Our People

Brain Robertson has had four parallel and successful careers as music industry executive, theatre producer, television producer and business affairs management in the arts, cultural and entertainment sectors. Brian was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2017 for “his steadfast leadership in developing and enhancing our entertainment industry on air, on screen and on stage”. He has established or co-established a number of national cultural organizations, including the Audio Visual Preservation Trust, the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Foundation, and the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. 

Brian has been a board member of the National Theatre School, the Shaw Festival, Roy Thomson Hall and Massey Hall, Canada’s Walk of Fame and the Regent Park School of Music.

Curtis Barlow was the founding Executive Director of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT) and served on the first ever jury for the Dora Mavor Moore Awards. His public service career includes postings with the Department of External Affairs as Cultural Counsellor to the United Kingdom, and Director of the Canada House Cultural Centre at the Canadian High Commission in London, as well as Canadian Cultural Counsellor to the United States at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. 

Curtis served as Executive Director and CEO of the Confederation Centre of the Arts and was then in charge of Canada’s international cultural policy as Director, Arts and Cultural Industries Promotion Division at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Curtis was also Deputy Secretary (Policy, Program, Protocol) to two Governors General of Canada, and was subsequently appointed CEO of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship.

Curtis has served on many boards, including as President of the Canadian Conference of the Arts, Chair of REEL Canada, and as a director on the boards of the Toronto Arts Council, the Toronto Arts Foundation, and The Musical Stage Company.

Kate Barris is a multi-award-winning television writer specializing in comedy, variety and programming for children. As an Executive Story Editor she has worked on literally hundreds of episodes of kids’ TV, and has written for such Canadian legends as Wayne and Shuster, Mr. Dressup, Max & Ruby, and Sharon, Lois & Bram. 

Kate served on the Writers Guild of Canada Council, overseeing the WGC Screenwriting Awards for several years, and established the Alex Barris Mentorship Award in honour of her late father. Kate also served on the board of Performing Arts Lodge (PAL) Toronto, heading up their popular fundraiser, Scrabble With the Stars for many years, and now chairs the Smile Theatre board. 

A long-time friend and theatre-going companion of our founding chairman Herbert Whittaker, Kate has dedicated herself to helping realize Herbie’s dream, serving on the board of Canada’s Theatre Museum in various capacities over the years.

Ashley Mamchur is a Chartered Professional Accountant with over 10 years of finance and management experience. She has built highly effective teams, and designed systems and solutions to ensure financial sustainability and drive organizational success for multiple not-for-profit organizations in Ontario.

She is the Vice-President of Finance at Surrey Place, and was the Vice-President of Finance with MaRS Discovery District. Previously, she held finance and management roles with Cancer Care Ontario, Luminato Festival Toronto, and KPMG.

Adrian Merchant Macdonald was Press Secretary to the Minister of Transport, and served with her husband, The Honourable Donald MacDonald, Canadian High Commissioner for Canada to Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Adrian has been on the boards of many Canadian non-profit organizations, including The Trudeau Centre for Peace, Conflict, and Justice, The Canada West Foundation, The Vanier Institute of the Family, The Winnipeg Art Gallery, The Winnipeg Symphony, Canadian Stage, Shakespeare Globe Canada, The National Theatre School of Canada, and Actors Fund of Canada (AFC), the lifeline for Canada’s entertainment industry.

Andrew Moodie is an award-winning actor/playwright/director who has performed in theatres all across the country. His playwriting credits include Riot, Wilbur County Blues, A Common Man’s Guide to Loving Women, The Real McCoy, and Toronto the Good. He has directed such shows as For Coloured Girls, The Real McCoy and People Places and Things. His film directing credits include the short film Memento Mori for which he received a Writers Guild of Canada nomination. He won a Writers Guild of Canada award for Afghanada on CBC Radio. For many years he hosted TV Ontario’s Big Ideas, and he has appeared in many film and television productions, including Total Recall, Star Trek: Discovery, the Boys and The Handmaid’s Tale.

Andrew has served on juries and panels for the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, and Toronto Arts Council. He has been on the board of directors of the Factory Theatre, Nightwood Theatre, and Shakespeare in the Rough. He is also an active participant in promoting diversity and inclusivity. He launched his blog, “Share the Stage,” to encourage racial and cultural diversity in casting in theatre in Canada and to encourage inclusive hiring practices behind the scenes.

Barbara Jesson is a seasoned marketing strategist with experience from both agency and client-side perspectives. She has headed up communications teams at some leading Canadian companies, among them Four Seasons Hotels and Labatts. More recently she has had her own advertising and public relations business, Jesson + Company Communications Inc. She provides strategic marketing insight for clients that include Anguilla, Japan Tourism, Peru Tourism, Greenfield Global and others. Client experience also includes Lufthansa German Airlines, The Movado Group, all William Grant & Sons products, Unilever, Kempinski Hotels, and Lockheed Martin. Barbara helped launch the Toronto Raptors and the Air Canada Centre, providing senior strategic communications support on a broad range of issues, including ownership changes. 

A lateral thinker, recognized for her creative ideas and innovative problem solving, Barbara is frequently sought out for challenges that demand unique ‘outside-the-box’ strategies or tactics. She is a Past President of the Empire Club of Canada. Currently she is a member of the board of The Empire Club Foundation and, in addition to Canada’s Theatre Museum, she is also on the board of the iconic music venue, Hugh’s Room Live.

