Board of Directors

Murray Geddes is a management consultant focused on enhancing the effectiveness of Board of Directors, CEOs and Senior Management Teams through board services, executive search, assessments and related services. He has conducted scores of assignments across a broad spectrum of industries in both the for-profit and the not-for-profit sectors in Canada. He holds a MBA from the Schulich School of Business, an ICD.D from the Institute of Corporate Directors and has served on local, national and international boards.

As Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, John is responsible for providing enterprise-wide technology vision and leadership, and for the planning, development and implementation of operating efficiency and information technology initiatives.

Prior to joining Teknion Corporation, John was a Principal in the e-Integration Practice of KPMG Consulting Inc., where, as a member of the senior management team of the practice, he was responsible for delivering the highest standards of information technology consulting service to executive level clients. In addition, John was General Manager of the Toronto office of the internet professional services firm US Interactive where he was responsible for establishing and growing the Toronto office. Prior to US Interactive, John was the Information Technology Officer at Nissan Canada Inc., where he was responsible for planning, implementing and managing information systems and technology solutions for sales, distribution, marketing, finance, and customer service divisions.

In 2010 he joined the Board of the Ability Online Network, a non-profit organization that provides an engaging on-line community for kids with disabilities.  He is also a member of the IDC CIO Research Review Board, RBC Venture Partners CIO Advisory Council, Masergy Customer Advisory Board, and the Institute of Corporate Directors.

John holds a Master of Business Administration, granted by the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario.

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Scott currently serves as the Director, Internal Audit for Purolator Courier Ltd. Scott has over 20 years of internal and external audit experience working in a number of industries including post-secondary, utilities, telecommunications and consumer packaged goods.  Scott obtained his Bachelor of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University followed by his Chartered Accountant designation while working with Deloitte & Touche.

Scott joined the Board of Ability Online in 2006 and currently serves as the Chair of the Audit Committee.

David Ballantine joined Allstream (formerly AT&T Canada) in June 2001, as Vice President Wholesale. In 2003 he was promoted, taking on additional responsibilities including the P&L responsibilities for Allstream’s Global Carrier Solutions  business.

Prior to joining Allstream, Mr. Ballantine was Managing Director, Canada, for Concert Communications; a joint venture between AT&T Corp. and British Telecom. In this position Mr. Ballantine was engaged in International Carrier Negotiations throughout the Americas. Prior to that Mr. Ballantine and his family spent 2 yrs in London, UK where Dave was working for Stentor Communications. Here his responsibilities included negotiating International Bilateral contracts on behalf of the Canadian telephone companies. Mr. Ballantine also held numerous progressive job functions in marketing, sales and systems with Bell Canada during a 16-year period. Mr. Ballantine is a graduate of Concordia University and a long time volunteer coach in several sports disciplines. In addition to the 3 years that Dave has served on the ABOL board Dave has  gained valuable experience serving on boards in several other  disciplines including private equity golf courses and Condo associations . Dave is an avid golfer and enjoys working on his game in Arizona.

“With an extensive background in telecom I fully understand and appreciate the value of secure readily available communications. It is very humbling to realize that  by simply opening doors and windows to this information in a secure and monitored environment through ABOL we are providing access to a world that was previously unavailable to many of our audience. In this environment of  “open world” technologies  we are not only enabling but encouraging our  participants to reach out and expand their horizons.”

Nadir is a Partner within Accenture’s Financial Services practice.  Nadir specializes in customer centric transformation, corporate and business unit strategy, business model optimization / redefinition, organization design, and change management and adoption.  Nadir has helped transform fortune 1000 companies and government agencies by leading and implementing the strategic analysis, technology implementation, and change efforts required. Nadir’s industries of focus include financial services, healthcare, pharmaceutical/life sciences, consumer products, and government/public sector.  Nadir has a proven track record of leading and delivering this work on time and with measurable ROI.  Nadir is also Accenture Canada’s Corporate Citizenship lead.  Prior to Accenture, Nadir was the Strategy and Transformation practice leader for Capgemini Canada.

In November 2010, Vince Morelli joined Invacare Canada LP as their General Manager. Invacare is a respected world-wide manufacturer and distributor of mobility, home healthcare and respiratory products.

Vince has enjoyed a 25 year career in healthcare in diverse roles including marketing, sales management and business development.  Prior to joining Invacare, Vince spent more than 10 years with Cardinal Health Canada, the country’s largest distributor of medical-surgical products.

Vince holds both a Bachelor of Applied Science and a Masters in Business Administration degree from the University of Toronto.

As the parent of a child with a disability, Barbara has been involved in disability and community groups (such as the Easter Seal Parent Delegate Program, Exceptional Family magazine's Advisory Committee and City of Toronto Parks Forestry & Recreation's Community Disability Steering Committee) to promote the inclusion of children with disabilities in society, with a focus on recreation, for over 30 years.  As a result, she has initiated, developed and supported community projects and programs to increase the participation of children and youth with disabilities in activities such as camping, adapted skiing, therapeutic horseback riding, adapted cycling and municipal recreation programs.

Working in paediatric therapeutic recreation at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehab as a Recreation Awareness Coordinator and Family Support Specialist for 23 years, Barbara has had the privilege of providing family counselling, leisure education and designing and facilitating adapted recreation workshops for families, service providers, students and volunteers. In addition, she has written grant proposals to secure funding for special projects such as health promotion materials, award-winning videos and the Active Living Resource Centre for children with disabilities. In the fall of 2009, Barbara was honoured at the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine Annual Conference in Arizona and awarded First Prize for a health promotion video entitled: “Don't Get Cold Feet – Winter Fun is for Everyone!”. The film won an additional Honourable Mention award at the “Picture This” International Film Festival in Calgary, 2008. 

Christine joined the board in 2010 after being introduced to Ability Online in 2000 as a result of supporting the Axion Insurance Charity Golf Tournament.  The introduction came by way of the Insurance Industry where she has worked in the technology sector leading sales and customer service. Christine’s career began in at IBM, moving to software application solutions at HUON Corporation and later Innovation Group, recently returning to IBM.  She is developing business in insurance that enable transformation using business solutions underpinned by technology and services offerings from IBM.

Supporting Ability Online combines technology in a safe social network service youth with disabilities can benefit from and an opportunity to meet and work with talented professionals at Ability Online from a variety of backgrounds and industries.  Christine is committed to the re-vitalization of Ability Online so that a growing base of kids with disability and chronic illness can develop the critical skills they need to get the most out of life.