2021-2023 SOAR Board of Directors

Dan Abrahams (Vice President)

Daniel J. (Dan) Abrahams is Vice President, Policy & Governance & Chief Legal Officer at Professional Engineers Ontario, the engineering regulator. From 2002 to 2019 Dan worked at the Law Society of Ontario, in a variety of senior counsel and leadership roles. Before that Dan was Senior Tribunal Counsel and leader of the mediation group at the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal (WSIAT), formerly WCAT. With a long history of professional and community volunteer involvement, Dan has been a SOAR member since 1994, an occasional panelist and presenter at various SOAR events, and a member of the SOAR Conference Committee since 2016. Dan was elected to the SOAR Board of Directors in 2017, 2019 and 2021, and serves on the SOAR executive as a vice president. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto’s Trinity College and of the University of Windsor’s Faculty of Law

Ayumi Bailly (Treasurer)

Ayumi is the Director of the Pay Equity Office, which is responsible for administering Ontario’s Pay Equity Act. Ayumi previously served on the SOAR Board in the late 1990s and early 2000s when she worked as Registrar for various Ontario tribunals. She stepped down from the SOAR Board when she left the tribunal sector to pursue career opportunities elsewhere in the Ontario Public Service and then the non-profit sector. During that time, her extensive experience with and knowledge of tribunals and crown agencies continued to be of immense value, such as when she led the policy development and then the legislative drafting for what is now the Public Service of Ontario Act. Her time away from the tribunal sector gave her invaluable opportunities to work in a wide range of subject areas (public sector governance and ethics, occupational health and safety, stakeholder relations, public legal information and education, etc.), all in executive roles. She returned to the agency sector in 2019 when she accepted the role of Director of the Pay Equity Office, and is both delighted and honoured to once again contribute to the professional excellence of adjudicative and regulatory bodies.

Robert Blair (President)

Robert is the Manager, Adjudication Legal Services in the Office of the Secretary to the Ontario Securities Commission. The Office of the Secretary safeguards tribunal integrity and procedural fairness and provides tribunal education. Before joining the Ontario Securities Commission, Robert practiced in the areas of securities, commercial, class action, and construction litigation. Prior to a career in law, Robert was an investment banker with two major bank-owned investment dealers in Calgary and Toronto. In addition to his involvement with SOAR, Robert is a member of CCAT’s Tribunal Excellence Committee.

Maureen Carter-Whitney

Maureen Carter-Whitney is an adjudicator in Toronto, currently a member of the Refugee Appeal Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board. She was previously a Vice-Chair of the Environmental Review Tribunal and the Mining and Lands Tribunal, and a Member of the Condominium Authority Tribunal, the Toronto Licensing Tribunal and the Ontario Municipal Board. Prior to becoming an adjudicator, Maureen held positions as Research Director of the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy, Legal Analyst with the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, author of the LexisNexis loose leaf publication, Environmental Regulation in Canada and Environmental Law Instructor at Ryerson University. Maureen holds a B.A. from the University of Toronto, LL.B. from the University of British Columbia and LL.M. in administrative law from Osgoode Hall Law School, and is a member of the Law Society of Ontario. For the past several years, she has been a volunteer on the SOAR Annual Conference Planning Committee and on the Board of Directors of Hard Feelings Mental Health, a nonprofit organization working to increase access to affordable mental health services.

Keith Cooper

Keith is an experienced adjudicator and Tribunal administrator who presently heads the Horse Racing Appeals Tribunal for Ontario, and concurrently serves as Deputy Commissioner of Multi-Tenant Housing for the City of Toronto. Previously, he oversaw the four Adjudicative Tribunals of CPA Ontario dealing with Disciplinary, Appellate, Accreditation, and Capacity matters for the 100,000 members of the organization. Before that, Keith was a Vice Chair/adjudicator with the Workplace Safety Insurance Appeals Tribunal, the Toronto Licensing Tribunal, and the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council. He has written a Conflict Resolution Guide, and co-edited the SOAR Manual for Ontario Adjudicators, and written two screenplays, one of which is in pre-production. Keith was first elected to the SOAR Board of Directors in 2013.

Genevieve Currie (Secretary)

Genevieve Currie is a lawyer who has worked in administrative justice from a variety of perspectives. She is currently working as counsel for the Integrity Commissioner, Ontario. Previously, she was Ombudsman Investigations Counsel for the City of Toronto Ombudsman and prior to that she worked as General Counsel to the Patient Ombudsman, Counsel to the Ontario Ombudsman, an Assistant Crown Attorney and a litigator with a large law firm where, among other things, she prosecuted for a professional regulator and represented clients before various tribunals and coroner's inquests. Genevieve was called to the bar in 2001, after clerking for the Ontario Court of Appeal. Genevieve has been on the SOAR Board of Directors since 2020.

