DR. CAROL CRILL RUSSELL | Senior Research Associate, Invest in Kids
Carol is the senior researcher at Invest in Kids, a national charity focusing on parenting in the early years, which she has helped grow during her ten year tenure. Prior to this she served for a decade as the Senior Research and Policy Advisor for Children’s Services in Ontario. Carol has been an advisor to several leading applied research projects in Canada: the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, Better Beginnings, Better Futures, the Centre of Excellence on Early Child Development and the Evaluation of Ontario’s Healthy Babies, Healthy Children program. She has recently been an expert consultant on the transition to parenthood to federal and state ministries in Australia.
DR. ROB SANTOS | Scientific Director and Senior Policy Advisor, Healthy Child Manitoba
Rob Santos is one of Manitoba's representatives for Canada's Federal/Provincial/Territorial Early Childhood Development Working Group and co-chairs its Committee on ECD Knowledge, Information, and Effective Practices. He serves as an advisor for the Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development; the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network; the Canadian Council on Learning's Knowledge Centre on Early Childhood Learning; the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research; Statistics Canada's NLSCY and Aboriginal Children's surveys; and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
JOANNE SCHROEDER | Community Development Manager, Human Early Learning Partnership and National Lead Fellow, Council for Early Child Development
After working for many years in the child welfare system, Joanne Schroeder now focuses on community development and strategic planning. Her work takes her across Canada building local leadership and playing a leading role in translating early child development research to communities. She served as Provincial Advisor to Children First, a community capacity building initiative in 45 communities in British Columbia.
HON. MARY SCHRYER | Minister of Social Development, Minister Responsible for Housing Minister responsible for the Status of WomenBefore her election to the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick in 2006, Minister Schryer served for seven years on Quispamsis Town Council, and three years on the board of the Atlantic Health Sciences Corporation. She has held leadership positions in a number of important organizations, including: the Saint John Trade and Convention Centre; the Economic Development Commission; the Kennebecasis Valley Chamber of Commerce; the Committee of Land for Public Purposes; the Kidney Foundation and the Rothesay Regional Police Commission. She also has over a dozen years of experience as a self-employed financial advisor, specializing in financial planning, employee health and workplace financial seminars.
ALFREDO R. TINAJERO | International Early Childhood Consultant
For the past 15 years Alfredo Tinajero has worked as a consultant for UNICEF, the Inter-American Development Bank and different NGO’s in the design and direction of several ECD programs directed to the poorest, most disadvantaged children in Ecuador. During his professional career, he has coordinated different research initiatives and published several books. He is presently working in collaboration with Dr. Fraser Mustard studying the literature on effective health and education early child development services implemented in Cuba, Canada, Latin America and the Scandinavian countries.
FIDELIA TORRES | Early Years Manager, Toronto District School Board
Fidelia Torres is responsible for child care services in TDSB schools. She brings to the position her extensive background in early childhood program management as a coordinator of the early leader Toronto First Duty site; coordinator of the Toronto Best Start Network and special projects coordinator with the Centre for Excellence on Research on Immigration and Settlement (CERIS). Fidelia has a background in early childhood education and graduate studies in social work with a focus on children and family services. She is a former co-chair of the Laidlaw Foundation, Inclusive Communities for Children, Youth and Families and is an Ontario Community Fellow with the Council for Early Child Development.
SHERRY THOMPSON | former Executive Director, Early Childhood Services, Department of Education and Children's Services, South Australia
Sherry Thompson helped develop integrated Early Childhood Development and Parenting Centres to promote the well-being and development of children from birth to age 8 across South Australia. Prior to her assignment in Australia, Sherry worked in Alberta and nationally in a variety of senior roles in children's services, health, mental health and intergovernmental relations. Her research concentrates on improving outcomes for children, measuring the outcomes of community based interventions, cost-effectiveness analysis and promoting sustainable policy and institutional change. She now operates Sherry Thompson Consulting.
DR. DAN TREFLER | J. Douglas and Ruth Grant Canada Research Chair in Competitiveness and Prosperity, Rotman School, University of Toronto
Dan Trefler is a Research Fellow at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, a Research Associate at the Institute for Policy Analysis (University of Toronto); a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a member of the Academic Advisory Board for Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. He serves on the Ontario Task Force on Competitiveness, Productivity and Economic Progress and is co-editor of the Journal of International Economics. His research centres on the interface of international trade with institutions, technological change, skill acquisition, income distribution and domestic politics.
THE HONOURABLE MARILYN TRENHOLME COUNSELL, MD
Senator Trenholme Counsell has been a trailblazer throughout her life, particularly for women in medicine. She has established many firsts as a woman doctor including her election to the Legislature of New Brunswick, her appointment to cabinet, as Lieutenant Governor for the province and as a member of the Senate of Canada. Her work in the Senate focused on early childhood development, health and literacy. She is a recipient the Dr. William F. Roberts Political Action Award.
DR. ROBIN C. WILLIAMS | Medical Officer of Health, Niagara Region
A pediatrician and a public health physician, Robin Williams leads a staff of over 600 public health professionals and support staff for a region with 420,000 residents across twelve municipalities. As a member of the Expert Panel on SARS and Infectious Disease Control she has been intimately involved in identifying the “lessons learned” and recommending changes to enhance emergency preparedness throughout the healthcare infrastructure of Ontario. Robin has a long time interest in children and is a Clinical Professor, Department of Pediatrics, McMaster University and is a Chair of the Board and founding member of the Council for Early Child Development.
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