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Board of Directors

Board of Directors

Everyone on the Meridian Board of Directors are Members themselves. Their commitment lies in benefiting fellow Members, the communities we serve and the credit union as a whole.

Board of Directors duties

Meridian’s Board of Directors works closely with Senior Management to set and monitor Meridian’s performance and direction. They are responsible for setting policies and governing activities according to Meridian’s by-laws and the Credit Unions and Caisses Populaires Act.

Specific Duties include:

  • Establishing strategic direction and performance expectations
  • Hiring, delegating authority to and assessing the performance of the President & Chief Executive Officer
  • Monitoring Meridian's performance and approving the financial plan
  • Communicating with Members and Stakeholders, and providing leadership by supporting and promoting Meridian
  • Monitoring and ensuring appropriate and effective Governance of Meridian, including development of directors

Why become a Board Member?

When you become a Member on the Board of the Directors, you are helping to make a difference in your community and the credit union. It not only gives you the opportunity to utilize your skills but allows you to enhance and broaden your abilities as well. It’s a wonderful way to grow as a person, help the community and make Meridian a stronger, more effective credit union for all of its Members.

Upkar Arora


Headshot of Upkar Arora

Upkar Arora is a seasoned organizational leader and board director with a proven track record of delivering results. He is dedicated to systems change to create a more just and equitable society, using financial, human and social capital.

Upkar is currently the CEO of Rally Assets, Canada’s leading impact investment management and advisory firm. Rally is a purpose-driven organization, and an award-winning B Corporation, committed to using business as a force for good.

Prior to Rally he worked in finance and leadership roles with some of Canada’s most successful organizations for more than 25 years - building, operating and advising companies of varying sizes, stages and sectors, domestically and globally.

Upkar has extensive governance experience, having served on boards of several for profit and not-for-profit organizations including Vancity Community Investment Bank, the University of Waterloo, Institute for Canadian Citizenship, and Metrolinx.

He is an FCPA, FCA having been awarded CPA Canada’s highest honour in 2017, holds the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors and is also a BMW Foundation Global Responsible Leader. He is an adjunct lecturer at the University of Waterloo where he received the Distinguished Teacher Award in 2022.

Jacqueline Beaurivage


Headshot of Jacqueline Beaurivage

Jacqueline (Jackie) Beaurivage is a C-suite executive with over 30 years’ experience in the financial services sector. She is currently serving her second term as a Director of Meridian.  Previously, Jackie was a member of the board of directors of Home Capital Group. She also  served on the boards of First Caribbean International Bank, CIBC West Indies Holdings Inc., CIBC Securities Inc., CIBC Suisse, CIBC Mortgage Corporation, and CIBC Trust (President & CEO). Prior not-for-profit boards include St. Michael’s Hospital Foundation and the Mood Disorders Association of Ontario.

In her corporate career, Ms. Beaurivage was a member of the executive team at the University Pension Plan of Ontario (UPP), where she was instrumental in building the start-up foundation as Chief of Staff.  At Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP), Jackie led the strategy and enterprise project management teams. Jackie was also a Senior Vice-President at CIBC, holding numerous positions, including leading the internal controls division, managing the Greater Toronto Area salesforce, heading up the Barclays/CIBC integration team in the Caribbean, and leading the Wealth Management group.  Ms. Beaurivage also held executive positions in marketing and retail banking- as well as Canada-wide roles in corporate and commercial banking- with RBC.

Jackie holds a BA from the University of Regina, and an MBA from McGill University. She also holds the ICD.D designation, having completed the Director’s Education Program at the University of Toronto.

Ian Cunningham


Headshot of Ian Cunningham

Ian’s 35-year career spans Consumer Packaged Goods, Financial Services and Technology. He has been working for and with financial institutions for the past 19 years. Prior to that he spent 17 years with the Frito-Lay Division of PepsiCo.

Ian has held senior Executive and Leadership positions across Operations, Marketing, Risk, IT, and Partnerships including roles as Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Operating Officer, with Capital One, Tangerine Bank, Technisys, and is currently Senior Partner and Chief Operating Officer at Jarvis Consulting.

His broad executive experience includes leading multiple, large cross functional teams to deliver complex technology projects, including replacement of core cardholder systems, integration of a major acquisition and replacement of contact centre technology stacks. Additionally, Ian excels in partnership development and led the Retail partnerships business at Capital One. Ian completed the Directors Education Program at the Rotman School of Management in 2022, receiving his ICD.D designation.