Romona Gananathan

Romona Gananathan is currently a Vice Chair with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and and has been an Adjudicator with Tribunals Ontario since 2013. She has a combined Juris Doctor in Law and Master in Environmental Studies from Osgoode Hall Law School/York University and a PhD in Education Policy from the University of Toronto. Prior to her appointment, she practiced law in both the private and public sectors, primarily in labour and employment, immigration and refugee, disability, and human rights law and she has taught labour, employment, and human rights law at the post-secondary level. She has an extensive background in the public and not-for-profit sector in Ontario, where she served as an Executive Director, lawyer, volunteer, and board member with various organizations. She is a member of the Law Society of Ontario and serves on its Equity Advisory Committee and she volunteers on the Parent and Family Advisory Council of Bridgepoint Hospital.

John Gayle

Since 2014, John has been a member of SOAR’s Education Committee. He works as a Mediator, Investigator and Acting Adjudicator for the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. Before that, he worked for the Ontario Ombudsman and at a large Bay Street business law firm. In addition to SOAR, John has volunteered with many non-profit organizations. He is the former Board President of the Erin Mills Youth Centre and sits on the Board of Directors for the Aphasia Institute and The Neighbourhood Organization.

Heather Gibbs (Past President)

Heather Gibbs is a seasoned dispute resolution professional who has worked on all sides of the hearing room; as a mediator, litigator, adjudicator, and tribunal counsel. Heather is Assistant Deputy Chair, Immigration Division at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) a well as Chair of the Environmental Protection Tribunal of Canada. Her previous roles include manager of legal services at Environment and Land Tribunals Ontario, Vice-Chair of Ontario’s Environmental Review Tribunal, and legal counsel to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. Heather holds a law degree from the University of Ottawa and an undergraduate degree from Western University, as well as a certificate in public sector leadership from the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University, and in negotiation and mediation from the University of Windsor.

Trevor Guy (Vice President)

Trevor Guy is a lawyer with a long-standing interest in administrative law. After graduating from Osgoode Hall and his call to the bar in 2006, he started practicing administrative and commercial law litigation at a national full-service firm. Eventually, his interest in administrative law took him to the Ontario public service, first to the Ministry of Citizenship, Immigration and International Trade, then to Tribunals Ontario, where he advises the cluster’s tribunals on a wide range substantive and procedural matters, and acts on the litigation arising from the tribunals’ decisions. He currently teaches administrative law as part of Osgoode’s Professional Development LLM program for NCA students.

Rosemarie McCutcheon

Rosemarie McCutcheon was appointed as the Chair of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal (WSIAT) in August 2019. Prior to that appointment, Rosemarie was a vice-chair at WSIAT, with concurrent roles in the oversight and delivery of the WSIAT’s professional development programs, and later, as Alternate Chair - Registrar. Rosemarie started her legal career in litigation, but she has long been committed to public law, having earned the Samuel Lerner Q.C. Prize for attaining the highest combined grades in Public Law, Civil Litigation and Family Law upon her call to the Ontario Bar in 1997. Rosemarie holds an LL.M. (Administrative Law) and an LL.B., both from Osgoode Hall Law School. In 2021, Rosemarie was the recipient of the Ontario Bar Association’s Ron Ellis Award for Excellence in Workers’ Compensation Law.

Josephine Racioppo

Josephine Racioppo has worked as an adjudicator since 2013. She is presently appointed to the Social Benefits Tribunal where she adjudicates appeals relating to financial, medical and human rights-related disputes. After having worked in human resource management, in both non-profit and private sectors, Josephine’s professional interest turned to the public sector and administrative law matters. Prior to her appointment, she worked as an in-house representative appearing before the tribunal. She is licensed with the Law Society of Ontario. She holds an LLM in General Law with Osgoode, and certificates in Labour Relations, Human Rights as well as Mediation. An avid community volunteer, and certified yoga and mindfulness instructor, Josephine promotes health and wellness both at work and in life.

Voy Stelmaszynski (Former Past President)

Voy Stelmaszynski is a retired lawyer with over 25 years experience in the tribunal sector of labour and employment, primarily with the Ontario Labour Relations Board. He has graduate degrees in Slavic Languages and Literatures and previously worked as a court interpreter; he is also a published translator. Voy was President of the Society of Ontario Adjudicators and Regulators (2015-2017) and continues to serve on several of SOAR’s committees including Education and Conference Planning. He remains active in the administrative justice community with SOAR and with Tribunal Watch Ontario. He is a member of the Tribunals Nominating Panel for the City of Toronto. He was the 2017 recipient of the Tom Marshall Award of Excellence for Public Sector Lawyers presented by the Ontario Bar Association. His proudest accomplishments are his daughters, and he remains an ardent Blue Jays fan, win or lose.