Steve Hurlburt is a retired businessman involved in the ownership and management of different businesses, most notably H.J. O’Connell Limited, a company specializing in mining and heavy civil engineering projects in the remote regions of Canada. Exposed as a chartered accountant to many different companies while with Coopers and Lybrand in the 1970’s, he was attracted to operations and the risk taking of corporate ownership and elected to accept part ownership of the construction company which he and his partners built into a heavy civil engineering business with the largest equipment fleet in Eastern Canada. Mr. Hurlburt was introduced to the MOSD in 2007 and was immediately intrigued by all that was being accomplished by the school in helping hearing impaired children to listen and speak. In 2010, he was appointed Chairman of the MOSD Foundation Board and has been actively involved in raising funds for the school ever since.

Graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce and a Major in Management from Concordia University, Susan Bell began her philanthropic career in 2001, after a 25-year career in the banking sector. She has worked at numerous non-profits, primarily in the start-up of their foundations but also to significantly expand their donor bases.

Ms. Bell volunteers with a broad range of organizations: Canadian Tire’s Jumpstart program (where she is the District Manager for the Sud-Ouest borough of Montreal), Batshaw Youth & Family Services, Cedars Cancer Centre’s ‘The Bell’ Fund and the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation’s annual telethon. She was Past Chair of Jesters Quebec and currently serves on Squash Canada’s Doubles Competition Committee.

Ms. Bell joined the MOSD Foundation team in 2016 and has helped take the school to the next level of learning through distance learning and technology.

Chair – Finance Committee; Member – Investment Committee
Norman A. Jones, CPA, CA is a Private Company Services Partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Montreal, with more than 30 years’ experience in serving private companies, their owners and not-for-profit organizations (NPOs) across Canada. In the NPO sector he has served professionally both as auditor and business advisor. He has provided hands-on practical advice to many NPOs and private companies including governance, risk management, regulatory, financial reporting, accounting and tax planning. As a volunteer, Mr. Jones has also served in the roles of treasurer, board member, board chair, chair of the audit committee, finance committee and fundraising committee, trustee and president. Mr. Jones agreed to join the MOSD Foundation because he recognized the funding gap between the government funding and the amount required to deliver important programs for children with hearing loss.

Paul Copti is a Senior Vice President in the Construction & Infrastructure practice of Marsh Canada. For more than 20 years, Mr. Copti has helped large construction contractors, infrastructure funds, and international manufacturers manage their risk and insurance portfolio on a global basis.

Prior to joining Marsh in 2019, Mr. Copti was Vice President & Practice Leader – Risk Management at GPL – Gallagher. He has also held senior positions at XN Financial in Montreal, AXA in Paris, and Siaci also based in Paris.

Mr. Copti holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the École Polytechnique de Montréal and a Masters in Information Systems from the École Centrale de Paris. He is a member of the Ordre des Ingénieurs du Québec (OIQ) and is a licensed Damage Insurance Broker at Quebec’s Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF). In 2017, Mr. Copti joined the MOSD Foundation board, encouraged by Emeritus director, Marc Babinski.

Member – Governance & Nominating, Finance and Investment Committees
Randall Birks is Chief Investment Officer and Vice-President at Birinco Inc., a Montreal-based merchant bank. Mr. Birks holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago and a Master’s degree in Investment Management from Boston University, and completed his B.A. at McGill. Mr. Birks is very engaged with broad community issues, particularly around economic efficiency and childhood education. In addition to his work for the MOSD Foundation, he sits on the board of the MOSD. He is a Trustee of the Marchab Foundation, sits on the Board of Governors of the Montreal Economic Institute and is the Treasurer of Selwyn House School. Mr. Birks became engaged with the Montreal Oral School for the Deaf as he witnessed the organization’s success in the early support it provided to his daughter. He is proud to support a great team that helps students with hearing loss fulfill their potential in the hearing world.

