2025 SMUS Governor Election Information

Society Membership Registration

To vote in the Governor Election (and to receive Society emails about the election), you need to be registered as a Society Member. You may have registered previously in which case there is no need to register again. If you are unsure, the process is simple to complete again. Please register as soon as possible (ideally by September 4, 2025) prior to the start of the voting period. The deadline to ensure registration is received in time to vote, is no later than September 14, 2025 at 3:00 p.m. PST.

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Election overview

Each year, as Governors complete their three-year terms, seats on the SMUS Board of Governors come up for potential election. This year, there are four open Board seats. Two current Governors, Douglas Freeman and Chris Talbot, have reached the conclusion of their respective terms, and are eligible to continue their service for additional terms. Two other Governors, Kyman Chan (current Treasurer) and David Longridge (past Chair), are completing their final terms.

As part of ongoing succession planning and governance practices, Society bylaws stipulate that the Board’s Nominations Committee is responsible for nominating and sharing to the Society a slate of candidates that will best meet the Board’s current and future governance needs. This process began in December 2024, when there was a call for nominations to the Society, with a specific focus on identifying candidates with finance and CPA expertise, recognizing the important leadership transition underway with the Board’s Treasurer and Finance Chair completing term.

The Nominations Committee’s nominated slate includes two returning Governors and two new candidates. As shared to the Society in May, the nominated slate has been assembled through a rigorous, multi-stage process. Returning Governors underwent a peer evaluation and review focused on governance principles, strategic contribution, fiduciary responsibility, and committee work. New candidates were carefully identified from the Society through the call for nominations and outreach process, and evaluated through interviews and assessment of background alignment with the Board’s identified requirements, including in finance and CPA-level accounting skills. All four of these candidates have demonstrated significant contribution to the community, excellence in leadership, relevant expertise aligned to the Board’s forward looking skills and governance requirements, and a commitment to collaboration and the mission and values of SMUS.

  • Douglas Freeman (returning)
  • Chris Talbot (returning)
  • Anup Grewal (new)
  • Scott Marks (new)

Douglas Freeman and Chris Talbot are experienced and dedicated Governors whose continued service brings essential continuity, strategic insight, and leadership to the Board. Douglas is a senior global executive and a recognized leader in corporate diversity and inclusion, governance and HR, with extensive corporate and non-profit board experience. Chris, with decades of executive-level experience in the technology sector, and as an advisor to more than fifty global philanthropic initiatives focused on using technology to improve access to and quality of healthcare, has served as Vice Chair, where his steady leadership and people-first approach have had meaningful impact. Anup Grewal brings over 30 years of senior financial leadership and a strong track record of strategic, values-driven decision making, along with a deep commitment to community service including on the Board of the Victoria Hospital Foundation. Scott Marks, a current SMUS parent and CPA, offers executive-level financial acumen and significant board experience including as treasurer at the Canadian Cancer Society BC Division, strengthening the Board’s capacity in financial oversight and governance.

These individuals also contribute to the overall resulting Board diversity and balance of perspectives across a range of dimensions so important to the Board and community, including professional experience, gender balance (six confirmed returning elected governors are female and two are male, or six and six including the nominated slate), background, alumni status, parental affiliation and relationship with boarding and day student experiences. The Nominations Committee believes that this slate will ensure a Board well-positioned to represent the community and support the School during this pivotal time, as we continue to implement the Floreat strategic plan and onboard our new Head of School, Dr. Jeff Aitken, and as we work to continually improve governance in support of the Society and School.

In addition to the Nominations Committee slate, one additional candidate, Christine Liao, has self-nominated pursuant to the Society’s bylaws.

  • Christine Liao (new)

As a result, with five candidates for four open positions, we will proceed to an election.

We would like to extend our gratitude to all the members of the Society who generously expressed interest in Board service this year, both through the Call for Nominations and by self-nomination. Your commitment to the School and willingness to explore contributing through Board service are deeply valued. We encourage all Society Members to learn more about all five candidates.

One of the most important duties of the Board’s Nominations Committee is to thoroughly assess the needs of the Board and to recommend the most qualified slate of returning and new board candidates to the Society, in terms of skills, experience and diverse perspectives, as well as specific succession planning requirements for key roles such as board officers and committee chairs. This is done rigorously through the focused work of the Nominations Committee, which identifies qualified and interested individuals, and thoroughly evaluates both returning governors as well as new candidates.

To find new candidates, the Nominations Committee sources members of the SMUS community, including those that have a strong track record for volunteerism (including prior committee work), a track record for philanthropy, and a demonstrated ability to work effectively as part of a team. As mentioned above, for 2025 a critical need was to identify candidates with finance experience and CPA certification. As such, the criteria established by the Nominations Committee required that all new candidates demonstrate proficiency in at least one of the identified skill areas.

