Board of Directors
The HMC Board members bring a range of skills, experience and diversity with backgrounds and contacts that differ but also complement those of all members of the organization. The Board operates under the premise that its primary role is one of oversight, leadership, direction, and policy setting. Through regular meetings and communications, the Board helps ensure effective organizational planning and sees that the organization’s resources are well managed.
Click the job titles to read more about our board members.
Chair
Partner, Quality Assessors International
Terry Miosi received his Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Toronto after which he moved into academic administration, serving as the Director of Liberal Studies programs at the U of T’s School of Continuing Studies; Vice-President Academic of Shaw Colleges; Deputy Superintendent of the Private Career Colleges division of Ontario’s Ministry of Education and Training; and Senior Policy Advisor and Acting Director of the Ontario’s Postsecondary Education Quality Assessment Board. Upon his retirement from government, he acted as Chair of the Hamilton review team for the Ontario Trillium Foundation and President of the Canadian Society for Training and Development. He was also Senior Consultant to the Qualifications Framework Project of the United Arab Emirates, and continues to consult with numerous universities and colleges on institutional accreditation and educational quality issues. In 2012, he was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for his contributions to education and training in Canada.
Director
Founder,
Charuk Law
Ted Charuk is a lawyer practicing Family Law and Wills and Estates in Hamilton. He received his Master of Laws from Osgoode Hall Law School and his LL.B. from Queen’s University. He is an Arbitrator with Tarion New Home Warranty Program and has acted as an Adjudicator with the Consent and Capacity Board (a Ministry of Health appointment). Ted is the Past Vice President and Treasurer of the Ontario Association for Family Mediation; founding member of the Hamilton-Halton Collaborative Law Association, and has held leadership roles in numerous other law related organizations. He has also been involved in various community associations, including, as founding Director and Legal Counsel for the Neuro-Oncology Foundation, Hamilton; President of Dawn Patrol Child and Youth Services; member of the National Child Benefit Advisory Group; and member of the regional Cancer Advisory Committee. He is currently a member of the Hamilton Pro-Bono Project (estate planning for modest estates).
Director
Partner, Ross & McBride LLP
John Lewis is a Partner and Chair of the Business Law Group at Ross & McBride LLP. He was born and raised in inner city Hamilton. He obtained his B.A. at Western University and his LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School. He has been an active member of the Hamilton community serving on the Boards of Arts Hamilton, the HPO, and the Catholic Children’s Aid Society, among others, as well as coaching hockey and baseball. John is an enthusiastic if not especially talented musician. He received his musical initiation through the passionate leadership of choirmaster Dennis Driscoll and the generosity of Christ the King school where he was provided a free loaner guitar and lunch hour lessons from Sister Brendan. It is in memory of Mr. Driscoll and Sister Brendan that he dedicates his support to the mission of the Hamilton Music Collective.
Vice Chair
Judy Marsales Real Estate Ltd.
Judy Marsales is a well respected member of the Hamilton Real Estate industry in Hamilton having opened Judy Marsales Real Estate Inc. in January of 1988. Today, approximately 50 salespeople work out of the three Judy Marsales offices in Ancaster, Westdale and on Locke Street in downtown Hamilton. Judy has always been an outspoken champion for the city of Hamilton. She was the first woman president of the Metropolitan Hamilton Real Estate Board and has held leadership positions within various business and community organizations in Hamilton including president of the Hamilton and District Chamber of Commerce, past president of the Business Executives Organization and from 2003 – 2007 served as the Liberal MPP for the former riding of Hamilton West. She has served on a long list of community boards and associations, is a regular contributor to various publications including The Bay Observer and Urbanicity and once a month, hosts her own radio show, Sold on Hamilton, which highlights some of the city’s community supporters, musicians and innovations. A lifelong musical activist, Judy is the vocalist for the group Judy and the Noteworthies. Along with a group of talented Hamilton musicians, the Noteworthies can be found hosting interactive performances in local clubs and bars and for innumerable charity events.
Secretary
IPC Securities, Wealth Advisor
Marie Phillips runs a successful wealth advisory practice (nextstepsplanning.ca) in Ancaster and Milton and has been in the financial services industry since 1992. She is a co-author of Financial Success for Women written by Women and a respected member and Chair (2018-2022) of IPC’s National Advisory Board. Marie was the recipient of the IPC Cares Award for Community Service along with the IPC’s Value of Advice, Top 10 Wealth Builder of the Year and Best Client Experience Awards and has been published/profiled in a variety of media including BNN, The Globe and Mail, Bloomberg, Investment Executive and Wealth Professional. Marie actively volunteers her time advocating financial literacy and philanthropy in the arts sector and is also an amateur musician.