Joanne Garfinkle is a McGill University (1986) graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Economics. She recently retired (from 1987-2017) from Mitchel-Lincoln Packaging Ltd., where she was Vice President, corrugated sales and marketing. Ms. Garfinkle is very active in her communities and has held the following positions: President (2002-2004) and active board member of the Jewish Public Library since 1994; active in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation since 1979.; Board member of the Mount Royal Tennis Club. Secretary and House chair from 2012-2016; Combined Jewish Appeal active member since 1998, helping the isolated and needy during these trying times; active volunteer at the Jewish Community Store (subsidized grocery warehouse for needy Jewish families); Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom active member; member of CAB (volunteer centre) Sutton in 2021 and a Certified Palliative Care Volunteer at Mount Sinai Hospital since 2014 where, since 2017, she has been a qualified pet visiting volunteer. The most important “job” she has held is being a mother to three amazing children who are all young adults and thriving in their studies and chosen professions. Thanks to MOSD board member Honora Shaughnessy, Ms. Garfinkle joined the MOSD Foundation board in 2016, and in her words “as a hearing-impaired person I wanted to help those afflicted to ease the struggle”. Recently married in 2019, Ms. Garfinkle and husband, Richard Stubina, unselfishly requested gifts to the Foundation in honour of their special day.

Sean Hurlburt is a graduate in anthropology from the University of Concordia. While pursuing his degree in the mid 90s, he developed a wide knowledge of AV-over-IP (audio-visual over Internet Protocol) systems and related hardware. The combination of anthropology and these skills was a good fit for his current position as sales & system integrator with Environnement Électronique, a job he has held since 2004. The company specializes in residential and commercial audio, video, lighting, window treatments, IP network and home automation products and installation. Mr. Hurlburt was introduced to the MOSD via his sister whose son Ben was born deaf. He saw how well they handled parental fear and uncertainty while providing a program and resources for the child and parents. This led to Sean’s participating in fundraising for the MOSD, and ultimately joining the Board.

Elisabeth Roux holds a Bachelor’s degree in political science from Université de Montréal and a Master’s degree in Communication Management from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. Her career in corporate communications has focused on strategy, media relations, investor relations and special events, both on the agency and the corporate side. Over the years, Ms. Roux has also volunteered with organizations in the arts, education and healthcare. More recently, she has been interested in organizations that work to improve the well-being of children. Having personally witnessed the effects of hearing loss on a family member, Ms. Roux agreed to join the MOSD Foundation, with a view to helping hearing-impaired children out of isolation and into the mainstream and offering them new opportunities.

Frank Settino is an investment counsellor with Kerr Financial Advisors. He manages investment portfolios for high-net-worth clients, while collaborating with Kerr’s financial and tax planning professionals to provide clients with a robust, integrated approach to investment management. Prior to joining Kerr, Mr. Settino spent 15 years as an equity analyst with a major Canadian financial institution as Vice-President, Canadian Equities. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a graduate of the John Molson School of Business. Mr. Settino agreed to join the MOSD Foundation after learning, from emeritus director Robert Kerr, how the MOSD has been instrumental in helping children with hearing loss, and wanting to contribute his expertise in support of the Foundation’s work.

Chair – Investment Committee; Member – Governance & Nominating-Finance committees
Jason Tsadilas attended Selwyn House for 9 years and graduated in 1988, then attended Appleby College for grade 12 before returning to Montreal to attend McGill University, graduating with a B.A. in Economics while playing on the varsity football team.
Mr. Tsadilas was a portfolio manager at Citadel Investment Group (Europe) for 6 years, where he ran a global macro portfolio. He joined Citadel in 2004 in Chicago, before moving to London in 2005 to help establish the Citadel European platform (Citadel was founded by Ken Griffin and is one of the world’s largest alternative asset managers with more than $30 billion in assets under management). Prior to joining Citadel, Mr. Tsadilas ran the equity derivatives trading desk at the Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec, and before that he spent over 4 years with the Bank of Montreal, from 1996 to 2001, running the interest rate derivatives desk in Montreal. Most recently, upon returning to Montreal, he joined Fiera Capital from 2016-2018 and launched and ran the Fiera Global Macro Opportunity Fund.