Toronto Office
Kent Schroeder, Executive Director
Kent has led a variety of development initiatives in Bhutan since 2006 and joined BCF in 2019. His work has focused on building capacity within Bhutanese institutions to help strengthen the country’s young democracy. Kent has also undertaken a major research agenda that was formally recognized by the Prime Minister of Bhutan in 2015 for its contributions to Gross National Happiness, the country’s national development strategy. He has a PhD in International Development Studies/Political Science and is the author of Politics of Gross National Happiness: Governance and Development in Bhutan.
Jasmeen Chandi, Program Manager
Jasmeen joined BCF in August 2018. She has worked in community engagement through grassroots projects based in Toronto on youth mental health, gender, and disability advocacy. She is continuously trying to learn from Bhutan, from how Gross National Happiness can inform her own praxis to how to make ezay. Jasmeen holds a Bachelor of Arts in History and English from the University of Toronto. She is currently pursuing a Certificate in Community Engagement, Leadership, and Development at Ryerson University. In her spare time she enjoys trying new crafts, most recently learning woodworking.
Catherine Smart, Project Director, Trans Bhutan Trail Project
Catherine joined the BCF team in September 2019. Catherine has provided leadership to many organizations during her career including Independents Afloat (founder) and Smart Move Inc. (founder), March of Dimes, Outward Bound, Tourism Toronto and Toronto Brigantine Inc. She has also been a board member for many charitable and service activities including Canadian Standards Association (Chair), Ontario Head Injury Association, Camp Awakening, Blue Mountains Chamber of Commerce (Chair), among others. Her areas of expertise include project management, accessibility solutions, leadership coaching, marketing and communications. Cathy is certified through the Coaches Training Institute and holds a Diploma in Recreation Therapy. She has trekked, paddled, skied and sailed in many places around the world.
Stephen Couchman, Project Director, Trans Bhutan Trail Project
Stephen joined the BCF team in September 2019. For 18 years Stephen worked in philanthropy as Senior Advisor to an anonymous donor. More recently he was Executive Director of the Huronia Community Foundation. Stephen has held several volunteer positions including founding director and Chair of the Circle on Philanthropy and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada, advisor to Ashoka Canada and Futurpreneur. Stephen has helped to establish and expand new programs and organizations including Vital Signs, the Canada Learning Bond and Global Entrepreneurship Week (Canada). In his early career, he was a Program Director with Outward Bound Canada and helped to found Summit Training & Development. Stephen holds a BA in International Development, a Masters in Environmental Studies and Executive Development Certification with the Ivey School of Business. Stephen spends his free time in the outdoors supporting local environmental and community activities, blazing trails and building bridges.
Thimphu Office
Karma Tshering, Field Director
Karma joined BCF when it first open its doors in 2009. Karma has an extensive career working in development in Bhutan, which to date spans over 30 years. Prior to BCF, he has worked with a number of internationally funded development projects, most notably the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) for almost two decades. Karma has held multiple positions within BCF and has supported numerous activities to facilitate partnerships and build capacity within the education sector. In his spare time Karma enjoys playing archery, the national sport in Bhutan.
Kezang Wangmo, Program Officer
Kezang joined BCF in March 2018. She has previously worked as a marketing executive in a private company and as a reservation manager in one of the travel agents in Bhutan. She holds a Bachelor in Business Administration (BBA) from International Institute of Advanced Studies (IIAS), India. She enjoys engaging in social interaction and meeting new people. She also likes working with her hands from cleaning to manual work.
Sonam Rinchen, Senior Project Director, Trans Bhutan Trail Project
Sonam joined the Trans Bhutan Trail project as its Senior Project Director in March 2020. Sonam had an extensive career in the Royal Government of Bhutan and held numerous positions in the Bhutanese civil service. He superannuated in 2018 from the service after 35 years of successful tenure in service of Tsawa Sum (The King, Country and People). The last position he held was as Dzongda (Governor) of Trongsa Province. Sonam holds a Masters Degree (MPA) from the Pennsylvania State University (USA). In his spare time, he enjoys playing archery.
