2023: The Centenary

Founding member and Executive President of Precinomics Health Solutions Canada inc., France Chrétien- Desmarais currently sits on numerous Boards in the health, research and social development sectors. Aiming to positively impact society, she leverages her business knowledge by supporting diverse organizations in shaping their foundations, business models, financial structures and diversifying their talents. She is a member of the Order of Canada.

An entrepreneur, philanthropist, corporate director, author and educator. He is Chairman of Thomas d’Aquino Capital, Founding Chief Executive of the Business Council of Canada, Founder and Chairman of the North American Forum and a Founder, Director and Chairman Emeritus of the National Gallery of Canada Foundation. He is a member of the Distinguished Patrons of the National Gallery of Canada, a group that he founded in 2005 that today consists of close to 100 of Canada’s leading cultural philanthropic families. He is a member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Ottawa.

He is the former chairman and co-CEO of Research in Motion (BlackBerry). His private investment office includes global and domestic technology investments and was part of the consortium that recently purchased the Canadian space technology leader MDA. Innovator and founder of both CIGI and the Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA) in Waterloo, co-founder of the Institute for New Economic Thinking in New York and the Council of Canadian Innovators based in Toronto. He received many awards including several honorary degrees and has made the Time Magazine’s World’s 100 Most Influential People and was three times Barron’s list of “World’s Top CEOs.”. Mr. Balsillie is also a great philanthropist and an art collector.

Amanda Desmarais is Chief Curator and Founding Partner at Subject Art – an online art platform and art advisory firm. Amanda Desmarais began Subject Art in 2015 as a Founding Partner and became Chief Curator in 2016. Prior to joining Subject Art, Desmarais has worked in curatorial and advisory work in top museums and galleries in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Among these exhibitions was Shao Fan’s first solo show in Shanghai, and Zhang Huan’s monumental exhibitions in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Desmarais has also worked in art advisory and art consultancy in London, New York and Montreal. She has experience working with top tier artists as well as emerging artists. She holds a Masters Degree in Art History with a focus on Chinese Art from the University of Glasgow.

Diana Hamm founded WK ART, an independent art advisory service, in 2014. Since then she has worked with collectors in Canada, the US, the UK and Hong Kong. With a focus on Contemporary Art, Diana helps clients build and diversify collections. Prior to founding WK ART, Diana lived in London and worked at Lisson Gallery. She trained at both Sotheby’s Auction House and the Gagosian Gallery at the beginning of her career. Diana received her MA in Contemporary Art from Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London and graduated from Queen’s University with an honours Bachelor of Arts degree focusing on Renaissance and Baroque Art History. Diana sat on the Sotheby’s Canadian Advisory Board and has been an active supporter of the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Power Plant. She also writes the art column for Canadian House & Home.

Vicki Heyman served as an American cultural envoy in Ottawa from 2014 until 2017. Her leadership emphasized the importance of the Canada-US relationship through cross-border conversations and programs related to the arts, social innovation, and youth engagement. Today, she continues to work on strengthening the relationship between the two countries, serving as a board member of the Council for Canadian American Relations, an organization that promotes cross border arts and cultural exchanges and is a member of the Cultural Diplomacy Leadership Council at Meridian international in Washington DC. Heyman’s most powerful work during her time in Ottawa involved partnering with US Embassy Ottawa and the State Department’s Art in Embassies program to launch the seminal Contemporary Conversations speaking series at the National Gallery of Canada, using art as a bridge to discuss challenging issues such as social justice, the environment, and identity.

A Board member at La Jolla Institute in California and Board Member at the San Diego UC Milk Bank. Geneviève is also a TikTok Influencer with 30K followers. She graduated with a diploma in Oceanography in Rimouski and education from the University of Ottawa. Geneviève worked on the Corila project in Venice Lagoon Barrier in Italy. She has a diverse experience, from being a medic in the Canadian Army, manager of a pharmaceutical sales team, to being a teacher and hosted a lifestyle TV show, Cosmopolis.

François Odermatt is one of Montreal’s biggest collectors of contemporary art. He is known for his preference for painting and sculpture rather than photography or new-media works, and for choosing works that are large, unwieldy, and otherwise difficult to take home.

Ed has over ten years of experience in the art world working with collectors, artists, galleries and institutions. He was previously a director at Art Agency, Partners in New York and was Vice-President and Director of Global Fine Arts at Sotheby’s New York. Ed’s previous work included collector advisory, collection development and management, valuations and special projects involving artists, estates and foundations in the US, Europe and Asia. A native of Hong Kong and the U.K., Ed received a B.A. degree in History of Art from University College London. During his time in London, he was an ambassador for Tate Young Patrons and the founding co-chair of the Whitechapel Gallery First Futures group. He was also a member of the Tate Asia-Pacific Acquisition Committee for a number of years. Ed moved to New York in 2014, shortly before becoming the Global Head of First Open at Christie’s. He oversaw the First Open New York contemporary auctions and helped its expansion to London, Hong Kong as well as the online realm. More recently, he became a founding member of the Asia Art Archive Women in Art History Fund and has been involved as a Friend at the Foundation for Contemporary Art since 2017.