Board of Directors
As a not-for-profit charity, ACE is governed by a Board of Directors. Our 13-member Board, the majority of whom are 55 or older, is composed of both community members and professionals who have experience that supports ACE’s governance and who have a shared interest in and commitment to the legal issues of older adults. Board members are elected by the ACE membership. The elections take place at the annual general meeting which is generally held on the fourth Tuesday of October.
Our Current Directors:
Shelley Hobbs, Chair
After 27 years as a guardianship lawyer at the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee, Shelley retired to concentrate on other things including theatre, travel, and grandchildren. She is a playwright and a hockey player. Born in Winnipeg, raised in Thunder Bay, she resides in Toronto, Ontario, with her wife, Joan Jamieson. She is passionate about the proper treatment of our elders and the preservation of elder autonomy and rights. Shelley is honoured to serve on the Board for ACE
Alexander Henderson, Vice-Chair
Alex is a lawyer in Toronto with a boutique law firm. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1978. He has been a lecturer at continuing legal education seminars, for the Canadian Bar Association (Ontario), the Law Society of Ontario, and Osgoode Hall Law School. Alex first joined the ACE Board in 1993. He is a past Chair of the Board and currently serves on a number of Committees, including the ACE Special Lecture Committee. Alex has found work on the Board interesting and at times challenging given the changing legal environment in Ontario.
Saman Jaffery Ullmann, Vice-Chair
Saman is an Executive Trust Officer with TD Private Trust. She works closely with individuals, families, and foundations to assist with estate planning or estate/trust administration. Working exclusively with vulnerable and older clients, Saman is deeply committed to issues that impact this community. Prior to joining TD Private Trust, Saman was a practicing lawyer in the areas of estates, trusts, capacity, and fiduciary litigation. Saman lives in Toronto with her husband, two teenage boys, and a very active three-year-old.
Tom Warner, Treasurer
Tom Warner has been an activist and advocate for LGBTQ+ rights for over 45 years. He was a leader of political action campaigns in the 1970s and 1980s to have sexual orientation included as a prohibited ground of discrimination in the Ontario Human Rights Code and during the 1990s to amend Ontario laws to extend legal recognition to same-sex spousal relationships. Tom was employed with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario and Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario (CPA Ontario) from 1980 until his retirement in 2016. He held a number of regulatory and senior executive positions including, most recently, Vice President and Registrar and Vice President, Regulatory and Standards. In 2016, Tom was elected as the first Honorary Chartered Professional Accountant in Ontario.
Matthew Furrow, Secretary
Matthew Furrow is a Toronto-based lawyer who practices exclusively in estate litigation including capacity, power of attorney, and guardianship disputes. Matthew has advocated for clients at all levels of court in Ontario. He began his practice at a large national law firm before developing a focus on estate litigation. He has written and presented extensively on estate, trust, and guardianship issues.
Dr. Carole A. Cohen
Dr. Carole Cohen is a geriatric psychiatrist. She is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Director of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. She is Clinical Director of the Community Psychiatric Services for the Elderly at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. This inter-professional team provides assessment and management of older adults with mental health and substance use problems (including dementia) in their place of residence (homes, retirement homes, and long-term care homes). She has been active in inter-agency collaborative care and planning in North Toronto for decades. She has been involved with planning related to Behavioural Supports Ontario locally and provincially since the inception of the program. Dr Cohen is a consultant to the Capacity Assessment Office of the Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario. She teaches at the University of Toronto medical school and supervises psychiatry residents during their geriatrics rotation.
Joanna Taylor
Joanna is a retired nurse with experience in front-line nursing, as a professor of nursing at Laurentian University and as Chair of Continuing Education, Health Sciences and Human Services at Cambrian College. Over the years she has served on many boards and committees in the health-care field. She recently moved from Northern Ontario to a retirement home in Toronto (Christie Gardens). Here, she sits on a committee that advises administration on health matters in the long-term care section and the independent living area. She spent eight years as a caregiver for her husband who had Alzheimer’s. Joanna is pleased to be part of the ACE board advocating for older adults, especially in the area of systemic challenges.
Marilyn White-Campbell
Marilyn is a Clinical Geriatric Addictions Consultant with St Joseph’s Health Center Guelph and COPA Reconnect. She is the provincial Lead for BSO BrainXchange Older Adult Substance Use Collaborative. Marilyn is a co-investigator with Canadian Coalition for Seniors’ Mental Health (CCSMH) project to establish four national clinical best-practice guidelines for substance use disorders (SUDs) in older adults including alcohol, benzodiazepines, cannabis and opiates; and she is a co-chair for the alcohol working group. She is the recipient of the Ontario Psychogeriatric Award of Excellence, and nominated for the Services awards for Geriatric Excellence in Executive Leadership in 2015 and for innovation in Team for Geriatric Addictions in 2016. She was the recipient of the inaugural 2018 CAGP/CCSMH Seniors’ Mental Health Outstanding Care & Integrative Practice Award from the Canadian Academy of Geriatric Psychiatry/CCSMH. With more than 30 years’ clinical experience working with older adults with SUDs she is recognized as a pioneer in the field of Geriatric Addictions.
Irene Carriere
Retired from her full-time paid career, Irene continues her social justice work and has been active in the creation of affordable housing, food and refugee programs. Navigating the care of family members led to an increased interest in the protection of the rights of the elderly. A past chair of the Board, Irene is honoured to have the opportunity to rejoin ACE.
Domenica Ozarko
Domenica is an experienced leader in public policy, regulatory and program management, with over 20 years’ experience working in the Ontario government including the Ministry of Health & Long-Term Care and Cabinet Office; leading various provincial legislative, regulatory, and program initiatives. For the past 8 years she has served in a range of positions at the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority (RHRA) including overseeing governance, government relations and building collaborative stakeholder partnerships to support seniors. The RHRA is a regulator mandated by the government to protect and ensure the safety and well-being of seniors living in Ontario’s retirement homes under the Retirement Homes Act, 2010. Domenica is honoured to serve on the Board for ACE.