Sarah McLachlan, Chair

Sarah is the Chair of the Sarah McLachlan Foundation, whose primary purpose is to provide the annual operating funds to the Sarah McLachlan School of Music, of which Sarah is the Founder and Chair. Over her celebrated music career, she has sold over forty million albums, received three Grammy Awards, twelve Juno Awards and was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. In addition to her personal artistic efforts, Sarah founded the Lilith Fair tour, which showcased female musicians and brought together more than two million people over its three-year run. Lilith Fair raised over $7 million for local and national charities and helped launch the careers of numerous female performers. For her contributions to the community, Sarah has received recognition including the Queen Elizabeth II Golden and Diamond Jubilee medals, as well as honorary doctorate degrees from Capilano University, Simon Fraser University, the University of Alberta, and Emily Carr University. She is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a Member of the Order of British Columbia. As the key visionary, Sarah brings an enthusiasm and passion to every facet of the School of Music and she has an active presence as an advocate for the profound potential of music education to empower, motivate, and transform lives.

Dan Cleland, Vice-Chair
Vice President, Sarah McLachlan Entertainment Corporation

Dan Cleland has over 30 years of experience within the music industry. His path has included work as audio engineer, production manager, tour manager, and music school board member. Following his tour management of such celebrity musicians as Avril Lavigne, the Barenaked Ladies, Norah Jones, and The Chieftains, Dan has come to work as a major member of Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan’s management team. Dan brings a wealth of energy, industry knowledge, and professional acumen to his work, and though he is undoubtedly a workaholic, he does maintain one of his favourite hobbies as a pilot, as well as his own endeavours in music. Dan’s experience and insights are invaluable to our team.

Kenna Danyliw, Treasurer
President / CEO, Danyliw & Mann

Kenna is the President / CEO and founding partner of Danyliw & Mann, a boutique firm that specializes in providing business management, tax and accounting services to the music industry.  The business started over 15 years ago in the spare bedroom of her family’s home while she had two young daughters, a stepson and one very supportive husband.  Danyliw & Mann has grown out of that bedroom and into one of the leading Canadian firms in the industry and proudly represents several Juno and Grammy award-winning or nominated artists across Canada, the United States and beyond.  Kenna is a CPA, CA and non-practicing CFA who started her career with Coopers & Lybrand and also worked with Laidlaw and Pricewaterhouse Coopers before founding Danyliw & Mann.  Kenna is a new member of the Hamilton Community Foundation’s Women4Change group, and a board member of The Avril Lavigne Foundation. Formerly held roles include Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors at the Art Gallery of Burlington, and Board Member for the Southern Ontario Chamber Music Institute and Planned Parenthood Hamilton.

Jane Muckle, Secretary
Project Manager, A&F Music Ltd.

Jane has over twenty-five years of experience in the entertainment industry working alongside music mogul Sam Feldman and his associated companies. Throughout her career at A&F Music, she has worked in such areas as music supervision, film and television production, music publishing, touring, and artist management. For the past fifteen years she has focused on artist management, working closely with renowned artists such as Sarah McLachlan and James Taylor.  Her work in artist management has taken her to various countries around the world, and has involved many special projects, including artist residencies in Las Vegas, cross-Atlantic artist performances on the Queen Mary 2, world-wide concert tours, international press and promotional tours for album releases, and a groundbreaking Audible Original production.  

Douglas Goss, Q.C., AOE
Counsel, Bryan & Company

Doug Goss is a graduate of both the University of Alberta School of Business and Faculty of Law, earning a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Finance in 1981, followed by a Bachelor of Laws in 1984.  He is currently Counsel at Bryan & Company LLP, and serves as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Premium Brands Holdings Corporation. Doug has extensive experience as a Board Member, holding positions for organizations including: University of Alberta, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), CN Edmonton Community Board, TELUS Edmonton Community Board, Fort Edmonton Management Company, the Edmonton Eskimo Football Club, and the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation. He currently serves as a Board Member of the Hockey Canada Foundation and the Edmonton Police Foundation.

Doug was named a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary International in 2009. He is a member of the Alberta Order of Excellence, and has received the Queen Elizabeth II Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals, the Edmonton Outstanding Volunteer Fundraising Award, the Alumni Honour Award from the University of Alberta, and the Stars of Alberta Volunteer Award. Mr. Goss received an Honourary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Alberta at its Spring 2017 Convocation.

Joyce Ip, MBA
Founder and Director, Lumen Consulting Inc. & Director of Strategy and Analytics, Capilano University

Joyce is a big believer in the transformative and connective power of music. Early on in her career, she had the pleasure of establishing the inaugural music program for a new Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron. Since then, she’s leveraged her specialty at the intersection of psychology and business to help organizations implement strategic and sustainable change.

For the past decade, Joyce has been a trusted leader and confidant for senior leaders in both the private and public sectors including venture capital, utilities and higher ed. Her expertise is in building high performing teams and cultural transformation. Joyce’s passion is to help others succeed through compassion, emotional intelligence and data-informed decision making. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Psychology and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of British Columbia (UBC).

