Board Members

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Lisa Stam, President - chairs all board of directors meetings, serves as emcee at CNBPA events and is responsible for the general oversight of the activities of the Association. Lisa is a lawyer at Baker & McKenzie LLP, a full-service international business law firm with more than 70 offices in 38 countries around the globe and over 3,600 lawyers world-wide. Lisa’s legal practice focuses on employment and administrative law litigation, and includes domestic and international employment advice, drafting offer letters and employment contracts, workplace policies and handbooks, advising on bonus and commission plans, workplace privacy issues, independent contractors, confidential and proprietary information, discipline and terminations, reductions in force and other cost-cutting measures. Lisa has appeared at various levels of court and tribunals, including before the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal. She has advised on a variety of human rights issues such as accommodating disabilities in the workplace, sexual harassment and discrimination.
lisa.stam@bakermckenzie.com   www.bakermckenzie.com    Profile
twitter@lisastam   Blog: www.canadaemploymenthumanrightslaw.com

Marijke Kanters, Vice President - As the Vice President of the CNBPA, Marijke Kanters supports the President of the CNBPA in all duties & activities. Chairs CNBPA board of directors meetings and is responsible for the general management and supervision of activities of the Association during absence of the President.

Marijke holds a Masters in Law degree from the University of Amsterdam and is the owner of Nevian, a bilingual Recruitment Firm in Toronto. Nevian is an industry leading recruitment agency offering bilingual (English/ French) staffing solutions to a wide range of clients, from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies across Canada. Founded in 2001, Nevian has built a reputation of quality and dedication with the more than 400 companies that have allowed us the opportunity to represent them in their quest for top candidates. Nevian offers a high-quality, reliable recruiting experience with fast, proven results. Our commitment is to serve the best interests of both the client and the candidate – to ensure the right fit – every time.
mkanters@nevian.com    www.nevian.com    www.nevianassociates.com

Jennifer Visser, Board Secretary - Jennifer Visser is a professional coach and partner at Sorbara Visser, a Toronto-based coaching firm that serves organizations and individuals across North America. Jennifer helps leaders, teams and employees increase their impact and effectiveness in the workplace through clarity of goals and focus on strengths and values. Prior to coaching, Jennifer spent 13 years working for McCain Foods Limited. Her last position at McCain was Human Resources Director, Corporate Development and Emerging Markets where she had the opportunity to work with leaders and teams in Canada, Asia, Mexico, Central America, and the Middle East. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Wilfrid Laurier University, received her training as a coach from Adler International Learning/U of T OISE and is a member of the International Coach Federation.
jennifer.visser@sorbaravisser.com    www.sorbaravisser.com
Profile   https://twitter.com/JenniferVisser  416-602-1340

Carla Philp, Treasurer - handles all financial transactions of the Association, including preparing interim financial statements and acts as liaison with our chartered accountant. She has a background in operations and six sigma and is currently in strategy and planning at McCain Foods (Canada).
cnphilp@aol.com

Evert Akkerman - Evert Akkerman is the HR Manager at DUCA Financial Services, a Toronto-based credit union with 35,000 members in the GTA and close to $1 billion in assets. The company offers its clients a full range of financial products and services, its competitive edge being that it pays to bank at DUCA. Evert contributes to the maintaining of this edge by serving 130 internal clients. Since joining the company five years ago, his main areas of responsibility are payroll, performance management, identifying and addressing training needs and managing the corporate benefits and pension plans. Evert developed an in-house certification for customer service representatives and a business writing course. He holds a Master of Law degree from Groningen University and worked for the Dutch CFIB for five years, then immigrated to Canada in 1999. In 2008, he obtained the CHRP designation. In addition, he is a freelance a writer and editor.
eakkerman@duca.com    www.duca.com

Jocelyn Berthau - Jocelyn Bertheau is the owner/manager of Canec International, a boutique M&A advisory firm with offices in Toronto, Montreal and Paris since 1989. Jocelyn’s strength is in representing Dutch, French, German and other European companies in their North American acquisition and divestiture needs. He has facilitated numerous mid-market transactions on behalf of buyers and sellers. He has particular expertise in food & beverage ingredients, nutraceutical & cosmetic ingredients, plastics, packaging, and automotive industry components. Prior to starting Canec, Jocelyn was an international sales and marketing executive in the chemical and petrochemical industry. He is a graduate of EPSCI, a French international business school part of the ESSEC Group. He regularly travels to Europe for business.

