Meet the Board

Cheryl is head of school at St. John’s-Kilmarnock School in Waterloo, a position she began in the fall of 2019. Prior to that she served as the head of Elmwood School in Ottawa for 11 years, deputy head at Bedford Preparatory School in Bedfordshire, U.K. and taught English Literature at three all-girls’ independent schools in the U.K. She began her career teaching English and history in the public school system in Hamilton.

Cheryl is the Chair of the CIS Ontario board and previously chaired the programs executive committee. She has also been a board member for the Elearning Consortium Canada and the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools as well as a member of the CAIS Accreditation Council.

Cheryl graduated from Queen’s University’s Concurrent Education program with both a BA and a BEd. Recently she completed her Professional Master of Education degree from Queen’s University. Much of her graduate work was focused on creativity, collaboration, technology and innovation. Queen’s University’s Faculty of Education recently named Cheryl a “50 Influential in 50” for her leadership in independent education, celebrating the leadership and accomplishment of Queen’s Faculty of Education alumni across the globe.

Chris is a partner at Aird & Berlis LLP where he practises commercial litigation and arbitration, primarily in securities, products liability and contractual matters. In addition, Chris advises non-profit organizations, including independent schools, on governance, discipline and risk management. Chris has been involved in numerous precedent-setting cases, most recently in the natural resources and education fields. He handles a broad range of disputes, including securities, product liability, forestry regulation, auditing and accounting, information technology, and matters involving issues of confidentiality and fiduciary duty.

Chris is a past-president of the Toronto Lawyers Association and a director of the Conference of Independent Schools of Ontario. Chris was a member of the board of trustees of Trinity College, the University of Toronto, and chair of the finance committee for four years. He is a former governor of Havergal College and was chair of the governance committee for five years. He was also a member of the Trinity College School board of governors and chair of the philanthropy and alumni committee, and a current trustee.

Rosemary was named principal of University of Toronto Schools (UTS) in 2011. During her tenure she has re-established UTS as a school-based partner for the Master of Teaching Program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) and solidified the affiliation relationship with the University of Toronto.

Rosemary received her BA in history from Western University and her MA, B.Ed. and MBA from the University of Toronto. She served as a teacher, department head and subject co-ordinator for the Peel Board of Education, and later as a vice-principal in the former East York Board of Education. During her time as an instructor in the initial teacher education program at OISE, Rosemary was the recipient of a teaching excellence award.

As academic head at Branksome Hall, she oversaw the implementation of the International Baccalaureate programs from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12. Rosemary is the author of several history textbooks and has presented on such topics as global education, critical thinking, assessment and equity.

Lorena is a CPA, CA and has had a career in accounting and tax for over 10 years. She is currently employed as a Tax & Compliance Officer at IKO Industries Ltd. Prior to this, Lorena spent the majority of her career with Deloitte with the Toronto tax practice. 

Lorena graduated from McMaster University with an Honours B.Comm and completed the Masters of Taxation Program at the University of Waterloo. Lorena also spent time studying at the University of Warwick on exchange from McMaster.

She is an alumna of Elmwood School and attended from Grade 1 thru to Grade 12.

Lorena is a proud mother to one. She loves to play hockey, soccer, and ultimate frisbee in her free time as well as travel the world. She has travelled to 51 countries to date.

As a vice-president at StrategyCorp, Andrew provides counsel on management consulting projects, communications challenges and government relations at the federal, provincial and municipal level. Over a 20-year career, he has earned the trust of CEOs, premiers and non-profit leaders with honest advice and data-driven strategy.

Andrew previously served as senior adviser to the Premier of Ontario, as well as chief-of-staff in several ministries. He held senior campaign roles for the Liberal Party of Canada and the Ontario Liberal Party.

Andrew was the founding CEO of the Pecaut Centre, a non-profit management consulting firm housed at the Boston Consulting Group. More recently, Andrew was essential to implementing the strategic transformation of public broadcaster TVO into the province’s partner for digital learning inside the classroom.

Andrew graduated with distinction from the MBA program at Ivey Business School. His opinions on politics and public policy are featured regularly with the Globe and Mail and CP24.

Greg is the Special Advisor to the Provost, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and Executive Director of the Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre. He graduated from Queen’s in 1985, in Mechanical Engineering and has served as an adjunct instructor in 3 different faculties at Queen’s. 

Greg has had a 25 year career in entrepreneurship and was the co-founder, President and CEO of a Toronto and Ohio based environmental company, specializing in producing automotive components using recycled materials. 

Prior to that he had a 10 year career in engineering at Hatch and General Motors where he designed and managed very large and technically innovative projects around the world. 

He and his wife cofounded a company that commercialized innovative respiratory products in the medical devices industry, which they subsequently sold.     

Greg also serves on the boards of several manufacturing and process-industry companies, and has served on Queen's University Council and the Engineering Society Board of Directors. 

He is a proud husband and father of two, and an avid sailor, cyclist and hockey coach.  

