Neptune Theatre, a registered charity, is owned and operated by the Neptune Theatre Foundation and is run as a not-for-profit society. Neptune has a volunteer board of directors and is administered by a professional staff. The Board is elected every October at the Theatre’s Annual General Meeting.
Chair
Scott McGaw is a dedicated community leader and entrepreneur. His commitment to community service is evident in his active participation on various boards and non-profit organizations. Scott's expertise in strategic planning, governance, and fundraising has consistently contributed to making a significant impact in the community.
As the Founder and Principal of Hawthorne Recruitment, based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Scott applies his extensive network and experience to consult and partner with numerous non-profits, aiding them in building efficient and thriving teams.
Beyond his professional and community commitments, Scott's greatest joy lies in spending quality time with his family. He cherishes adventures and playful moments with his wife, Ashley, and their two young sons, Walker and Levi.
Vice Chair
Brynn Leard works with organizations across North America to build insight driven customer focused strategies and meaningful customer experiences. She is also an Executive Instructor with the David Sobey Centre for Innovation in Retail and Services. Brynn holds a BSc from Saint Francis Xavier University and a MBA from Dalhousie University. She has a keen interest in Maternal and Child Health, social supports with dignity and the arts.
Treasurer/Secretary
Alexandra Rawling graduated from Dalhousie University and received her Chartered Professional Accountant designation in 2020 in Vancouver, BC. Shortly after, Alex moved back to the East Coast and began working for Grant Thornton in the Halifax office. With a passion for travel and the arts, Alex has been lucky to experience various live performances around the world. Alex is hopeful to help continue Neptune’s success by providing outstanding performances to the Halifax region.
Chair, Community Outreach Committee
Hon. Patricia Arab, MEd. is a distinguished Canadian politician renowned for her dedicated service in the Nova Scotia Legislature. A prominent member of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party, she has represented Fairview-Clayton Park since 2013. From 2017 to 2021 she served as Minister of Service Nova Scotia, Internal Services and Communications Nova Scotia. Currently Patricia is the Deputy House Leader for the Liberal Caucus and Shadow Critic for the Department of Energy and Renewables. Before being elected to office, Patricia was a teacher and guidance counsellor and is still a strong advocate for preventative mental health education in our schools. Her love for the Arts began in grade 6 when she starred and directed her school play “Storming the Teachers Lounge”.
Chair, Nomination & HR Committee
April Howe commenced her career with Knightsbridge Robertson Surrette in 2003, eventually ascending to the position of Partner in 2014. In 2018, she transitioned to the Province of Nova Scotia as the Executive Director of People & Culture. Since then, she has assumed roles such as Senior Executive Advisor to the Deputy Minister of Justice and, in 2021, Deputy Minister of Fish & Aquaculture.
Presently, April serves as the founder and CEO of Crayon Strategies, a Diversity & Inclusion consulting firm in Halifax, NS.
April holds an MBA from Saint Mary's University.
Catherine Bagnell Styles is a senior marketing and communications executive with deep experience across sectors including hospitality, post-secondary, healthcare, tourism and transportation and is highly skilled in brand positioning, media relations, public relations, partnership marketing, flagship events, internal engagement and issues management. Catherine has provided strategic counsel to boards and senior leaders in public and private sector organizations across Canada and has been a long-time board member with the Neptune Theatre Foundation.
Also, as a visual artist, Catherine’s work can be found in select galleries across Canada and in private collections throughout North America.
Stella Balfour’s love of theatre began once she starred as Casper the Ghost in her first grade school play.
Her career centered in the area of banking with the Royal Bank and then RBC Dominion Securities, providing investment advisory services to a large portfolio of clients.
After the birth of her twin boys and with a toddler at home, she left the finance world to be a full time mom. She is now a qualified Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction teacher working with teens and young adults in Nova Scotia. She is still passionate about the theatre, especially Neptune, as they are doing great things.
Jayme Lynn Butt is a natural-born storyteller, with an extensive resume covering 13 years in the media industry and close to a decade in the charity sector as a fundraiser. She holds a diploma from NSCC’s Radio and Television Arts Program, and a Bachelor of Public Relations degree from MSVU.