Arjen Bogaards, PhD, MBA - Arjen is presently Director of Lumina Life Sciences Inc, a start-up company that will establish itself in niche markets within the converging fields of drugs, diagnostics and medical devices. Lumina brings together the pharmaceutical and medical device industries and facilitates the development of drug-device combination products. Arjen has over 10 years of experience in drug-device combination product development. He has contributed to the design and execution of Phase I, II, and III clinical studies and interacted with CROs and regulatory authorities in the U.S. and Europe. Arjen held academic and industry positions and built up a broad network of Scientists, Clinicians, Medical Device and Pharmaceutical companies. Previously, Arjen was Chief Technology Officer for Steba Biotech N.V. As CTO, he was responsible for the development of prototype medical devices and successfully directed the manufacturing of these devices by sub-contractors. In addition, Arjen formerly held a position as Scientific Associate at the University Health Network in Toronto, is author of over 20 peer-reviewed scientific articles and continues to be involved in the researching applications of light and more recently ultrasound sensitive drugs.  Arjen holds a Ph.D. in Medical Sciences from Erasmus University, the Netherlands and dual MBA from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York and Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada and also a Bachelors degree in Applied Physics from the Rijswijk Institute of Technology in the Netherlands. In his spare time, he is an avid water sports enthusiast and enjoys swimming, scuba diving, rowing and sailing.

Bregje Briet - Director EUCOCIT - represents CNBPA at the EUCOCIT Board. She also assists the Directors of Events in coordinating all aspects of event planning and execution. Bregje is Manager Regulatory Affairs at ApoPharma Inc.

Norman Groot - Norman Groot is a lawyer and investigative consultant with Investigation Counsel Professional Corporation. Investigation Counsel litigation focus is on recovery for individuals and companies who have suffered losses through investment frauds and employment breach of trust scenarios.  Investigation Counsel also defends private, insurance and banking investigators in matters arising out of civil, administrative and criminal proceedings arising from private investigations.  Investigation Counsel is counsel to the Canadian Association of Private Investigators and the Canadian Association of Special Investigation Units  on privacy law and investigative matters.  Investigation Counsel is comprised of lawyers with policing experience, and has extensive networks within both policing and private investigative circles. Norman is a member of the Bar in Ontario, is a Certified Fraud Examiner, and has a Bachelor of Arts from Wilfrid Laurier University (Economics) and a Bachelors of Laws from the University of Western Ontario. Prior to being called to the Bar of Ontario, Norman was a police officer for seven years, as well as being licenced with the Ontario Securities Commission.

Darryl Konynenbelt - Darryl Konynenbelt joined Global Toronto’s News Hour team in 2005 as a news reporter with more than 16 years of broadcast journalism under his belt. A graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism, Darryl’s experience spans across Canada starting with news radio in British Columbia and Lethbridge. He made the transition to television working for Global Lethbridge and ITV Edmonton (now known as Global Edmonton). Darryl moved to Ontario in 1999 and served as anchor and reporter for CKCO-TV. Also working as a freelance documentary producer, Darryl traveled to Sri Lanka and Thailand to cover the devastating tsunami. His investigative work has been recognized by the Radio Television and News Director’s Association (RTNDA) for spot news reporting, human interest stories, and continuous coverage of major breaking news events. He most recently received RTNDA honours for his team work in the high profile anti-terrorism case in Toronto. Darryl continues to challenge newsmakers on issues of public safety and security. He also contributes to Global’s weekly investigative news magazine show 16X9. In 2005, Darryl wrote and directed a long form documentary, ‘A Delightful Inheritance’ – telling the stories of homesteaders who emigrated from Holland to Canada. He is a TV journalist in Toronto working for Global Toronto and National Investigative Affairs show 16:9 the Bigger Picture.

