HealthyKids International (HKI) raises funds to supports the international projects of The Hospital for Sick Children. We are a strategic investment in the future health of the world’s most vulnerable children. Our international initiatives are rooted in the belief that children need home-grown medical practitioners who understand their countries’ social and cultural contexts. By building long-term strategic partnerships, creating comprehensive training systems, developing educational models, and encouraging global knowledge sharing, HKI aims to improve the health outcomes of the world’s most vulnerable children.
Board of Directors
Soham (Sam) Ajmera
Soham Ajmera, who is called ‘Sam’ by his friends, is the Co-Founder and Chairman of FGF Brands which he co-founded in 2004 with his two sons Ojus and Tejus. FGF Brands, a commercial bakery located in Concord, Ontario, the largest producer of muffins in Canada has launched, under its Fabulous Flats label, naan, focaccia, and pizza crust. Mr. Ajmera is also the owner of Speciality Rice Inc., which operates 6,000 acres of farmland in Arkansas and is now the largest grower of organic rice in North America.
Born in Bombay, India Mr. Ajmera holds an MBA in international trade and marketing from the University of Detroit. He arrived in Canada in 1974 and co-founded Dough Delight which became the largest producer of frozen bakery products. The company was sold in 1993 and Mr. Ajmera co-founded Seenergy Foods Ltd., a producer of speciality vegetarian foods.
Christopher Blair
Christopher Blair is a graduate of McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He is an investor and is currently working on his first book. He founded C. Blair Asset Management, a wealth management firm in 1998 based in Greenwich, CT. From 1991-1998, he was a V.P. and Portfolio Manager at Morgan Stanley, managing technology funds.
William Deluce
Bill Deluce is President of Wicklow Consulting Inc., a diversified investment company with global interests in the Aviation and Mining sectors. He has been involved in joint ventures in Canada, Africa, South America, and Asia. He has successfully launched and managed several regional airlines including Air Ontario (Canada’s largest regional airline at the time, which was later bought by Air Canada). Mr. Deluce earned a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto. In addition to being an inductee into Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame, Mr. Deluce actively supports philanthropic endeavours, and is also a Board Member of St. Michael’s Hospital.
Dr. Gail Donner
Gail Donner is a Professor Emerita and former Dean of the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing at the University of Toronto and a co-founder of donnerwheeler, a career consulting firm. Her interests lie in career development, health policy and nursing administration.
Dr. Donner is Chair of the Board of The Change Foundation, is active on a number of other Boards and committees, and is a frequent speaker on topics relating to career planning and nursing. She has received many honours, including the Order of Ontario, the Ontario Medical Association’s Centennial Award, the YMCA Woman of Distinction award and the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario Award of Merit and an honorary Doctorate of Science from Ryerson University.
Charles Field-Marsham
Charles Field-Marsham is a Canadian entrepreneur. He is the Founder and Chairman of Kestrel Capital (East Africa), Kenya’s leading investment bank. He is the Founder and Chairman of Panafrican Group, the distributor in 6 African countries for Komatsu mining and construction equipment. He is the Chairman of Kenya Fluorspar, a mining operation in Kenya. Before investing in Africa, he worked in the Corporate Finance department of New York investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston, where he gained experience in emerging markets. In 2007 he founded and remains President of Kestrel Capital Management Corp., based in Toronto, which provides strategic, investment and management consulting services.
He is also involved in several national and international non-profit initiatives: he is a Director of AMREF Canada (African Medical and Research Foundation); he is the benefactor and a Director of the Kenya Scholar Athlete Program; he is a founding donor and member of the steering committee for University of Toronto’s The Next 36 entrepreneurship program.
George Friedmann
Mr. Friedmann emigrated as a child from Czechoslovakia with his parents in 1968. He graduated from York University with a degree in Business Administration. He obtained his CA designation in 1980 with Coopers & Lybrand. In 1981 he established the Friedmann Group, a property development and financing business that focused on condominium, retail and medical buildings.
In 1995 he purchased and completely reconstructed the Windsor Arms Hotel in Toronto which he re opened in 1999. He is also the owner of several other companies in the hospitality, property development and financial sectors. Mr. Friedmann is deeply committed to a number of charitable causes and plays an active role in numerous fund raising and awareness events.
Mr. Friedmann is divorced and has three children.
Stephen Green
Stephen Green is a partner at Green and Spiegel, Barristers and Solicitors. He has served as a Director of the Mount Sinai Hospital Foundation Toronto and is on the Harmony Movement Board of Directors. He is also part of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the International Bar Association and the Executive Committee of the Canadian Bar Association of Ontario, Citizenship & Immigration Section. In addition, Mr. Green is also an active member of the Board of Directors for SickKids Foundation.
Jacqueline A. Labatt
Before devoting herself full-time to raising her two children, Jacqueline Labatt was a senior marketing executive for two Fortune 500 multinational corporations, and most recently worked for nine years with Procter & Gamble. In this capacity, Ms. Labatt worked and traveled extensively throughout Latin America, Western Europe, Southeast Asia, and India. Raised in France and Canada, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from McGill University. She also holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Reza Satchu
Mr. Satchu is the Managing Partner of Guildwood Capital Management, a private investment company. He has co-founded, built and managed four operating businesses from inception, including SupplierMarket, a supply chain software company that provided procurement services to Fortune 500 companies and was sold to Ariba in 2000; StorageNow Holdings which grew to be Canada’s second largest self-storage company before being sold to InStorage REIT; Stellation Asset Management an investment management firm that managed over $300 million; and most recently KGS Alpha Capital Markets, a fixed income broker dealer focused on the US mortgage market.
Mr. Satchu spent 13 years in New York City where he was a General Partner at Fenway Partners, a private equity firm, and a Financial Analyst at Merrill Lynch.
In 2007, Mr. Satchu was recognized as one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40.
Mr. Satchu has a BA from McGill University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He is married with three children and he is currently a Visiting Professor at University of Toronto where he teaches a highly successful course on Entrepreneurship.
Irit Shay
Irit Shay and her husband are the co-owners of Royal de Versailles Jewellers Inc., Canada’s leading high-end jeweller. Through her company, Irit makes significant contributions to the community, and is always eager to support charitable organizations. Her philanthropy is wide-spread, including the sponsorship of SickKids Foundation events, lending her time and resources to support Toronto General & Western Hospital, and many other hospitals in the Toronto area. Ms. Shay and her husband have five children and three grandchildren.
Andrew Sheiner
Andrew J. Sheiner is Managing Director of Onex Corporation and a director of several Onex subsidiaries. A graduate of McGill University and Harvard University, Mr. Sheiner worked previously for a private real estate company and for McKinsey & Company. He is a member of the Board of Directors for SickKids Foundation.