Jamyang Choden, Marketing Manager, Trans Bhutan Trail Project
Jamyang joined the Trans Bhutan Trail project in July 2020 as a Marketing Manager. She graduated from Gedu College of Business Studies in 2018. After graduation she worked with Bhutan National Bank as a Marketing Executive under Special Program on Financial Literacy after which she joined the MIOT international information center in Bhutan as the Marketing officer. Back in her school and university, she was recognized as a youth leader through her contribution to national and international programs. She loves traveling, interacting with people, advocating for youths and elderly people, and volunteers in different youth activities. She strongly believes in volunteerism for social benefits.
Tandin Wangmo, Researcher, Trans Bhutan Trail Project
Tandin joined the Trans Bhutan Trail Project in 2020 as a Researcher. She develops information on Trans Bhutan Trail’s history, flora and fauna, cultural and religious significance, and stories from communities and elders along the trail. She turns her research findings into engaging written products for the website and other communication materials. Tandin has accomplished a Master’s in Sustainable Development from Murdoch University, Australia, and has two years of research experience in the field of sustainability and livelihoods, among other distinctions. Tandin passes her spare time wandering in nature and taking pictures.
Chair of the Board
Sam Blyth, Founder and Chair
Sam Blyth was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge (MA), and the University of Paris. In addition to leading his successful company Blyth Academy, established in 1978, Sam has spent much of his adult life working and traveling around the world. After being introduced to Bhutan by Pierre Elliot Trudeau in 1988, Blyth has revisited the country on a number of occasions and has visited several Bhutanese students who have studied in Canada. His love for education and passion for the nation led him to launch The Bhutan Canada Foundation in 2009.
Directors of the Board
Stephen Ader, Director
Stephen Ader has been the owner and President of the Pet Valu store in High Park for over 20 years. Before that he worked for 25 years in consumer products marketing, first in the UK and then in Canada. He held positions of increasing responsibility including VP Marketing and Board Member of Lever Detergents and Bristol-Myers Canada. Interests include travel, tennis, yoga, bridge and cottaging. He spent 3 weeks in Bhutan in 2012, including a morning at Chumey Middle Secondary School through BCF, and was also part of the Chairman’s Group that visited Bhutan in 2015. Stephen has a BA (Hons.) from Oxford University.
A. Ian Aitken, Director
Mr. Aitken is a professional investor and long-time supporter of entrepreneurship education in Canada. He is the Managing Partner of Pembroke Management, the Chief Executive Officer of Pembroke Private Wealth Management and the Chief Executive Officer of The GBC American Growth Fund. In addition, Mr. Aitken serves as the Chairman of Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship, a registered Canadian charity and as a Director of the John Dobson Foundation. He is also a past president of the St. Andrew’s Society of Montreal. Mr. Aitken has had a great interest in Bhutan since his first visit to the country during 1997.
David Beatty, Director
David is a Professor at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto where he runs the David and Sharon Johnston Centre for Corporate Governance Innovation which studies board of directors of all kinds across Canada and internationally. He still overseas the Canadian Directors’ Education Program now in its 15th year having already trained some 6,000 prominent Canadians. He has served on over 40 Boards of Directors of publicly traded companies and been Chairman of 8 in Canada, Australia, Mexico, the USA and the UK. He is an angel investor in a number of start-ups in Canada and the US.
Stewart Beck, Director
Stewart Beck is the President and CEO of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. Prior to joining APF Canada, Mr. Beck served as the Canadian High Commissioner to the Republic of India with concurrent accreditation to the Kingdom of Bhutan and to Nepal. He joined Canada’s Department of External Affairs and International Trade (now Global Affairs Canada) in 1982 and served abroad in the United States, Taiwan, and the People’s Republic of China. In Ottawa, he held a number of progressively more senior positions, including Director General of the North Asia Bureau, Director General Responsible for Senior Management and Rotational Assignments, and Assistant Deputy Minister for International Business Development, Investment, and Innovation. He was Consul General in Shanghai and prior to his posting to India, he was Consul General in San Francisco.
