Board of Directors
The Grace Hospital Foundation is governed by a Board of Directors who volunteer their time and energy in the pursuit of the Foundation’s goal to support patient care. This outstanding Board draws its membership from the community at large and meets formally on a quarterly basis. Since the Foundation has existed, we have raised more than $35 million in support of the Grace.
Executive
Jeff Coleman
Chair
Jeff is the owner of Patill/St. James Insurance, a family-run insurance brokerage in the St. James area. His history with the Grace is a long one. Prior to his role as the Chair, he held the position of Vice Chair for 18 years and also served on the Salvation Army Grace Hospital Board of Management for 14 years. Jeff’s charitable involvement extends past the Grace and deep into the community where he is involved with several other not for profit organizations and fundraising groups. Jeff was recently honoured as a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal (Manitoba), to mark the 70th anniversary of Her Late Majesty’s accession to the Throne as Queen of Canada.
Doneta Brotchie
Vice-Chair
Doneta is the Program Director for Leadership Winnipeg, an independent consultant and a former Senior Vice President and regional leader at CIBC. She is currently the Vice Chair of the Grace Hospital Foundation. Through her company, Doneta was the Project Director for CancerCare Manitoba’s Bears on Broadway initiative and Investors Group Construction Winnipeg. Her community involvement extends far beyond this and includes the Province of Manitoba Economic Innovation and Technology Council, The Winnipeg Foundation, The University of Manitoba and Winnipeg Art Gallery and many others.
Keith Davidson
Treasurer
Keith is a Senior Private Banking Associate with CIBC Private Wealth Management. He holds the professional designations of Certified Financial Planner, Financial Management Advisor and Registered Retirement Consultant. Keith has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and a Bachelor of Commerce Honours in Finance from the University of Manitoba.
Bruce Lillie
Secretary
Bruce is the National Marketing Director with All Seniors Care Living Centres and Sturgeon Creek Retirement Residences. He has a Bachelor of Commerce Honours in Marketing from the University of Manitoba and over 25 years’ experience in marketing and advertising. Based on a strong sense of giving back, Bruce has served as the President of the Charleswood Broncos Football Club along with other various volunteer roles at many other community organizations. Bruce currently serves as the Chair of the Grace Hospital Foundation Grace Hospital Day Committee.
Board Members
Barry Brown
Barry is the President of Maple Leaf Construction based in Winnipeg. During his years working in the heavy construction and road building industry, he has served on numerous boards and chaired a number of local, national and international construction associations, including serving as Chair of the Confederations of International Contractors Board of Directors. Barry graduated from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Science Civil Engineering in 1974. He is married with two children and two grandchildren. When time permits, he enjoys a number of hobbies including golf, boating and woodworking.
Steve Chipman
Steve is a graduate of the University of Manitoba holding degrees in Honors History, Education and Law. In 2002, he became the President and CEO of the Birchwood Automotive Group, which is the largest dealership group operating in Winnipeg with additional stores in Rural Manitoba, Saskatchewan and North Dakota.
Steve’s passion for the automotive industry has led him to serve on several industry boards including the Manitoba Motor Dealers Association, the Automotive Business School of Canada and as chair of the Canadian Automobile Dealer Association. He is the past winner of the CADA Laureate Award for innovation and has served on several national manufacturer dealer councils.
Steve has also been involved in many charitable organizations including being a past chair of the 2013 United Way Campaign Cabinet. He also coaches high school cross country running and track and field.
Trevor Clay
Trevor Clay is a Principal and founding partner of Capital Commercial Real Estate Services Inc. Trevor is an established market leader in commercial brokerage services and has worked on transactions across all asset classes including the sales and leasing of office, industrial, retail and apartment properties. With over 17 years of proven success, Trevor has completed over $1 billion of commercial property sales and over 5 million square feet of leasing assignments with a primary focus in Winnipeg. Trevor’s knowledge of the commercial real estate market has given him an opportunity to connect vendors, purchasers, tenants and landlords on a local and national level.
Trevor is a co-founding member of the Capital Commercial Investment Services team. This team is a leader in the Manitoba market for the sale of commercial investment properties across all asset classes in single asset and portfolio transactions with a focus on shopping centres, industrial buildings, and apartment complexes. In this capacity, Trevor is a member of Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) Canadian Capital Markets team on a national level.
Trevor has a strong sense of community and is involved in many local charities and organizations. He is a board member of Manitoba Real Estate Association, a board member of St. John’s Ravenscourt Board of Directors and board member on the Grace Hospital Foundation Board. Trevor is a graduate of Princeton University and St. John’s Ravenscourt School in Winnipeg.
