Welcome Our New JGH Foundation Board Members

We are thrilled to welcome six new members to the JGH Foundation’s Board of Directors. Their professional expertise and dedication to community will enable us to achieve our ambitious fundraising goals while providing support to the JGH during this unprecedented time.

The mission of the Jewish General Hospital Foundation is to advance health care and medical research for the people of Quebec. The Foundation provides essential assistance to the hospital to enhance its exceptional patient care, to further scientific discovery and to acquire the most up-to-date and innovative equipment.

Co-CEO
Maroline Distributing

David Amiel has been actively shaping the Montreal Jewish community through multiple leadership roles for more than a decade now. He served as Chair of the Young Leadership Campaign of the Combined Jewish Appeal in 2011, Co-Chair of the New Gifts Initiative in 2012, and Chair of the Montreal Young Adult Division (YAD) in 2013. He became a member of Federation CJA’s Board of Directors in 2013, and recently completed his term as President of Federation CJA (2017-2019). He continues to serve on the Board as Immediate Past President until his term is complete in 2021.

Additionally, David is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Jewish Community Foundation (2019-) and has sat on the Board of Directors for Camp B’nai Brith, Hillel Montreal and the Chevra Kadisha Synagogue.

David earned a Bachelor’s degree from Carleton University and a Certificate in Marketing and Advertising Communications from the Fashion Institute of Technology. Today, he is Co-CEO of Maroline Distributing, with his brother Jonathan. David and his wife Robyn have three children ages 15, 13 and 12.

Chartered Accountant

Sandrine is a professional chartered accountant who is currently working on growing the family business specialized in the luxury retail industry. She is also a mom of 3 young children whose first breaths were all taken at the JGH. She is very passionate about philanthropy and has been involved in various committees such as Daffodil Ball, UNICEF, McCord Museum, Federation CJA, Giving Project MTL and more.

SVP, Branch Banking, Quebec Region
Chair, Quebec Market, TD Bank Group

In June 2015, Sylvie Demers was named Senior Vice President of Branch Banking in Quebec. In this role, she is responsible for developing and executing business strategy, ensuring the growth of Branch Banking and providing value-added services to our TD customers. In November 2015, she was named Chair of TD’s Executive Committee in Quebec. The committee’s mandate is to significantly increase its presence in the province across all sectors.

Previously, Sylvie was Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, based in Toronto and was also President, Affinity Market Group at TD Insurance.

Sylvie joined TD in 1985 and has held various positions, including in Commercial Banking Services, Corporate Banking and Retail Banking. She was also Regional Vice President and Market Leader, Eastern Canada, Private Client Services for TD Waterhouse. She gained expertise through her various roles in the financing of private and public companies.

Her deep financial knowledge combined with her people skills has enabled her to succeed on an analytical level as well as in business development and team mobilization. Sylvie has always made her mark as a leader; her strength lies in her ability to assess the talents of her team members and to create strong organizational structures. She knows how to maximize her employees’ strengths to achieve excellent results.

In 2018, the Quebec Business Women Network recognized Sylvie’s expertise by nominating her a finalist for the Quebec Business Women Awards in the Executive, Managerial or Professional, Private Company category. A year later, in 2019, Sylvie also distinguished herself in the financial sector by being appointed to the Board of Governors of Finance Montréal, then by being invited as a speaker at the Cercle de la finance internationale de Montréal to share her vision as for the future of bank branches. Added to this is her term as chair of the Quebec Committee of the Canadian Bankers Association. Her 35 years of sustained involvement in TD combined with her significant social commitment made her the winner of the Top 25 of the financial industry in the category of National financial institutions and the Financial Personality of 2019 of the Quebec financial newspaper Finance and Investment.

Sylvie is known for her balanced approach. She recognizes the importance of giving back and is very involved with non-profit organizations. Over the years, Sylvie has assumed the honorary chairmanship of various fundraising campaigns for the Breakfast Club, Sainte-Justine Hospital and the Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Research Center. Since 2017, she has been Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Foundation (MMFA). Finally, Sylvie is the 2020 co-chair of the JGH Fight Cancer Challenge raising vital funds for the Segal Cancer Centre.

Sylvie graduated from HEC Montréal and holds a specialization in Finance.

Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Plusgrade

Ken Harris is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Plusgrade, a leading technology company in the global travel industry. Since founding Plusgrade in 2009, Ken has created a global business generating billions of dollars of new revenue opportunities and powering leading travel suppliers across over 50 countries. Under Ken’s leadership, Plusgrade is consistently recognized as one of North America’s fastest-growing technology companies in the annual Deloitte Technology Fast 50™, Fast 500™ awards and recent winner of both the Enterprise Fast 15™ award and Canada Leadership Award. As an executive leader and proven entrepreneur, Ken has been featured and quoted in many notable worldwide publications including The Wall Street Journal, CNN, TIME, La Presse, The Globe & Mail, The Economist and CNBC.

First Vice-President Investment Advisor
CIBC Wood Gundy

Grace has been providing investment advice and strategies to affluent clients since 1986. Her career started as a runner on the Montreal Stock Exchange. She has been awarded membership in the chairman’s council at CIBC Wood Gundy.

Her personal experience of being raised in an entrepreneurial family gives her personal insight and understanding of issues affecting private family business. Her business knowledge and ability to build long-lasting, personalized relationships allows her to remain connected to her clients.

Grace works with professionals to implement wealth management strategies that align with clients’ needs and wants.

Her many passions involve various causes and interests with her identical twin. A lifetime of involvement in the Cedars Cancer Foundation, of which Grace’s Uncle Joseph Chamandy founded. In addition to the Cedars Cancer, generous donations have been provided to Chez Doris, a social services organization. Participation in raising funds for ALS, Mindstrong and JGH Foundation.

As Grace lives life as a daring adventure, one of her many hobbies involves travelling the world and experiencing the rich cultures of the different countries. Part of this experience involves the discovery of new chefs in Montreal and abroad.

Grace has a love of water and swimming. Taking part in the National Waterpolo team and National War Canoe team. Other hobbies include pilates, spinning, walking, reading, art & theatre.

Regional Vice President
Business Financial Services
Quebec Headquarters
RBC Royal Bank

As Regional Vice President, Jean-François Prince has headed the Business Financial Services and Specialized Financing teams since 2017, including real estate, health professionals, public sector, life sciences/media and information technology.

Since arriving at RBC in 1994, he has held various management positions in Quebec, the Atlantic provinces and Toronto, in both Business Financial Services and Risk Management.

In addition to his professional activities, Jean-François provides ongoing support to various mentorship, talent development and advisory programs within the organization, while being engaged in the community. In 2019, Jean-François humbly accepted to sit on various boards of Directors which are including Montreal International as well as their audit and finance committee.

Jean-François has a Bachelor of Commerce from the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières and a Master of Business Administration, Finance from Université Laval. He also holds the designation of Charted Financial Analyst with the CFA Montréal.

Jean-François and his spouse have two children.