Kevin Putnam, Director of Events - coordinates and assists in all aspects of event planning and execution.

Job Rutgers - Job Rutgers is a principal of OpenCity Projects. He moved from the Netherlands to Canada in 2004 and quickly embraced Toronto life, recognizing the city's creative potential. Job co-founded the consultancy to explore the city’s open nature and collaborate with other design thinkers. In addition, Job is a professor in Interaction Design at the Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD), Canada’s ‘university of imagination’. OCAD is dedicated to art and design education, practice and research and to knowledge and invention across a wide range of disciplines. Job is also a design strategy consultant at Rotman's designworks, an academic and commercial learning lab™ that fosters multi-disciplinary collaboration within the school, the broader University of Toronto network and partners locally and internationally. Job previously worked as Strategic Design Consultant at Philips Electronics in the Innovation Design Group. Job holds a masters degree in design from the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht and bachelor's degree in visual arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Arnhem. He has studied and lived in Great Britain and is fluent in Dutch, German and English.

Jason Van Dam, Membership Director - handles all matters related to membership in the CNBPA; maintains the membership list. Jason has been a member of the CNBPA for many years and is entering into his second year as Membership Director. Jason is Senior Legal Counsel with Rogers Communications Inc. and has previously worked in private practice and as a lawyer in the Yukon. Jason is married to Pippa and they have a one year old daughter Zoey. Interests include travelling, photography and attending F1 races.
jasonjvandam@ymail.com   Profile

Onno van de Griend - Onno van de Griend is Director of Finance/ corporate CFO of Philips Electronics Ltd, the Canadian operating entity of Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV. He joined Philips 10 years ago after graduating from Erasmus University Rotterdam with a MSc in Business Economics. Prior to his move to Canada in July 2009 to take up his current position, Onno held several finance positions with Philips in The Netherlands and the USA. Onno is married, and has a one-year-old daughter.

Max van Riel - Max van Riel has gained experience in the marketing and sales world with a special interest in Retail Marketing. Max started his professional Career at ING in Amsterdam after studying International Business at the University of Maastricht and several foreign assignments in North and South America. After three years of exploring primarily direct marketing and face channels, Max moved to Toronto to work for ING DIRECT. What started as a six month secondment, became a long term assignment both in the fields of mortgage marketing and managing ING DIRECT's café retail operation. Max has converted into a true NHL Hockey fan and plays when he can.
maxvanriel@hotmail.com    www.ingdirect.ca
Profile

Chris van Staveren - Chris Van Staveren has spent his nearly 20-year career with KPMG, most recently as Partner, Transaction Services. Over the past decade, Chris specialized in M&A transactions, including a two years’ secondment to KPMG’s Transaction Services practice in Paris, France. This has provided him with in-depth international transaction experience with multinational clients. He also serves on the board of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) and on the Golf Committee for the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA). He obtained his BA in Economics from Wilfrid Laurier University and is a Chartered Accountant. Chris and his wife Chantal have two children.

Tom Vandeloo - Tom Vandeloo is a Partner in KPMG’s Advisory Services group and leads the Business Effectiveness team in the GTA. Tom has 17 years of experience in enterprise-wide business transformation, cost optimization, and business performance improvement in a variety of industries including: Consumer Packaged Goods, Food & Beverages, High Tech, Home Construction, Industrial Products, Mining & Metals, Pharmaceuticals, Retail, and Telecommunications. Tom and his wife Kelly have three children.

Service Providers

Robert Robinet, Creative Director, provides design expertise for the web site and event materials. Robert is the owner of Robert Robinet Design, providing web and print design services.
design@robinetdesign.com    www.robinetdesign.com

Jeff Van Niekerk, our food sponsor, is currently heading Continental Imports (Wholesale) & Continental Special Events (Food Service) bringing the best of the Netherlands to Dutch-Canadians for over 50 years.
jeff.vanniekerk@rogers.com