Kevin Dandewich
Kevin is the Operations Manager at Gator Construction. He holds a Master’s Certificate in Project Management, and is a Gold Seal Certified Project Manager recognized by the Canadian Construction Association. He has worked in the consulting and construction industries for over 25 years.
Kevin has sat on various boards, including Manitoba Red Cross, Centre Plan, and Exchange District Business Improvement Zone (BIZ). He also coaches hockey and baseball.
He is the current Chair of the Bocce Ball Tournament committee.
Bill Gould
Originally from Montreal, Bill’s career and life experience have taken him from Quebec to the east coast and eventually to Winnipeg; where he has spent more than 35 years in the liquor industries. Bill got his start in marketing and promotions and eventually moving to sales while working for Molson Newfoundland Brewery, Molson Brewery Winnipeg, and eventually opening his own company in 1990.
Bill is the Founder and former President of WETT Sales and Distribution; Canada’s first independent beer distribution company. In over 30 years, Bill grew his company from a small 2 brand distributor into a modest distribution center boasting over 500 brands and 45 suppliers worldwide.
Bill retired in 2021 and continues as the Special Advisor to the President of WETT Sales and Distribution; advising on issues facing WETT in relation to the beverage alcohol industry, the cannabis industry and business operations.
Bill’s involvement in the community is far reaching. He has been involved with YMCA/YWCA, Winnipeg Goldeyes Field of Dreams Foundation, Manitoba Restaurant and Foodservice Association and Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries. Bill joined the Grace Hospital Foundation Board of Directors in 2022.
Jihan Hosein
Jihan is an internationally trained lawyer having completed her education in the United Kingdom at the University of Kent and City University of London. She is a member of the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn and is called to the Bars of England and Wales, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada and Manitoba.
Jihan is currently an Estate and Trust Consultant with Scotiatrust.
Jihan’s passion for giving back to her community has resulted in her becoming a member of the Board of the Associates at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Jihan joined as a board member of the Grace Hospital Foundation in 2024.
Catherine Howden
Catherine is a partner with Pitblado LLP. She has a commercial litigation practice, with emphasis in the areas of secured and unsecured collections, insolvency and restructuring, and mortgage enforcement. Catherine regularly conducts civil and commercial litigation matters in the Court of Queen’s Bench, and has appeared before a variety of administrative tribunals.
Catherine graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1991, and obtained her call to the Manitoba Bar in 1992. She was an instructor at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Law from 2005 to 2010. She has been Chair of the Manitoba Bar Association Bankruptcy and Insolvency Section since 2015 and is a former director and legal counsel to the MS Society of Canada, Manitoba Division.
Catherine has written and presented extensively on a variety of topics, most recently at the October 2016 FCI-CWI Women in Leadership Conference, and the MBA Mid-Winter Bar Association Conference in January, 2016.
Azim Kabani
Azim immigrated from England to Toronto in 2000. After two years, he moved to Winnipeg to be closer to his family and ever since then, he has called it home.
Azim worked as a Senior Project Manager in the Financial industry before becoming a partner at Kothari Group Manitoba. Kothari Group is involved in the building and operating of multi-family homes and hotels in Winnipeg.
Bruce MacNeill
Bruce started and ran MacNeill Agencies, a sporting goods, footwear, and clothing Sales Agency for 45 years, retiring in 2021.
He has served on the board of the Winnipeg Squash Racquet Club and the board of the Westminster United Church.
Bruce joined the Grace Hospital Foundation Board in 2024.
Kevin McGarry
Kevin’s career began as a faculty member in Faculty of Commerce (now the Asper School) and morphed into long career in commercial real estate starting as co-found and CEO of Pratt McGarry Inc. (now Colliers International) and ending with his recent retirement as Principal and
Managing Broker at Cushman Wakefield Stevenson. In between, he was the found and CEO of Western Life Sciences, a Manitoba venture capital fund.
Kevin has been active in the Winnipeg community for many years and including with the Misericordia Foundation, Resource Assistance for Youth (RaY), St. John Brebeuf Parish Council, Palliative Manitoba and Centre Venture. Kevin and his spouse Elizabeth support numerous
philanthropic endeavors around Manitoba through the McGarry Foundation.