Janis Barlow is an arts consultant who specializes in theatre and has undertaken over 80 feasibility studies and management plans for cultural institutions throughout the United States and Canada. She has facilitated over 200 strategic planning workshops and created strategic plans for artist-run organizations, arts councils, museums, galleries, professional theatres and associations. 

Janis has served on numerous theatre boards including the Toronto Theatre Alliance, the World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre and the League of Historic American Theatres. Throughout the 1980s she was the Project Manager on the restoration of the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres in Toronto.

Margaret McGuffin is the CEO of Music Publishers Canada. Margaret’s career has focused on research and policy development related to the creative industries as well as strategic change management. She has worked with numerous music industry trade organizations and collective management organizations.

Margaret is also always happy to talk to you about copyright or how music publishers are leading the way in making sure Canadian songs are heard around the world. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Western University and an MBA in Arts, Media and Entertainment Management from the Schulich School of Business.

Martin Ship is a communications and public affairs executive based in Toronto. Over a 30-year career with the Ontario Public Service, he held a number of senior roles at the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance, Cabinet Office and Office of the Premier. He was most recently Director, Corporate Policy and Public Affairs at the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (Ontario’s financial services regulator). 

Martin has also served on the board of directors for several not-for-profit organizations. He was Board Chair of Davenport Perth Neighborhood and Community Health Centre, a multi-service agency located in Toronto’s west end. He was on the Board Public Affairs Committee of the Ontario Arts Council.  He currently serves on boards for the Toronto Botanical Gardens, and the Palmerston Area Residents Association.

Rita Karakas is the Founder of RSK Associates Inc, an international consultancy, with over 30 years of global experience in both the government and non-government sectors. She has a track record as a determined and conscientious senior executive at the United Way/Centraide Canada, YWCA of Canada, TVOntario, and Oxfam Great Britain. She has acted as Senior Advisor, Corporate Affairs and Business Development at the MacDonald-Laurier Institute for Public Policy, and as President & CEO at Canada World Youth / Jeunesse Canada Monde.

Currently, she is acting as Organizational Development Consultant to Equal Measures 2030, a UK-based coalition supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, tracking mega data on gender within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Rita serves as a member of the board of directors of the Montreal Oral School for the Deaf, Arrivals Legacy Project, and Théâtre La Chapelle.

Sarah Garton Stanley is VP of Programming at the Arts Commons in Calgary, and a freelance director and dramaturg for the theatre. SGS holds her PhD in Cultural Studies from Queen’s University. During her tenure in English Theatre at Canada’s National Arts Centre, she was the Artistic Producer for the National Creation Fund, led The Cycle(s), a 7-year project dedicated to transformation in Canadian Theatre, and led The Collaborations, a curatorial adventure impacting national conversations about making great theatre. 

She is co-founder of SpiderWebShow, the first digital theatre company in Canada, and FOLDA, an internationally recognized festival dedicated to live digital art. She also co-founded the Baby Grand Theatre, was the first female Artistic Director at Buddies in Bad Times and was the inaugural Artistic Associate for The Magnetic North Theatre Festival.

A frequent speaker and panelist, this award-winning artist was the recipient of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas’ Elliot Hayes Award, Honorary Member for Canadian Association for Theatre Research, and was named an Arne Bengt Johansson Fellow at The Banff Forum. SGS is on the board of Theatre Alberta and is on the leadership advisory for Buddies in Bad Times Theatre as well as the National Advisory for the National Creation Fund. She is co-authoring Manifesto for Now with Owais Lightwala.

Marlene Smith is a theatre producer whose many credits include Godspell, Napoleon and of course CATS, the first production in the renovated Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre. 

She has served on many cultural boards, including the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, Shaw Festival, Studio180, and Performing Arts Lodge Toronto (PAL).  Marlene is the recipient of several awards including the prestigious Silver Ticket Award for outstanding contribution to Canadian Theatre.

Michael Wallace is a graduate of York University’s Schulich School of Business MBA with its specializations in arts and nonprofit management, and graduated from the University of King’s College and the Theatre Studies Programme at Dalhousie University. Michael worked in theatre as a freelance stage manager for more than ten years, including productions for Mirvish, the National Arts Centre, Stratford Festival, Blyth Festival, Neptune, Mermaid Theatre, Canadian Stage, Soulpepper and Crow’s Theatre. 

Mike is on the Board of the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), and is a past president of the Canadian Museums Association.

Claire Hopkinson served as CEO of Toronto Arts Foundation and Toronto Arts Council (TAC) for 17 years. Throughout her tenure, Claire’s mission was to not only support artists and arts organizations but also to broaden the reach of the arts to all residents through her visionary initiative, “Creative City, Block by Block.

Before her role at TAC, Claire’s career spanned the arts as actor, theatre producer, festival director and executive director of arts organizations, including Comus Music Theatre and Tapestry Opera, and as Development Director for the restoration and relaunch of Toronto’s iconic Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres. 

Claire has served on various boards and was the Founding Chair of the Association for Opera in Canada, Vice Chair of Opera America, Founding President of Creative Trust, and Co-Chair of Toronto’s Expo Canada 2025 Bid. She is currently Vice Chair of Tapestry Opera’s board. 

Her outstanding contributions to the arts have earned her numerous accolades, including the Meritorious Service Medal (M.S.M.), the M. Joan Chalmers Award for Arts Administration, the Tulloch Award for Innovation in the Arts, several Dora Mavor Moore Awards, and recognition as a “Woman of Distinction” by the Urban Land Institute and the Association for Opera in Canada.