OFA Board of Directors
Ontario Financing Authority – Board of Directors
Date of Initial Appointment to OFA Board: August 2024
Jason Fitzsimmons was appointed Deputy Minister of Finance in August 2024, after having previously served as Deputy Minister of Energy since October 2022.
Previously, Jason held the role of Chief Corporate Affairs and Customer Care Officer with Hydro One since August 2018, with oversight of the customer service, corporate affairs, marketing, sustainability and Indigenous relations functions.
Jason previously held the roles of Vice President of Corporate Development and Vice President of Labour & Employee Relations at Hydro One, where he was responsible for driving strategic change, including the in-sourcing of the 400-employee Customer Contact Centre to deliver best-in-class customer service.
Prior to joining Hydro One, Jason held executive roles at the Ontario Hospital Association and Ontario Power Generation.
In 2020, Jason was recognized as one of Canada’s 50 Best Executives by the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business for his ability to guide transformational change while offering industry-leading customer support programs during the pandemic.
Committees: Audit and Risk Management Committee, Chair; ONFA Investment Committee, Member
Date of Initial Appointment to OFA Board: July 2020
End of Current Term: July 2026
Steve Geist has over 30 years of experience in financial services. He retired from the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in 2017 where his last role was Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, CIBC Wealth Management. Prior to that, Steve was President and CEO of CIBC Asset Management, one of Canada's largest asset managers with over $120 Billion of assets. Before joining CIBC, he held roles at TD Asset Management, Fidelity Investments and Price Waterhouse.
Steve currently serves as the Chair of the Canada Life Investment Management Independent Review Committee and as a member of the Independent Review Committee of SEI Investments Canada. He is also the Chair of the Capital Sector Audit Committee for the Province of Ontario and is on the Board of Directors for Quinte Health. He is a past director of the Investment Funds Institute of Canada and the Mutual Funds Dealers Association.
Steve is a Chartered Professional Accountant with an FCPA/FCA designation and also holds the ICD.D designation. He is a Certified Financial Planner and has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Date of Initial Appointment to OFA Board: August 2000
End of Current Term: July 2026
As CEO of the OFA, Gadi Mayman is responsible for the Province’s capital market activities, including borrowing and debt management, corporate and electricity finance projects, and its banking and investor relationships. He is also CEO and Vice-Chair of the Ontario Electricity Financial Corporation.
Prior to joining the OFA, Gadi worked at Export Development Canada in Ottawa and in the International Division of the TD Bank. He received a Bachelor of Applied Science in Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto in 1981, and an MBA from the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario in 1988.
Gadi is on the boards of Infrastructure Ontario and Invest Ontario. He is Co-Chair of the Joint Nuclear Funds Investment Committee, a joint committee of the OFA and Ontario Power Generation.
Committees: Audit and Risk Management Committee, Vice-Chair; Human Resources and Governance Committee, Member
Date of Initial Appointment to OFA Board: January 2021
End of Current Term: January 2027
Rani K. Dhaliwal retired from Humber College in 2021, where she was the Senior Vice-President, Transformation and Strategic Partnerships at Humber, supporting the advancement of the college’s strategic priorities. Rani oversaw Humber College’s unique strategic partnerships with industry and community and the University of Guelph Humber. She also led the establishment and implementation of the Humber-Seneca Polytechnic Partnership and the successful $50M capital campaign (Unlimited).
In her earlier role as the college’s SVP Planning and Corporate Services & CFO, Rani provided leadership in the areas of financial services, capital construction risk management, IT and strategic planning. She also has extensive private sector experience in the manufacturing sector.
Rani has a passion for volunteering and working on issues related to health and education. She currently serves on the Ontario Internal Audit Committee and as a director of the Ontario Education Collaborative Marketplace. Rani has previously been involved with the William Osler Health System, World University Service of Canada, UNICEF Canada and the Federation of Canadian-Brazilian Businesses.
Rani has her FCPA FCMA. She has a BA in Economics and in Business Administration from York University, and Chartered Director designation from McMaster University.
Committee: Audit and Risk Management Committee, Member
Date of Initial Appointment to OFA Board: October 2016
End of Current Term: October 2025
Heather-Anne Irwin is the Academic Director of the Master of Financial Risk Management and an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream at the Rotman School of Management. She is also the Executive Director of the Canadian Securities Institute Research Foundation. Prior to this, Heather-Anne spent 19 years in capital markets at TD Securities, Nesbitt Burns, and Citibank where she occupied various senior roles in corporate finance, fixed income and structured products.
Currently Heather-Anne is a board member of Artis REIT and a member of the Independent Review Committee of Starlight Capital; she was previously a board member of InnVest REIT. She also sits on several private boards. She is the Founding President of Women in Capital Markets.
Heather-Anne’s not-for-profit board work includes, Up With Women where she is the Past Chair, and Bay St. Deconstructed. She was a member of the board of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Foundation from 2002–2008.
