Community spirit and volunteerism are critical to our success. For over twenty years, Sunshine has been growing a solid network of volunteers, donors, sponsors and other partners and developing relationships with the professionals who work with the children we serve.

Sunshine has only one office - in London, Ontario. Sunshine Chapters are run by volunteers out of their homes or in donated space. This keeps overhead costs low and volunteers at the centre of Sunshine.

National Board of Directors

Sunshine Foundation’s activities are governed by a volunteer-based, national Board of Directors. Comprised of highly-regarded representatives from the fields of healthcare, finance and community/public service, the Board meets regularly to establish strategic direction and monitor financial matters.

Patrick De Meester, MBA
President

As President & C.E.O. of dM Management | Advisory, a general management consulting group specializing in revenue creation and business transformation, Pat helps small and medium-sized businesses to unleash the value within and reach their goals.

Prior to launching dM, Pat held several senior positions with Yellow Pages Group (YPG) including Director of Marketing of AutoTrader, General Manager of YPG’s online businesses including YellowPages.ca (a property that he launched in 1995), and Senior Manager of the CanadaPlus local portal network and Sympatico.ca. In these roles, and others, Pat has been instrumental in generating hundreds of millions of dollars of online revenue as an early leader in the commercialization of the internet. Pat also lead the development of the National Hockey League Players’ Association’s fan website, NHLPA.com, and launched an intranet service for the NHL players – both as Director of Internet Services for the NHLPA.

Pat holds a BA from the University of Western Ontario and an MBA from the Queen’s University School of Business. He lives in London with his wife, Sheri, and has two daughters – Lauren, who currently holds the position of Chief Prosector for McMaster University’s Medical School, and Allison, currently living in Panorama, BC and studying Psychology at Athabasca University.

Shawn Melito, MBA
Vice-President

Shawn is Vice President, Sales for SCM Insurance Services. Shawn currently serves as Vice President of the Sunshine Board, Chair of the Fund Development Committee as well as a member of the Executive Committee. He has a B.A. from U of T and an MBA from Western’s Richard Ivey School of Business. Shawn is also on the Canadian Advisory Board of the International Association of Privacy Professionals. He resides in Ancaster with his wife and two daughters, the eldest of whom has Cerebral Palsy. Shawn recently won a Humana award for a water-scooter specially designed for her.

 Adam Jean, HBA, CA
Treasurer

Adam is Controller of Fortune Minerals Limited (Fortune), a diversified natural resource company with several mineral deposits and a number of exploration projects, all located in Canada. Adam received his Honours Business Administration degree from The University of Western Ontario's Richard Ivey School of Business and went on to become a Chartered Accountant. Before joining Fortune, Adam was a Senior Manager with Ernst & Young LLP in the Assurance & Advisory Business Services group. Adam has extensive financial assurance and risk advisory experience for profit and non-profit organizations, including the evaluation of financial, business and technological risks. Adam and his family live in London, Ontario. He enjoys spending time with family and friends, playing sports, and returning each summer to the Grand Bend beach where he was raised.

Suzanne Godin, LLB
Secretary

Suzanne is a partner in the London based law firm of Szemenyei MacKenzie Godin LLP. She attended the University of Ottawa where she received her Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws degrees. Suzanne practices in the areas of corporate/commercial, real estate (residential, commercial), wills and estates, and is also a trademark agent, offering expertise in intellectual property. In addition to serving on the Board with the Sunshine Foundation, Suzanne acts as a mentor and Advisory Board member for the Western Business Law Clinic, and is her firm’s articling coordinator.

Marc Fadel, MD, PhD, FRCPC
Director

Marc is currently a Staff Child/Adolescent Psychiatrist and Medical Director of the Adolescent Program at Ontario Shores Centre for Mental  Health Sciences. Marc’s clinical specialization is in assessing and treating mental health issues that affect children, adolescents and  their families. He has experience in neuroscience research, investigating the cellular functions of a gene involved in brain  development. Marc’s research has been published in numerous peer-reviewed scholarly journals and he has presented at local and international academic conferences. Marc has over 14 years of university teaching experience in health sciences and clinical medicine at the undergraduate and graduate level. He completed his PhD in 2002, MD in 2006 and Psychiatry Residency Training in 2011 all from the University of Toronto. He lives in Toronto with his wife and two children.