In the community, Ian is the past Chair of the Sandra Schmirler Foundation, an organization that raises funds to donate to Neo-natal intensive care units across Canada, so they can purchase life saving equipment for thousands of premature and critically ill babies and their families.

Ian is immensely proud of the innovation and rapid pace of change he has been a part of, but mostly is proud of building long lasting, trusting relationships with many of the great people he has worked with.

Larry Doran


Larry Doran speaking into a microphone while standing at a podium

Larry is President & CEO of lmperium Energy Inc. From 2006 to 2011, he was President & CEO of the Peterborough Utilities Group. Prior to that, Larry spent over 30 years with Ontario Hydro and Ontario Power Generation in a number of leadership positions. He has over 20 years of Board experience in a combination of for-profit and not-for-profit organizations as well as having achieved his ICD designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors. Larry has been a credit union member for over 40 years.

Karen Farbridge - Chair


Headshot of Karen Farbridge

Karen Farbridge is President & Urban Connector of Karen Farbridge & Associates, working with business, governments and organizations to build healthy and prosperous communities. Karen was elected to the Meridian Board in 2015 and has served on the Governance, Audit & Finance, Risk, Human Resources and Nominating Committees of Meridian. She also serves as Board Chair of Motusbank and QUEST. She is a member of the Sustainable Energy Initiative (SEI) at York University where she is adjunct faculty. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, Karen served for 17 years in municipal politics including 11 years as mayor of Guelph. She has served on numerous boards in the private, public and non-profit sectors. Karen has a MSc and PhD from the University of Guelph and a Chartered Director designation from McMaster University.

Gail Harding


Headshot of Gail Harding

Gail Harding K.C. retired from Canadian Western Bank Financial Group in 2018 where she served as Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary with responsibility for the legal, governance, regulatory compliance and ethics functions. Gail also sat on the board of CWB’s subsidiaries which offered equipment financing, wealth management, insurance and trust services.

Gail is an active volunteer in the community and in her profession having served on the boards of numerous not-for-profit entities and crown corporations. In recognition of her accomplishments Gail has received several awards including the Canadian General Counsel Award, the Women in Law Leadership Award and the King’s Counsel designation. She currently serves on the board of the Alberta Securities Commission and Pieridae Energy Limited. Gail received both her Bachelor of Education (Honours) and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Alberta and her Master of Laws from York University. She holds the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors and the FSA designation from the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board.

Stacey Grant-Thompson


Headshot of Stacey Grant-Thompson

Stacey Grant-Thompson is a marketing and customer experience expert who has successfully designed, scaled, and optimized multiple businesses. Most recently she was the Chief Marketing Officer for Manulife Canada. Stacey has broad and deep expertise in digital transformation and artificial intelligence. Stacey brings a deep understanding of business model design and a multi-faceted perspective from her executive experience as a GM with P&L ownership, CMO, and Strategy function lead in both financial services and telecom. Stacey is a member of the Board of Directors of Meridian Credit Union and Pathways to Education. She is an advisor to several early-stage digital-first companies and is a mentor for Creative Destruction Lab’s AI Stream. Stacey began her career with McKinsey & Company and holds an MBA from INSEAD, an HBA from IVEY at UWO, and the ICD.D designation.

Lianne Hannaway


Headshot of Lianne Hannaway

Lianne Hannaway is a finance professional and business transformation consultant with 20 years of experience in financial services, having held senior leadership positions at TMX Group and KPMG LLP.  

Lianne is passionate about financial empowerment for all Canadians, especially its underserved and underestimated populations. She is the founder of WealthNuvo Financial, a wealth advisory platform that helps underrepresented women build generational wealth by addressing their relationship with money. She recently earned her Trauma of Money™ practitioner certification to facilitate frameworks for healing collective and individual traumas to create financial well-being.

Lianne complements her professional work with a strong board service record. In addition to her board service with MCU, she is currently Treasurer of the Equality Fund, a groundbreaking partnership combining philanthropy, grant-making and investing that supports global women and girls’ rights organizations and movements. She is also a member of the Board and the Black Advisory Council of Kids Help Phone, Canada’s only 24/7 national support service providing professional counselling and volunteer-led text-based support to youth across Canada. 

Lianne holds a Bachelor of Mathematics and Master of Accountancy from the University of Waterloo and a Chartered Professional Accountant designation.