Heather-Anne has a degree in Engineering Chemistry from Queen’s University and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University. She holds the ICD.D designation.
Committees: Audit and Risk Management Committee, Member; Human Resources and Governance Committee, Chair
Date of Initial Appointment to OFA Board: June 2016
End of Current Term: December 2025
Diane McArthur is a recently retired public servant. She was the first ever Chief Talent Officer of the Ontario Public Service where she chaired the Ontario Public Service Commission and spearheaded a strategic plan to modernize the public service. Prior to this, she was the Executive Lead for the Secretariat supporting the Premier’s Advisory Council on Government Assets. The Secretariat worked with ministries to successfully implement one of the largest IPO's in Ontario's history and most significant reform of beverage alcohol retailing since prohibition.
Diane’s previous executive roles include Assistant Deputy Minister and Executive Officer of Ontario Public Drug Programs, where she oversaw the administration of the second largest drug insurance program in North America; Assistant Deputy Minister of the Ontario Seniors’ Secretariat; Executive Coordinator of Health and Social Policy in Cabinet Office.
Diane has extensive experience in health human resource policy and planning for health care provider training, education, supply and distribution initiatives, data and health information planning and analysis, health care provider negotiations, rural health policy, labour relations, and service delivery restructuring. She is currently a board member of CorHealth, which provides strategic leadership to improve cardiac, stroke and vascular care in the province, and of Belmont House, a charitable, non-profit home for seniors offering long-term care and retirement living. Diane’s previous Board experience includes the Ontario Electricity Financial Corporation (Audit Committee member), the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technology in Health (Chair, Audit and Finance Committee), and the Michener Institute of Canada.
Diane has a Bachelor of Public Relations from Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax and an MBA from the University of Ottawa. She received her ICD.D designation in June 2018.
Committees: ONFA Investment Committee, Chair; Audit and Risk Management Committee, Member
Date of Initial Appointment to OFA Board: February 2017
End of Current Term: February 2026
Paul Potvin is a former derivatives trader and structurer with 26 years of experience in Canadian and international fixed income, equities and credit. Paul has held senior positions with Canadian and international banks, including National Bank of Canada, CIBC, and ABN AMRO / Royal Bank of Scotland. Paul also served as a consultant to the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec in an initiative to reduce the credit risk it assumed following the Montreal Accord restructuring of the Canadian asset-backed commercial paper market. Before working in the financial services industry, Paul was an assistant professor of finance at the University of Toronto.
Paul holds a PhD in Business Economics from Harvard University, and an Honours BA from the University of Toronto.
Committee: Human Resources and Governance Committee, Vice-Chair
Date of Initial Appointment to OFA Board: March 2022
End of Current Term: April 2028
Rita is a veteran of global corporate finance with over 30 years’ experience advising public and private power, water and energy companies. She has advised governments, companies and investors on privatizations, cross border mergers, acquisitions, and financing strategies in power, water and energy around the world. She has both advised on, and lead from the board or senior management level, IPOs in Canada (TSX and TSX-V), the USA (NASDAQ) and the United Kingdom.
Rita is the owner and Chief Executive Officer of JacKryn Holdings Inc., a financial advisory firm focused on corporate governance and interim strategic management. A Canadian resident, Rita works globally on energy and infrastructure transactions. She is also the founder of The Women’s Mentor Initiative. Rita serves as the Chair of the Investment Committee of the Board of Allstate Insurance Company of Canada, the Chair of Ceylon Graphite Corp., an Independent Director on the Investment Review Committee of NewGen Asset Management, and on the Board of the Toronto Public Library Foundation.
Rita has an MBA and Chartered Director designation. She holds an LLB from the University of Ottawa and is a Member of the Bar in Ontario and the United Kingdom.
Committees: ONFA Investment Committee, Vice-Chair; Human Resources and Governance Committee, Member
Date of Initial Appointment to OFA Board: March 2022
End of Current Term: April 2028
Grant Williams is a debt capital markets/government finance professional with a 30-year track record of providing timely and reliable advice to senior government and corporate clients. He retired from the Bank of Montreal in 2020 where his last role was Managing Director and Co-Head of Canadian Government and Supra, Sovereign and Agency (SSA) Origination. After being appointed to that role in 2015, Grant oversaw the growth of its global US$ SSA origination group into a market leader. Prior to that, Grant headed up the Canadian Government Finance team that focussed on providing innovative and cost-effective financing to all three tiers of government, which totalled ~$120 billion per annum of issuance. In addition, his responsibilities also included several of the largest infrastructure and utility issuers in the Canadian debt market. Earlier in his career, Grant spent time at Citibank Canada.
Grant has an MBA from the Ivey School of Business at Western University, a Bachelor of Business from the University of South Australia and was a Certified Financial Analyst charter holder from 1997–2020.
If you are interested in serving on this Board, please create an account on the Public Appointments website, noting your interest in the Ontario Financing Authority under agency preferences in your profile.
