ASSOCIATION HUB - Key Persons

Harp Arora

Job Titles:
  • Founder and Principal of Sedona Communications
  • Marketing and Social Media Strategy
Harp Arora is the founder and principal of Sedona Communications, a communications agency specializing in marketing and social media strategy. She helps organizations in the professional services sector stand out in a sea of sameness with compelling programs that blend new online approaches with traditional marketing channels. Before launching Sedona Communications in 2003, Harp worked on the client side of the table - with diverse marketing and communications roles at a Fortune 500 company. With 10 years of corporate experience and insights under her belt, she followed her entrepreneurial longings and struck out on her own. Harp has been involved as a member and director with a number of regional, national and international associations during her career. Combined with her long-time experience as a board member of her professional association (IABC), Harp understands first-hand the challenges associations face in getting their message heard.

Hubert Saint-Onge

Job Titles:
  • Founder and Principal of SaintOnge Alliance
Hubert Saint-Onge is the founder and Principal of SaintOnge Alliance. In addition to holding key senior management positions in leading companies over the past 25 years, he has developed and refined a "knowledge assets" model to optimize the performance of an organization and build communities of practice. This model strategically integrates business plans with branding, leadership and people management. Hubert Saint-Onge's client work showcases his extensive experience as a senior executive in the oil industry and in financial services. Hubert was featured a few years ago as one of five practitioners around the world who have had the most impact on organizations, based on his work as Senior VP of Strategic Capabilities at Clarica. During his tenure at Clarica, the company was selected as one of the top ten "Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises" in the world for two years in a row. At the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), Fortune magazine featured Hubert's conceptualization and development of the CIBC Leadership Centre as a prime example of accelerated organizational learning. Peter Wright is a career association strategist and President of The Planning Group.

Jim Beretta

Job Titles:
  • Association Trade Shows and Exhibitions
  • Specialist and Principal of Strategic Marketing at Customer Attraction
Jim worked as an advisor with Communitech Technology Association and as the Founding Executive Director for HalTech RIC Regional Innovation Centre, part of the Centres of Excellence for technology start-ups and innovation at Sheridan College. Jim Beretta is a big proponent of social media for both personal branding and the business to business sector. He advises companies, manufacturers and associations on branding, social media, marketing, demand generation strategies and how to be found on the web using Search Engine Optimization. Jim Beretta is a trade show specialist and principal of strategic marketing at Customer Attraction.

John Dinner

John Dinner has worked with boards in every Canadian province and two of the three territories and the Caribbean.

Lynn Beauregard

Job Titles:
  • Chairman of the Board for CODE
  • President of T.O Corporate Services Inc.
  • President of the Canadian Society of Corporate Secretaries
Lynn Beauregard is President of T.O Corporate Services Inc., a management company which provides a complete range of solutions for small and medium sized trade and professional associations. The company offers strategic, administrative, and conference and event management services to its clients. Some of the services provided by T.O Corporate Services Inc. include: convention planning, back office operations, membership maintenance and growth, IT and financial support, administrative and governance assistance, publications, marketing, educational services, and other membership services unique to the clients' industry interests and issues. Lynn Beauregard is also President of the Canadian Society of Corporate Secretaries, a Canadian association representing the needs of governance professionals in Canada's private, public and non-profit sectors. Other organizations that her firm currently provides event planning and management services for include: the Canadian Association of Financial Institutions in Insurance (CAFII); the Travel Media Association of Canada (TMAC); the Canadian Association of Geriatric Psychiatrists (CAGP); itSMF Canada; the Canadian Motor Vehicle Arbitration Plan (CAMVAP); and the Mortgage Backed Securities Issuers Association (MBSIA). Over the years, Lynn has also managed events for the following organizations: Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA); Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA); The Canadian Convenience Store Association; the International Corporate Governance Institute (ICGN); and CODE. Lynn Beauregard is President of T.O Corporate Services Inc., which provides a complete range of solutions for trade and professional associations.

Paul Copcutt

Job Titles:
  • Personal Branding Strategy
  • Personal Career Communication Strategist
Described by Forbes magazine as a leading personal brand expert globally, and by clients as their "Career Hacker", Paul Copcutt has exceptional skills in quickly distilling what he see's and hears in to custom solutions that are effective. Copcutt helps people uncover their uniqueness and communicate it in an authentic way to those they are trying to influence. His approach to personal branding strategy ensures that his clients are noticed and remembered, for the right reasons. Paul is truly an expert in personal branding. He is knowledgeable, engaging and is very passionate about the power of personal brand. I highly recommend Paul to anyone who is looking to build their own unique brand..." Michael Burwell, Operations Leader & Chief Financial Officer, Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP Paul Copcutt is a Personal Career Communication Strategist, with over 15 years experience.

