Board of Advisors
Our dedicated board of advisors are business leaders who offer a diverse skillset and range of experience to help drive forward the Saltire Foundation's mission to cultivate the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders. They are pivotal to growing the Foundations profile in Canada and engaging dynamic companies to create entrepreneurial opportunities for Scotland's top university talent in Canada.
Alan Brown
Alan is the Founder and CEO of A. Brown + Company Ltd., which provides independent strategic advice to leaders amongst corporate, institutional and government clients globally.
He spent the majority of his career in investment banking, latterly at Deutsche Bank where he led the Natural Resources Group since its formation in 2007, with responsibility for Deutsche Bank’s corporate finance activities across a number of global sectors.
A native of Scotland and a GlobalScot, Alan relocated from London to Toronto in 2016, is a Director of Entrepreneurial Scotland Foundation and Chair of Saltire Foundation Canada.
Mark Bain
Mark Bain is a partner at Torys, where he acts as head of the Public-Private Partnerships practice, and co-head of the Infrastructure and Energy practice. He is also Chair of the Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships and Chair of Infrastructure Project Finance Association’s Canada Council.
Mark is consistently recognized as one of Canada’s leading infrastructure and project finance lawyers. He has acted on over 80 major public-private partnership transactions across Canada and internationally. His experience spans many infrastructure sectors including power, water, broadband, transport, rail, public transit, ports, healthcare, education, justice, pipelines, indigenous projects and urban redevelopment.
Mark was born in Edinburgh and is now based in Toronto.
Neil Blair
Neil, is the President & Managing Director of KPMG Corporate Finance Inc. and on the KPMG Canadian Board of Directors, KPMG LLP. He leads KPMG's Canadian Corporate Finance practice and has extensive experience in the areas of M&A advisory, debt advisory services and business strategy reviews. He has been involved in a wide range of Canadian, UK, cross-border and international projects, and advises Canadian corporations on M&A strategy, sell-side mandates, buy-side mandates and financing. Neil has represented some of Canada’s largest corporations and private equity funds. He has particular expertise in mid-market private company transactions and complex non-core carve outs.
Neil holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Economics from the University of Durham, UK and is a Member of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (“ICAS”). Neil was born in Scotland and now lives with his wife and 2 sons in Toronto.
Leah L. Carey
Leah is an Accredited Member of the International Society of Appraisers (ISA) and for the past decade has developed a boutique art advisory and appraisals practice. Her firm specializes in appraisal services, art advisory for buying and selling as well as fine art collection management.
Leah was Managing Director of Sotheby’s Canada concentrating on business development in the Canadian and International art fields. Leah was also with Christie’s International auction house in New York and Montreal advising private, corporate, and institutional clients on consigning to auction.
Leah holds a Masters of Letters Degree in Art History from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, specializing in the Italian Renaissance, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Western Ontario, London. Leah lives in Toronto.
Alister Cowan
Alister Cowan is Chief Financial Officer of Suncor Energy. In his role, Alister directs financial operations including controllers, investor relations, treasury, tax, internal audit and enterprise risk management while ensuring that Suncor has the financial strength necessary to support the company’s strategic plans.
Prior to joining Suncor in 2014, Alister was the CFO of Husky Energy and he led the finance function for several companies in the energy and utilities sector, including BC Hydro, and TransAlta Corporation.
Alister holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting and Finance from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland and is a Chartered Accountant.
Souhila Chetouane
Souhila Chetouane has a background in petroleum engineering, a Master of Business Administration essentials qualification, a diploma in innovation management and design thinking, and has recently completed a women’s leaders programme. She is also chair and co-founder of EcoEnergio, an energy efficiency tech company based in Scotland. Souhila is also a certified STEM Leader Assessor, providing coaching and mentoring support to young STEM leaders in Scotland to develop important leadership, communication and employability skills in preparation of a career in STEM.