Suanne Nielsen


Headshot of Suanne Nielsen

Suanne Nielsen, CHRE, PCC, ICD.D is a former C-suite executive with over 30 years of experience, including more than 20 years as a senior executive with Foresters Financial, a member-based life insurance organization with operations in Canada, the United States and United Kingdom. While she had oversight of Human Resources throughout her career at Foresters, Ms. Nielsen’s executive responsibilities spanned across multiple areas including corporate communications, marketing, brand management, public relations, insurance operations and corporate governance. In her final role at Foresters, Suanne served as Global Chief Administration Officer.

Ms. Nielsen has a long history of giving back to community through not-for-profit board roles with the Hamilton-Burlington United Way, Daily Bread Food Bank and American Fraternal Alliance. She is currently President and Board Chair of the Strategic Capability Network, a not-for-profit association that brings thought leadership and a community of peers to Canadian senior Human Resources professionals and executives.

Hari Panday


Headshot of Hari Panday

Mr. Panday is a seasoned financial executive and corporate director. He has spent over 40 years in financial services sector in Canada and USA, together with being an external, internal and IT auditor. He founded a full-service bank in Canada. He serves on corporate boards as a Chairman, and leads Governance, Regulatory and Nominations and the Audit, Risk and Finance committees. He is a director on the boards of the Ontario Securities Commission and Tarion Warranty Corporation. He served on a number of corporate and not-for-profit boards. He teaches accountability and corporate governance at York Univ. and has authored on Cross-border Corporate Governance. He is currently an Honorary Colonel in the Canadian Army. He has a Fellowship from CPA Canada (FCPA, FCGA), is a certified director in Canada (ICD.D) and in the USA (NACD.DC). His volunteer service was recognized when he received The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Tamara Paton


Headshot of Tamara Paton

Tamara is an independent strategy consultant with 20 years of success and experience advising clients in financial services, digital media and the retail sector.

She currently works as a Strategy Consultant and Facilitator, and has also held positions at Harlequin Enterprises, McKinsey & Company and TD Securities Inc.

Tamara complements her client work with a strong board service record, contributing to strategy development and risk oversight on corporate, co-operative and non-profit boards including Mountain Equipment Co-op, Carson-Dellosa Publishing, and ServoAnnex, a digital consulting firm.

Tamara holds a Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo and an MBA from The Wharton School. She also holds Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Director designations. During her personal time, Tamara is an active volunteer and enjoys living in Niagara with her husband and young children. Tamara was elected to the Meridian Board in 2013.

Bruce West


Headshot of Bruce West

Bruce retired from The Co-operators Group in 2018 after serving 11 years as Executive Vice-President Finance and Chief Financial Officer. As CFO, Bruce was responsible for all aspects of financial management, corporate development, investment strategy, strategic planning, enterprise risk management, actuarial and reinsurance, taxation and internal audit. Bruce was President, Co-operators Investment Limited Partnership and chaired the Management Capital Committee and Management Investment Committee. He has broad financial services industry experience in insurance, wealth management, banking, trust companies and brokerage operations.

Bruce holds an FCPA, FCA designation, is a Chartered Director (C.Dir.) and has a Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo and an MBA with a concentration in Marketing from Wilfrid Laurier University.  He has extensive board and governance experience, including The CUMIS Group and Credential Financial Inc., and currently sits on the Aviso Wealth Inc. board.

Bruce has spent almost half of his career working for co-operative and mutual companies and is excited to now work for the members of Meridian Credit Union. Bruce and his wife Karen reside in Waterloo, Ontario.

Contact the Board

While the Board oversees Management, it does not participate in any of the Meridian day-to-day operations. If you have a Board-specific request or issue, please contact the Board of Directors at any time. The Corporate Secretary will review all inquiries and will direct any to the appropriate person if a response is required.

To contact a Member of the Board:

Mail:

Meridian Credit Union
Attn: Name of Board Member
c/o Corporate Secretary
3280 Bloor Street West
Centre Tower, Suite 2700
Toronto, ON M8X 2X3
Telephone: 1-866-592-2226
Email: Board.ofDirectors@meridiancu.ca

To contact our Corporate Secretary:

Mail:

Meridian Credit Union
Attn: Sunny Sodhi, Corporate Secretary
3280 Bloor Street West
Centre Tower, Suite 2700
Toronto, ON M8X 2X3
Telephone: 416-597-4444 ext. 2274
Email: sunny.sodhi@meridiancu.ca