About

Dean Prodan is an independent businessman, Advisor for Manitou Investment Management, Portfolio Manager for Priviti Capital Corp. and President of Jowidana Hotels Ltd..

Previously employed as President and sole owner of UTA Asset Management, a registered Portfolio Manager who acted as Sub-advisor for Dynamic Mutual Funds. UTA was responsible for the investment decisions with respect to Oil and Gas investments for several Dynamic portfolios.

Previous employment from 1989 to 2009 consists of four years as an Institutional Salesman for Peters & Co. Ltd., five years as Managing Director and co-founder of FirstEnergy Capital Corp., four years as President and Portfolio Manager of Dominion Equity Resource Fund and Managing Director of Canfund VE Management Corp. All businesses were focused in the Canadian Energy Sector, specifically in the public markets.

Current board positions on several private companies including Chair of the Board for Cool It Systems Inc., Jowidana Hotels Ltd., Chatter Creek Mountain Lodges Ltd.. Also active on the Advisory Board of Priviti Capital Corp.

Past public company board experiences include Macro Energy Services, NQL Energy Services, Gentry Exploration and Nexstar Energy.

Other board and volunteer activities in the not-for-profit sector include a current position as a Director of The Palix Foundation, a Director of the Calgary Stampede Foundation, member of the Investment Committee for the Max Bell Foundation, a member of the Alberta Regional Board of the Nature Conservancy of Canada as well a member of the NCC Investment Committee.

Past volunteer positions include Chair and Director of the Calgary Arts Development Authority, Chair and Director of The Calgary Foundation, Chair and Director of the Alberta Performing Arts Stabilization Fund, Director of the Norlien Foundation as well as member of the Investment Committee, President and Director of Quest Theatre Company, Director of  Calgary Social Venture Partners and a member of the Calgary Stampede Rodeo Committee.

Karen Prentice Q.C, ICD.D has over 35 years of combined legal, executive management and governance experience. She currently serves on the board of directors of TSX traded Alcanna Inc. Most recently she was a director of Matrix Solutions Inc., chaired the Board of Trustees of CANMARC REIT and served for six years as a member of the Alberta Securities Commission. Prior to that, she was Executive Vice-President of ENMAX Corporation responsible for legal services, corporate governance, human resources, facilities, environment, health and safety, government relations and corporate communication functions.

Her extensive not for profit governance experience includes having been a director or chair of over a dozen boards spanning the diverse sectors of visual, performing and literary arts, mathematics, science, and advanced education. She currently is a director of The National Music Centre and the Walrus Foundation. Previously she was the Chair of the Banff International Research Station for Innovation and Discovery, a member of the board of governors of OCAD University, the National Arts Centre Foundation and a member of the boards of directors of Canada’s National History Society, Calgary’s Telus Spark and the Ottawa Art Gallery.

Ms. Woo-Paw holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in social work from the University of Calgary and has dedicated her career to promoting active civic engagement and volunteerism, social inclusion, cross-cultural understanding and antidiscrimination awareness.

An active part of her community for 40 years, Ms. Woo-Paw founded seven organizations including the Asian Heritage Foundation, the ACCT Foundation, the Ethno-Cultural Council of Calgary (Action Dignity) and the Calgary Chinese Community Services Association as well as served on over 30 committees and boards at local, provincial and national levels. Ms. Woo-Paw is also a member of the Calgary Arts Foundation currently.

Her community service has earned Ms. Woo-Paw an Immigrant of Distinction Award, YWCA’s Woman of Distinction Award, the Chinese Canadian Legend Award, the Queen’s Jubilee Award for Multiculturalism and Community Services, the Canada 125^th Commemorative Award for Community Services and the Queen Elizabeth’s 60 ^th Jubilee Award.

Ms. Woo-Paw is the first Trustee and Chair of the Calgary Board of Education of Asian Canadian descent (1995 to 1999) and the first female Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and Cabinet Minister of Asian Canadian descent (2008-2015).

Other than her accomplishments in community and political services, she is also a consultant by profession, including diversity training, and has worked for the Calgary health region, United Way of Calgary, the Red Cross, Calgary Board of Education, the Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association, and the Calgary Immigrant Aid Society.

Barb Howard is a writer/editor and a former lawyer who has been President of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta, Writer-in-Residence for the Calgary Public Library, and editor of FreeFall Magazine. Barb is on the board of the national Shoe Project team — a literacy and performance workshop for immigrant women, and also on the Board of Directors of Calgary Arts Development. She recently completed the NFP Governance Essentials Program – Institute of Corporate Directors (2019). Barb has a BA (Canadian Literature) from UBC, a law degree from Dalhousie and an MA (Creative Writing) from the University of Calgary.

Barb’s short story collection Western Taxidermy won the Canadian Authors’ Association 2012 Exporting Alberta Award and was a finalist at the international 2013 High Plains Book Awards. Her work has been shortlisted four times for Alberta Literary Awards, including twice in 2012, and she won the 2009 Howard O’Hagan Award for Short Story. Barb’s fiction and nonfiction has been published in magazines, journals, and anthologies across Canada including Grain, The New Quarterly, The Dalhousie Review, Room, Alberta Views and Canadian Lawyer.

In addition to Western Taxidermy, Barb’s book-length works of fiction include Notes For Monday, Whipstock  and The Dewpoint Show. She is co-editor of, and contributor to, the 2012 nonfiction anthology Embedded on the Home Front: Where Military and Civilian Lives Converge.

Helen Moore-Parkhouse joined the Calgary Arts Development team in 2015 as Director, Communications & Engagement. She has worked in senior staff positions with arts organizations including Alberta Theatre Projects, Quest Theatre, The Banff Centre, and Calgary Opera and has also consulted in the areas of marketing and communications with a number of arts companies such as Decidedly Jazz Danceworks, Theatre Calgary and Wordfest. A firm believer in the power of the arts to transform lives, Helen has made it her life’s work to promote and raise awareness of the arts sector for more than 35 years.

Beverley Foy, FCPA, FCA, had a professional career as a client service partner at Collins Barrow Calgary LLP, where she provided audit, accounting and tax services to corporate and not-for-profit clients. But an undergraduate arts degree provides a clue to her passion for the arts, fulfilled in part by 14 years as a member of the Board of Directors of Calgary Opera, three of them as Chair. She continues to be an enthusiastic supporter of the arts in Calgary and wherever she travels, whether it be music, dance, theatre or the visual arts. In June 2021, she completed two 4-year terms as a member of the Board of Directors of the Canada Council for the Arts. She continues as a Director of the Lieutenant-Governor of Alberta Arts Awards Foundation and a Director of the Calgary Arts Foundation.

Bev’s volunteer participation in the community and within her profession outside of the arts has included membership on the boards of YWCA of Calgary, Calgary Airport Authority, University of Calgary Board of Governors, Calgary Foundation and as a member of the Audit and Finance Committee for the Calgary Stampede Foundation. She continues as the Immediate Past Chair of the International Women’s Forum Calgary chapter, and a member of the Executive of the Top 7 Over 70 Awards in Calgary.