People on the Move

Jacqueline Belsito joins Senators Community Foundation as new president

The Ottawa Senators have acquired a top-performing player, off the ice, anyway, with the hiring of Jacqueline Belsito as president of the club’s new charitable foundation.

The Ottawa-born-and-raised professional fundraiser officially started her new job with the Senators Community Foundation on Nov. 21.

Belsito brings to the organization a decade of experience with the CHEO Foundation, where she helped to raise millions for the purchase of new equipment and for medical research and family support programs for the young patients of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario.

“It really is that classic case of right time, right place, right fit,” said Belsito of her new leadership role.

Belsito was contacted by executive search firm Keynote Search cofounder and partner Donna Baker to apply for the position. She will be tasked with relaunching the foundation and fulfilling its mission of improving the lives of children and youth in Eastern Ontario and western Quebec through community investments and programs.

“This opportunity to make a difference was too exciting for me to pass up,” said Belsito, who was sorry to leave the CHEO Foundation, where she worked as vice-president of philanthropy.

“My time at CHEO has been nothing but rewarding. I fell in love with the cause and the people who work there.”

She was particularly attached to the kids, their families and the front-line staff at both the children’s hospital and the pediatric palliative care facility Roger Neilson House.

“They impacted me, made me a better person and have definitely made me a better leader.”

She said she learned so much from the young patients whom she met over the years and “the way they dealt with the cards that were given to them. It was really remarkable, their positivity, their perseverance. It really grounds you when you work at a palliative care centre or children’s hospital. It really puts a lot of things in perspective.”

Belsito will be tasked with the job of building the Senators Community Foundation from the ground up, overseeing its full operations and acting as a key liaison between the leadership at the club level, players, alumni, donors, sponsors, stakeholders and partners.

She will work closely with a board of directors and the Ottawa Senators senior leadership team, including executive vice-president and CFO Erin Crowe; Anthony LeBlanc, president of business operations; and Tom Hoof, vice-president of marketing and game entertainment.

“To be part of that winning team, on and off the ice, is so exciting,” she said.

Particularly attractive to Belsito was the way the organization’s values align with her own.

“There’s a chemistry and culture there that really spoke to me,” said Belsito. “Right from the first conversation, I felt valued for the expertise that I could bring to the table and felt that we could accomplish great things together.”

Belsito said she’s also really looking forward to continuing “to lift up children and youth in our community.”

What a lot of people don’t know about Belsito is that sports played a big role in keeping her on the right path when she was a potentially at-risk youth.

“I would say one of the best pieces of advice that I got as a young teen was to stay in sports,” said Belsito, who excelled in volleyball and basketball. “Sport taught me the value of hard work and sportsmanship and teamwork – all those core skills that, frankly, I continue to integrate into my life today.”

Belsito is a graduate of Algonquin College’s business management and marketing program. Prior to joining the CHEO Foundation in 2012, she worked as director of marketing and advertising at software company Cognos, vicepresident with fundraising firm KCI (Ketchum Canada), and director of marketing and fundraising for Rowing Canada Aviron.

With the announcement of Belsito as new president, things are finally looking up for the charitable arm of the Ottawa Senators, which saw its former foundation break ties with the team in 2020. Its replacement organization, it seemed, never really got off the ground.

This past March, owner Eugene Melnyk passed away due to illness, leaving the team to his daughters.

The chairman and governor of the Ottawa Senators has confirmed a process has begun to put the team up for sale. Said Belsito: “Whether the team is up for sale or not up for sale, I would say it doesn’t change the value that the foundation can add to the organization, and it doesn’t diminish its ability to galvanize a community around the Senators.”

— by Caroline Phillips

ON THE MOVE ACROSS OTTAWA

Bree Jamieson-Holloway has been appointed vice-chair of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) for a five-year term by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland. The CITT is an independent, quasi-judicial administrative tribunal adjudicating various international trade cases and matters. Jamieson-Holloway, a Forty Under 40 recipient, founded Ottawa’s Jamieson Law in 2017. As a result of the appointment, Jamieson Law will be continuing at Gowling WLG.

After almost a quarter century at Bloomberg News, Theophilos “Theo” Argitis has joined full-service public affairs firm Compass Rose as its new managing director. Argitis will lead the execution of the firm’s growth strategy, including development of business segments. Argitis started working as a reporter for Bloomberg in 1999. He served as Ottawa bureau chief for nearly 18 years, as well as head of Canadian economic and government news. “As one of the most respected organization heads and reporters covering national affairs and economic policy, Theo has built an enduring reputation for integrity, accuracy, insight and delivery,” said Compass Rose founder Jacqueline LaRocque in a news release.

