Meet Our Board

Meet Our Board Of Directors

Kristine Fair

Chair

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George McLennan

Vice Chair

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Wendy Martin

Treasurer

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Bev McParland

Director

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Bruce Rigby

Director

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Cheryl Beckett

Director

Jennifer Glazier

Director

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John Gemmell

Director

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Renee Berquist

Director

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Rob Garvin

Director

Sheila Coutts

Director

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Gardner Church

Ex-Officio PSFDH

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Michael Cohen

Ex-Officio PSFDH

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We look forward to the vital work of raising much-needed philanthropic dollars for our community hospital, its equipment and the amazing people that work at the Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital.

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It’s our mission to work with our community to raise and steward funds for projects and services for health care at our hospital.

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Kristine Fair

Chair

Kristine retired after 40 years in the automotive industry as the former owner of Mike Fair Chevrolet Buick GMC Cadillac Ltd. She remains the community ambassador for the dealership. Kristine moved to the area in 2005 and currently lives in Lombardy.

In her retirement Kristine wanted to be able to give back to the community that supported her business and joining the board of the Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital Foundation was a good fit.

Kristine has always been active in the community and has served on the Smiths Falls Economic Development Committee, Community Improvement Project Committee, and the Philanthropic Committee for Big Brother Big Sister Lanark County. She is currently the Vice Chair of the Smiths Falls Chamber of Commerce and has been on the Chamber board for eight years.

When not working or volunteering Kristine enjoys spending time with family, golfing, cycling, and travelling.

Kristine feels that having two hospital sites within a 20-minute drive is a privilege; and she wants to be able to contribute towards the ongoing success of the Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital.

George McLennan

Vice Chair

Born and raised in Perth, George first joined the Great War Memorial Hospital team in 1982 as the Hospital’s Chief Financial Officer -until 1995. Since then, he has worked for different corporations in Perth.

George joined the GWM Hospital Foundation Board in 2015 and since the amalgamation has served as Treasurer of the Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital Foundation Board.

George has an extensive background in accounting and brings that knowledge and expertise to the table to support the Hospital Foundation’s goals.

In the past, George has helped with the GWM Foundation Black Tie Bingo Event and the promotion of all donor campaigns. One of his proudest moments was back in 1982, cutting the ribbon for the Redevelopment Campaign ceremony, with Honorary Chair Ian Miller and his father Grant McLellan, QC.
When George isn’t volunteering or working at his job as an accountant, he enjoys spending time at his cottage, travelling, building small projects, and spending quality time with his wife, children, and grandchildren.

For the past forty years, George has shown a strong interest in supporting our local Hospital for the betterment of community health care.

Wendy Martin

Treasurer

Wendy is the owner and operator of Wendy Martin Financial Services. She holds a B.A., in Economics and Accounting and has held a variety of senior positions over her last 30+ years in the financial field. She lives in the Township of Rideau Lakes.

The Hospital Foundation has been an important part of her life for many years ever since she learned that equipment needs were not funded by the government. She was eager to become involved with the Foundation to help spread the word, so that everyone in the community could understand how vitally important their contributions are.

Over the years, she has volunteered at and chaired numerous community activities.
She resides with her husband, Michael and has two grown children, a son-in law, a daughter-in-law, and a precious granddaughter.

In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with family, travelling, cooking, reading, playing strategy games, swimming, and sharing great conversations.

Wendy is looking forward to helping lay the groundwork for the new Foundation and realize new heights of success to benefit the hospital.

Michael Cohen

Ex-Officio PSFDH

Michael joined PSFDH in November 2021. With over 25 years of health care experience, Michael came to us from the Glengarry Memorial Hospital where, as the CEO, he worked to strengthen patient centred care and also led numerous projects resulting in significant improvements in the hospital’s culture, infrastructure and reach within the community. Michael also spent 16 years at the Queensway Carleton Hospital as a Vice President and Director. He got his start in health care working as a financial analyst with the regional health authorities in Alberta. Michael and his wife Deb spent 21 years raising their family in Barrhaven (Ottawa) but now reside outside Oxford Station. Michael has a Masters Degree from the University of Calgary and an Undergraduate Degree from Queens University.

Bev McParland

Bev is a registered nurse with additional credentials in health care administration and human resources. After 25 years of clinical care, teaching, research, and management in acute hospital settings, Bev moved to Price Waterhouse health care consulting in 1989. Her clinical and administrative roles were at a variety of organizations ranging from GWM in Perth (1974 to 1979), Riverside in Ottawa and the University Health Network.

Born at the GWM site and raised in Tay Valley Township, Bev and her husband Jim McDermott purchased a cottage on Pike Lake in 2011 and have spent 6 months at the lake every year since. They purchased a winter home in Perth and moved from Toronto in March 2022. Recognizing the critical role, a hospital plays in the community Bev wanted to volunteer to support the goals of fundraising for the wide variety of needs that require community support and looks forward to helping with these goals.

