Our Leadership

David is a passionate advocate for encouraging accessibility and inclusion which, combined with his more than 30 years of broadcast experience, makes him the ideal head of a world-leading organization that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians living with a disability. Since joining AMI in July 2009, David has been instrumental in leading significant change at AMI, pivoting from a company focused on the mechanics of accessibility to an organization dedicated to establishing and supporting a voice for Canadians with disabilities, representing their interests, concerns and values through accessible media, reflection and portrayal. 

In addition, under David’s leadership, AMI’s broadcast licences were successfully renewed in 2013 and 2018 and AMI was awarded a French channel, AMI-télé, which launched in December 2014. Most recently, AMI broadened its reach as a multi-platform content company with the release of AMI+ and the AMI-tv/AMI-télé App for iOS and Android.

John Melville is an accomplished television and radio professional with over 25 years’ experience in programming, production and broadcast operations. During a six-year period as the Operations Manager of the Blue Jays Radio network at Telemedia, he was instrumental in the launch of the sports/talk format on Canadian radio at the FAN 590 in 1992. John then joined the Headline Media Group for the launch of the Score Television Network in 1997 and CHUM radio in 2001. Prior to joining AMI in 2011, John led the production and operations team at XM Satellite Radio Canada, overseeing the build of their Canadian studios, launched in 2005 and the creation of news, comedy, music and sports channels in Toronto and Montreal.

John holds a degree in Communications from Carleton University and a Honours Certificate in Radio Broadcasting from Humber College.

Line boasts more than 25 years' experience in the financial industry working previously as a Director, Controller and Consultant. Prior to joining AMI in 2010, Line worked at YMCA of Greater Toronto as well as SNC-Lavalin ProFac and Aéroports de Montréal. Line received her chartered accountant designation in 1990, after obtaining her Bachelor of Commerce Degree (Finance) from University of Montreal. Line completed her Canadian Risk Management (CRM) designation in 2010 and is a member of the Ontario Chapter of RIMS, the risk management society.  

Line is fluent in both English and French and in her spare time she enjoys golf and baking.

Brenda Grape is a Human Resources professional with more than 30 years’ experience. She has worked in a variety of industries including consulting, financial, academia and, for the past seven years, broadcast media. Brenda attended York University for her undergraduate education and recently completed the Advanced Human Resources Certification from Queen’s University IRC. She is a member of the Human Resources Professional Association of Ontario.

Isabella joined the organization in the early stages of the creation of AMI-télé. Initially hired as Director of Programming, Isabella was instrumental in launching the world’s first French television channel, in 2014, to provide described video and closed captioning on 100% of its content making it accessible to all Canadians. Also, Isabella serves as AMI’s representative in Quebec.

With over 20 years’ experience in the broadcast industry, Isabella has a sincere passion for television and producing great content. She previously worked for Canwest Global and in 2001 was instrumental in the launch of its multicultural TV station, CH Montreal, where she served as Station Manager until 2011.

Isabella is very active in the francophone community and also serves on various boards. In 2012, she was awarded the Medal of Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee for her involvement and work in the media to sensitize the population to conjugal violence against immigrant women.

François Beauregard is visually impaired (RP) as are his two brothers and his sister.

Over the past 30 years, Mr. Beauregard has been actively involved in the Quebec blind community. He has been a Board member of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, Quebec Division, for 10 years, acting as Vice Chair. He was President of the Fondation des aveugles du Québec (2007-2011) and a member of the Board of the INLB - Institut Nazareth & Louis-Braille.

Mr. Beauregard has been playing blind hockey with les Hiboux de Montréal since 2005. He was selected on the Canadian Blind Hockey National Team from 2018 to 2023. He acted as officer both at the local and national level with Canadian Blind Hockey/Hockey sonore Canada.

After schooling at Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf and Concordia University, he first became a journalist. Starting in 1983, he worked in the securities and advisory industry as a Financial Advisor and a Manager. Mr. Beauregard achieved the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) professional designation in 1997.  He joined Richardson Partners Financial in February 2005 and served as member of the Board of Directors of Richardson GMP from 2013 to 2017 before retiring in 2018.

Mr. Beauregard wrote a book on financial planning, has participated in several television programs and been a newspaper columnist. He has been hosting a weekly live radio show about accessibility and advocacy for persons with disability on Canal M in Montreal since November 2020.

Joe Tedesco has over 25 years of experience in the media industry. Currently, Mr. Tedesco is an independent business owner in real estate services and financing. He also serves on the Board of Halton Adapt an organization that provides addiction and mental health counseling in the region of Halton. 

Previously, he was Executive Vice-President and General Manager of Wildbrain Television, the operator of four premium channels in Canada and a streaming service in the U.S. In this role, Mr. Tedesco was responsible for the day-to-day operations, strategic development, and overall financial performance of the Canadian and global broadcast business for Wildbrain Inc. He also led regulatory, government affairs, and strategic planning for Wildbrain Inc.