Jeffrey Latimer
CEO, Canada's Walk of Fame & Owner, JL Entertainment

Jeffrey Latimer has produced and managed live theatre, musical productions, artists, events, and partnerships in North America for over 30 years. Currently, Jeffrey is the CEO of Canada’s Walk of Fame, and Manager of international vocal group The Tenors, soul sensation Sean Jones, the spoken word messenger Wali Shah, and others. Jeffrey has produced more than 40 live theatrical shows in the past, including hit shows such as Forever Plaid, Forever Tango, Forever Swing, Stomp, and more. His event company was honoured to produce the entertainment for the G7 and G20 World Leaders Summits. For years, Jeffrey has worked with The Second City, and with the Just for Laughs comedy festival. He has current film and TV projects with Bell Media, Frank Marshall, Fremantle Entertainment, and just completed producing films about David Foster and Howie Mandel while currently working on Oscar Peterson.

Jeffrey’s charity work is vast, including: event chair of the ONEXONE Foundation gala headed by Matt Damon, AMICI’s 50th anniversary gala, Ron White Foundation’s “White Knight” Gala, and Board Member for SickKids Foundation (community outreach), Jays Care Foundation and The David Foster Foundation. He is currently working on an initiative with The Canadian Cancer Society.

Ashif Mawji
Managing Director, ScaleGood Fund LP

Ashif Mawji is a serial entrepreneur, philanthropist, venture capitalist, mentor and community builder. He chairs the Edmonton Police Foundation, Ben Stelter Foundation and TELUS Friendly Future Foundation and serves on numerous private and nonprofit boards, including the Invest Alberta Corporation, Sarah McLachlan Foundation, Hockey Canada Foundation, CN Community Foundation, Premier’s Council on Civil Society and others.

Ashif has directly invested into more than 110 companies globally, is invested in over 10 funds, is the managing director of the ScaleGood Fund LP (Social Impact VC Fund). He advises and mentors entrepreneurs globally. Ashif has built (ground up) and exited several companies in the tech space, with one of his companies having a presence in over 150 countries and in virtually every industry.

He received the EY Prairies Entrepreneur of the Year award, named one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40 and received Canada’s 50 Best Managed companies award three years in a row. Ashif was inducted into the Junior Achievement (NA) Business Hall of Fame in 2019. Ashif is an active member of YPO (Young Presidents Organization) and won the coveted Laing Award - he has served in the executive including as Chair of the organization (YPO-AB).

Ashif has served as an Honorary Colonel in the Canadian Army and received the Queen’s Golden, Diamond and Platinum Jubilee medals and the Alberta Centennial Medal.

He was named a Henry Crown Fellow (part of the globally renowned Aspen Institute) and one of a handful Canadians to ever be included.

Adina Spivak
Manager, Community

With more than 10 years experience in the non-profit sector, Adina has worked in fundraising, event planning and donor communications in international and local contexts across various areas of philanthropy including social services, social justice, advocacy, health, education, environmental sustainability, women's rights and international development. She is passionate about supporting donors to making meaningful contributions to causes that matter to them.
Originally from Toronto, Adina holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Creative Writing from Concordia University and a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from Simon Fraser University. But like a good Vancouverite, she loves yoga, drinking matcha and checking out local Farmers Markets.

You can contact Adina by email or by phoning 604-709-4415

Jackie LaFontaine, CPA, CGA
Director of Finance

Jackie joined SoM in November 2019 as Accountant, taking on all finance-related responsibilities for the school. Jackie holds both a Diploma in Financial Management from BCIT and earned her professional designation as a Certified General Accountant in 1995.

Jackie brings a wealth of experience to the school having enjoyed a 30+ year career working in the travel and entertainment industry; most notably for the Vancouver Canucks, Vancouver Grizzlies, Uniglobe Travel and the Pacific National Exhibition. Following the successful sale of Uniglobe in which she played a pivotal role, Jackie took a short sabbatical to recharge and ultimately seek out a new position in which she could give back to the community. Having a lifelong passion for music and also playing guitar for fun since childhood, SoM was a perfect fit! In addition to music, Jackie is also passionate about health and fitness, earning her 1st degree black belt in Taekwon-do in 2015.

You can contact Jackie by email or by phoning 604-709-4415

Josh Briand
Director, IT & Events

Josh has been working in the music and live events industries since 2002. His career highlights include being the Merchandise Manager for The Tragically Hip’s 2016 Man Machine Poem Tour, Tour Managing Sarah McLachlan and helping to produce several fundraising events for the Sarah McLachlan Foundation. He is a graduate of Udacity’s Full Stack Web Development program and a member of Squarespace’s Circle program. Josh is a big fan of technology and enjoys working daily with Squarespace, Blackbaud’s Raiser’s Edge, Eventric’s Master Tour and Discord. In his spare time, Josh enjoys cooking, cycling, SUPing and exploring BC’s forests and mountains.

You can contact Josh by email or by phoning 604-709-4415