Board of Directors

About the Board of Directors

Effective corporate governance is a priority at Comtech Fire Credit Union. We operate on the fundamental principle of democratic ownership and every member over the age of 18 is entitled to one vote in the decision-making process of their Credit Union.

Our Board of Directors are responsible for overseeing the management of the business and affairs of the Credit Union. They are elected each year by members at our Annual General Meeting for three year staggered terms. As well, any qualifying member can stand for election to a seat on our Board.

Click for more information on Becoming a Director for Comtech Fire Credit Union.

Our Board of Directors can be contacted by e-mail or by mail to:

Secretary of the Board of Directors
Comtech Fire Credit Union
102-220 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON
M5B 2H1

Your Current Board of Directors

Jeffrey T. Stubbs

  • Chair – Audit Committee

Jeff is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA-CA) and an ICD.D from the Institute of Corporate Directors, and is currently the COO of Spinnaker Resorts (Ontario) Limited.  At Spinnaker he is responsible for the company's $100 million consumer loan portfolio and the operations of the groups finance company. He also leads the company's risk management, treasury and tax management groups. He has been a director with the Credit Union since 1996 with a break in service in 2003 and 2004. He brings to the board over 30 years of board and senior financial management experience. Prior to joining Spinnaker, Jeff was working as consultant, providing interim and contract CFO services for 6 years, helping a number of businesses complete financing and sale transactions. Prior to that, he was CFO for Securitas Canada for 7 years and Vice President, Finance Admin and Treasurer of Star Data for 5 years.

Known as a Senior Financial Professional, with a reputation as a leader who can bring his financial skills to all types of management and board issues. His background also involves the management of Human Resources, Legal, Risk, Purchasing Collections, and IT teams as well as the traditional accounting and administration functions.

Jeff is now a Member of the Executive Committee, Audit Committee, and the Nominating Committee. During his time with Comtech Fire, he has been Chair of the Audit Committee, a member of the Nominating Committee and the Chair of the Pension Committee. He is also currently a Director and Treasurer for Stevenson Memorial Hospital in Alliston. During his career he has also been a director for a number of private, public and Not for Profit companies. Jeff is a member of the Local Lions club in Alliston, and a curler. He and his wife, mostly his wife are owners/operators of two Boston Pizza locations.


Service on the Board - 21 years

Term expires in 2024.

Terry Wright

  • Member – Executive Committee

  • Member – Audit Committee

 Terry worked for TELUS or its subsidiaries in increasingly senior management positions in a career that spanned over 35 years; retiring at the end of 2008.  At that time, Terry started his own consulting firm and continued to work in various roles on contract for a period of time.  During his career at TELUS, Terry held various positions in the Finance and Audit departments, as well as holding the position of Controller at one subsidiary and General Manager of another.  Terry spent over 10 years at Stentor, a consortium of the major telcos in Canada, holding the positions of Director of Finance and Director of Settlements during that time.  Terry is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CMA) and recently obtained his ICD.D designation, from the Institute of Corporate Directors.  Terry sits on the Board of Comtech Fire Credit Union and chairs its Audit Committee.  Terry is also involved in the not-for-profit sector in Ottawa as a member of the TELUS Community Ambassadors and as the Treasurer of the Amberwood Village Recreation Association.

Service on the Board - 9 years

Term expires in 2022.

Stephen McDermott

  • Chair– HR and Compensation Committee

  • Chair – Governance Committee

Steve is the owner and principal of SJM Consulting which provides Human Resource services in the areas of job description writing, classification, organizational analysis and design, grievance resolution, facilitation and project management. He has significant experience in both the public and private sectors and has a Masters Certificate in Project Management as well as a number of human resources accreditations. He brings 40 years of diversified experience to Comtech Fire and has developed an extensive network of professionals in Ottawa that complements Comtech Fire's continued expansion in the Ottawa area.

Steve is a supporter of several charities including the Kids Come1st golf tournament and 100 Men Who Care Ottawa to name a few.

Steve has successfully completed the Institute of Corporate Directors course and now has the ICD.D designation. Steve is the Chair of Comtech Fire’s Merger Committee, Chair of HR and Compensation Committee and a member of the Governance Committee. His service on the Board totals 10 years.

Term expires in 2023.

Mike Neely

Michael Neely

  • Chair – Board of Directors

  • Chair – Executive Committee

Mike is a Suppression Captain with Toronto Fire Services. He is in his 40th year with Toronto Fire Services, where he has spent over 37 years at Station 315 (8), and is currently in charge of the Aerial. Prior to being elected to the Board of the Credit Union, Mike was an Executive Board member of the International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 113 for 10 years, and he was a committee member of the Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Association.

Mike has been a Credit Union Director since April 2006, where he has held positions on the Audit and Governance Committees; Chair of the HR Committee and he was Chair of the Board for six years. He completed his Director's Training in 2011 and has attended ten Director Forums offered by Level 5 and six Central 1 AGMs and two Canadian Credit Union Conferences.

Mike is currently the Chair of the Board of Directors.

Service on the Board - 16 years

Term expires in 2022.

Hugh Doherty

  • Secretary – Board of Directors

  • Member – Executive Committee

  • Chair – Nominating Committee

 Hugh is a Fire Protection Professional. With over 36 years experience, he progressed through the service and attained the rank of District Chief in February 2018. During those years, he was an elected Executive Officer with the Toronto Professional Fire Fighters Association where he spent time as Vice President, as well as the Chair of Health and Safety where he was Labour Co-Chair of the City's Corporate Health & Safety Committee. Recently, he was Chair of the Human Relation Committee, representing the rights of men and women for the Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Association.