Anick Losier has joined CHEO as its new chief branding and communications officer. Losier spent the past six years with CMA (Canadian Medical Association) Media, most recently in the role of vicepresident. She’s also held media relations and communications roles with Canada Post and the Canadian Institute for Health Information. Her volunteer work has included Institut du Savoir Montfort, Dovercourt Recreation Association and Ottawa Race Weekend.

Chad Schella has joined CIBC as its associate vice-president of government relations. Schella, who’s a member of the board of directors at the Queensway Carleton Hospital, worked for more than 10 years at Canada Post, most recently as its general manager of government and community affairs. Prior to that, he worked for the Ottawa Senators and its foundation.

Scott Bradley has joined Waterloo-based tech company OpenText as director of global government relations. He will continue to be based in Ottawa. Bradley spent the past couple of years working with BDO Canada, helping to establish its ESG practice, pulling together the work the firm is doing across Canada with its Indigenous clients and partners, and amplifying its position as a leader in advisory and technology services within the federal government.

Katrina Barclay has become the new executive manager of the Family Enterprise Legacy Institute at the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa. The Forty Under 40 recipient first joined FELI a year ago as its communications and liaison manager.

Another Forty Under 40 recipient, Michael Williams, has been promoted to managing partner of the Ottawa office of executive search and recruitment firm Odgers Berndtson. Williams has been a partner at the firm since 2017.

Business development specialist Erin Binks has set off on a new career path with ergonomic and sustainable office furniture brand Humanscale. She’s now its senior account development representative.

IN MEMORIAM

The late Marc Jolicoeur was posthumously presented with a 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award at a recent awards ceremony, the VOscars, hosted by Volunteer Ottawa. Jolicoeur, a former managing partner at BLG, served as a volunteer for numerous charitable organizations, including with the University of Ottawa, United Way Canada, United Way Ottawa and the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. Jolicoeur, 68, died in February from glioblastoma.

HATS OFF

Also at the Oscars, the Ottawa

Community Housing Corporation’s

Volunteer Engagement Program was selected as the winner in the Outstanding Volunteer Program category. Its program, created in 2011, has seen its volunteers complete 42 projects and donate nearly 35,000 hours to help enhance OCH neighbourhoods.

Helen MacMillan, general manager of Ottawa’s Rideau Carleton Casino/ Future Hard Rock Casino Ottawa, has been named as a 2022 recipient of the Patricia Becker Pay It Forward Award on behalf of Global Gaming Women (GGW). The award honours women who have demonstrated a commitment to the development and advancement of women in gaming, as well as in their community.

Ottawa business community says goodbye to two great leaders

BY OBJ STAFF

news@obj.ca

Two well-known names in local business circles passed away recently, leaving a legacy that will not soon be forgotten.

Denzil Doyle died Oct. 26 at the age of 90.

Affectionately known as the “father of Silicon Valley North,” Doyle grew Digital Equipment Corporation’s Canadian operations from a oneperson sales office to a multifaceted corporation with more than 1,500 employees from 1963 to 1981. Following his career at DEC, he founded Doyletech Corp. to provide consulting services to entrepreneurs, investors, governments and policymakers. He was appointed to the National Research Council of Canada in 1982. He cofounded Instantel Inc., an Ottawa-based supplier of instrumentation equipment, and served on the board of directors for many successful Canadian high-tech companies, including Mitel, Newbridge Networks and Gennum Corp. He also served as chairman of Capital Alliance Ventures Inc., an Ottawa-based venture capital company specializing in technology investment.

He was awarded an honorary doctorate of engineering by Carleton University, granted fellowship in the Engineering Institute of Canada, received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal and was invested as a member of the Order of Canada.

Doyle was born in Vinton, Que., and received a bachelor of science degree from Queen’s University in 1956. He was awarded the Governor General’s Academic Medal for graduating top of his class.

Another icon of Ottawa business, Grete Hale, died Oct. 28 at age 93.

Hale was the second of Ottawa’s “Three Sisters,” the daughters of Cecil Morrison, co-founder of Morrison Lamothe Bakery. The eldest, Jean Pigott, was a businesswoman, MP and chair of the National Capital Commission. Pigott died in 2012. The youngest is Gay Cook, a former food writer for the Ottawa Citizen.

Hale graduated from Carleton University in 1954 with a degree in journalism. She joined Morrison Lamothe in 1966, becoming president in 1979 and chair of the board in 1989. Morrison Lamothe eventually moved its production to Toronto, though its head office remains in Ottawa.

Hale was awarded the Order of Canada in 2006. She was governor of the University of Ottawa, president of Beechwood National Cemetery and honorary colonel of the Governor General’s Foot Guards, the first woman to hold the position.

She had honorary doctorates from uOttawa and Carleton and honorary life membership for Canhave Children’s Centre and the Community Foundation of Ottawa, both of which she helped found. She was also a member of 100 Women Who Care Ottawa, a group of women who share a common desire to give back and inspire local philanthropy in their community.