Jane is President and Principal Consultant of the Garthson Leadership Centre, dedicated to strengthening nonprofit and government organizations through enhanced leadership and ethics. She has experience as founder, Board Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, Executive Director and chair of numerous board committees. Since 1992, Jane has worked with nonprofits in the areas of governance, integrity, strategic planning, privacy impact assessments, ethics oversight and organizational reviews. She was an Executive Director of a provincial amateur sport federation for almost three years and, with key volunteers, led a very successful turnaround.
Jane is part of Creating The Future in Tucson, Arizona, and is helping that organization transition to nonprofit status. She is also active in the Community Engagement Framework project of the Governance Affinity Group, Alliance for Nonprofit Management.
In 2008, Jane completed four years as a Commissioner of the Ontario Racing Commission, and in that capacity governed, directed, regulated and controlled a 1.3 billion dollar industry and a budget of $60 million. She chaired the Governance Committee and adjudicated racing issues at hearings. This was a part-time Order in Council appointment.
Jane is a Past Chair and a founding member of the Ethics
Practitioners Association of Canada (EPAC). She has authored articles
on organizational ethics, conducted ethics audits in the voluntary sector, and helped
various organizations with codes, ethical decision-making and other aspects of ethics
awareness, monitoring and reinforcement. She writes the monthly Ethics Q&A columns for Charity Village for over 5 years. From 2002 to 2004, Jane was a member of the Ethics Review Committee of the Canadian Council for International Cooperation.
Jane holds an honours certificate in Voluntary Management and Leadership from
York University, and a national certificate from the Canadian Centre for
Philanthropy (now Imagine Canada). Her memberships are shown in Links.
Prior to establishing her consulting firm, Jane held professional and management
positions in public administration over a 21-year period. Key positions held
include senior financial officer of Ontario's Management Board of Cabinet and
Manager, Crown Agency Relations, Tourism and Recreation. Her government experience
spanned tourism, employment standards, municipal affairs, high volume payment
programs, housing development and much more, and involved significant
responsibilities in line management, policy development, internal auditing and
information technology.
Jane currently serves on three nonprofit boards. She is vice chair of her professional association, secretary of a national literary arts awards association, and director of an annual music event. She is past Treasurer of the Canadian Therapeutic Riding
Association, a national charity promoting rehabilitation and achievement for people with disabilities through the use of the horse. She was previously Vice Chair and Secretary of her local therapeutic riding centre, and a direct service volunteer with young people with disabilities.
Jane and her husband Phil enjoy photography, filking (the music of fantasy and science fiction), pesticide-free gardening, cooking, reading and being ruled by two cats. Jane owns a Quarter Horse mare named Nijomi and rides near Uxbridge.