Currently, Hugh is the Canadian representative on the IAFF's Labour Relations Committee. He also serves on the board of directors for the IAFF's rehab and treatment centre, the Center of Excellence, located in Maryland, USA. With that, Hugh also is the go-to person in working with firefighters suffering from PTSD/PTSI/OSI and behavioural health and addiction concerns in the fire service. He is a North American IAFF Peer Support Instructor, training firefighters on recognizing and approaching behavioural health issues. Additionally, he is a R2MR (Road to Mental Readiness) Mentor and Trainer for firefighters across Canada.

Through his career Hugh has also received several awards and recognitions, including: the Fire Services Exemplary Service Medal, Provincial Fire Services Long Service Medal, the Ontario Medal for Firefighter Bravery, and Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Hugh is a seasoned professional and brings a high degree of values and ethics to the Board.

Service on the Board – 5 years

Term expires in 2024.

Joanne McDonnell

Joanne McDonnell

  • Member – Governance Committee

  • Member – Nominating Committee

 Joanne worked at Canada Revenue Agency in Kingston for 35 years, retiring in Aug 2009. She worked as a collection officer and later as a collection enforcement officer, finishing the last 8 years as a Trust Examiner. During her career at CRA she held several position on the union executive and was very involved with the Health and Safety committee. Since retirement she has stayed involved in her community.

Joanne has been a Credit Union member since 1979, opening her first account at Federal Employees Kingston Credit Union. She became a board member in 2004 to 2009, having completed the CUDA Program, then returning in 2011 to current, holding the positions of Corporate Secretary, sitting on the Audit Committee and until the merger with Comtech Fire Credit Union, was Board Chair.

Service on the Board - 15 years

Term expires in 2024.

Catherine Fagnan

  • Member – Audit Committee

  • Member – HR and Compensation Committee

Catherine Fagnan is Associate General Counsel at Green Infrastructure Partners where she leads the legal group and is a member of the Executive Team.  Green Infrastructure Partners is a large and diverse Canadian infrastructure company that offers vertically integrated solutions for public and private projects of varying size and scale.  Prior to this role, Catherine was Associate General Counsel with TELUS Communications; Senior Counsel at Lafarge Canada (Holcim); and senior business and tax law associate at McCarthy Tetrault LLP.

Catherine is trilingual and holds a joint MBA from Kellogg Schulich as well as her ICD.D designation obtained from the Rotman/Institute of Corporate Directors program.  Catherine’s areas of expertise range from navigating regulated environments, M&A, negotiating sensitive corporate and commercial agreements, competition law, litigation, ethics & compliance, and corporate governance.

Catherine is actively involved in diversity initiatives to promote, amongst other things, the inclusion and retention of women within the construction industry.  Catherine sits on the board of Comtech Fire Credit Union (Audit and HR/Compensation Committees) since 2021 (term ending in March 2023).  In 2021, Catherine became a limited partner in the newly formed Women’s Equity Lab (WEL) fund (Toronto), which purpose is to invest in new ventures with other female investors.
 
Term expires in 2023.

Scott Marks

  • Member – Audit Committee

  • Member – Nominating Committee

Scott Marks served as a Toronto fire fighter for 29 years, retiring in 2010 at the rank of Captain/Acting District Chief. During his career in the fire service, he was active in his union and served from 2002 to 2010 as President of Canada’s largest local fire fighter union, the 3,000-member Toronto Professional Fire Fighters Association, IAFF Local 3888. During this tenure as President his team negotiated and resolved important outstanding issues left from the amalgamation of the City of Toronto including, retiree health benefits, shift schedule and promotional issues.

In 2010, Scott was appointed by IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger to oversee the IAFF’s Canadian Operations. Working out of the IAFF Canadian Office in Ottawa, Scott directs IAFF staff, the  Canadian Legislative Program, Canadian Policy Conference and other initiatives ensuring the needs of the IAFF’s 27,000 Canadian members are met at every level.  Under Scott the IAFF welcomed Montreal Fire Fighters back into the IAFF in 2017 and the Canadian Office now rolls out service in both of Canada’s official languages.

Mr. Marks retired from IAFF in September 2021 and presently serves on the Board of Directors of Muscular Dystrophy Canada. In addition, Scott also serves on the Sponsors Corporation Board of OMERS, representing the retirees.

Mira Kopanarov

  • Member– HR and Compensation Committee

  • Member – Governance Committee

 Mira has extensive business experience in strategy, marketing and communications, branding and stakeholder relations. She has consulted various business enterprises in broadcasting, real estate, and emerging technology in the last 17 years. Currently, she oversees the operations of Mirable Marketing, a marketing craft and digital innovation consultancy based in Toronto.
 
Mira has been recognized for her creative and resourceful strategies and ability to navigate complex business environments and simultaneously inspire cross-departmental teams. She has won 3 marketing awards and has been recognized by the Province of Ontario for the execution of innovative community events.

Mira aspires to high social and environmental ethics and continuously strives to contribute to society. She supports causes that address women's equality, art and heritage advocacy, and the protection of children and women victims of abuse.
 
Mira holds an HBA in Communication Studies from York University and a Mini-MBA from Schulich School of Business.