Prior to joining Wildbrain, Mr. Tedesco held progressively more senior-level positions in finance, business development, and operations for Astral Television Networks. As part of his mandate, he managed key supplier and customer relationships, including negotiating long-term supply and distribution agreements with the major Hollywood Studios and cable distributors.

Mr. Tedesco is a CPA-CA and has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto. Before entering the Media sector, he held senior finance and business development positions in automotive manufacturing and packaged goods.
 

Betty Nobel is a retired teacher of the visually impaired. After spending many years as an adult educator at Vancouver Community College, Ms. Nobel retired but rejoined the workforce and continued to teach in the field of visual impairment until the end of June 2019.

Betty has a BA with a major in French (1973), a Diploma in Adult Education (1975), and a Master's Degree in Higher Education (1996).

She is the Past President of Braille Literacy Canada and a current member of the Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada national board. Ms. Nobel is a passionate advocate for Braille literacy and an avid reader.

In the year 2000, she received the YWCA Woman of Distinction award in the category of Education, Training and Development.
Currently, she chairs the Way-Finding and Signage Technical Committee for Accessible Standards Canada.

Brian Mackie serves as CFO for Baycrest Seniors Care, providing financial leadership to a world-leading academic health sciences centre in the field of aging and brain health, and operational oversight to Baycrest’s worldwide commercial ventures.  

Mr. Mackie has held senior financial management positions for a 25+ year career in the Ontario health system.  A chartered accountant, Mr. Mackie trained and worked with Price Waterhouse in both the UK and Canada.

Lauren has had a successful career as a senior executive and director in both the business and public sectors. She has had leadership roles with responsibility for business strategy, policy development, stakeholder relations and corporate governance, as well as human resource development and currently consults and finances corporate entities. Lauren has worked as a professional urban designer, taught in the Master of Environmental Design program at the University of Calgary, was elected member of her professional association in Alberta and was appointed as a national member of a board formed through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to enhance economic partnerships with China, and served with the head of mission for the Government of Canada overseas during the International Expo 2000 held in Germany. Lauren also was Senior Vice President and Director of a publicly-traded technology company in Vancouver, Photon Control Inc.  

In addition to serving as a director for numerous commercial companies, Lauren has served on non-profit and charitable boards including the Calgary Region Arts Foundation, the Calgary Heritage Advisory Board, the LEAF Endowment, and most recently, IMPACT BC. Lauren also currently sits on the Board of FrontFundr. Lauren has a B.A. (Math) from the University of Alberta and a Masters of Environmental Design (Arch) from the University of Calgary.

Retired Senior Partner, Audit & Accounting, Chair of the Board BDO Canada LLP, Glenn Agro provided auditing, accounting and advisory services to privately held companies with a focus on the construction, manufacturing, retail trade, and food services industry sectors. He was awarded Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA) designation in recognition of his career achievements and leadership contributions to the community and the profession. He is also a member of the Lynwood Hall Children’s Foundation. Glenn now provides advisory consulting.

Alain Strati is the Senior Vice-President, Industry and Policy at the Canadian Media Producers Association. Alain leads and manages the Policy and Government Relations departments, and advocates on behalf of the CMPA and its members before federal and provincial governments on policies that affect the industry.

A member of the CMPA’s executive leadership team, Alain provides strategic and legal advice to the President and CEO and CMPA leadership on all policy matters relating to the independent production industry, including business affairs, copyright, Terms of Trade and more. 

Over his 35-year career with the Nova Scotia Public Service, Charlie Macdonald led a number of initiatives to support the inclusion of citizens with disabilities. Charlie was the first Executive Director of the Nova Scotia Disabled Persons Commission. The Commission was established to provide advice to the provincial government on the needs and abilities of persons with disabilities. Charlie also led a “Social Inclusion Initiative” with the Department of Community Services. As well, he served as the Senior Diversity Consultant for the Nova Scotia Public Service Commission where he provided leadership to the Province’s diversity initiative. In this role, he was recognized with the “Premier’s Award of Excellence” in 2010. Most recently, Charlie was the Coordinator for the Nova Scotia Persons with Disabilities Employability Table. The Table presented a “Blueprint for Action for the Equitable Employment of Persons with Disabilities in Nova Scotia” to the Minister of Labour and Advanced Education.

Charlie has served as a volunteer Director for a number of provincial and national disability organizations over his career. Charlie is the immediate Past Chair of Accessible Media Inc. and is currently the Chair of the Employment Standards Development Committee under the auspices of the Accessible Act. of Nova Scotia. 

Charlie has a Master’s in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil). Charlie is blind and travels with his seeing-eye dog, Tula.

Johanne Saint-Laurent has over 25 years of experience in the broadcast industry, more specifically in the television business.  She had a successful career with Astral Media where she held various roles as a Senior Executive. Over the course of her career, she has overseen numerous departments including Finance, Human Resources, Legal and Regulatory Affairs, IT, Traffic, Broadcast Technical Services and Programming. In 2002, she was promoted to Senior Vice-President Business Affairs and General Manager, being involved in the strategic development and operations in the Quebec television market for 10 specialty and Pay Television services.

