Board of Directors

A native of Prince Edward Island, Shannon MacDonald is a senior Partner at EY, leading Health and Social Services in the Canadian marketplace. Shannon is passionate about board governance and the role of ethics in organizations and professions. With over 27 years of professional experience, she has led client relationships for significant organizations in Canada. Shannon has established a reputation as a thought leader and popular speaker on topics ranging from productivity and governance to financial imperatives for provincial government programs and healthcare systems. Shannon’ s community and philanthropic leadership efforts include a variety of board appointments.

Chère Chapman began her career in rural Japan as part of a global teaching and cross-cultural exchange program of the Japanese government. After two years back in Canada for her Master’s of Health Science in Community Health and Epidemiology from University of Toronto, Chèrereturned to Asia as an HIV/AIDS epidemiologist at the Communicable Disease Centre (CDC) in Singapore. Over the next decade, Chère completed an MBA at London Business School and returned to Asia once again to establish a consultancy in Singapore and Vietnam developing multi-stakeholder partnerships with international NGOs and Fortune 100 companies. Chère has negotiated complex projects from Papua New Guinea to India to Bangladesh for organizations such as CARE International, Chevron, Visa, and The Clinton Foundation. Chère’sreturned to Halifax where she is now CEO of Ardea Outcomes, a specialist health research firm. Chère is a past board member for the University of King’s College and Touch Sala Bai, a charity fighting human trafficking in Cambodia. Chere is an associate at Creative Destruction Lab Atlantic, a founder of Sandpiper Ventures, and the chair of ONSIDE, a multi-stakeholder organization established to amplify innovation driven entrepreneurship in Nova Scotia.

Eleanor is Vice-President Finance and Assistant Treasurer for BCE and Bell Canada. She leads the treasury, capital markets and insurance functions for the BCE group, including bank and public markets financing for Bell’s operations. Eleanor is also responsible for strategic and financial management of Bell Canada’s defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans, other employee savings plans and health benefit plans covering 100,000 active or retired members and over $25 billion in plan assets. She has worked in finance for BCE, Bell Aliant and its predecessor companies for 25 years, prior to which she was Controller for a publicly traded real estate investment trust. Eleanor has a Commerce degree from Dalhousie University in Halifax and holds both Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA) and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designations.

Over her career, Andrea has worked in the finance, fashion, media and technology industries in over 25 countries with companies like the World Bank, the European Bank and Cirque du Soleil. She recently returned to Newfoundland to join Verafin as the Director of Customer Onboarding. As an entrepreneur, Andrea launched, operated and successfully sold a luxury retail brand and was awarded several international awards for her innovative marketing campaigns. Folio magazine named Andrea one of the “Top Women in Media” in the US for her work as CEO in guiding State 23 Media through a momentous transition. She is a graduate of London Business School’s Executive MBA program and has a Master’s Degree in International Relations. Andrea is a passionate believer in the role entrepreneurship can have in empowering women.

Pinki is a Deloitte Partner based out of Halifax and leads Deloitte’s Assurance practice in Atlantic Canada as well as National Digital and Automation Leader. She has over 25 years of experience predominantly in the Canadian marketplace helping implement innovative transformation solutions across public and private sector. Over the past decade, Pinki has led various transformation initiatives including ERP implementations, systems optimization, complex accounting adjustments, funding model reviews, shared services optimization, cost efficiency reviews, internal controls effectiveness, value for audit, governance and operational efficiencies/effectiveness reviews, risk management reviews and ERP implementations. Her accounting and finance background is complemented by her broad range technology experience. Pinki also holds a Masters in Public Sector Management and is passionate about taking organizations to the next level with innovative solutions enabled by people, process and technology.

Previously a Halifax resident and D&R Sobey Atlantic Scholar, Taryn Mason is now Chief of Staff to the Managing Partner for Financial Services at Deloitte. Prior to this role, Taryn spent time as a consultant in Deloitte's strategy group, Monitor Deloitte, and as a research fellow with the World Economic Forum (WEF) in New York. During her research assignment with the WEF, Taryn studied the impact of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, quantum computing, internet of things (IoT) and others on the future of the financial services industry. Taryn is also a volunteer with ACCESS Community Capital Fund and a graduate from the Smith School of Business.

Lori Pendleton has worked in the field of economic development for the last 25+ years, both with the Province of Prince Edward Island and with the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. She currently works as the Director of Settlement Services at Mazu Consortium in Charlottetown. She graduated with Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Prince Edward Island and is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), in addition to holding a certification as a Small Business Counsellor. She has worked with small business support organizations, including Regional Economic Development Agencies, and on Advisory Boards for business related programs delivered by Holland College and the University of Prince Edward Island. She has a strong commitment to the arts and to the maintenance and restoration of heritage properties in the Charlottetown area winning several preservation awards for her properties. Lori has served as a resident member of the City of Charlottetown Heritage Board and on the Board of Directors of The Great George Street Gallery in addition to the Board of Directors for variety of other organizations. In addition to her participation in The Atlantic Womens Venture Foundation, she currently holds director positions on The Reach Foundation, WoHeLo, and the Fathers of Confederation Trust and Foundation in Prince Edward Island. Lori began acquiring real estate in university and currently manages a portfolio of commercial and residential real estate properties in Prince Edward Island.