Shelley Stedall is the Vice President of the Municipal Finance Officers Association (MFOA). She is the Director of Corporate Services /Treasurer with South Frontenac, (a progressive rural municipality of 20,000, north of Kingston) and is a seasoned Municipal Treasurer with over 30 years in rural, small urban municipalities as well as experience as a Senior Municipal Financial Advisor with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH). Shelley is also an elected Council member in her home community of Quinte West. Shelley’s career in Municipal finance has been with Single Tiers and Lower Tiers in both Eastern and Western Ontario. Shelley has also been a marker for the Association of Municipal Manager Association (AMCTO) courses, has delivered seminars and training, including the MFOA/GFOA Budgeting workshop series, and updated the AMCTO Municipal training units. Shelley is extremely proud of the work that MFOA has done over the years to build the Municipal Finance Sector both through education and training but also through strong networking. MFOA has been a huge resource to Shelley and she continues to work with the Association so the Municipal Finance professions of Ontario can continue to be a strong resource in a world of constant change.

Pamela is the president and CEO of CPA Canada. Prior to assuming this role, she was the chief financial and corporate strategy officer at Payments Canada. She also served as chief financial officer and head of finance and employer services for the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. In 2016, Pamela was named a Fellow of the profession, and in 2019, she was honored as Canada’s CFO of the Year.

Pamela is an accomplished and dedicated community leader, serving on a number of boards and councils. She is also an active and founding member of the advisory board for the Institute for Sustainable Finance and helped found the Canadian Chapter of the Accounting for Sustainability CFO Leadership Network.

Stephenie started with Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada) on April 1, 2015, and is responsible for the independent standard-setting board staff support who work to develop financial reporting and assurance standards for Canada. Canada has long been known both for the quality of its auditing and accounting standards and for the independent, objective and transparent structures responsible for developing the standards and guidance used in this country. Stephenie has over 20 years of experience in independent standard setting and establishing and sustaining relationships with national and international standard-setting bodies.

Prior to joining CPA Canada, she was technical director at the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board - an independent standard-setting board of the International Federation of Accountants. Stephenie was previously a senior reviewer at the Canadian Public Accountability Board and also spent 12 years as a principal working with the Canadian Institute of Charted Accountants. She started her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

On the global scene, Stephenie ensures that CPA Canada’s influential voice is heard and aids in protecting the interests of Canadian enterprises that comply with accounting and auditing standards set outside our borders.

Clyde is currently chair of the Public Sector Accounting Board (PSAB) – Canada’s national independent public sector accounting standards setter. PSAB serves the public interest by developing high-quality accounting standards for the public sector that contribute to transparency, accountability and support decision making.

A retired Assistant Auditor General and former member of the Executive Committee of the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, Clyde has considerable experience in financial and performance auditing of Canadian public sector organizations and the promotion topics of strong governance, performance reporting, risk management and financial reporting and internal control within those organizations. He also has had experience with similar issues topics in the international public sector due to his work with organizations such as past responsibilities for the international audits of the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and representing the Office of the Auditor General of Canada at the United Nations Panel of External Auditors and its technical working group.

Michael is the Director, Public Sector Accounting Standards for the Public Sector Accounting Board. Michael has a broad base of experience based on over 20 years working in public, private and not-for-profit sector organizations.

His is a member of the special advisory committee to the Auditor General of Canada that provides advice and consultation on financial accounting and auditing matters. Michael is a part-time professor of public sector and not-for-profit-accounting at Toronto Metropolitan University and holds a Chartered Professional Accountant designation and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Schulich School of Business at York University.

CAGFO President

Lorrie Schmalenberg, CPA CGA

Lorrie has over 25 years’ experience in the public sector and believes government finance officers play a crucial role in providing trust, credibility and transparency to our stakeholders through excellence in all we do from budgeting, reporting, financial management, financial systems, and through the audit/assurance and regulatory functions. With a passion for people, she believes leadership is a top priority and doesn’t require a title.

Associate Director Public Sector Accounting Board

Martha Jones Denning is an Associate Director with Canada’s Public Sector Accounting Board (PSAB). She has developed public sector financial reporting standards for over 30 years, leading projects to create many standards in the CPA Canada Public Sector Accounting Handbook. Martha is involved with various PSAB projects, such as PSAB’s Concepts Underlying Financial Performance project, as well as PSAB’s Public Sector Accounting Discussion Group, a public forum where public sector accounting issues are discussed.

Antonella Risi is an Associate Director with Canada’s Public Sector Accounting Board (PSAB). In this role, she supports staff and the work of task forces made up of practitioners and users of financial reports to develop and amend public sector accounting standards.

Antonella has been developing public sector accounting standards for over nine years. Recently she led PSAB’s Concepts Underlying Financial Performance project.