Ms. Saint-Laurent has a Bachelor of Commerce Degree (Finance) and also holds a master’s in business administration (MBA) from the University of Sherbrooke.

She has served on numerous boards of directors, Les Rendez-Vous du Cinema du Québec, Le Fonds Harold Greenberg, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, the Canadian Satellite Users Association and La Fondation de recherche de l’Université de Sherbrooke.  Ms. Saint-Laurent was also a founding member of Québec Cinéma. She also sits on the Board of Directors of The Bell Fund.

Paul A. Campbell is an accomplished technology entrepreneur and executive. His business purpose is leveraging the power of technology and innovation to create accessible solutions for underserved populations. He is currently the co-founder and CEO of Moneta Health, a brain health company with a mission to transform dementia care with an early intervention treatment platform powered by AI. 

Prior to Moneta, Paul was the co-founder and CEO of bLife Inc., a digital health company that developed a patented behavioral health mobile application. bLife-powered health and wellness apps for the Oprah Winfrey Network, Deepak Chopra, and the Huffington Post. Before bLife, Paul was an executive at Microsoft, responsible for digital media strategy and forming creative partnerships in Hollywood.

Paul serves on the board of two other national non-profits, including an organization funding research to find a cure for Alzheimer's Disease, Macular Degeneration and Glaucoma. 

A noted speaker, Paul has delivered a TEDx talk and presented at numerous conferences across North America and Europe.  He was born in England and educated in Canada, graduating from the University of Toronto.

Anne MacRae brings over 30 years of experience in the disability sector. She has worked at both the national and provincial levels, for both non-profits and government.  She has over a decade of experience working for the federal government at various levels in Halifax, Vancouver, and at the Office for Disability Issues in Ottawa.

Following her years with the federal government, Ms. MacRae served for 12 years as the Executive Director of the Disabled Persons Commission in Nova Scotia.  There, working with a board of directors and a small staff and contractors, she advised the government on a wide range of disability issues. She also served as the National Executive Director of Independent Living Canada, for two years. In addition to her professional experience, Ms. MacRae identifies as a person who is profoundly hard of hearing. She and her late husband, Steve Estey, are the proud parents of a son, Isai, who has cerebral palsy.

Isabelle Ducharme has been working on social integration of people with disabilities for more than 30 years.  During these years, Ms. Ducharme has presented at various conferences and facilitated multiple workshops on creating awareness for integrating people with disabilities.

Her personal experience of living with a spinal cord injury since her car accident in 1988 gives her unique insight in the barriers many persons with disabilities face.  She truly understands the different needs and accommodation needed to attain full integration.

Ms. Ducharme takes pride in being involved in different advisory committees, and standard development teams to bring structure to a more inclusive and sustainable world. 

Anu Pala is a passionate entrepreneur whose philosophy is to embrace life with enthusiasm, positivity, and a glass half-full attitude. The majority of Anu’s career has been spent in the non-profit sector, dedicated to serving under represented groups and promoting equity, accessibility and inclusion. As someone with firsthand experience of vision loss, Anu has played a key role in reshaping perceptions of disability inclusion and accessibility through a creative approach.

Through her business, Anu Vision Coaching & Consulting, Anu has worked with organizations such as BC Hydro, Destination Canada, and others to support their inclusive hiring practices, conducted website and digital content audits, provided keynotes at conferences, and supported the development and delivery of podcasts for Sher Vancouver and BC Centre for Ability. More recently, Anu co-created a national teacher training tool for EAL instructors with Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia and developed a podcast series for BCTEAL.

Anu also is a monthly contributor on AMI’s NOW with Dave Brown. Anu has been a recipient of the Founders Award through Royal Roads University and was a delegate of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.
 

Marilyn Brophy is a retired senior investment executive and former Managing Director, Head of Equity Research at CIBC Asset Management, where she served for eight years. Prior to joining CIBC, Ms. Brophy was the Director, Equity Research at UBS Global Asset Management (Canada) Co. for approximately seven years.  

Ms. Brophy holds a Master of Business Administration from Queen’s University, Master of Arts – Economics from McMaster University, Bachelor of Arts – BA, Honours – Economics from Queen’s University, Chartered Director designation from The Directors College, and the Chartered Financial Analyst designation from the CFA Institute.

Current Independent Board Member of Park Lawn Corporation (PLC-TSX). Current Chair of Audit Committee and member of the Investment and Human Resources Committees.

Past Independent Board Member of ivari Canada and member of the Audit Committee. ivari is one of Canada's leading individual life insurance providers with $10 billion in assets under management. 

Current External Committee Member, Board of Trustees Investment Committee for endowment funds, Queen’s University at Kingston. Former volunteer Board Member of the Canadian Hearing Services (CHS) and member of Finance and Audit Committee. The CHS is the largest, most comprehensive resource for Deaf and hard of hearing individuals in Canada.