Madeleine Blyth, Director
Madeleine runs the Techstars Barclays fintech accelerator, arguably the world’s most selective fintech programme. In this role, she has invested in, and supported, over 20 startups over the last two years. At just 25, she has scouted and held meetings with upwards of 400 entrepreneurs in more than 12 countries and is a fixture judge and mentor at London startup events. Prior to this, Madeleine has managed business development and growth for several London-based startups.
Madeleine has had a lifelong love for Bhutan. Growing up, her house was a billet home for Bhutanese students, some of whom remain like members of her family. She has travelled to Bhutan several times and, in 2012, she spent a month in Bhutan conducting anthropological field research for her thesis on the relationship between the introduction of the internet and the discovery of a democratic voice in Bhutan.
Lucie Edwards, Director
Lucie is based at the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Waterloo; her research centres on the use of science and technology for the poor, with a particular focus on initiatives to support the “bottom billion” in Africa and South Asia. She moved to the University of Waterloo in 2009 following a 34 year career in the Canadian Foreign Service. She served as Canada’s High Commissioner to Kenya, South Africa and India, and was appointed Canada’s first Ambassador to Bhutan in 2004. [In 1995, she received the Public Service Award of Excellence for her humanitarian work during the genocide in Rwanda. She also received a merit award for her human rights work combatting Apartheid at the Canadian Embassy in Pretoria in 1989. She was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award of Excellence by the Department of Foreign Affairs in 2009.
Alan Gill, Director
Alan was raised and educated in Ottawa and Toronto, Canada. His career has included significant senior level policy, programming, project and financial management experience within the public and private
sectors in Canada as well as in various multilateral organizations.
Senior positions have included: representative for Canada, the Nordic countries and the Netherlands on the Executive Board of the Asian Development Bank and for Canada in a similar capacity on the Board of the Inter-American Development Bank; Chief Financial Officer and Director of Private Sector Development at the Asian Development Bank; and senior executive posts within the Canadian federal public service (Privy Council Office, Department of Finance and Export Development Canada).
Alan has also been actively involved as a founder and Director of the EuroCan Carbon Credit Foundation. In addition to serving as a member of the board of The Bhutan Canada Foundation he also currently serves as the Chair of an oversight committee of international capital market experts responsible for implementing a UN-HABITAT program designed to mobilize private capital in support of the housing sectors of developing countries.
Lynn Haight, Director
Lynn is the Chair of the independent Audit and Oversight Panel of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Geneva. She is also a Board Member of the Public Sector Pension Investment Board of Canada and Somerville College Development Board, Oxford University. She has recently retired as Chair of the Consortium Board of International Agricultural Research Centre in Montpellier, and retired in 2009 as COO and CFO of Foresters Financial. Lynn is Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Professional Accountants in Canada. She has a Honours MA degree from Oxford University.
She has always enjoyed international development work, and has been a consultant to the UNDTCD, UNDP and the World Bank in different countries which gave her insight into the impact of climate change and the extreme difficulty of maintaining a national culture. She visited Bhutan with the Chairman’s tour in 2019, and fell in love with the country.
Gwendolyn Julien, Director
Gwendolyn maintains a multifaceted career in organizational development and people development as a business consultant, leadership coach and educator within the public, private and non-profit sectors. She obtained a Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com) at Ryerson University, a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) at the University of Toronto, Professional Coaching Credentials (CPCC) with The Coaches Training Institute, and a Master of Arts in Leadership from Royal Roads University. Her Master’s thesis was titled “Developing a Strategic Approach to Stakeholder Engagement at SOS Children’s Villages Canada”, which sparked a passion for helping organizations better understand and utilize their social capital. Gwendolyn’s work with Directors of non-profit organizations started with a focus on board effectiveness. Gwendolyn is a relentless champion of personal expression and fulfillment in work and life and she regularly participates in arts, culture and wellness activities. She lives in Toronto with her husband and two children.
