Meet our Leadership

Ensuring that LIGHTS is both effective and efficient takes the passion, expertise, and dedication of each member of our Advisory Board and Advisory Emeritus Group.

May we introduce you to:

LIGHTS Leadership: Advisory board

Malcolm Nobbs, Chair

Malcolm is the President at Agway Metals. He holds an MBA from the University of Glasgow in Scotland and has worked within the building materials industry over the last 20 years. Malcolm and his wife Heather have four girls. Their second eldest daughter, Rowan was diagnosed with a global development delay at an early age and developed epilepsy at age 9.

Mary Pat Armstrong, Founder

Mary Pat is a founding director of Toronto’s Ronald McDonald House and of Camp Oochigeas, a camp for kids with cancer. She is also a member of the Patron’s Council of Community Living Toronto. She helped her daughter, Jenny, set up her own home, and is now creating opportunities for other families to do the same. 

Andrew Boddington

Andrew is the CEO of Policy Concepts, a boutique consulting firm that specializes in government relations and public affairs. He has specialized in health care policy for almost 15 years and advises executives in organizations of all sizes, from large publicly traded corporations to smaller industry associations. Andrew has been extensively involved in Canadian politics and has managed campaigns at all three levels of government.

Lisa Davis

Lisa is the CEO of PearTree Securities Inc., a boutique firm focused on structured financing for Canadian resource companies. Peartree Securities is part of the PearTree Canada group, a provider of flow through donation financing services. She is currently on the Board of Directors of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC). Lisa is very grateful to have had the assistance of LIGHTS in helping to establish her sister in her first apartment in Toronto.

Iain Dobson

Iain is a co-founder of Strategic Regional Research Alliance (SRRA), a not-for-profit non-partisan organization, which provides strategic, public policy research on the growth of the Region. His recent work focuses on building a more affordable and environmentally respectful community. He currently serves on the Board of Metrolinx and is a frequent commentator on the future welfare of the Greater Toronto Region.

Dawn Mader

Dawn has over 17 years in Brand and Promotional Marketing. She has worked with companies such as PepsiCo, and Bell Canada in both a strategic and executional capacity. Dawn has two children, the athletic Jake, and vibrant Emma, who has an intellectual disability.

Valérie Picher

Valérie Picher is a bilingual executive with over 25 years of leadership experience across sectors. As Associate Vice-President of Community Relations at TD Bank, she distributed over $85 million annually to 2,500 charities. At St. Joseph’s Health Centre Foundation, she raised $3 million yearly for healthcare services. She also supported Tim Hortons franchisees during COVID-19 at Restaurant Brands International. More recently, Valérie led corporate communications at Greenfield Global. She has served on the board of Community Living Toronto since 2014, completing her term as Chair in 2024, and helped launch the LIGHTS housing program for people with intellectual disabilities.

Brad Saunders headshot in black and white

Brad Saunders

Brad is the Chief Executive Officer of Community Living Toronto. He is an experienced leader who brings a history of service excellence, a commitment to fostering a strong and positive work believing in supporting people with intellectual disabilities to live meaningful lives. Prior to joining Community Living Toronto, Brad was Executive Director of the Bob Rumball Associations for the Deaf and was a Program Supervisor with the (then) Ontario Ministry of Children & Youth Services and Community & Social Services.

Andy Spears headshot. Wearing a suit and tie.

Andy Spears

Andy is a Financial Services senior advisor at SATOV Consultants.  He brings over 20 years of financial services experience as a consultant, operating executive and entrepreneur.  Andy graduated from Yale University with a Master’s in Public and Private Management. He has a long history of service as a volunteer board member and activist with several charities and not-for-profits in Canada.  Andy has a special needs son whom the whole family supports as he works to fulfill his potential.

Jill Spidle

Jill is a Special Education Resource Teacher currently working for the Halton District School Board. Jill has a Bachelor of Education and is passionate about ensuring all children are provided the necessary services and support to be their best. As a mother of a child with intellectual disabilities, Jill understands first-hand the challenges parents face as they pursue programs to help instill confidence and independence in children.

David Stewart

David is a former principal of Stewart & Kett Financial Advisors Inc., providing objective personal finance and tax advice to individuals and families for over 25 years.  He has two children with special needs.

Mike Tasevski

Mike Tasevski is a dynamic executive leader with over 25 years of experience at Global Fortune 500 companies. He has implemented strategic frameworks focused on diversity, inclusion, and driving organizational growth. Starting as an Executive Chef at Movenpick, Mike transitioned into loyalty solutions with brands like BMO and BP before holding senior roles at Mastercard and Scotiabank. Mike and his wife Cathy have two children: their son Michael and their daughter Logan, who has special needs. Logan has had the greatest impact on the family, teaching them the importance of resilience, care, and facing challenges with a positive outlook. Logan is also a participant in LIGHTS.

LIGHTS Leadership: Advisory Emeritus Group

Members of the Advisor Emeritus Group are past Advisory Board members who remain committed advocates and volunteers.

Patsy Anderson

Patsy Anderson is a past chair of Roy Thomson Hall and Massey Hall and of SickKids Foundation, and she has served on a number of other boards. She was on the founding board of LIGHTs and her family is close to the complex sector which supports the intellectually disabled.

Doug Biggar

Doug is a retired Clinician Scientist who worked at Bloorview Research Institute, an international leader in pediatric rehabilitation research.  His research interest was the Impact of long-term corticosteroid treatment for boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Doug is also a founding director of Camp Oochigeas, a camp for kids with cancer.

Ian Brown

Ian is a roving feature writer for the Globe and Mail. He is also familiar to listeners of CBC Radio, where he was the moderator of Talking Books and hosted Sunday Morning and Later the Same Day. A graduate of the University of Toronto, he presents both The View From Here and Human Edge on TVOntario. He is the author of four books, including The Boy in the Moon, about his disabled son, Walker, which won the 2010 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction and Ontario’s Trillium Prize.

Dawn Lunan

Dawn is a member of the Community Living Toronto Central Region Council and past Director on the Board. After fifteen years in the financial industry Dawn moved to the health care field where she has been for the past ten years. She has worked on numerous patient and family-centered care projects, including as a Family Facilitator at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehab Hospital and a Project Coordinator for an online resource tool for people with disabilities. Currently, Dawn is a Patient Navigator in the Centre for Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Mount Sinai Hospital. Dawn has two daughters. Her eldest, who has an intellectual disability, is an inspiration to Dawn in both her professional and volunteer work.

Bruce Rivers

Bruce is a highly regarded child welfare expert and advocate. He is the former Chief Executive Officer of Community Living Toronto, the Children’s Aid Society, Covenant House in Toronto and the Government of Ontario’s Child Welfare Secretariat. Bruce is the former President of the Child Welfare League of Canada and Past President of the International Forum for Child Welfare. Bruce is also an Adjunct Professor with University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work.

Tom MacMillan

Tom is the former Chairman of CIBC Mellon and Canadian Regional Director for the BNY Mellon Corp., and has over 35 years experience in the financial services industry both in Canada and the United States. He also sits on several boards.