Prior to that, Antonella was the Director of Finance of a hospital in Ontario. In this role, Antonella was responsible for implementing a new accounting, budget and payroll system. She was also responsible for the monthly, quarterly and yearly financial statements of the entity.

At the start of her career, Antonella spent over 9 years at Deloitte in the public sector practice, performing assurance and consulting services for her many clients. Clients included provincial and municipal governments, hospitals, not-for-profit organizations, charities and school boards.

CAGFO President

Lorrie Schmalenberg, CPA CGA

Lorrie has over 25 years’ experience in the public sector and believes government finance officers play a crucial role in providing trust, credibility and transparency to our stakeholders through excellence in all we do from budgeting, reporting, financial management, financial systems, and through the audit/assurance and regulatory functions. With a passion for people, she believes leadership is a top priority and doesn’t require a title.

President & Delivery Exective, Vigilant Consulting Services

Des has over 20 years of experience in Oracle Applications, primarily dedicated to business transformation, advisory and implementation of Oracle solutions. Des is the President Vigilant Consulting Services Inc. and is responsible for delivering large-scale, complex ERP and HCM solutions that help clients to achieve their goals for the project.

Prior to Vigilant, Des led the Oracle practice for Deloitte and IBM. Des has also worked with Ernst & Young and Oracle Consulting services.

Town of Aurora

Project Manager, Financial System Project / Deputy Treasurer 

Elizabeth Adams-Quattrociocchi has been working in local government for over 10 years and most recently led the implementation of a new financial system at the Town of Aurora. Elizabeth graduated from Ryerson University in 2009 and attained the CPA (CGA) designation in 2013. 

Michael McCormack, BA, CFI, is an accomplished speaker and trusted advisor to organizations who are concerned about the impact of workplace and harassment investigations. Michael is a Director with MNP’s Forensics and Litigation Support group in Edmonton, Alberta. He is responsible for investigations across Canada. He works with municipalities and governments, First Nations, corporations, on employee misconduct, risk assessments, due diligence, and harassment cases. Mike is designated as a Certified Forensic Investigator.

Mike has extensive knowledge and experience in the areas of employee misconduct and the investigation of harassment. He also helps organizations mitigate issues and strengthen anti-fraud and

anti-harassment controls. With deep knowledge and experience in investigations and interviewing, Mike develops practical solutions and delivers results for his clients.

Before joining MNP, Mike served for 24 years at the Ottawa Police Service as a Detective Sgt in Financial Crimes and Proceeds of Crime. He has spent his career investigating financial crimes. He has experience investigating complex international financial crimes including a variety of fraud schemes, money laundering and proceeds of crime offences.

CHAIR, Canadian Sustainability Standards Board (CSSB) 

Term expires: March 31, 2026

Charles-Antoine St-Jean comes to the CSSB with extensive standard-setting and leadership experience, most recently serving as the Regional Director – Americas with the IFRS Foundation®. In this position, he assisted with the implementation of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) operations in Montreal, QC.

Charles-Antoine's career was mostly spent with Ernst & Young (EY), retiring as a National Managing Partner in June 2017. Mid-career, he served as Comptroller General of Canada for several years before returning to EY. He has served as the (Interim) President and CEO of CPA Canada, where he initiated and led the bid proposal that led to the ISSB choosing Canada as the location from where it develops new standards.

Charles-Antoine also served as Chair of Canada’s Public Sector Accounting Board, the Ontario Government Internal Audit Committee, and many not-for-profit boards.

FRASCanada.ca/CSSB

Member, International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB).

Renée Pichard is a leader in Deloitte’s Public Sector Assurance practice with over 28 years of diverse professional and executive leadership experience in the public and private sectors. She leverages her expertise to help public sector organizations navigate through change and improve their ability to provide reliable and relevant decision-making financial and sustainability information. Prior to joining Deloitte, Renée spent 17 years at the Office of the Auditor General of Canada where she held the position of Assistant Auditor General, Financial Audits. Renée has been contributing to the establishment of accounting standards in Canada and internationally for the past 15 years. She currently serves as member of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB), which has recently undertaken setting sustainability reporting standards for the public sector. In that role, she also serves as Chair of the natural resources accounting project.

CAGFO President

Lorrie Schmalenberg, CPA CGA

Lorrie has over 25 years’ experience in the public sector and believes government finance officers play a crucial role in providing trust, credibility and transparency to our stakeholders through excellence in all we do from budgeting, reporting, financial management, financial systems, and through the audit/assurance and regulatory functions. With a passion for people, she believes leadership is a top priority and doesn’t require a title.

