Board of Directors

Simon Foster was appointed to the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) board of directors on March 31, 2023, and was appointed chair on August 8, 2024.

Based in Toronto, he is the CEO and founder of Chatter Research, a customer feedback software platform he created in 2016. Prior to this, Simon spent five years with Blue Ant Media, as senior vice president of digital and corporate development.

Simon is the co-founder and chair of the Framework Foundation, a charity that promotes civic engagement of Canadians aged 22 to 35 through volunteerism. The Framework Foundation has invested almost $1 million into the careers of emerging artists.

From 2007 to 2012, Simon served on the board of Canada’s National Ballet School. In 2011 he was the recipient of Business / Arts' Arnold Edinborough Award, recognizing an individual under 40 for exceptional leadership and volunteerism in the arts.

Simon is a graduate of Queen’s University and has a master’s degree in political economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
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Toronto-based Dani Peters was appointed to the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) board of directors in May 2019 and appointed Vice Chair on October 7, 2021.
 
Dani is the President of Magnet Strategy Group, a public affairs consulting practice with a presence in Toronto and Washington, D.C.  Dani’s community involvement includes serving as Co-Founder of Cross-Border Health, a US based non-profit organization dedicated to fostering Canada-US dialogue on common priorities in health, a Health Leader-in-Residence for the World Health Innovation Network (WIN) within the University of Windsor’s Odette School of Business, and Co-Chair of the Women in Politics Mentorship Program through the Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee (CJPAC).
 
She also serves on the Industry Advisory Board for Bloom Burton & Co., a healthcare investment advisory firm in Toronto. Dani earned her undergraduate degree from McGill University and a Master of Arts in International Trade Policy from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey in California.
 
 A life-long lover of the arts, Dani studied both music and dance in her youth and regularly attends theatre performances throughout the year.  She and her husband actively encourage her young children in their arts activities.
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Twee Brown was appointed to OAC’s board of directors in March 2024. Based in London, Ontario, Twee is the CEO of High Point Development, proprietor of the Ben Thanh Restaurant chain and CEO/President of Trident Property Management.  

 

For more than 20 years, Twee has been highly involved in community service through her participation on boards, committees, and advisory groups, including those of the London Health Sciences Foundation and the London Professional Chinese Business Association. She also volunteers her time with various non-profit organizations, and previously served as chair of The Grand Theatre in London. 

 

Twee blends her passion and support for community with her love of entrepreneurship by mentoring and motivating others to start their own journey in business creation. Her dedication to this work was honoured when she was selected to be a member of the QuantumShift program at the Ivey Business School at Western University, which only accepts 40 entrepreneurs annually. Twee also holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Western University. 

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Asha Daniere was appointed to OAC’s board of directors in December 2025. Based in Toronto, Asha is the principal of her own legal and strategic advisory firm.  

Prior to founding her own advisory practice, Asha served as an executive in the media and tech industry for twenty years in New York City and Toronto.  

Asha currently serves on the board of directors of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), where she is Chair of the Governance and Nomination Committee. She is also an active board member for Thunderbird Entertainment Inc. where she is the Lead Independent Director, MEGA Uranium Ltd. and Quarterhill Inc. 

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Leslie Giller was appointed to OAC’s board of directors in December 2025.  

Based in Toronto, Leslie has been actively engaged in the arts sector for over a decade. She has served as a board member of Partners in Art since 2014 and has also been a board member of the Koffler Centre of the Arts since 2017. 

In addition to her arts leadership, Leslie is currently Chair of the board of Save A Child’s Heart, reflecting her long-standing commitment to missiondriven, impactfocused organizations. 

Leslie holds a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from McGill University. She spent many years as a partner in the Corporate Finance Department of a leading Bay Street law firm in Toronto and later served as inhouse counsel at two private equity funds, experience that continues to inform her strategic and governance contributions to arts organizations. 

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Nancy Jain was appointed to OAC’s board of directors in May 2025. Based in Toronto, Nancy believes that art and culture are vital to a thriving business community.  With over 25 years of experience spanning multiple continents, her career uniquely integrates business strategy with a passion for cultural and community engagement.

Nancy co-founded a real estate development firm specializing in retrofit projects to repurpose buildings and create dynamic, sustainable hubs for local creative entrepreneurs.  Most recently, she launched subsidized studios and a gallery in Toronto East, SUNRISEStudios|GALLERY106.

As an Adjunct Professor at OCAD University, she co-developed the Interdisciplinary Business Studio and created a pioneering entrepreneurial design management course for senior and master students.  She also played a key role in developing an international curatorial residency program informed by her Master of Arts dissertation, The Art of The Residency.

