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 for over 20 years. Malcolm’s daughter Rowan, who had an intellectual disability, passed away in 2024 from complications related to her epilepsy. He and his wife Heather set up “The Rowan Fund” to support housing and independent living for people with an intellectual disability. They have three other daughters – Molly, Phoebe and Tiggy.
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 which facilitates major gifts to Canadian charities. Lisa earned her ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors and has completed a 6-year term as a Director of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC). She is currently a Director of Signature Resources Inc. 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
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
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.
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.
Marsha Doucette
Marsha Doucette is a dedicated leader and advocate committed to supporting inclusive communities and expanding opportunities for children and families. She serves as Chairwoman of the Bata Children’s Program and as a Director of the Bata Shoe Foundation, helping guide global philanthropic efforts.
Inspired by her sister, who has an intellectual disability, Marsha is a passionate advocate for inclusion and has been actively involved with Special Olympics for many years. She has also worked and volunteered with organizations including Ronald McDonald House Toronto, motionball for Special Olympics, and WoodGreen Foundation. In addition to her philanthropic work, she is an Executive Producer at a Toronto-based production company.
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.