Our Board of Governors
Angela Grace Macri – Chairperson
Angela Grace Macri lives a service-oriented life. Subsequent to teaching French to adolescents and adults in a rural Ontario community, Angela familiarized herself with the family business, property investment and management, of which she is now President.
She is the 2010 recipient of The Order of Mary Ward and the Toronto Catholic District School Board Alumni Award. Encouraging philanthropy, Angela, along with enthusiastic employees of Haulover Investments Ltd., adopts families and individuals in need and is significantly involved with Providence Centre, a leading Toronto rehabilitation facility, as well as other charitable endeavours. She was a founding director and President for 7 years, of Northern Centre for Enrichment, a non-profit organization dedicated to community outreach. For several years, Angela owned and co-edited the cultural and entertainment Hollywood Canada Magazine; owned and managed The Bayview Playhouse, a live Toronto theatre, and produced film productions and live theatre in Toronto and off-Broadway.
Her interests include piano, languages, cottage life, travel, the elderly and fitness. Angela lives with her partner Roger, and daughter, Grace (10), and is mother to Mary Anne (22) and Herb Guy (27).
Mohammad Edmad Ullah Mian
Emdad is a career Civil Servant and has been working for the Government of Bangladesh for 19 years. In his career, he’s served in various capacities such as CEO of one Sub-District (Upazila Nirbahi Officer), Assistant Commissioner in four districts, District Relief and Rehabilitation officer, the senior assistant secretary at the Ministry of Water resources and an officer of the Bureau of Anti-Corruption.
Emdad also was the assistant director of the Adarsha Gram Project-II (Ideal Village Project). This project dealt with the rehabilitation of the landless poor of the country, it also assured pollution free and environmentally friendly habitats as well as skills training towards sustainable development. He also worked as a trainer of civil servants while he was posted as Deputy Director at the Bangladesh Civil Service Administration Academy (BCSAA) in Dhaka.
He spent a good amount of his educational life abroad: after receiving his Master’s of business studies as well as his Bachelor of Law degrees in Bangladesh, Emdad went abroad to receive his Master’s in Public Policy and Management from Monash University in Australia and his Master’s in Government Financial Management from the University of Ulster in the UK.
Currently, Emdad works as the First Secretary (Commerce) at the High Commission for the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in Ottawa, wherein he works to strengthen the bilateral economic relations between Bangladesh and Canada by promoting ideal trade and investment relations for the two friendly countries.
Emdad also has a keen interest in the overall development of the education system in Bangladesh, having volunteered with several educational institutions there.
John Borst
John Borst’s career in education with both Public and Catholic School Boards started in elementary and high school environments. He retired from his position as Director of Education for the Dryden Board of Education in 1996.
Since retirement, John has continued to be very active in education, serving as a School Trustee on School Board and as a Supervisory Officer with a remote School Authority. He has also been a freelance writer of articles and book reviews on education, in particular for Education Today, the magazine of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, and founded Tomorrow’s Trust: A Review of Catholic Education, a blog. He also remains active in the community and leads the Communities in Bloom Dryden, is a member of the Rotary Club of Dryden and Chair of the Rotary Foundation for the club.
John was married to Suzanne for 45 years, until her passing in 2011; Suzanne was Literacy Chair for the Dryden Rotary Club and a good friend to Amarok Society. They have three adult children, all living in the Toronto area, and two grandchildren. One day, quite by chance, in the fall of 2010 John and Suzanne walked into the McNally Robinson bookstore in Winnipeg, Manitoba and met Gem and Tanyss Munro and their children.
Bernard Laliberte CD, BEng (RMC), MPA (Auburn), Colonel (retired)
Bernard Laliberté graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ont, with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering. He served in the Canadian Forces as Aircrew Navigator and retired in 1993.
In the military, he accumulated over 5,000 flying hours as crew and taught engineering, commanded the Lac St Denis Radar Station and 426 Transport Training Squadron, and served as Executive Assistant to the Commander of the Air Force.
He is a graduate of the Canadian Forces Staff College in Toronto and the United States Air Force Air War College in Montgomery, Alabama. In 2010, he received an Honorary Doctorate in Military Science from the Royal Military College of Canada.
In 1993, he joined the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and worked in many countries of Asia and Africa. He served as Head of Mission in Bangladesh, Tanzania and Rwanda.
He is qualified and has worked as Team Leader of the IFRC Field Assessment and Coordination team and Coordinator of the Emergency Shelter Cluster under the United Nations.
He instructed on Civilian Military Cooperation and Coordination courses for the Pearson Peacekeeping Center in Canada, Europe, and Africa.
He is presently serving as President of the Rotary Club of Napanee.
He is married to Colette Corbeil; they have a daughter Denise working with the International Committee of the Red Cross in Guinea, West Africa, and a son, Marc, who is free-lancing as Director of Photography in the film making industry.
Advisory Board
Judy Bartel
Judy recently retired after a 25 year career as a Student Advisor and Director of Student Services at Assiniboine Community College in Brandon, Manitoba. “Retirement” has not meant that life is less busy – only that there is a modicum of flexibility and liberty in how that life is spent. Education, in its many forms, is still a primary interest, along with an interest in international development and cross-cultural communication. In addition to some consulting work, she volunteers with several community organizations including Director and committee member and volunteer for the Marquis Project, a local Manitoban NGO whose mandate is “connecting Manitobans with the developing world”. A trip to visit a Marquis’ partner project in Tanzania served to cement Judy’s view that the absence of quality education (particularly for women) is the most critical single factor that limits social and economic development in the world’s poorest countries – hence her interest in the work of Amarok Society.
Gordon Kirkby BSc, LLB
Gordon practices law in Prince Albert, SK, as a defense attorney in criminal cases. He was a Member of Parliament for the Prince Albert- Churchill River electoral district from 1993 to 1997 and before that was a mayor for his home town of Prince Albert from 1988 to 1993.
His political career was particularly distinguished by his engagement of, and advocacy on behalf of, disadvantaged and disenfranchised groups.
He is the father of one son, Levi.
James Muckle
James Muckle is a specialist in learning – with the brain in mind. He uses our growing knowledge of how we learn, think, remember, and make decisions to help individuals and teams to expand and leverage their capacity – to be more productive and effective, and to live healthier for longer.
He is a Certified Professional Facilitator and a Lifetime Member of the International Association of Facilitators. He is professionally certified in Applied Educational Neurosicence. has more than 40 years of learning and leadership experience around the world. James is author and editor of several practicalworshop handbooks on effective learning and has recently co-authored a DVD with Howard Berg, the world’s fastest reader and learner. He and his wife Nancy enjoy exercise classes, downhill skiing, cycling and traveling to visit with daughter Kate and son Tony in their sometimes exotic living and working locales.
Douglas G. Crowe BSc, MBA, Toronto
Douglas Crowe is all about helping people. He has worked for 20 years in business as Plant and General Manager of small to medium sized manufacturing operations in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Canada. His 8 years of consulting experience working with NGOs concentrated on micro business development programmes in the Dominican Republic, Columbia, Romania and the Czech Republic both on a volunteer basis, for the US Agency for International Development and otheroganisations. For the past 10 years, his work has focused on effecting change for poor people through Save the Children in Bolivia.
Currently, Douglas is working with the not-for-profit sector in Toronto in the areas of management, organization, strategic planning and marketing.