Dr. Garvin Pierce
Garvin is the former Director of Diagnostic Imaging at Grace Hospital and former President of the Manitoba X-Ray Clinic. His membership includes the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, Doctor’s Manitoba and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba, Canadiana Medical Association and Christian Medical and Dental Association.
Garvin was the Co-Chair of the Envision Our Grace Capital Campaign which raised $3 million for the redevelopment of the Diagnostic Imaging Department at Grace Hospital; as well as the Tomorrow’s Grace Capital Campaign which raised $6 million for the Emergency Department and MRI Building.
Colon Jody Hanson
Having grown up in rural Saskatchewan, Col Jody Hanson joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1996 and obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Administration with Honours from the Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario in 2000. She is also a graduate of the Joint Command and Staff Program 39 at Canadian Forces College, Toronto, Ontario, holds a Master’s Degree in Defence Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada, and holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the Australian Institute of Business.
Operationally qualified in two RCAF occupations – Air Combat Systems Officer and Aerospace Control Officer – Col Hanson has experience in several operational positions to include time within RCAF CC130 Hercules Air Mobility and Search and Rescue Squadrons and RCAF Air Traffic Control Units. Col Hanson’s deployment experience includes tours on Op APOLLO, Op CARAVAN, Op ATHENA and Op CALUMET.
Throughout her career, Col Hanson has been privileged with command opportunities which include 15 Wing Air Traffic Control Unit in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and Canadian Detachment Western Air Defense Sector, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, USA.
She has served in a variety of staff positions in Canada and the US to include posts within RCAF Aerospace Warfare Center, 1 Canadian Air Division/Canadian NORAD Region Headquarters and Canadian Joint Operations Command. Additionally, she has served as Command Center Director within NORAD-USNORTHCOM Headquarters.
Col Hanson is currently serving within 1 Canadian Air Division/Canadian NORAD Region Headquarters as the A3/Combined Air Operations Center Director. She is an avid traveller, hiker, camper, and fitness enthusiast.
Gayle Swirski
Gayle has over 30 years of experience as a Clinical Therapist in private practice. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (Honours) from the University of Winnipeg and a Masters of Education Psychology from the University of Manitoba. Gayle is a certified trauma counsellor and continues to respond to various crises within the province.
Arlene Wilgosh
Arlene was the first woman to be appointed as Deputy Minister of Health for Manitoba, a position she held for five years, and the first female CEO and President of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. A graduate of the University of Manitoba Faculty of Nursing, Arlene has worked in the public and private sectors, acute care and long-term care.
She is the recipient of the Award for Distinguished Service from the Canadian Healthcare Association.
Since her retirement, Arlene proudly wears the blue jacket of the Grace Hospital Volunteers, volunteering in the Oncology Department on a weekly basis. Arlene is also the Chair of the Board of Directors of HealthPRO Inc., Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Catholic Health Corporation of Manitoba and chairs the Community Council for Community Ventures, and also sits on the Southern Chiefs’ Organization Health Transformation Advisory Circle.
Munther Zeid
Munther and the Zeid family are caring community members, and own and operate Winnipeg’s largest independent family owned and operated grocery stores; FoodFare. Munther’s love of family and the city of Winnipeg is not only displayed in his family business, but also through his involvement in various charities and organizations. In addition to his work on the Grace Hospital Foundation board, Munther also sits on the board of the Children’s Hospital Foundation.
Ex Officio Members
Rachel Ferguson
Rachel Ferguson has over 14 years’ experience in healthcare leadership. She is a CPA who has a strong passion for quality patient care and building capacity and confidence in healthcare leaders. As the Chief Operating Officer of Grace Hospital, she is responsible for balancing strategic decisions and financial management with a team focused approach to leadership.
Prior to becoming the COO of the Grace Health Campus, Rachel was the COO of Victoria Hospital where she led the site through all of the changes of Clinical Consolidation, Transformation and COVID-19. Previous to this, she was the Chief Administrative Officer for HSC and Grace Hospital where she was responsible for the overall financial management strategies and support services of the hospitals.
Dr. Ramin Hamedani
Dr. Hamedani is a graduate of the Faculty of Medicine Queen’s University in 1995. He received his fellowship in Internal Medicine in 1999 after completing his residency at the University of Western Ontario.
Dr. Hamedani has worked at Grace Hospital since 2000 as Medical Director Cardiology as well as Medical Staff – Internal Medicine. He accepted his present role as Chief Medical Officer in August 2015.
As Assistant Professor in the College of Medicine – Faculty of Academic Health Sciences, he is extensively involved in both undergraduate and graduate teaching.