2025 SMUS Governor Election Information

2025 Election Results

The Board of Governors includes fourteen governors, twelve of whom are elected members of the SMUS Society, plus the president of the Alumni and Parents' Auxiliary respectively. This year, four of the twelve elected positions were open to be filled and there were five candidates seeking election to those four positions.

The results of the election, as attested by the scrutineers appointed in accordance with the bylaws, are confirmed as follows: 489 ballots were cast and 488 were valid ballots with one empty ballot.

The candidates that have been elected to the Board are as follows:

  • Douglas Freeman
  • Anup Grewal
  • Scott Marks
  • Chris Talbot

Please join us in congratulating these four Governors-elect who have been officially elected to serve a three-year term which begins following the 2025 AGM. We extend our thanks to all candidates for offering their service for the governance of the School. We also thank all the Members who thoughtfully considered candidacy during this process, including through the Call for Nominations..

The Board is always seeking new volunteers to serve in various Board and committee capacities. If you have interest in learning more about serving on a committee or the Board in the future, please find information here and email [email protected].

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

Christine Liao Portrait

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