Managing Principal 

Kristen Michalko is a Managing Principal consultant at Ravic LLC, owners of Enterprise Municipality Suite. Kristen graduated from the University of Alberta in 1995 and attained the CPA (CMA) designation in 1999. Kristen has worked with a variety of organizations over the years, but mostly recently has been drawn to working with local governments, helping them get the most value out of their investment in their financial systems. 

Managing Partner 

Bret Merry is one of two inventors of the Enterprise Municipality Suite (EMS) software offered by Ravic. Bret has spent the past 12 working with Oracle technologies, 6 of those focused on municipalities. He is a proven team player with significant experience in the areas of application development, database, integrations, project management, and consulting. 

Town of Aurora

Project Manager, Financial System Project / Deputy Treasurer 

Elizabeth Adams-Quattrociocchi has been working in local government for over 10 years and most recently led the implementation of a new financial system at the Town of Aurora. Elizabeth graduated from Ryerson University in 2009 and attained the CPA (CGA) designation in 2013. 

Joseph Muhuni is the Deputy City Treasurer, Revenue for the City of Ottawa. He is responsible for ensuring that all revenue functions at the City of Ottawa are undertaken with a strategic corporate outlook, reflect industry best practices, and comply with statutory regulations. He oversees Tax Policy, Tax and Water Billing, Customer Servicing, Collections, Assessment Base Management, Corporate Payment Strategy and Operations for over 250,000 Water Meters.

Joseph has been actively involved in setting Tax Policy for the City of Ottawa for the last nine (9) years and implementation of transformational change within the organization; the most recent being the implementation of a New Water Billing System, implementation of a New Water Rate Structure, deployment of New Tax and Water e-Billing functionality and Online Change of Ownership Portal for lawyers.

He is a Certified Public Accountant and worked in the private sector for 11 years before joining the City Ottawa where he has been for the for the last 13 years.

CHAIR, Canadian Sustainability Standards Board (CSSB) 

Term expires: March 31, 2026

Charles-Antoine St-Jean comes to the CSSB with extensive standard-setting and leadership experience, most recently serving as the Regional Director – Americas with the IFRS Foundation®. In this position, he assisted with the implementation of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) operations in Montreal, QC.

Charles-Antoine's career was mostly spent with Ernst & Young (EY), retiring as a National Managing Partner in June 2017. Mid-career, he served as Comptroller General of Canada for several years before returning to EY. He has served as the (Interim) President and CEO of CPA Canada, where he initiated and led the bid proposal that led to the ISSB choosing Canada as the location from where it develops new standards.

Charles-Antoine also served as Chair of Canada’s Public Sector Accounting Board, the Ontario Government Internal Audit Committee, and many not-for-profit boards.

FRASCanada.ca/CSSB

Member, International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB).

Renée Pichard is a leader in Deloitte’s Public Sector Assurance practice with over 28 years of diverse professional and executive leadership experience in the public and private sectors. She leverages her expertise to help public sector organizations navigate through change and improve their ability to provide reliable and relevant decision-making financial and sustainability information. Prior to joining Deloitte, Renée spent 17 years at the Office of the Auditor General of Canada where she held the position of Assistant Auditor General, Financial Audits. Renée has been contributing to the establishment of accounting standards in Canada and internationally for the past 15 years. She currently serves as member of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB), which has recently undertaken setting sustainability reporting standards for the public sector. In that role, she also serves as Chair of the natural resources accounting project.

CAGFO President

Lorrie Schmalenberg, CPA CGA

Lorrie has over 25 years’ experience in the public sector and believes government finance officers play a crucial role in providing trust, credibility and transparency to our stakeholders through excellence in all we do from budgeting, reporting, financial management, financial systems, and through the audit/assurance and regulatory functions. With a passion for people, she believes leadership is a top priority and doesn’t require a title.

Michael’s role is to be the champion for improving public sector accounting practices across Canada by sharing knowledge, encouraging collaboration and leading the development of standards. Michael has a broad base of experience based on 20 years working in public, private and not-for-profit sector organizations. His is a member of the special advisory committee to the Auditor General of Canada that provides advise and consultation on financial accounting and auditing matters. Michael is a Chartered Professional Accountant holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto Canada.

Director of Finance and Asset Management, Saskatoon Police Service

Earl is the Director of Finance and Asset Management at the Saskatoon Police Service (SPS). Trained and developed as a professional accountant, he has been involved with organizations in such diverse capacities as: auditor; business manager; salesperson; General Manager; self-employed professional contractor; governance and leadership; Chair of a Board of Directors; dispute adjudication; and, most recently, financial, procurement and asset management leader at the SPS.

Earl has been with the SPS since 2016, first hired as the Director of Finance overseeing budget & accounting activities, payroll and government funding. In 2019 the portfolio of Asset Management was added, contributing the responsibilities for facility, fleet, procurement and inventory management to name a few key facets of that aspect of the role.

