Board of Governers

Jillian is the Director of Communications at Canadian Blood Services (CBS). She began her career at CBS in 2007 where she has held many positions in both communications and operations. Over the last 16 years, she has built a broad range of expertise, including the development and deployment of corporate communications plans, media relations, community outreach, and stakeholder engagement. She is a former journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and a graduate of the University of King’s College.

 

Jillian and her husband, David, have two children: Noah ’23 and Levi ’27.

Jamie O’Neil has been a partner and Chartered Accountant at KPMG for more than 20 years with experience in audit and financial accounting.

He holds a Bachelor of Commerce with a major in Accounting from Saint Mary’s University. He currently sits on the board of the QEII Hospital and the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada.

Jamie and his wife, Catherine have one child who attends Grammar: Colin ’25.

Jon is the chairman, president, and CEO of Stanfield’s Limited based in Truro, NS. Stanfield’s is a multi-generational family business tracing its roots back to 1856. He has extensive board, fundraising, stakeholder relations, communications, and marketing strategy experience. He holds several leadership and executive roles with for-profit as well as not-for-profit institutions such as SRM Hockey Inc.

 

Jon and his wife, Sue, have two children who attend Grammar: Gabrielle ’28 and Jaxon ’30.

Alfred is a former member of the Prime Minister’s Youth Council — he is also the co-chair of Canada’s first-ever ‘State of the Youth’ Report. Alfred has been an advisor to various community organizations and initiatives across Canada as well as to the Assembly of First Nations Chiefs.

Before launching Tribe Network, Alfred supported the African Canadian Senate Group and the office of Senator Colin Deacon as project lead; gathering data and insights on the current state of Black Entrepreneurs and Business Owners in Canada.

Alfred is also currently a board member of the Halifax Regional Library Board.

Jeff is a wealth advisor with Scotia Wealth. He advises high net worth individuals and corporations on the management of their portfolios and provides innovative financial, insurance, tax, and estate planning strategies. Prior to joining Scotia Wealth, Jeff was a senior manager of tax at Grant Thornton LLP where he provided personal and corporate tax services to a wide variety of clients with an emphasis on owner-managed businesses.

Jeff graduated with first-class honours and the University Medal in Commerce from Dalhousie University in 1999. In qualifying for his chartered accountant designation in 2001, Jeff placed on the David Hope Honour Role for his performance on the final exam and also received the H.R. Doane Bronze Medal.

Jeff is passionate about work and a variety of other activities including coaching hockey, tax education, and fly-fishing.  Jeff currently serves on the board of the Bedford District Minor Hockey Association, Halifax Grammar School Investment Committee, and the St. Ignatius Finance Committee.

Jeff resides in Bedford with his wife, Charlene, and their two children, Xander '26 and Gates '28.

Eduardo has worked within the public sector for most of his career but also has experience within the energy, financial services, and retail industries. He has led several successful initiatives involving Oracle E-Business Suite implementations and upgrades. Eduardo’s leadership and IT architecture skills combined with his broad technical knowledge and deep Oracle technology expertise are his greatest assets.

Sathyasai Murty-Chelamkuri is a Principal Partner and full-time practicing dentist at Scotia Dental and a Clinical Instructor for the Division of DCS in the Department of Periodontology in the Faculty of Dentistry at Dalhousie University for the past twenty years.

Sathyasai holds her Doctorate in Dentistry from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor’s of Science degree (Honours) in Biology and certification in Molecular Genetics from Saint Mary’s University. She also holds a Fellowship from ICOI.

Sathyasai is committed to excellence and has taken leadership roles on various committees bringing key experience in conflict management, fundraising and new growth initiatives specifically in areas of recruitment and advancement.

Sathyasai and her husband, Sridhar, have two children who attend Grammar: Saidharma ’27 and Srinath ’29.

Ian is currently an executive-in-residence at Cox & Palmer. He has extensive communication, stakeholder relations, advancement, and board governance experience. Ian is an independent nominee to the board and has accreditation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.

 

Ian was among the first students at Halifax Grammar in 1958 and is a recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Halifax Grammar School.

Samantha is an accomplished executive manager with almost 20 years of solid, cross-functional experience in fund administration and operational accounting. She is a passionate and goal-oriented professional who is also a loyal and committed person with strong leadership abilities.

Her experience in the financial industry includes client relations and development as vice president of a financial institution; financial, fund, and forensic accounting as the chief financial officer; and compliance in her role as money laundering report officer.