Jane Pepino, Director
Jane is a lawyer practicing planning and development law, based in Toronto at Aird and Berlis. She is a long time active volunteer, presently serving on the Board of Women’s College Hospital, and Governing Council of the University of Toronto. She enjoys travel that does not involve a beach, pool, or resort. Interests include grandchildren, as well as a large vegetable garden and orchard, bee keeping and coping with produce in a variety of ways. Jane was a traveler with the Chairman’s Trip with BCF in April 2017.
Doma Tshering, Director
Doma Tshering is the new Permanent Representative of Bhutan to the United Nations.Prior to her new appointment, Ms. Tshering was the Director of the Multilateral Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Thimphu between 2012 and 2017. She served as Chief of the Foreign Ministry’s Policy Planning Division from 2009 to 2012.Previously, Ms. Tshering served as Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, from 2007 to 2009. She held the position of Counsellor from 2005 to 2006. From 2004 to 2005, Ms. Tshering headed the Europe and Americas Division, and from 2000 until 2003, she served as Under Secretary in the Policy Planning Division. She also served as First Secretary in Bhutan’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York from 1995 to 2000.
Advisory Council
Kathy Allan
Kathy Allan, Director
Kathy is a biologist who has been privileged to work with environmental and international charities that work to sustain balance on this earth. Certified as a Fundraising Executive since 1998, Kathy has worked for small charities in Toronto, preferably within a bicycle ride of her home, and has volunteer and work experience in Egypt, India, Bhutan, Zambia and Pakistan.
Kathy and her husband Patrick first visited a friend teaching in Bhutan in 1989 and have maintained friendships and a love for the tiny kingdom since. In 2009 travelling with their two teenage daughters, they appreciated the vast changes and tremendous progress achieved in just twenty years.Kathy works with the Humanitarian Coalition, a coalition of five international charities responding to international humanitarian disasters. She is based in Toronto.
Ann Berman
Ann Berman
Going to Bhutan to teach was the fulfillment of a life dream for Ann. From the first time she traveled the world from 1972 to 1975, and visited the people of the Himalayas, she knew that this was where she wanted to teach one day. She returned home to attend York University to become a teacher. In the process, she settled down and brought up two wonderful sons. After 30 satisfying years teaching primary school in Simcoe County, Ontario, with short volunteer teaching stints in Guatemala and Mirik, India, she finally had the opportunity to teach in Bhutan in 2010. Ann spent an incredible year teaching English and developing a Special Education program in Mongar. She returned to Canada at the end of 2010, but Bhutan will always remain close to her heart.
Gerald Clarke
Gerald Clarke
Gerry Clarke worked as a professor and dean at The University of New Brunswick. He studied at Kenyon College, Fordham University and Carnegie-Mellon University. He was the first Director of the UNB Bhutan Project which began in 1985 with a contract from the World University Service of Canada and evolved into a series of multi-million dollar CIDA projects. The UNB arrangement with Bhutan included the management of the Canadian Cooperation Office in Thimphu, academic programs for Bhutanese teachers at both the undergraduate and graduate level, and in-country curriculum and professional development support. Although the major CIDA project ended several years ago (resulting in the unforeseen but happy creation of The Bhutan Canada Foundation) the relationship between Bhutan and UNB continues, primarily through programs in The Faculty of Education, Renaissance College and The Faculty of Engineering. In retirement, Gerry has turned his hand to organic farming. During his travels throughout the country he learned a thing or two from the Bhutanese about connections between people and the earth.
James George
James George
Education: Upper Canada College, Trinity College, Rhodes Scholar for Ontario, 1940.