New candidates, in addition to fulfilling the identified capability and experience needs of the Board, typically have already been serving on a board committee. They then go through a series of virtual and in-person interviews. For term renewals, returning governors undergo a peer evaluation through a confidential survey and must demonstrate a positive contribution to the Board's work.

This year, the Nominations Committee recommends a highly-qualified and experienced slate that includes two returning governors eligible for renewal, Douglas Freeman and Chris Talbot, and two new candidates Anup Grewal and Scott Marks. The selection of Anup and Scott was largely due to their strong backgrounds in finance and/or CPA qualifications.

This slate contributes to a board that is diverse across multiple dimensions, bringing a plurality of perspectives to reflect the school community. Including these four recommended candidates, the 12 elected governors will include an ongoing gender balance of six females and six males, diverse personal backgrounds, eight alumni and four non-alumni, six current SMUS parents and six past or non-SMUS parents, six governors whose careers have mostly been pursued in BC and six whose careers have been international, and finally four governors with experience with boarding and eight with day school. Critically, the Board will also have the blend of skill sets needed to perform the duties that the Board and its committees require – expertise in law, finance, general management, facilities, sustainability, technology, human resources, real-estate development and leadership.

Both returning governors, Douglas Freeman and Chris Talbot, have made outstanding contributions to the Board and the school. Together they represent a collective nine years of volunteer service that has been important to the governance of our school, including serving as Vice Chair of the Board and Chair of the Nominations Committee, and members of multiple board committees. These individuals and their experience have enabled the Board to function at a high level, while also bringing soft skills in teamwork and leadership that are so important in any effective group setting. Additionally, the continued contribution from these returning governors for the next three years will help ensure a successful and efficient transition as we prepare to welcome and onboard our new Head of School, Dr. Jeff Aitken, while bringing a complex and much-needed building project, the Middle School expansion, to a successful and timely conclusion.

The Nominations Committee additionally recommends Anup Grewal and Scott Marks as the two new candidates in this year’s slate to replace two governors, Kyman Chan and David Longridge, who will complete their Board service this year upon reaching their term maximum. Kyman is the Board’s current Treasurer and David is Governor and past Board Chair. Both have steered our school’s finances through the challenges of the COVID pandemic. As such, the Nominations Committee has spent the past months identifying and vetting candidates with the requisite executive-level financial and accounting leadership expertise, in order to effectively reinforce these skills on the Board, and also to serve as Treasurer. We are confident that we have identified two individuals with the requisite skills, experience and capabilities to serve on the Board.

Candidates are listed below alphabetically by last name.

Douglas Freeman

Portrait of Douglas Freeman

SMUS Board Service: Current member of the Board, Board member for the past 3 years, currently serves on SMUS Nominations Committee, Journey for Life (overseer) and Advancement Committee

Relationship to SMUS: Alumnus ’88 (Grades 6 to 12)

Key Contributions, Attributes and Qualities:

  • As the President of UniWorld Group, Inc. (UWG), Doug and UWG serve as the Chief Human Capital Advisor to four of the 10 largest publicly traded companies in the world.
  • Douglas Freeman has served on a range of non-profit Boards, from a fine arts board in Chicago, to a university board in the mid-South, to a range of advisory boards over the last 20 years. This level of board knowledge and participation has enabled him to provide a strong source of best practices knowledge, whether it is related to governance, key board decisions, or offering an alternative perspective during board member discussions, to facilitate strategic board management.
  • Douglas has also been extensively involved with the SMUS Advancement Committee, not only attending meetings but also supporting the strategic outreach activities of the school’s advancement team in different geographies. Additionally, as a member of the Nominations Committee, in years that Douglas is not also a candidate, he has actively participated in all aspects of the nominations process.

Read nomination papers, including detailed Q&A with Douglas Freeman

Anup Grewal

Board of Governors Nominee Anup Grewal Portrait

SMUS Board Service: New candidate, Nominations Committee slate

Relationship to SMUS: Parent of SMUS day student graduates ’20 and ’23. Member of both the Finance and the Facilities committees

Key Contributions, Attributes and Qualities:

  • With a background in economics, Anup has over 30 years of experience in finance, including as an investment advisor at CIBC Wood Gundy, where his work spanned managing risk assessment and mitigation for institutional portfolios.
  • As co-founder of Novus Properties, Anup also brings valuable property development expertise to the Board to support the school’s capital projects.
  • Anup has a track record of contributing his time and expertise to community in not-for-profit environments. He is active on the Victoria Hospitals Foundation Board, and for years volunteered as a team manager at the Victoria Minor Hockey Association.

