Board of Directors
Board Members – 2022-2023 Term:
Greg Anderson has worked in Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk Counties for over 20 years. He has an M. Ed from the University of Toronto and a B.A. (Hons) and B.Ed. from Queen’s University. Currently Past Chair of the Grand Erie District School Board, Mr. Anderson has been an elected school trustee for the City of Brantford since 2014. He has served on several community Boards of Directors including: Board of Health for Brant County Health Unit, Brant Community Health System, Lansdowne Children’s Centre, Boys and Girls Club of Brantford, Brantford Rotary Club, and Hamilton / Burlington /Brantford Laurier YMCA Community Liaison Board. He also served as President / Chair for many of those Boards. Mr. Anderson joined the Brant Family and Children’s Services (Brant FACS) Advisory Board in March 2021 and continued serving as a Board member when the Board was re-constituted in July 2021. He served on the Joint Board Amalgamation Steering Committee and is an inaugural member of the Board of Child and Family Services of Grand Erie.
Katharine Brown was appointed by the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation (MCFN) to serve on the Brant Family and Children’s Services (Brant FACS) Board of Directors in July 2021. She served on the Joint Board Amalgamation Steering Committee and continues now on the inaugural Board of Directors of Child and Family Services of Grand Erie. Mrs. Brown graduated with honours as an Early Childhood Educator from Humber College in 2003, registered with the College of ECE’s in 2009 and is currently completing the Honours Bachelor of Early Childhood Leadership Degree through Fanshawe College (Class of 2023). Mrs. Brown works as the Early Years Administrator at MCFN overseeing Ekwaamjigenang Children’s Centre, Maawdoo Maajaamin Child Care and the Indigenous Led EarlyON Child and Family Programs. Her entire career has been dedicated to working in the field of early learning with children aged 0-6 in her First Nation community. At the start of her career, Mrs. Brown worked as a classroom RECE at Ekwaamjigenang Children’s Centre and spent 8 years in childcare. In 2011, she left to pilot the Full Day Early Learning Kindergarten program (FDELK) as the classroom RECE at Lloyd S. King Elementary School, spending 7 school years team teaching in the play based kindergarten program. As an Anishinaabe kwe, Band Member of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and multi-generational lifelong resident of Hagersville, Mrs. Brown’s roots and commitment to this community run deep. She resides on the King family homestead on MCFN with her husband and their four children. With a lengthy family history in education and dedication to serving the community Mrs. Brown embraces the role she has been appointed to by her Chief and Council.
Jo-Anne Flood is an experienced leader with knowledge of the social services sector and expertise in the areas of strategic management, financial management, risk management, and human resources. Ms. Flood has held senior management and leadership roles for various community services organizations in the Brant community, including Brantwood Community Services, St. Leonard’s Community Services, and Rotary Club of Brantford. Ms. Flood holds a BA, Social Development Studies from the University of Waterloo, a Social Services Diploma from Mohawk College and has completed the Public Sector Leadership Institute program at Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. Ms. Flood served as Chair of the Brant Family and Children’s Services (Brant FACS) Board of Directors when it was re-constituted in July 2021. She also served as co-Chair of the Joint Board Amalgamation Steering Committee and is a member of the inaugural Board of Directors of Child and Family Services of Grand Erie.
Lori Henderson holds a B.A. and B.Ed. from Queen’s University and an M.Ed. from Brock University. She has worked in partnership with children and families for 32 years as an educator and Principal in the Brant area. Through that experience, Mrs. Henderson recognizes the truth to the adage that “it takes a community to raise a child” and has supported a variety of child and youth organizations including serving as President of Brant Food for Thought and Vice President of T.I.C.K. Inc. which provides healthy lifestyle and drug resistance education to all grade six students in Brantford. She has recently joined the Board of Child and Family Services of Grand Erie to continue to use her expertise in innovation and facilitating change, problem solving, building relationships, strategic planning and task management to help maintain and strengthen the positive safeguards and supports for children, young people and families provided by the agency.
Councillor Andrea King, a member and resident of Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation (MCFN) was appointed to the Brant FACS Board of Directors by MCFN Chief & Council following her acclamation to MCFN Council in December 2021. Councillor King holds the Pillar 2 – Nation Wellbeing & Wellness portfolio and brings with her over 20 years of experience implementing holistic interventions for diverse populations in the field of Therapeutic Recreation. In addition, she has 7 years of First Nation Administration experience, 6 years of entrepreneurship in online business and over 12 years of volunteer board experience, 10 of those being the sitting Chair of the MCFN Community Trust. As her career and life evolved, her focus on Indigenous healing practices ignited her personal passion for holistic wellbeing and healing from an Indigenous lens. In her pursuit to reconnect to her Anishinaabe roots and continue her work within mainstream therapeutic programming, she has developed a more comprehensive understanding of culturally appropriate sustainable wellbeing and wellness practices. Councillor King carries with her a wealth of historical and traditional knowledge along with a resonating passion for empowering impactful change to break through intergenerational traumas and attain holistic wellness. She has been acknowledged by her elders as a Knowledge Keeper and comes from a long line of dedicated educators and advocates rich in historical and cultural knowledge.
