Board
Anne Millerd - President
Michael Price - Past President
Dr. Mary Ellen Ross - Vice President
Peter Everett - Treasurer
Anne McCaw - Secretary
Dr. Kevin Berman - Director
Helga Marshall - Director
Alison Narod - Director
Mike Craig - Director
Staff
Judy Agnew - Accountant
Christine Hung - Information Officer
Dominic Linder - Website / Marketing Officer
Sheree Loft - Information Officer
Lianne Naguiat - Information Officer/Administrative Support
Deborah Pugh - Interim Executive Director + Director of Training
Helen Rutzen - Receptionist and Administrative Support
Stephanie Frey - Information Officer/ Administrative Support
John Wang - Technology Support Officer
Ria Zapf - Event Planner
Board
Anne Millerd - President is the mother of four children; one of her sons has ASD. She has several years experience teaching elementary school on the North Shore. Anne has also worked in the non-profit sector developing and implementing educational programs for children. In addition, she worked in public relations which involved event planning.
Michael Price - Past President lives in Port Moody. He and his wife have three children, including a young son with ASD. He has been the managing director of a cosmetic company for the past 14 years and owner of a real estate company for over a decade. One of Michael's highest principles is the principle of giving. He is committed to helping further advance the mandate of ACT.
Dr. Mary Ellen Ross - Vice President lives in Victoria and is the mother of two sons, both of whom have ASD. After obtaining graduate degrees in Paris and Toronto, she worked from 1989 to 2007 teaching French language and literature at the University of Victoria, but is now enjoying a very early retirement. Her time these days is divided between working with her sons, and autism-related advocacy and volunteerism. She is the founder of Autism Saanich, a parent support group for families of children with ASD in School District 63.
Peter Everett - Treasurer is a Chartered Accountant and Information Systems professional with over 25 years of management consulting and financial audit experience. Peter has lived and worked in New York and Vancouver providing a wide range of consulting services to industry leading organizations throughout North America and Europe. He is now Director, APT International Business Sciences Inc. and lives in West Vancouver with his family.
Anne McCaw - Secretary is Director of Simon Fraser University’s Meeting, Event and Conference Services, including the Wosk Centre for Dialogue. Previously she was with the Vancouver Board of Trade. One of her children has Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Dr. Kevin Berman - Director graduated from Queen's University in medicine in 1988 and trained at St. Paul's Hospital, VGH and UBC. He has worked in geriatric mental health for 12 years at Riverview Hospital as well as in Vancouver and Maple Ridge where he does home and nursing home assessments, concentrating on patients with dementia, schizophrenia and depression. He was a staff physician at the Maples Adolescent Treatment Centre for 10 years and is on the teaching faculty in the Department of Psychiatry at UBC. Dr. Berman has two young daughters, one of whom has ASD.
Helga Marshall MSN, RN - Director is a nursing educator in the undergraduate program at the UBC School of Nursing, with a focus on care of the adult/older adult in a variety of settings. She has been teaching nursing for 35 years with much of the last 23 years being at UBC. She contributes her nursing experience in the health care system to ACT. She currently lives in Vancouver with her family.
Alison Narod - Director is a lawyer and lives in Vancouver. She is a partner in the Vancouver law firm, FARRIS, VAUGHAN, WILLS & MURPHY. Alison practices in the areas of labour, employment, human rights, workers compensation and administrative law. She is a former member of the board of directors of the Autism Society of British Columbia.
Mike Craig - Director lives in Vancouver and is Director of Underwriting – West for Export Development Canada, a federal crown corporation. He has previously served on a number of not-for-profit boards in Ontario. Michael’s adult brother is on the Autism Spectrum.
Staff
Judy Agnew - Accountant is a Certified General Accountant with training and progressive experience in accounting, systems development, process analysis and project management. She is active in the Burnaby school parent groups and soccer community. She has four daughters and one grand-daughter.
Christine Hung - Information Officer has a bachelor's degree in Finance and Real Estate from the University of Missouri. Christine entered the autism world in 2005 when her daughter was diagnosed at the age of 2 1/2. Since then, she has completed the Behavioral Interventionist fundamental course at Douglas College, and has joined ACT as an Information Officer. Christine is fluent in Mandarin and understands Cantonese.
Dominic Linder - Website / Marketing Officer graduated from Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC with a diploma in Digital Art & Design and an Associate of Arts degree. He has two years of marketing and web design experience and brings to ACT an enthusiasm to promote ACT's efforts.
Sheree Loft - Information Officer brings a wealth of experience with students with autism and in family support to her position as an ACT Information Officer. Beginning as a volunteer with Gateway’s Residential Program over a decade ago, Sheree has worked as a special education assistant and has provided behaviour support to students for the Provincial Outreach Program for Autism and Related Disorders as a behaviour technician. Prior to joining ACT, Sheree provided positive behaviour support to clients under the Delta Association for Child Development.
Lianne Naguiat - Information Officer/Administrative Support shares with ACT her experience working with young children with autism and her passion for helping these children and their families. Lianne completed her undergraduate degree at Simon Fraser University, with a joint major in Psychology and Business Administration. She has over 5 years experience working as a behavior interventionist and providing support to children with autism. She has returned to work at ACT, after moving to California and gaining valuable work experience providing behaviour consultation to children with ASD. Lianne is also fluent in Tagalog.
Deborah Pugh - Interim Executive Director + Director and Training spent 14 years working in Europe and the Middle East as a journalist for the BBC and the Guardian before returning to Vancouver. For the past 15 years Deborah has been active in the autism community in British Columbia, first as a board member of the Autism Society of British Columbia, then as its Program Director and finally as its Executive Director. In May 2003, with the support of parents and professionals from around BC, Deborah founded ACT-Autism Community Training. Deborah has a BA from McGill University and M.A. in Political Economy from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University, UK, and a certificate in fundraising management from BCIT. Deborah has a teenage son with autism.
Helen Rutzen - Receptionist and Administrative Support has over 14 years of office experience. She is a parent in a blended family with 4 children. Helen lives in the Tri-City area and has a family member diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Stephanie Frey – Information Officer/ Administrative Support has two children on the Autism Spectrum and has worked as a behavior interventionist for many years, as well as home schooling her own children. Stephanie has a special interest in mental health issues and the process of transitioning to adulthood.
John Wang - Technology Support Officer is a CISCO CCNA Certified Network Administrator with 12 years experience in network design, architecture, and implementation, 10 years experience in database system development, 5 years experience in web application development. He immigrated to Canada from China in 2005 and joined ACT in 2008. He loves literature, music and art. John has a diploma in computer science, he is fluent in Mandarin.
Ria Zapf - Event Planner has worked with a variety of educational groups and community organizations as a Project Manager and Community TV Producer. She has coordinated workshops, information meetings and special events for corporate and volunteer organizations. Prior to joining ACT, Ria worked at Simon Fraser University in the Faculty of Education where she was involved in early and adolescent literacy networks, facilitated year-long study programs for Greenland teachers, and organized First Nations cultural sharing opportunities with inner city schools. As Program Director of West Coast Cablevision, Ria produced programs of a topical nature such as right to life, legalization of prostitution, recycling and transportation. Ria enjoys bringing people together, sharing ideas and involving others whenever possible. She has a BA in Communications & Sociology from SFU and considers herself a life-long learner. Ria has two children, both of whom are studying at university.
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#240–2250 Boundary Road, Burnaby, BC, Canada
