Board of Directors

Gary D. Graham, Chair

Gary Graham, B.A. LL.B., is the founding partner of the Hamilton practice of Gowlings (Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP), one of Canada's largest national law firms. He is an accomplished business law lawyer with extensive business management experience.

Gary has actively advised clients in the manufacturing, energy and broader public sectors for over 25 years. His experience includes advising multinationals interested in participating in Canada's nuclear energy program, completing a multi-site power generation project financing transaction advising on community energy projects, waste-to-energy projects, the purchase and sale of electrical and electronic businesses, procurement disputes involving energy-related goods and services, construction contracting and a wide variety of commercial agreements and contentious matters. He has been involved in acquisitions, major international share and asset transfers and a broad range of customer, supplier, employee, inventor and other contracts. He also has considerable experience in the resolution of commercial disputes.

For five years in the 1990s, he served as president of Westinghouse Canada Inc. He has served as a Director of Burlington Hydro Electric Inc since 2004. 

Gary earned his Law Degree from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1980, and was called to the Bar in 1982. He is a former Sir James Dunn scholar. 

Outside of his practice, Gary has been actively involved with the Canadian Manufacturers’ Association (Chairman 1995), the Hamilton and District Chamber of Commerce (President 1998/99) and McMaster University, where he is a member of the Board of Governors.   He is also Chair of the Board of Directors of the corporation that is the trustee for the McMaster Innovation Park. 

Gary lives in Burlington with his wife Sandy and their sons Mark and Mike.

Darla Youldon

Over her 26 year career, Darla Youldon, now retired, held various management positions at leading agricultural machinery manufacturer, Deere & Co. (DE).  
 
Darla served in a wide variety of capacities including President of John Deere Credit Canada, VP of John Deere Ltd. Canada, and VP of John Deere Credit Worldwide in Des Moines, IA.  Her experiences as the JD Credit Worldwide Customer Service Process Owner, have given her a wealth of knowledge in this discipline.
 
In addition to her role as a Director of Burlington Hydro, Darla remains busy in retirement providing consulting and management services to local businesses and Internet upstarts.
 
A Burlington resident for more than 25 years, Darla is an active member of the community.  She is currently President of the Burlington Art Centre Foundation Board.  She served as Chair of the Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital Foundation Board and sat on the Board of Nelson Youth Centres.
 
Darla was educated at McMaster University and lives in Burlington with her two sons, Tim and Greg.

Michael Schwenger

Michael Schwenger, Chair & CEO of the StressCrete Group of  Companies, headquartered here in Burlington, brings a wealth of business expertise to the Board. His nearly three decades in the electrical industry include seeing first hand the results of electricity deregulation across North America. This understanding and knowledge continues to aid Burlington Hydro greatly in Ontario's deregulated market place.

Michael is also a member of the Carpenter Hospice Board and chairs the Art Gallery of Hamilton's Board. Previously, he served as a member and chair of the Royal Botanical Garden's Board.

Archie Bennett

Archie Bennett retired in 2007 after a 45-year career in senior management, engineering and construction, after leading the Burlington-based Zeton group of companies since 1989 to become the global leader in its field.  He continues to serve on the parent and Dutch subsidiary boards of Zeton, and provides consulting services on management matters.

Educated in civil engineering at Purdue University in Indiana and before that at the Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, he has an extensive background in new business development, marketing, engineering and construction in a technology environment.

Cam Jackson, Mayor

On November 13, 2006, Cam Jackson was elected the 27th Mayor of the City of Burlington. With over 30 years of elected public service dedicated to the citizens of Burlington, Mayor Jackson has extensive experience with and operational knowledge of government at all levels.

After serving five terms as a Halton School Board trustee, Burlington citizens first elected Cam Jackson in 1985 to serve as their MPP in the Ontario Legislature. He was subsequently re-elected in six more provincial elections.

Following the election of the Progressive Conservative government in 1995, Cam was appointed to Cabinet and served as Minister Responsible for Workers' Compensation Reform; Minister Responsible for Seniors; Canada's first Minister of Long Term Care; Minister of Citizenship with Responsibility for Seniors and Minister of Tourism and Sport.

During his 22 years at Queen's Park, Cam developed a reputation as a tireless worker dedicated to advocating for seniors, persons with disabilities and victims of crime.

Cam has long been recognized as a community leader and is an active member of numerous local community associations. The Mayor also sits on the boards of Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital, Burlington Hydro, the Burlington Economic Development Corporation, Tourism Burlington, as well as the GTA Marketing Alliance and the Council of GTA Mayors and Chairs.

Prior to serving as an elected official, Cam worked in the real estate profession and became the Chief Executive Officer of the Metropolitan Hamilton and Burlington Real Estate Board. He was born in Hamilton but moved to Burlington in 1962 where he attended Nelson High School and McMaster University.

Cam is married to Elaine (Cuthbert) and they have three daughters Amy, Lauren and Michelle.

Roman Martiuk, City Manager for City of Burlington

Roman Martiuk is City Manager of the City of Burlington, Ontario, leading 1,000 employees and managing a budget of more than $180 million on behalf of Burlington City Council.

He was most recently City Manager for Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, and has served as General Manager of Corporate Services and City Treasurer with the City of Windsor and Chief Administrative Officer with the City of Belleville and the Town of Georgina.

Roman holds a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Toronto and a Masters of Business Administration degree from McMaster University in Hamilton. He is a licensed Professional Engineer and a Certified Management Accountant.

Roman is married with four children and lives in Burlington.

Burlington is an environmentally-focused, fiscally-responsible city of 166,000 nestled between the Niagara Escarpment and Lake Ontario. Burlington boasts an award-winning waterfront and is considered one of Canada’s most livable cities.

Phil Nanavati

P.K. (Phil) Nanavati is an owner, the broker of record and the president of Martel Commercial Realty Inc., Brokerage.  He has been a licensed realtor® since 1980 first in Victoria, B.C. and currently in Burlington, Ontario.  In 1988, Phil was awarded the prestigious SIOR (Specialist in Industrial and Office Real Estate) designation by the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors.  He is a past-president of the Society and served for a number of years on their board of directors.  Apart from his real estate education, Phil has passed the Canadian Securities Course, has a bachelor of science degree from M.I.T. and a master of science degree from the University of Calgary.  Phil is a member of the commercial division of the Realtors Association of Hamilton/Burlington, chairman of the Ontario Real Estate Association’s Commercial Council, a Director of the Ontario Real Estate Association and a past Director of the Canadian Real Estate Association’s Commercial Council.

Charles Keizer

Charles Keizer is a partner and Co-head of Torys’ Infrastructure and Energy Practice. His practice focuses on administrative and corporate/commercial law in the energy sector. Charles provides advice to various energy sector participants, including generators (renewable and conventional), transmitters, distributors, and gas and power marketers. He also advises clients on financing, project development, regulatory and contractual matters.

As lead counsel on a number of generation and transmission projects, Charles has provided strategic advice related to federal and provincial regulatory regimes, and he has a strong understanding of project development - from the initial sates to connection and commercial operation.

Internationally, Charles has advised wholesale power sellers on issues relating to interjurisdictional trading and market rules, and proponents of international power lines on approvals.  He has also negotiated interconnection agreements between transmission control areas.

Charles regularly appears before the Ontario Energy Board on rates, licensing and leave to construct matters.