Craig Mannell joined the Children’s Aid Society of Haldimand and Norfolk (CASHN) Board of Directors in April of 2016, serving as President for a number of years. He is a local business owner, with his wife and daughter, boarding horses on his farm outside of Caledonia. He also works as a manufacturing consultant. Mr. Mannell is an active community volunteer, having held several roles at his daughter’s school. He has servant leadership skills, is highly focused and result oriented. Mr. Mannell served on the Joint Board Amalgamation Steering Committee as a co-Chair and is a member of the inaugural Board of Directors of Child and Family Services of Grand Erie.
Vacant
Bruce Mitchell joined the Children’s Aid Society of Haldimand and Norfolk (CASHN) Board of Directors in March 2017, serving as Vice-President up until amalgamation. Mr. Mitchell worked as a Planner and Logistics Manager and has travelled to over 18 countries. He and his family fostered children for 12 years and volunteered in the Peel area for over 24 years. Mr. Mitchell, along with his wife, currently resides in Port Dover and is very active in his retirement. He works as a school bus driver, volunteers as a track and field coach in Brantford, and serves as a mentor to Children in Care in addition to his Board member role. Mr. Mitchell served on the Joint Board Amalgamation Steering Committee and is a member of the inaugural Board of Directors of Child and Family Services of Grand Erie.
Rhonda Morley is a Chartered Professional Accountant and a Certified Management Accountant with a B. Admin from Athabasca University, with a certificate / specialized training in Board Governance. An experienced Financial Executive, Ms. Morley worked as a Chief Financial Officer and Privacy Officer for almost 19 years prior to her retirement. In the past, she has served as a Board member of Canadian Dairy Breeds, the Brant Community Healthcare System, Brant FACS Foundation and has volunteered with Habitat for Humanity. Her expertise in financial risk management and previous work on an amalgamation and organizational dissolution is of great benefit. Ms. Morley joined the Brant Family and Children’s Services (Brant FACS) Advisory Board in March 2021 and continued serving as a Board member when the Board was re-constituted in July 2021. She served on the Joint Board Amalgamation Steering Committee and is an inaugural member of the Board of Directors of Child and Family Services of Grand Erie.
Vacant
Kathryn Vance joined the Children’s Aid Society of Haldimand and Norfolk (CASHN) Board of Directors in 2020. She works full-time as a Minister at Grace United Church in Port Dover and Woodhouse United Church. She is a member of the Lions Club and Rotary. Ms. Vance has experience working on other committees and boards, and a desire to protect and support the vulnerable. She has a passion for right relationships with other races, faith traditions and social justice issues. She served on the Joint Board Amalgamation Steering Committee and is an inaugural member of the Board of Child and Family Services of Grand Erie.
Board of Director Eligibility and Responsibility
Board members are community members, aged 18 and over, who live or work in the City of Brantford, the counties of Brant including the lands set aside as reserve lands for Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, Haldimand or Norfolk, who are interested in the welfare of our children, and support the Child and Family Services of Grand Erie Mission, Vision and Values. The Board, in conjunction with the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, determines policy. The Board selects its Local Director, initiates and/or approves programs and services, is responsible for the use of funds, both statutory and private, and exercises the power and authority vested in it by the Child Youth and Family Services Act (2017) and in accordance with the Ontario Not for Profit Corporations Act (2021).
Vacant Position
Child and Family Services of Grand Erie is committed to having a Board composition that reflects the cultural diversity of our community and the diverse population we serve with respect to age, gender, and people with lived experience, including individuals who identify as African Canadian, Indigenous, People of Colour, and LGTBQ2S+. We encourage and actively seek individuals with lived experience to consider serving in a governance capacity as a volunteer on our Board. If you are interested in serving on the Board of Directors, please contact our Executive Director or Executive Assistant to discuss this opportunity further. Please click here to see the skills and experience we are currently seeking.
Quote from a 1970 OACAS Board Member Handbook – which we believe is still relevant today.
“Why Have a Board of Directors:
Social service in Ontario began with private organizations, such as churches and neighborhood agencies, the latter with their own board of directors. The protection of children was one of the first social services offered by a private agency – in 1891 by the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto. Now that this work is mandated under law and almost totally funded by governments, what is the rationale for continuing the tradition of the private board? Dr. Raymond Price, a Canadian research psychiatrist, recently gave this answer:
“If social work is to recapture its historical role as the conscience of the community, it must maintain an independent perspective and unrestrained voice. Civil servants are traditionally and perhaps understandably enjoined to keep public silence about issues relevant to government, while government agencies tend to suffer a kind of selective inattention with regard to facts and situations unpopular to the Establishment. Social workers who operate independently of government…can help to ensure that such selective inattention does not prevail. In my view, the concerned and active local agency can and should force confrontations with such government inattention.”
The freedom to press governments for needed social remedies is safeguarded by the privately incorporated Society with its own Board of Directors.”