Howard is the VP of Media and Stakeholder Relations at the Business Council of Canada.
Prior to joining the Council, Howard was the Director of Media Relations and Content Strategy with NATIONAL Public Relations where he led accounts for a variety of clients in different sectors from defence to agriculture and museums to foreign missions. From 2011 to 2016, Howard served as the Director of Communications at the Embassy of Israel in Canada where he oversaw all media and public diplomacy activities during a period of growth in bilateral ties.
Howard holds a PhD in Communications from Carleton University where he continues to teach courses in professional communications and digital diplomacy. He is also a Board Member of the Canadian Committee for World Press Freedom and a recipient of the Freiman Family Young Leadership Award – recognizing someone under 40 for exceptional service to Ottawa’s Jewish community.
For over 25 years, Jennifer has built a career focused on connecting people and projects to support leaders in propelling their businesses forward. As the Business Development Manager for MARANT Construction in the Nation’s Capital, Jennifer is a dedicated city builder and passionate about being apart of the growth and development of our downtown core as the Future of Work changes how we think about, and occupy our city. She is well versed in building inspired relationships in the private and public sectors that have and will positively shape the future of our community and the built environment.
Jennifer studied political science at Carleton University and interior design at Sheridan College. While an unusual combination, Jennifer has leveraged her community and policy education with her formal design training to allow her to see ‘what's possible’ not just ‘what is’. Jennifer has built her career through this lens, giving her unbeatable insight into Ottawa’s urban development, design and construction sectors.
Jennifer’s business acumen and work in the community has been recognized with a number of industry accolades and awards including, the prestigious Ottawa Chamber of Commerce’s 40 Under 40’ award, a nod from the Ottawa Business Journal on the Top 10 Fastest Growing Companies List, and a Top Finalist for Women’s Business Network’sBusiness Women of the Year.
Passionate about proactively creating the community around us, Jennifer sits on The Ottawa Business Journal Advisory Board, many construction industry committees, spearheads fundraising events for the Ottawa Cancer Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, and the Ottawa Mission, and is a founding member of the hugely successful Ottawa Board of Trade Women, Wine & Wisdom quarterly event series and Co-Founder of City BuildHERS.
Reinforcing the work of the Canadian Club of Ottawa is important to Jennifer. Having informed, engaged, and inspired dialogue is how we positively impact our community and stimulate positive future growth.
Melissa Cotton serves as the Director of Government Affairs, Canada at CN Rail, focusing on Federal Government and stakeholder engagement and advocacy, community funding and social responsibility. Melissa has been working in the political sphere for two decades. She has spent time working on Parliament Hill in Ottawa for Senators and MP's and most recently served six years as the Managing Director of the Liberal Research Bureau where she provided advice to the Prime Minister, Cabinet and Liberal MP's while managing a team of over 40 staff. Prior to joining this team in 2015, she served as Director of Operations to two Cabinet Ministers in the Ontario government. She began her career in Student Services and Human Resource Management at the University of Saskatchewan.
Melissa has always had a love of public service and politics. She is the first woman to run a parliamentary Research Bureau, and on what she refers to as her second tour of duty on the Hill, placed a specific emphasis on the development of tools, resources and supports to offer political staff a way to navigate a unique HR environment.
Outside of work, Melissa is involved in a variety of organizations in support of women and youth, amongst others. She is also a guest lecturer at the Clayton H. Riddell Graduate Program in Political Management and is a frequent speaker at a variety of conferences.
A proud prairie girl at heart, Melissa hails from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Heather Tessier is a highly accomplished organizer and Executive Assistant with exceptional problem-solving and time management skills. Her career has spanned the high-tech sector, the halls of Parliament Hill and she was Executive Assistant for Ottawa Mayor, Larry O’Brien. Heather has advised and run political campaigns at the Federal, Provincial and Municipal level for over 20 years. She is a true motivator, and her enthusiastic style and flare are contagious.
Being in love with acting, drama, dance, and movies her whole life, Heather followed her dream to become an actress in 2020. To date, she has performed in a feature film, a television series and appeared in many film productions. Heather was also the Co-Executive producer of the 50th Anniversary Concert Series of Jesus Christ Superstar in 2022. Along with her talented, musician husband Yvan, they produced the entire show for three sold-out concerts that raised over $46,000. for Dementia Research.
Danielle McGee - A government and public affairs professional; she is currently the Senior Advisor, Government & Stakeholder Relations with Ottawa Community Housing (OCH). OCH operates as an arm’s length corporation to the City of Ottawa, and is the largest community housing provider in the City (providing homes for over 15,000 homes for ~32,000 people), and the second-largest in Ontario.
From 2010-2022 she served as Director of Community Relations for Mayor Jim Watson, where she provided advice and communications support on a wide range of issues and community outreach activities.
Danielle also has experience on Parliament Hill, having worked for two Members of Parliament, and in the provincial government working in the constituency office of Jim Watson when he served as Member of Provincial Parliament for Ottawa West-Nepean and Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
A life long political organizer, she has been deeply involved in numerous Ottawa area provincial and federal election campaigns and party nominations, as well being a key organizer during the 2006 federal leadership campaign.
Beginning her municipal career in Ottawa working on a citywide mayoral campaign in the 2010, she also led two successful mayoral re-election campaigns in 2014 and 2018 as Campaign Manager for Jim Watson.
She is a proud graduate of Carleton University with a BA (Hons) in Political Science, Concentration in Political Theory and Minor in Law.
She lives in Ottawa with her husband David and their two young kids.
Mary Anne Carter brings a deep understanding of law, business and public policy to Earnscliffe clients, building their capacity to advocate effectively with government.
Having worked as a senior public affairs consultant, she has provided federal and provincial government relations counsel to clients across a range of sectors, and has developed strategic plans in key industries, including trade, intellectual property, consumer protection, cultural/heritage, education and health.
Mary Anne holds a Master of Laws degree from the University of Ottawa. Her previous work includes the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, where she served as legal policy director, managing the business and competition law files as well as intellectual property policy. She also directed Canada’s international arbitration committee at the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris and the national tourism file.
Mary Anne’s professional experience also includes industry associations in both Ottawa and Washington, D.C., ranging from mental health to international law.
She is a director on the board of the Canadian Club of Ottawa and the Government Relations Institute of Canada (GRIC), and has served as co-chair for the National Capital Region chapter of Equal Voice.
The Goderich Ontario native is a frequent commentator on Canadian government affairs.
With over twenty years of experience in maximizing the value companies get from their accounting, tax and business advisor relationships; Bruce’s role is to represent and grow business for Welch LLP and Welch Capital Partners in the Ottawa and Toronto markets and also help our clients become more successful.
Bruce graduated from Carleton University with a Bachelor of Commerce. Prior to joining Welch, he held senior business development positions at a large international accounting firm and in the high tech industry.
In 2005 Bruce was named one of Ottawa’s Top Forty under 40.
Community minded, Bruce is very passionate about Ottawa and things that can make our great city even better. He’s currently on the board of directors of the Canadian Club of Ottawa, the organizing committee for the Ronald McDonald House Corporate Skifest (since 2005), and a member of the Queensway Carleton Hospital Foundation Cabinet Committee.
When not introducing people who should know each other, Bruce enjoys music, food, various outdoor activities, and spending time with his family, including his son Josh Raganold who also works at Welch.
