law – Dalhousie University, 1989 (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
- Bachelor of Arts – St. Francis Xavier University, 1986 (Antigonish, Nova Scotia)
- Bachelor of Business Administration – St. Francis Xavier University, 1985 (Antigonish, Nova Scotia)
John Saunders:
John Saunders is a senior labour and employment lawyer in Hicks Morley’s Toronto office. He has over 29 years of experience advising public and private sector employers on a wide range of labour and employment issues. John’s practice includes collective agreement negotiations, rights and interest arbitrations, human rights applications, and wrongful dismissal litigation.
John also has a particular expertise in municipal law with regard to fire and paramedic issues. He provides ongoing negotiation advice to fire and paramedic departments on staffing, deployment, benefit issues, accommodation, mandatory retirement and presumptive disability legislation. He has also represented numerous municipalities in Coroner’s Inquests, Judicial Inquiries into fatalities and interest arbitrations.
John also works with employers in the healthcare, manufacturing, waste disposal, forestry, nuclear, property assessment and call centre sectors.
John is the past Chairman of the Board of Elders of his local church. He is an avid downhill skier and enjoys fixing things at his cottage.
Areas of Practice
Employment Law, Labour Relations, Litigation, Human Rights, Occupational Health
Industries
Energy & Utilities, Government Ministries & Agencies, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Municipalities & Municipal Agencies, Transportation & Warehousing
Mary Turan:
Mary has more than 20 years experience as a human resources consultant and corporate practitioner. Mary helps organizations achieve customer satisfaction through people development and fundamental human resource practices and policies. Mary has planned, conducted and delivered many job evaluation/pay equity and compensation projects over the years. Mary aides clients in meeting Pay Equity legislation requirements through her expertise which includes analyzing job evaluation results, developing pay grades and ranges, identifying legislation requirements and developing Pay Equity Plans. Mary has worked in both the public as well as the private sectors. Her expertise also includes Quebec Pay Equity and in Ontario, working with Proxy Pay Equity files.
Mary has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Waterloo. She is a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) and is designated a Canadian Human Resources Leader (CHRL). Mary received a Post Diploma Certificate in Human Resources from Seneca College and received a Certificate of Achievement in Alternative Dispute Resolution from the University of Windsor.
Mary is a member of the Canadian Association of Management Consultants (CAMC) and the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA).
Marianne Love:
With almost 30 years in the human resources field, Marianne brings her clients a unique perspective with her collective experience as a consultant, human resources practitioner, and legal counsel. Prior to joining Gallagher McDowall Associates, Marianne held a number of senior management positions including Legal Counsel for the City of Toronto, as well as Commissioner of Corporate Services, Corporation Counsel, and Director of Human Resources for the City of Brampton.
In addition to her current role at Gallagher McDowall Associates, Marianne provides labour and pension advice to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario and serves as Co-Chair on the OMERS Sponsors Corporation representing municipal employer interests. Marianne regularly speaks at a variety of pension and stakeholder conferences on pension and governance practices.
Marianne has developed, implemented, and defended job evaluation and compensation systems in a variety of unionized and non-unionized environments. She has conducted salary administration studies, benefits surveys, and competitive compensation analysis. Marianne has also helped clients determine the most appropriate pay methods to meet organizational goals as well as develop job competencies to support competency-based pay and performance appraisal systems.
She has extensive experience in team facilitation and dispute resolution for clients in a broad range of industries, including municipalities, healthcare, public education and financial services.
Marianne has a Law Degree from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Windsor. She holds certificates in Public Pension Plan Policy, Trustee Management, Executive Compensation and Public Pension Plan Administration. She has earned the designation of Chartered Director from the Degroote School of Business, McMaster University and is Human Resources and Compensation Committee Certified.