Souhila has broad leadership experience from various engineering and leading positions in the oil and gas, energy efficiency and renewable energy industries, including director positions within climate tech startups. And most recently from a Canadian energy efficiency consultancy business where she currently leads the international unit.
Souhila is chair of STEM Diversity, a Scottish charity, that provides coaching and mentoring to underrepresented groups in the energy sector. She established and lead Women In Energy UK committee part of SPE International and has previous experience as executive board member and chair of school guidance energy4me group, and Aberdeen diversity and inclusion chair at the society of petroleum engineers.
John Ewing
John is a Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Ewing Morris & Co. Investment Partners. Ewing Morris is a value-driven boutique investment firm that specializes in fundamental analysis of small/mid-sized public companies.
John was born in Canada with Scottish heritage. Beyond the Saltire Foundation, John's community involvement includes the University of Guelph (Chair of the Investment Committee), Beat the Streets Toronto and Scouts Canada.
Bill Mackrell
Bill Mackrell is the Chief Operating Officer & VP Equipment Financing at Pitney Bowes Inc. Based in Canada, he also serves as the Country lead for the Canadian business.
Bill graduated from the University of Toronto in 1985. He immediately joined PB Canada in a sales role. He now has over 36 years of experience with the technology company that is focused on meeting the mailing, shipping, and financing needs of clients globally.
Born in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, he immigrated to Canada with his family and now lives with his wife and 2 sons in Toronto.
He is an avid football fan and enjoys his trips back to Scotland to visit family, tour the country and catch a live match.
Robin McLernon
Robin is a Vice-President at P1 Consulting and leads the firm’s facility management advisory services. She specializes in public-private partnership projects and advises different levels of government and public sector agencies. Her expertise includes: acting as technical advisor to construction/redevelopment project teams, drafting facility service levels, and advising facility owners on contract implementation and management.
Robin holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from Queen’s University and Masters in Science and Technology Studies from the University of Edinburgh.
Bill Ross
Bill Ross is the founder and a business executive with Vercerta, a firm that specializes in risk management services, with particular focus on business economics and environmental issues. In prior roles, Mr. Ross held executive management positions, specializing in Finance and Information Technology, with Enbridge Inc., a leading energy infrastructure manager; W.W. Grainger, a pre-eminent industrial distributor; and, Unilever, a global provider of consumer products.
Mr. Ross is a Chartered Professional Accountant, holds an MBA (with distinction) from the Richard Ivey School of Business, and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Mathematics from the University of Stirling in Scotland. He is also a Chartered Director and serves on the following boards: Chair of the Board of Nature Canada, Chair of the Risk Management Committee of Dillon Consulting; Chair of the Finance Committee for GreenCentre Canada. Bill is also past Chair of the Board for Financial Executives Canada.
Mr. Ross is the past Chair of the Energy and Environment Committee for the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, whose mandate is to advocate economic and environment policies to promote sustainable development in the region. As a keen participant of outdoor activities, Bill enjoys cross country skiing and cycling
Alexander (Sandy) Taylor
Alexander (Sandy) Taylor is President of SNC-Lavalin’s global Nuclear sector. Mr. Taylor’s oversight includes the design and delivery of CANDU reactors, the development of advanced fuel technologies for implementation in international markets and small modular reactor (SMR) support. Prior to this role, Mr. Taylor was President of SNC-Lavalin’s former Power sector which comprised nuclear as well as hydropower, renewables, conventional power and transmission and distribution
Mr. Taylor joined SNC-Lavalin in 2014 after 29 years with ABB. He held a number of senior roles including Senior Group Vice-President of the Global Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals business unit, and President and CEO of ABB Canada. His expertise spans various engineering sectors, with an excellent track record in power project and in providing services to industrial and utility clients around the world.
Mr. Taylor began his career at Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) in 1979, where he contributed to the successful start-up and operation of various CANDU sites.
Mr. Taylor holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering from Queen’s University and a Master’s in Business Management from the University of Western Ontario. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Wajax Corporation.