Bruce Rigby

Director

After spending more than 25 years living in Nunavut, Bruce and his wife, Carol, returned south to the Maberly area. Growing up in the area, with family spread throughout the County, he has many strong local ties.

Bruce has worked in the private sector, in senior positions in the federal and territorial governments, and has worked with Inuit organizations throughout Nunavut.

Bruce has been involved with the Rotary and has been a member of both the Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital Board and the Perth and District Community Foundation.

He has sat on advisory boards for several national and international foundations and agencies such as the Gateways Project, the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, the Northern Science Training Grant Program, the Canadian Circumpolar Institute, and the Polar Continental Shelf Project.

When he is not involved in local projects, Bruce still engages in Arctic projects, works on his property near Maberly, and enjoys sail cruising on his boat.

Bruce feels that having a strong locally based hospital as an anchor for the community is very important to his community development philosophy.

Jennifer Glazier

Jennifer has lived in Perth for over 40 years and has been a well-respected Realtor in the area since
2009! She loves to serve her clients, introduce new people to the area, and give back to her community!

Prior to her Real Estate career, Jennifer worked at PSFDH for 18 years as a Laboratory Technologist. This
knowledge of the day-to-day needs of the hospital is the driving force behind her passion to serve on
the Foundation Board. Jennifer understands just how crucial it is to have fully operational, up-to-date
equipment and technology available at all times to allow our hard-working health care professionals to
concentrate on patient care while providing timely, accurate results for proper diagnosis, advanced
treatment options, and excellent quality of care for the people of our community.

Jennifer was born in the Ottawa Valley and moved to Perth at a very young age, but has always known
Perth as home. She and her husband Darren live in Drummond/North Elmsley Township and have 2
grown children.

When not helping people buy and sell homes or volunteering, Jennifer loves to spend time with family
and travel to warm sunny destinations. She is always looking for ways to improve her life, business &
health. She enjoys time in the gym, personal development books & podcasts and loves to attend
business training and conferences to keep up to date with the ever-changing market.

Jennifer is excited to be involved in the future of our hospital! She feels that her experiences working at
the hospital coupled with her strong relationships with people and businesses in our community will
provide valuable insight to the Board.
Jennifer has always enjoyed volunteering her time for hospital fund-raising events and she now looks
forward to the opportunity to be involved at a deeper level and continue to give back to the community.

John Gemmell

Director

John is a retired OPP Sgt. who is serving his second term on the Foundation Board as well as sitting on several local community committees. He served on Perth Town Council for 15 years and County Council for 9 years and in 2012 was elected County Warden. John enjoys working out to stay fit so can keep up with granddaughter Penelope, he has been married to Anne this past 50 years and they both enjoy living in Perth.

Renee Berquist

Director

Renée has had a variety of roles in health care over her 39-year career as a registered nurse, including as front-line RN in acute care and long-term care, as a research assistant and coordinator and as a nurse manager. Renée has been full time faculty in the BScN program at St. Lawrence College since 2007.

Renée grew up in Saskatchewan and has been living in the Ottawa area since 1987. Renée and her husband raised their three children in the Osgoode area. They relocated permanently to their cottage in the Maberly area in 2018.

Renée has a Masters Degree in Nursing from the University of Southern Queensland in Australia and a PhD in Nursing from the University of Ottawa. Renée has held a variety of volunteer positions in the past and currently is a member of the Academic Reference Group for the College of Nurses of Ontario.

Renée feels very fortunate to bring her passion and experience as a healthcare professional to her role with the Foundation.

Sheila Coutts

Director

Sheila is a registered nurse of 40 years and has spent most of her career working in Pediatrics at CHEO. Over the years she has also taught nursing, worked in long term care, community care, and family medicine clinics. She has lived in Smiths Falls for more than 50 years.

As a healthcare professional, she is able to share her insight and familiarity with the board of the Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital Foundation.

For the past eight years, she has been the co-organizer of the Sole Sisters Charity Event which raises awareness of the Canadian Cancer Society for Research and for the Chemotherapy Department at the Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital. In the past, she has been a dedicated volunteer at the Spring Fling Running Thing, the Urban Jungle Obstacle Course Run and SPIN Worldwide.

Sheila is married with two sons and three cats. In her spare time, she spends a great deal of time with family and enjoys paddle boarding, ballet classes and going to the gym.

Sheila is grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow with the newly amalgamated Foundation and is looking forward to representing her community with pride.

Gardner Church

Ex-Officio PSFDH

Gardner, a native of the Rideau Tay area, spent 25 years as a senior public servant with the Ontario Government including periods as deputy minister in two portfolios. He specialized in local governance and urban policy, teaching and researching urban issues at the graduate level at the Faculties of Environmental Studies at York and Waterloo Universities. He served two terms as Planner in Residence at the University of Waterloo. As a public policy consultant, he executed several projects in Canada and overseas including guiding several urban amalgamations. He was the first CAO of the amalgamated City of Kingston. In retirement, Gardner was active in start-up firms in the fields of food aid, small scale building systems, small cap commercial mortgages and mental health. He now lives at Otty Lake with his wife Linda.