Zachary Nichol:
Zac Nichol is a Metric Analyst at the City of Hamilton, where he is responsible for arming the business and HR team with data-driven insights through analytics to identify critical HR priorities and drive optimal decisions about our people. He ensures that relevant, actionable and insightful metrics and trends are identified and reported accordingly, serving as the technical liaison for HR data/information. Also responsible for ensuring that human resources information is presented accurately, consistently and in a clear, concise, and business-relevant manner. Prior to joining the city, Zac held various roles with Arcelor Mittal.
Sarah Snable:
Sarah Snable is a Certified Professional Ergonomist, Registered Kinesiologist, and co-owner of PROergonomics. Sarah specializes in providing project management and ongoing support for municipalities and other public sector organizations to manage the assessment process for documenting physical and cognitive demands of their jobs, as well as other ergonomic initiatives to support the RTW process.
Rasul Kassam:
Rasul Kassam is a certified Disability Management Professional, with a background as an Occupational Therapist. Currently, Rasul works as a Disability Management Consultant in the Employee Health Services Division for the City of Mississauga with the primary focus on claims management (STD & LTD), return to work coordination, performing ergonomic assessments, job matches and assisting with employee accommodations.
Thomas Agnew:
Thomas Agnew is an employment and labour lawyer in Hicks Morley’s Toronto office. He advises public and private sector employers on a wide range of human resources issues and regularly appears as counsel for employers in courts and tribunals throughout Ontario.
Thomas advises his clients in all areas related to human rights, employment standards, labour relations and workplace safety issues. He regularly serves as counsel for public and private sector clients in rights and interest arbitrations and frequently acts as lead negotiator in collective agreement negotiations. In addition to arbitration and tribunal litigation, he appears as counsel for employers in court with a particular focus on wrongful dismissal defence litigation.
When not serving as an advocate for his clients, Thomas advises on workplace policies and frequently provides training seminars for clients on all areas of labour and employment law.
Areas of Practice
Labour Relations, Employment Law, Litigation, Human Rights, Information & Privacy
Industries
Construction, Education (School Boards), Energy & Utilities, Financial Services, Government Ministries & Agencies (Federal and Provincial), Healthcare, Manufacturing, Municipalities & Municipal Agencies, Retail & Wholesale Trade, Social Services
Representative Work
Successfully defended a financial institution in a claim challenging the institution’s policy regarding statutory holiday and vacation pay.
Acted for and successfully defended at trial a large retail client in a wrongful dismissal action.
Successfully defended a not-for-profit legal clinic at a labour arbitration alleging wrongful dismissal.
Publications and Presentations
“Responding to WSIB Mental Stress Claims” HRPA Durham Chapter – Employment and Labour Law Conference (June 10, 2016)
Michael Kennedy:
Michael Kennedy is a labour and employment lawyer in Hicks Morley’s Toronto office. Michael is counsel to a wide variety of broader public sector employers, such as universities and municipalities, and large private sector employers.
Michael’s practice regularly takes him across the province. He is chair of the firm’s University practice group and is the former chair of the Municipal practice group.
Michael appears as counsel in labour and employment disputes involving the courts, arbitration, the Ontario Labour Relations Board, and the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. Michael also has extensive experience in providing strategic bargaining advice and has unique experience as counsel in over 60 interest disputes.
Areas of Practice
Labour Relations, Employment Law, Human Rights, Education Law
Industries
Education (Universities), Government Ministries & Agencies (Federal and Provincial), Hospitality, Municipalities & Municipal Agencies
Awards and Recognition
Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory (2015-2016) - Labour Relations (Repeatedly Recommended)
The Best Lawyers in Canada (2017) - Labour and Employment Law
Representative Work
Ongoing advisor to boards on a variety of legal, regulatory and government relations issues, including challenges with executive compensation, human rights and social media issues.
Strategic bargaining advisor to seven Ontario universities and over 20 municipalities.
Lead counsel on a team of 25 lawyers in seeking injunctions and cease and desist orders for a municipality.
Counsel to Boards and Municipal Councils on executive hiring and terminations.