Read nomination papers, including detailed Q&A with Anup Grewal

Christine Liao

Portrait of Christine Liao

SMUS Board Service: New self-nominated candidate

Relationship to SMUS: Parent of three day student graduates, past member of the Parents' Auxiliary

Key Contributions, Attributes and Qualities:

  • Christine has experience in the publishing industry, both internationally and locally, including co-founding Simple Dream Publishing, and holds an MBA from McGill University.
  • Fluent in Chinese, English, and French, she has lived, worked and studied in multiple countries and has international business and travel experience.
  • Christine has a long history of volunteer contribution to SMUS over many years, including as the Parents' Auxiliary Senior School Liaison and additionally successfully facilitating a collaboration between SMUS and the Victoria Hand Project. Her extensive volunteer commitments include in schools and with refugee organizations.

Read nomination papers, including detailed Q&A with Christine Liao

Scott Marks

Board of Governors Nominee Scott Marks Portrait

SMUS Board Service: New candidate, Nominations Committee slate

Relationship to SMUS: Alumnus ’90, current day student parent, member of the Finance Committee

Key Contributions, Attributes and Qualities:

  • Scott Marks is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) with extensive experience leading large-scale infrastructure projects across North America. His work involves collaborating with teams responsible for building and operating these assets over multiple decades, requiring a strategic balance between day-to-day operations and long-term implications.
  • His career spans leadership roles in accounting, corporate finance and treasury, as well as infrastructure investment. Based in Canada as well as for a period in Bermuda, he has worked for Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Intrawest Corporation, as well as Macquarie Bank.
  • Scott has governance experience, with a particular focus on not-for-profit finance, sustainability and budgeting, having been Treasurer of the Canadian Cancer Society BC/Yukon Division for six years.

Read nomination papers, including detailed Q&A with Scott Marks

Chris Talbot

Board of Governors Nominee Chris Talbot

SMUS Board Service: Current Vice-Chair of the Board, Chair of the Nominations Committee (currently recused while a current candidate for this year’s Board Slate), and member of Executive and Governance Committees, ad-hoc Opportunities Committee and formerly the Advancement Committee

Relationship to SMUS: Alumnus ’87 (Lifer), current day student parent, mother was a teacher at SMUS

Key Contributions, Attributes and Qualities:

  • Chris’s experience as a Founder of successful healthcare technology leader Qualcomm Life and senior executive at Fortune 500 tech company Qualcomm, Inc. brings valuable leadership, teamwork, governance and strategic level skills to the Board table, especially as we build our momentum in the school’s STEAM strategy and plans.
  • Chris has brought new perspectives and diligence to our nominations process, ensuring good succession planning and board teamwork, while also helping to diversify our Board.
  • He brings impressive leadership through the eyes of an informed perspective of global complexity, business and organizational development, financial decision making as well as strategic planning. His range of school perspectives as alum, parent, former day and boarding student and child of a former SMUS teacher provide a 360 degree perspective.

Read nomination papers, including detailed Q&A with Chris Talbot

The election will be held electronically using OpaVote, a secure, widely used platform used by organizations including SMUS to conduct elections in an efficient, secure, and cost-effective manner. We are targeting to hold the election (that is, the system will be activated to accept Society members’ votes) from September 8 to 17, 2025. Confirmation of this voting window together with an email with your individual voting codes, voting instructions including how to get support to access Opavote or vote if required, and further election-related information will follow this email, in early September.

SMUS Society Board of Governors - elected governors

Continuing governors:

Governors who are completing their final terms:

Governors that have reached the conclusion of their respective terms, and are eligible to continue their service for additional terms:

View appointed governors and advisory and ex-officio roles.

We respect and value the privacy of our Society members.  In accordance with the BC Societies Act, all candidates have the right to access the Society membership list. However, in line with our respect for privacy, we have recommended candidates limit their outreach to personal networks and avoid using School contact lists as some Society members do not wish their contact information to be used for unsolicited campaigning or other related uses. We have also encouraged each of the five candidates to focus on the Election 2025 Candidate Information website as the key place to make themselves known to this community. Please be aware that registered Society members may receive communications directly from candidates.

The Board of Governors is a volunteer Board (unpaid position, and members do not receive benefits), focused on the governance, oversight and strategic direction of the school, rather than its day-to-day operations. Governors volunteer to dedicate significant time and expertise to the Society, and are also fiduciaries of the school, responsible for overseeing the school's fiscal management. Governors serve in three-year terms, with a possibility to renew for a maximum of three successive terms (or nine years) and in the case of the Chair, for a maximum of four successive terms (or twelve years). For further information please see additional information here.