Treasurer
Retired math teacher
Rosemary graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in Honours Mathematics. She completed her Bachelor of Education at the University of Toronto and received a Master of Science(T) degree from McMaster University. She taught mathematics and computer science with the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board for 31 years, the last 15 of which she served as the Head of the Mathematics Department at Sherwood High School. During her teaching career she had many roles from union representative to Chair of the Math Department Heads committee. She was very involved with student extracurricular activities and teacher social functions. Rosemary has been retired for 18 years but used that time to tutor students needing help in their math courses and become a Life Master in Bridge.
CEO & Founder
HMC Program Director
Originally a professional saxophonist and educator from Cologne, Germany, Astrid Hepner founded the Hamilton Music Collective in 2008 shortly after moving to Hamilton from New York City. A trained musician, Astrid has performed with Latin music legends Tito Puente and Celia Cruz and regularly performed at the NYC downtown club Knitting Factory with her band Astrid Hepner & Funkmeister. As a record executive she worked with world-class artists including Norah Jones, Sir Simon Rattle, Anita Baker, Keith Jarrett, Wynton Marsalis and Al Green at major record companies in NYC (Blue Note Records, BMG Classics, ECM Records). Astrid Hepner studied Musicology at the University of Cologne and earned her Master’s degree in Performing Arts from The Folkwang School in Essen, Germany. She also holds a diploma in Cultural Management. Astrid is the recipient of the 2013 YWCA Hamilton Women of Distinction Award.
Director
Principal, CGS Architects
Bill Curran is an architect, architecture teacher and writer who has practiced on a wide range of architecture, interiors and urban design projects across Canada, the USA and internationally in his 40 years of professional experience. He also undertakes development projects. CGS’ notable projects range from The Gasworks to urban neighbourhoods, highrise housing, civic buildings, restaurants and bars and wineries, university and college buildings, affordable housing and cutting edge workplaces. CGS has received over 20 design awards for their innovative work, and their work has been published internationally in books and journals. He is a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, a member of the Ontario Association of Architects, holds a LEED AP professional designation, received the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario A.K. Sculthorpe Award for Advocacy for helping save The Lister Block, has taught undergraduate architecture for over 25 years and mentors intern architects.
Director
Retired Lawyer & Director
Called to the Bar in 1994, Anna has practiced for 20 years almost exclusively as in house counsel with multi-national, cross listed, publicly traded companies. Anna has extensive experience in Canadian and U.S. securities laws, corporate governance, corporate communication, investor relations, finance and treasury as well as insolvency and crisis management, and most recently health law. Most recently until retiring, she was VP, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS). Previously, she was General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer with Nortel.
Artistic Director
Professor of Music, Mohawk College
A seasoned performer, accomplished composer/arranger and respected educator, saxophonist Darcy Hepner has worked with such legendary figures as B.B. King, Aretha Franklin, Sergio Mendes, Henry Mancini, Tony Bennett, Mel Tormé, and Blood, Sweat & Tears. He has been on the music faculty at New York University, Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mohawk College in Hamilton and is the founder of the Selkirk College music program in Nelson, BC. Most recently Darcy has performed and recorded with: the Cowboy Junkies, Grammy winning guitarist Larry Carlton, Tom Wilson’s “LeE HARVeY OsMOND” and with Ian Thomas on his symphonic recording “A Life in Song”. He has conducted the National Arts Centre Orchestra for Tom Wilson’s “Symphonic Scars” and in 2017 and 2019 he conducted the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra’s “Beatles Experience” which he also arranged and produced.
Director
Chairman Emeritus, OKD Marketing
Phil King received Honours Economic and History degrees from York University and is also a graduate of the Association of Canadian Advertisers’ Media, Advertising and Marketing Program. Phil began his career with Southam Business Publications before working in Account Services with several Toronto and Hamilton-based advertising agencies. In 1981, Phil co-founded OKD Marketing communications, now one of the Golden Horseshoe’s largest full-service, media and digital marketing agencies. OKD supports Hamilton Music Collective and the AIFEC Program with an extensive range of advertising and communications materials and Phil has been a HMC Board Member for over 7 years. Since retiring, Phil has renewed his love of music and guitar and has built a small home recording studio. Phil’s extensive communications and creative experience along with his love of music, help provide strategic support for HMC’s marketing and community outreach programs.
Chair Emeritus
Steel
Executive
Hamilton-born Bob Miller graduated from the Business program at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute and was recruited to join Dofasco’s sales department. In over four decades in the North American steel industry, he assumed a number of senior executive positions involving production, processing, distribution, industry support and consultation. During that period, as a place of safe refuge, Bob could be regularly found at the former Hamilton Thistle Club, hammering a squash ball and sharing a post-match libation with many like-minded colleagues. He cherished the wonderful marriage he had with Rosemary and was gratified by the successes of his two adult children, Leigh and Dan. While not a musician, music was a lifetime passion, which was personified by him co-founding and chairing the “Steeltown Friends of Mohawk Music,” which provided substantial financial support to the Mohawk College music program. As chair of the HMC board from 2008 until his passing in 2023, this love of music and all the positives it brings generated its just rewards for Bob.
Founding Patron, Director Emeritus