The greatest satisfaction Earl derives from work is to see his team members succeed and thrive, supporting them as required, with the short term result of getting a quality work product delivered on time, and the long term goal of preparing them to be leaders in their own right.

Kirsten Hand is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), CMA with twenty-five years of proven leadership in both finance and accounting in the telecommunication, information technology and Public Sector industries. She currently holds the position of Director, Finance and Assets Branch with the Waterloo Regional Police Service overseeing Finance, Payroll, Facilities, Fleet and Materials Management. Previous to this she worked with the Guelph Police Service, Bell Canada Inc. and IBM Canada Ltd.

Kirsten has a proven ability to initiate and implement process changes to drive productivity and profitability. She has experience managing a team of high performing professionals to drive results on time. Kirsten has excellent organizational skills and a drive to succeed which enables her to succeed in a changing, fast paced environment.

Kirsten is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario with a Bachelors in Financial and Economic Studies and holds a Diploma of Accounting from Wilfred Laurier University. She has also completed the Executive Development in Policing with the Canadian Police College, Police Leadership Program at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Global Studies Program through the Canadian Association Chiefs of Police, and was the past chair of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police Finance, Budget and Asset Management committee.

She lives with her spouse and two children outside of Fergus, Ontario and shares a passion for the outdoors spending her leisure time in Northern Ontario.

JEFF CHANNELL is the Executive Director Financial Services and Administration at York Regional Police. Mr. Channell is a member of Canada’s sixth largest municipal police service.  York Regional Police is comprised of over 2,400 uniform and civilian members who provide services to York Region’s 1.2 million citizens. York Regional Police is a recognized leader in building and strengthening partnerships with our many diverse communities and the service continues to implement strategies and programs to ensure service delivery is provided in a fair, inclusive and equitable manner. Ranked among Canada’s fastest growing municipalities, York Region is forecast to reach 2 million residents and 1 million jobs by 2051. Positioning York Regional Police to meet its growth and evolving community needs over the coming decades is critical.

Jude Pillainayagam is a senior engineer in municipal engineering sector and a Fellow of Engineers Canada. He is involved in Asset Management for nearly 20 years working at Metro Vancouver, City of Surrey and City of Coquitlam.

Jude possesses a diverse educational background and experience. He is also an accountant and a certified Information System Professional. He is a member of the Institute of Asset Management UK (IAM), and the Regional Director of Canadian Network of Asset Managers (CNAM) for BC and Alberta. Jude has carried out extensive work in the area of asset management and presented in many conferences.

Terri Velasquez is the Finance Director for the City of Aurora. She is responsible for operations of the City’s Finance Department and the overall management of the City’s finances. Previously, Ms. Velasquez worked for the City of Colorado Springs in a number of capacities including Chief Finance Officer. Ms. Velasquez received a Master’s degree in Finance and a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of Colorado and is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Colorado. She also holds a Certified Public Finance Officer designation from the Government Finance Officers’ Association. Ms. Velasquez is the immediate Past President of the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA).

Partner, Economics and Research, MNP. Susan is a Partner with MNP’s Consulting Practice in Vancouver and leads the national Insights and Analytics Practice. She is an economist with more than 20 years of experience in economic modelling and assessment in various contexts. Susan’s work has included assignments for public sector organizations, industry associations and private companies and has spanned many industries. Susan focuses on assisting clients with the development of quantitative estimates to inform decision-making and policy development. She goes beyond the numbers to explain what this means for decision-making. She is frequently invited to speak on economic issues and provide insights to government and industry audiences

Michael Lewis is Managing Director of Michael Lewis Training, Motivation and Development, a London, Ontario-based training, and development firm that was founded in 1994 and specializes in developing and delivering personal and professional development presentations, seminars, webinars, workshops, and teambuilding facilitation to a wide range of clients. Born in 1961, He graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a B.A. in 1983, began a career in training in the corporate world, and eventually started his own training and development firm.

Michael Lewis is a very experienced and popular speaker and trainer. As of May 2023, he has spoken and/or presented workshops, seminars, webinars, and team-building sessions almost 6300 times in 404 different communities across Ontario. He has spoken and presented seminars and workshops on a wide variety of emerging and important topics to over the past 30 years at various conferences and from that unique perspective has been witness to an ever-changing world of work and has focused on common sense solutions for our business and often complex lives!

CAGFO President

Lorrie Schmalenberg, CPA CGA

Lorrie has over 25 years’ experience in the public sector and believes government finance officers play a crucial role in providing trust, credibility and transparency to our stakeholders through excellence in all we do from budgeting, reporting, financial management, financial systems, and through the audit/assurance and regulatory functions. With a passion for people, she believes leadership is a top priority and doesn’t require a title.