Nancy has served on the boards of arts organizations including Soulpepper Theatre, The Power Plant and OCAD U’s Imagination Catalyst Advisory – a business incubator for artist-led start-ups. She holds degrees in Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto, a Master of Business Administration from INSEAD (France) and a Master of Arts in Contemporary Art from Sotheby’s Institute of Art (University of Manchester, U.K.).
 
What excites you most about supporting the arts in Ontario?
“Democratizing art, making art accessible to all in Ontario just makes sense.  Art brings immense economic value to the province, connects diverse communities and helps bridge cultural understanding for a more vibrant and economically resilient Ontario.”
 
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Melissa (Missy) Knott is a mother, member of Curve Lake First Nation and was appointed to the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) Board of Directors in September 2023.

She is an award-winning singer-songwriter who performs as Singing Wild Rice Girl and is the founder of Wild Rice Records, an Indigenous-led arts collective based in Nogojiwanong (Peterborough). The collective supports Indigenous artists through events, production support, shared resources, and mentorship. Wild Rice Records also serves as an umbrella for Missy’s philanthropic work and long-standing commitment to community and the arts.

Music and community care are central to Missy’s work. Through mentorship, workshops, and community-based programming, she uses music as a tool to support mental health, build relationships, and create safe, supportive spaces in communities and schools. Her work is grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing, where creativity, wellness, and connection are interconnected.

Missy previously hosted Pass the Mic on ELMNT FM, which aired in Ottawa and Toronto before the station’s closure. The show connected her with Indigenous artists and community members from across Turtle Island, relationships that continue to influence her work and future plans to bring artists and collaborations to Curve Lake.

She is a wild ricer who harvests and gathers during the ricing season and serves on the Mnoominkewin Committee. Missy founded the inaugural Rhythms of the Rice gathering and supported the event by gifting a performance from Indigenous Artist Tia Wood. Food sovereignty, manoomin, and holistic approaches to health and wellness are ongoing areas of focus in her community work.

Missy is a public speaker and has been a keynote speaker for Electric City Arts, as well as a speaker at the Onward event hosted by Maryam Monsef. She works in administration during the day and brings this practical experience into her roles across governance, arts, and community spaces.
 
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Mary Meffe (CPA, CA) was appointed to the OAC board of directors in October 2019, and was reappointed in October 2025. 

Mary is the Chief Financial Officer of the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA), where she leads finance, pensions, investments, facilities, enterprise risk management, and internal audit. 

Prior to joining ESA, Mary served as Vice President & Chief Financial Officer at the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC), overseeing financial planning, data governance, information services, and facilities management. She previously held the role of Chief Financial and Administrative Officer at the Ontario College of Trades, where she played a key role in establishing the organization’s financial and operational framework. Her career also includes senior finance leadership positions in the energy sector, including Chief Financial Officer roles at Planet Energy and Just Energy Group. 
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Ottawa-based Lilly Obina was appointed to the Ontario Arts Council board of directors in February 2021. Lilly’s more than 17 years of experience in both the public and private sectors have been focused on security operations, business continuity, disaster recovery, IT software and project management. Currently she is a project executive for Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) passport program modernization initiative.
 
Lilly is also very interested in public service, having run for nomination as a candidate in the 2015 federal election for the Conservative Party of Canada. She also put her name forward as a possible candidate for the Ottawa municipal elections in both 2010 and 2014. As a Uganda-born Canadian, Lilly is particularly interested in ensuring that new voices be added to the Canadian political discourse.
 
She is a supporter of the Uganda Association of Ottawa and is active with the African-Canadian Children's Choir, an after-school program for children. She also teaches traditional African dance to children in her community. Lilly is a former board member of the Black Women Civic Engagement Network (BWCEN). She has a personal interest in photography, culture and travel.
 
In 2003, Lilly received a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Dalhousie University. She holds a diploma in Applied Information Technology from the Information Technology Institute.
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Marek Ruta was appointed to the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) board of directors in October 2021.

Based in Mississauga, Marek is a community leader, best known for his work as Chair of the Carassauga Festival of Cultures, a family-friendly festival that aims to promote understanding, respect, and cooperation among Canadians of different heritage, and Canada’s largest multicultural festival. In 2021, Marek received the Volunteer of the Year Award from Festivals and Events Ontario in recognition of his leadership of the festival throughout the pandemic.

Marek has also been actively involved in municipal affairs in Mississauga, serving on the community advisory circle for Legends Row: Mississauga’s Walk of Fame as well as the stakeholder subcommittee of the Mississauga Tourism Advisory Board, which produced the city’s Tourism Master Plan in 2017.

Marek’s community involvement extends to his support of charitable organizations, including the Luso Canadian Charitable Society and Community Living Mississauga. He is also a leader in Mississauga’s Polish community and the Knights of Columbus.
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