After five years in the Navy, James entered the Canadian Foreign Service, serving in Athens, New York (United Nations), Paris, and as Ambassador/High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Iran and the Gulf States until he retired in 1977.
Co-founder of Threshold Foundation, President of Sadat Peace Foundation, Leader of Friends of the Earth Scientific Mission to assess effects of Kuwait oil fires in 1991, Author of Asking for the Earth/Waking up to the Spiritual/Ecological Crisis (1995), and The Little Green Book on Awakening (2008).
Doctor of Sacred Letters, Trinity College, U of T, 2006. James has visited Bhutan three times: 1961, 1968 and 1972.
Peggy Foster Miller
Peggy Foster Miller
Peggy Foster Miller holds a Bachelor of Education and Teaching Certificate from McGill University, a Master of Education from Ottawa University and completed two years of a doctorate in Psycho-pedagogy. As a leader of National and International Expeditions, she has led students in academic programs and community service projects in: Mexico, Africa, Nepal, Italy, Australia and New Zealand. Through her passion as a world-class endurance athlete, Peggy has competed in hundreds of triathlons and ultra runs including the Hawaii Ironman, and the Western States 100 mile race. In addition, she has challenged herself to climbing the seven highest continental peaks of the world including being an Everest climber in 2003 and 2005. As a public speaker, Peggy’s story is an inspirational account of how she faced the extraordinary challenge of climbing the Seven Summits, the highest mountain on each of the seven continents of the world. Her stories have important messages, including: translating ideas into action, planning and preparation, coping with people with different temperaments and personalities, the importance of teamwork and communication. Peggy has been a member of the board of Directors for The Kensington Conservancy since 2006.She is also an advocate for the Limberlost Forest and Wildlife Reserve in Muskoka Ontario
John Stares
John Stares
Since 2001 John has taken on a portfolio of part‐time roles in business and the voluntary sector.
His current roles include Chair of JT (formerly Jersey Telecoms) and More House School, Trustee of the Arts & Islands Foundation, BCF Advisory Board Member and Non‐Executive Directorships with Jersey Electricity Company plc, INPP plc and Terra Firma.
From 1978 to 2001 John was a Management Consultant with Accenture and held a wide variety of leadership roles in its Canadian, European and Global practices. John is a graduate of Imperial College, London University, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales, a member of the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants and Freeman of the City of London.
Lhatu Wangchuk
Lhatu Wangchuk
Lhatu Wangchuk has strong ties to Canada as he was a student of Father William Mackey and spent some time working for him. He is widely travelled and was previously the Head of Tourism in Thimphu as well as Ambassador to Bangladesh, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and South Korea. He has also served as Chief of Protocol and Acting Foreign Secretary in Bhutan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Until recently, he was Ambassador to Canada, and Bhutan’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, New York. He has retired on superannuation and lives in Thimphu.
Kunzang Namgyel
Ambassador Kunzang Namgyel, Director
Mrs. Kunzang C. Namgyel, is Ambassador & Deputy Permanent Representative, of the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Bhutan to the United Nations in New York.
Ambassador Kunzang C Namgyel is a career Foreign Service Officer. She joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in March, 1980. During her long career with the Ministry, she has served in various posts at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as Bhutan’s diplomatic embassies/mission, in New Delhi, New York and Geneva including ;
- Director for Bhutan at the SAARC Secretariat, Kathmandu from October, 1995 to March 1999;
- Minister Counsellor and Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Bhutan to the United Nations, Geneva from July 2003-July, 2007;
- Chief of Protocol, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Thimphu, from august 2007 to May 2009;
- Director, Multilateral Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Thimphu from June 2009 and August, 2011;
- Ambassador Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Bhutan to the United Nations, New York from September, 2011
She was appointed Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Bhutan to the United Nations from 3 January, 2014, with concurrent accreditation as the Kingdom of Bhutan’s Ambassador designate to Canada.
Ambassador Namgyel has a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Lady Keane College, Shillong, India
She is married and has four children, three daughters and one son.