Atlantic Workshop Speaker Biographies

CCAE Atlantic Workshop
January 29, 2009
Dalhousie University, Halifax

Speaker Biographies

Roger Trull, Vice-President of Advancement, McMaster University
As McMaster University’s vice-president of University Advancement since 1994, Roger Trull has built one of Canada’s leading advancement operations, increasing the budget and staff complement more than three-fold during his tenure.  A recipient of the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education’s (CCAE) National Lifetime Achievement Award, he has also served on the Commission on Alumni Relations for the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) in Washington, DC.

Roger guided the team that surpassed the goal for McMaster’s Changing Tomorrow Today campaign by more than twenty-five percent and has since played key roles in securing a number of iconic gifts, including the $105 million DeGroote gift to the University, the largest cash gift in Canadian history.  He is currently leading The Campaign for McMaster University which is on track to achieve its goal of $400 million raised by early 2010.

Dr. Noreen Golfman, Dean, School of Graduate Studies, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Noreen Golfman is a professor of English and Dean of Graduate Studies at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Her early work was on the Canadian poet A.M. Klein, on whom she produced a monograph. Current research and teaching areas are Canadian literature, film, and culture studies. She has also taught and supervised graduate students in Women’s Studies and in a variety of topics, from Atwood to Youth Culture. She is currently President of the Canadian Federation of Social Sciences and Humanities, a national education advocacy group, as well as an advisor to the Canadian Studies program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has been active in a number of other professional and community roles, notably as founding director of the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival (now in its 21st year). For almost two decades she has been director of the MUN Cinema Series, a popular weekly alternative film showcase. She is also Vice Chair, Newfoundland Labrador Film Development Corporation. Since 1994 she has been Chair of the Steering Committee of the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, an advocacy group that promotes public broadcasting. In addition to publishing in scholarly journals, Noreen has been writing on the arts and culture in more popular venues. She was the film columnist for the Canadian Forum in the ‘nineties, has been a regular contributor to Newfoundland Quarterly, a culture magazine, and written a bi-weekly arts column (“Standing Room Only”) for both the Independent and The Current. She also works as a freelance commentator, reviewer/performer for CBC radio and television and was a regular panelist on the dearly departed national CBC Radio program, “Talking Books.” In addition to her weekly dean’s blog, “Postcards from the Edge,” she is writing a book on Atlantic Canadian film for University of Toronto Press.

Thomas (Tom) Boran, DDS, MEd, FACD, Dean of Dentistry, Dalhousie University Dr. Boran was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry, Dalhousie University, July 1, 2008. Tom has been involved in academics at the Faculty since 1979. He has been Division Head of Patient Care, Acting Department Chair of Dental Clinical Sciences and Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs. As Dean, Dr. Boran is most interested in enhancing opportunities for dental education, research, outreach services and encouraging alumni to support and embrace these various initiatives.

Karen Oldfield, President & CEO, Halifax Port Authority
Karen Oldfield has been President and Chief Executive Officer of the Halifax Port Authority since 2002. She leads the development of the Port of Halifax, a trade and transportation gateway that generates $1.58 billion in economic impact and over 11,000 port-related jobs.

The Port of Halifax is a diverse cargo port handling containerized, bulk, breakbulk and roll-on/roll-off cargo year-round. The Port connects importers and exporters to 150 countries through 19 shipping lines, offering the deepest container berths on the Eastern Seaboard and quick connections to major inland markets. Over $350 million has been invested in port-related infrastructure by the private and public sector in the past 5 years. Halifax became the first port in Canada to achieve an investment grade credit rating and the first port in Canada to achieve the ISO 14001 certification – an internationally recognized standard for environmental management systems. Halifax has also become the marquee cruise port in Atlantic Canada with over 200,000 passengers aboard 120 ships calling Halifax for over 6 months each year.

After graduating from Saint Mary’s and Dalhousie universities, Karen began her professional career in 1985 with the law firm McInnes Cooper, becoming partner a few years later. In 1999, she assumed the role of Chief of Staff for Nova Scotia Premier John Hamm. For two and a half years, Karen was instrumental in ensuring the strategic plans and priorities of the Government of Nova Scotia were carried out.

Karen was recently appointed to the Advisory Council on National Security, established in 2005. The ACNS provides expert advice about national security issues to the Government through the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister.

Karen is an active volunteer, with her current role as the Canadian Delegation Chair for the American Association of Port Authorities and an executive member of Association of Canadian Port Authorities. She is the Vice Chair of the Atlantic Chapter of the International Women’s Forum, and a member of the International Board of Directors. She volunteers on numerous boards including the Nova Scotia Division of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Governors of Saint Mary’s University and she is past Chair of the Halifax Gateway Council.

Dr. Margaret McKee, Leadership and Training Professor, Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary’s University

Dr. Margaret McKee is an Assistant Professor in the Management Department of Saint Mary’s University, and teaches business ethics to Bachelor of Commerce students. Prior to joining Saint Mary’s, she was a full-time faculty member at Mount Saint Vincent University where she taught undergraduate and master’s PR students Master’s programs about strategic planning, research methods and public relations leadership.

Margaret transitioned to academia after a 20 year career working as a professional communicator with publicly-traded companies, federal and provincial government departments, and consulting agencies in Nova Scotia and Ontario. While working with Bramalea Limited and Canada Trust in Toronto, Margaret was closely involved with their corporate donations program, assessing hundreds of contribution requests each year. More recently, she was a volunteer with the Mount’s capital campaign, serving on the campaign cabinet for two years.

Using her professional experience and PhD in Management, Margaret is doing research focused on organizational culture, business ethics and leadership. Her primary focus has been on studying the effects of leadership training initiatives on leaders and their employees. Margaret has presented and published numerous papers on her research in Canada, the US and Europe, and been recognized for her accomplishments with a Governor General’s Gold Medal, a Graduate Student Merit Award from the Senior Women’s Academic Administrators of Canada, and a research fellowship from the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Public Affairs.

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