Ed Holder, Member of Parliament - London West
Director

Ed Holder has served as Member of Parliament for London West since 2008. His background includes a successful career in business as well as extensive community involvement.  

Ed founded Ontario West Insurance, which later merged with Stevenson & Hunt Insurance Brokers Ltd, which has become one of the largest Canadian insurance brokerages in the country.

In addition to being a long-time supporter of the Sunshine Foundation, Ed’s history of community involvement includes volunteering for dozens of local groups including the Rotary Club, United Way and St. John Ambulance. In recognition of “significant contributions to compatriots, the community and to Canada,” Ed received the Governor General’s Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada.

As a Member of Parliament, Ed serves on several Standing Committees and in 2011, he was elected Chair of the Canada-United Kingdom Inter-Parliamentary Group. Ed is an active member of several Conservative Caucuses and is involved with over 25 Parliamentary Associations and Friendship groups.

Ed and his wife Judite have a daughter, Claudia, and two beautiful granddaughters. 

Greg King, CA, MBA
Director

Greg is CFO of Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of Canada, Canada’ leading provider of health care liability insurance and risk management services. He is a Chartered Accountant and has a B. Comm from University of Toronto and an MBA from the Queen’s University School of Business. Greg has broad experience in strategic planning, investment management, financial reporting and risk management.

Greg lives in Toronto with his wife, Linda and three daughters. He enjoys curling, golf, hockey, boating and waterskiing.

Philippa O'Brien, MBA
Director

Philippa O'Brien is the Director of HR Advisory Services for Carswell Partners Inc. Philippa has thirty years experience in the Financial Services Industry throughout Canada and the UK. With her three children all grown and completing undergraduate and graduate university degrees, Philippa has recently returned from a teaching assignment in Changchun, China. Philippa holds an MBA from Royal Roads University in Victoria, B.C.  

Rajiv Reebye, MD, FRCPC, BSc.Pharm, BMedSci 
Director

Rajiv is a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation specialist physician from Vancouver, British Columbia.

He is a staff physician on the neuromuscular skeletal and acquired brain injury programs at GF Strong Rehabilitation Center, British Columbia’s largest rehabilitation hospital. He has a special interest in treating children with traumatic and congenital spinal cord conditions and lends his expertise as a consulting physician at BC Children’s Hospital’s spinal cord clinic.

Rajiv obtained his medical degree from the University of Nottingham, UK in 2000 and completed his residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of British Columbia in 2007.  Rajiv also holds a Bachelor of Medical Sciences degree from the University of Nottingham, and a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree from the University of British Columbia.

Rajiv enjoys teaching medical students and postgraduate physicians.  He is a national examiner in his specialty for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. 

Rajiv and his wife Stacy live in Vancouver with their two daughters and son. 

Jana Seijts BA, B.Ed, MA
Director
 
Jana Seijts is a Lecturer in Management and Technical Communication at both the Richard Ivey School of Business and the Faculty of Engineering, at the University of Western Ontario. She holds a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Education, and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Toronto. Prior to joining Ivey, Jana was the Coordinator of the Writing Support Centre at UWO.  Jana is also an active member of the Professional Writers Association of Canada and has numerous publications in a variety of fields and is co-author of A Concise Guide to Technical Communications, First Canadian Edition.  As an award-winning teacher with over 15 years experience teaching undergraduates and graduate students and owner of Seijts Communications and Consulting, she has presented at numerous national and international conferences and has been an invited speaker for many Canadian companies, organizations, and post-secondary institutions. Jana lives in London and enjoys spending time with her family and friends.

Chad Spence
Director

Chad is a pension consultant and actuary with Mercer, a global provider of HR consulting, outsourcing and investment services. He resides in London, Ontario with his wife, Meredythe, and two sons, Linden and Finn.

Trevor Timbeck, MBA
Director

Trevor is currently Strategic Program Manager, Marketing at Info-Tech Research Group. Previously Trevor was Senior Product Manager at Research In Motion (RIM), and VP of Research and Development at Itinerant Software, a mobile software company he helped to start up, based in London, Ontario. He has also worked at 3M and TD Canada Trust. Trevor is a graduate of the MBA program at Wilfrid Laurier University and holds an HBSc in Computer Science from The University of Western Ontario. He is a triathlete and he completed Ironman USA Lake Placid in 2005. Trevor and his wife, Rebecca, live in London with their two young children.

Staff Team