Penny Marrett

Job Titles:
  • CEO of the United Way / Centraide for Windsor - Essex County
  • Human Resources Strategy
Penny is an active volunteer and currently sits on the Membership Services Committee of the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce. In addition, she is the Treasurer of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. Prior to this, Penny was a member of the Toronto-East York Advisory Committee for the Toronto Board of Health and is a past Chair of the Trillium Chapter Board of the Canadian Society of Association Executives, among others. Penny is a provincial appointee to the LaSalle Police Services Board and the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit Board. Experience in Association Human Resources Strategy Penny Marrett is the CEO of the United Way/Centraide for Windsor-Essex County. She has more than thirty years of experience in Canada's not-for-profit and charitable sectors and is an active volunteer. Before attaining her current position, Penny worked for a number of organizations in health and human services, including the Schizophrenia Society of Canada, the Health Charities Coalition of Canada, the Canadian Mental Health Association, and the Canadian Health Food Association. Penny's organizational experience extends to the arts with her participation in the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra and the Vancouver and Montr�al Symphony Orchestras. In July 2013, Penny and two of her colleagues, presented a workshop on governance at the Canadian Society of Association Executives (CSAE) Trillium Chapter's Summer Summit. Her knowledge of association human resources and how to skillfully manage association staff provided a new perspective on non-profit governance that helped to make the Summit a success.

Peter Wright

Job Titles:
  • Strategist and President of the Planning Group
Peter Wright is a career association strategist and President of The Planning Group.

Susan S. Bivins

Susan S. Bivins, MSPM, PMP, has more than twenty-five years of management and leadership experience dedicated to delivering successful information technology, organizational change management, and professional consulting services projects for major global corporations. She specializes in project and portfolio management; international, multi-cultural and multi-company initiatives; and business strategy integration in the private and public sectors. During her career with IBM, Susan S. Bivins managed multiple organizations and complex projects, including operations and support for the Olympics, and a strategic transformational change program. Since retiring from IBM, she has led multi-company joint initiatives with Hitachi, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems, and served as Director of Project Management at Habitat for Humanity International. Susan is co-author of the book Mastering Project Portfolio Management (J. Ross Publishing, Inc.) and several articles on project portfolio management. Presently, she consults with organizations seeking to optimize strategic benefit from their project portfolios, and is a member of the Advisory Council for the Enterprise Management Association - International. Susan S. Bivins earned her Master of Science in Project Management from the Graduate School of Business at The George Washington University, where she received the Dean's Award for Excellence and was admitted to the Beta Gamma Sigma business honorarium. A member of the Project Management Institute (PMI), she contributed to the PMI Standard for Portfolio Management, is currently serving as a subject matter expert on the PMI Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3) Standard 3rd edition team, and volunteers as a mentor to young project managers. In her spare time, Susan Bivins likes running and water-skiing, and has served on the boards of her community jazz festival and arts council. She can be reached via e-mail at sbivins@gwmail.gwu.edu Sue demonstrated her strength in managing a complex project involving three companies, each with different objectives and cultures. She possesses a sensitive and effective people leadership style, a tremendous work ethic, the ability to build and execute a unique common business plan, and the toughness to manage a project and its deliverables to the plan. She is smart, writes well and has the presence to present well to all levels..." Chief Scientist, Hitachi Data Systems Sue earned the respect of her subordinates, peers, and senior executives because of her command of project management, her effective mentoring, and her ability to lead. During her time here, Sue's knowledge, intelligence, sensitivity and just plain hard work made a significant positive difference in our ability to define and manage initiatives and projects..." CFO, Habitat for Humanity International Sue has shown that she can be a highly effective leader, and can manage and lead without designated authority as well as with direct reports. She was consistently ranked in the top 10% of her management peers..." Business Unit Executive, IBM Sue is highly intelligent, creative and sensitive to the needs of people. She is considered tough, but empathetic and fair. In the case of the corporate transformation project, she demonstrated extraordinary vision, a tremendous capacity for hard work, and the tenacity and sensitivity necessary to achieve such significant organizational change..." Vice President, IBM About Her Book This book is a "must read" comprehensive Portfolio Management guide on "how to" execute PPM processes. ...Kudos to Bible and Bivins for providing a hands-on "end to end" approach to project portfolio management..." Director of Portfolio Management, Large Insurance Company ...this book offers a roadmap to successfully navigate the complexities of PPM. In this regard I believe the authors were quite successful. I intend to use this book as one of my PPM references over the next number of years..." Graduate Student and MBA Candidate, Oxford University Sue Bivins has more than twenty-five years of management and leadership experience.

Wendy Sue Lyttle

Job Titles:
  • Agent
  • Member Engagement & Retention
  • Strategist
Expertise in Association Member Management Wendy Sue Lyttle has been an active agent for progressive development in the not-for-profit sector since the mid-1990s. She is a strategist and brings her extensive experience in membership marketing, member management, governance processes, and stakeholder, volunteer and partner relationships to the sector. She holds a certificate in 'Reinventing Strategic Planning to Deliver Customer Value' from the Centre for Strategic Management in partnership with the University of San Diego. In addition, Wendy Sue holds two other designations: Certified Association Executive (CAE) and Certified Sales Professional (CSP). A dynamic and motivated individual with a passion for helping volunteer associations to grow their revenues, Wendy Sue has earned solid credentials in key roles. As a member of the Canadian Professional Sales Association (CPSA) for ten years, she contributed to program development, initially serving 30,000 members as the Director of Member Benefits. Then, as the association's Director of Sales, she spearheaded the introduction of the only sales certification program in North America to corporations through the CPSA Sales Institute. The program has now certified over 4,000 sales professionals. Wendy Sue Lyttle is a strategist and brings her extensive experience in membership marketing, member management, governance processes.