Dan Hill is an alumnus of Trinity College School. He has founded two digital start-ups and consulted on many more. He was formerly the the director of strategy and business intelligence at TVOntario, senior director of digital programming for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, a consulting manager for Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and a business manager at BBDO Interactive.

Ed is the 10th headmaster of Ridley College in St. Catharines. He is proud to have led this 129-year-old Canadian institution whose vision is to “inspire flourishing lives to transform our globe” since 2012. Prior to repatriating to Canada, he enjoyed a 16-year career in international education, serving most recently as the high school principal at Shanghai American School.

As a former IB English teacher, coach and adviser, Ed is committed to the virtues of a liberal arts education, the values of a boarding school experience and the emerging field of positive education.

As such, Ed challenged the Ridley community with a new strategic plan and vision to “inspire flourishing lives.” In this regard, Ridley has adopted a whole-school approach to cultural change through the lens of positive psychology; from teaching and learning in the classroom, to athletic coaching to administration and leadership, all learners in the Ridley community are striving to lead flourishing lives and inspire it in others. 

A graduate of Queen's University in Economics and Psychology, Erin also holds a Master's Degree in Education from the University of Toronto, as well being a graduate of Queen's School Law including a Masters of Law specializing in International Trade Law. She recently retired from Queen’s after 34 years including 25 at Smith School of Business where she held senior administration positions as well as an adjunct professor in Graduate programs teaching international trade law. 

Erin is also the founder and principal of MTF consulting, specializing in executive coaching in the areas of leadership, equity and diversity. She is a top selling author, host of a weekly talk radio show, and frequent commentator on radio, television and social media platforms. Erin has consulted in both the for profit and not for profit sectors including non governmental organizations, federal and provincial departments, police services and emergency room and family medicine units. 

Derek has been head of school at Kingsway College School in Etobicoke since 2007. He was formerly an educator and administrator there, since 1999. He began his teaching career at Turnbull School in Ottawa.

Derek is a leader in mental health advocacy. While he sees building new facilities, raising money for his school and high enrollment as terrific accomplishments, helping children and their families stare down the stigma of a mental health diagnosis is most truly rewarding.

He has a BA in political science and history from McMaster University, MA in war studies from the University of London and a BEd. from the University of Toronto. He’s a graduate of the Canadian Accredited Independent Schools Leadership Institute.

Derek has been happily married to Heather for 26 years and has a daughter, Alyssa, and son, Brandon.

Dr. Rulan S. Parekh is Vice President, Academics, Women’s College Hospital, Staff Nephrologist at Women’s College Hospital and Hospital for Sick Children and Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics in the Departments of Medicine, Paediatrics, Epidemiology and Health Policy and Management Evaluation at the University of Toronto. Dr. Rulan Parekh is a clinician-scientist, and an international leader in clinical epidemiology and translational research in kidney disease. Her work has revealed novel genetic risk factors leading to kidney disease and increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality for children and adults with kidney disease. Her work regularly appears in elite journals including Nature Genetics, New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA.

At the University of Michigan, Dr. Parekh was uniquely trained in Pediatrics and Internal Medicine with subspecialty training in Pediatric and Adult Nephrology and completion of a Master’s in Biostatistics and Study Design. She went on to post-doctoral training at Johns Hopkins University, joined the faculty in 2000 and onto University of Toronto in 2008. Dr. Parekh has maintained a record of sustained NIH, CIHR and foundation funding. She has received several awards, including the National Kidney Foundation of Maryland Award, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Advising, Mentoring, and Teaching Research Award, and Department of Pediatrics Mentorship Award; and elected into several academic honor societies including the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, the Pediatric Academic Society, and the American Pediatric Society.

An experienced educator and administrator, who is widely respected for her extensive contributions to pedagogy design, Dr. Terpstra has been at BSS since 2005. Dr. Terpstra was Principal of the Middle and Senior Schools and Deputy Head of School before being appointed as Head of School in November 2018.

Dr. Terpstra received her B.A. (Honours, English) from McMaster University in 1980, her B.Ed. (English/History) from Queen’s University in 1981, her M.A. (English) in 1988 from McMaster University and Principal’s Certificate from Harvard University in 2007. In November 2007, she received her Ph.D. (English Education) from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto (OISE.UT). Her thesis title was “The Art of Improvisation: English Education, Technology and Pedagogy.”

A committed member of the BSS community, Dr. Terpstra’s goals for the girls of BSS reach beyond academic success. “I am honoured by the opportunity to serve this remarkable school, its students, teachers, and community,” says Terpstra. “There is no more necessary time than now for young women to take an active role and to speak powerfully, confident that they can do anything.”

Dr. Terpstra places immense priority on cultivating compassionate and ethical citizens who exhibit kindness and generosity and value differences in religion, race, opinions, and ideas. She strives to engage girls with the outside world and feels strongly that topical issues in the news have a very important place in the classrooms of BSS. She is inspired and activated by the idea of “private schools with public purpose,” and she strives to use the resources available in an independent school setting to lead the way in forward-thinking education for girls that teachers the world over can observe and learn from.