Jayme’s years in Radio were spent interviewing rock stars, and conceptualizing promotions that got a lot of attention. From dropping giant pumpkins from the sky (think WKRP and turkeys), to hanging bras across the MacDonald Bridge to promote breast cancer awareness, Jayme has always been a “big picture” person. She currently works full-time as a Communications Manager for the Downtown Halifax Business Commission and does voice-over work and PR consulting for artists and small businesses through her own company (Unicorn PR.)
A lover of all things’ theatre (on & off the stage), being on Neptune’s Board of Directors is a dream come true. Passing on the tradition her grandmother started with her, Jayme’s favourite thing on earth is now taking her son to Neptune and experiencing the magic through his eyes.
Jayme’s Motto: “If you have time, lend it. If you have money, give it. If you have a voice, use it.”
Shani Hamilton Greenlaw was born and raised in Halifax. Shani is a former stage manager whose career started at Neptune as an apprentice. She now specializes in large-scale sports and cultural event production, working closely with clients and teams all over North America. Shani’s event portfolio includes the MLB at Field of Dreams games, MLB and NHL All-Star fan events, the NHL Winter Classic, NFL Super Bowl Opening Night, the Luminato Festival, and the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Lena Hartlen is a senior executive professional with over 20 years of experience in corporate governance. She has extensive experience developing and enhancing Board governance programs and practices while working collaboratively with Board members and Executive Leadership teams to enhance organizational effectiveness and support the goal of high performance. Beyond corporate governance she has led teams of varying sizes in advancing work in the areas of internal audit/gap assessments, regulatory compliance, strategic risk management, records management and legal services. She is currently with the Halifax Port Authority as Director of Corporate Governance and Audit and Corporate Secretary to the Board, and was appointed to the Neptune Theatre Board of Directors in October, 2024.
Mary Ingraham is a passionate advocate of creative cultures, committed to social sustainability, and actively involved in education and good governance. In addition to work as an arts administrator, performing arts manager, and academic, she has collaborated with colleagues and cultural partners in for-profit and non-profit organizations to re/imagine a wide range of educational and programming initiatives. Dedicated to equity, diversity, inclusion, anti-racism, and accessibility, she has a deep respect for reciprocity in Indigenous and intercultural relationships founded on extensive community connections and experience implementing decolonization practices. She is currently appointed as Dean of Arts at Saint Mary’s University.
Tracey Jones-Grant grew up and obtained her schooling in Halifax, graduating from Mount Saint Vincent University in 1984 and a Masters of Library Sciences at Dalhousie in 1986. The daughter of Joan and Burnley “Rocky” Jones, Tracey grew up at the height of the efforts to define Black identity and fight for civil rights. Tracey has worked in the area of diversity from being the Diversity Manager for Halifax Public Libraries to Coordinator of Diversity Management for the Halifax Regional School board to most recently as the Managing Director, for the Halifax Regional Municipality in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion/African Nova Scotian Affairs. Tracey’s current work focuses on creating an inclusive municipality through impacting service deliver, policy development and community engagement.
Claire MacGillivray is a Marketing Coordinator at Cox & Palmer Law, bringing a rich background in marketing and communications across both the nonprofit and professional regulation sectors. With a deep commitment to the arts and community development, Claire is dedicated to making Neptune Theatre accessible to everyone in the community, striving to elevate its influence in Nova Scotia and beyond. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Western University and an Advanced Diploma in Public Relations from the Nova Scotia Community College, equipping her with a solid foundation in strategic communication and community engagement.
Anna Marenick is a successful human resources and transformational leader with extensive regional and national experience leading multi-faceted and complex programs in diverse and challenging environments.
Anna joined nova Scotia Health in 2021 in the role of Senior Director of Organizational Change Management and later took on the role of interim Senior Director of People Services.
Prior to joining Nova Scotia Health, she was the senior director of people and governance at Develop Nova Scotia. Her creative, inclusive approach to solving complex problems in a variety of settings makes her exceptional at collaboratively propelling ideas and people forward.
She sits on the Board of Directors of Saint Mary’s University. She is also actively involved in the Governor General’s Canadian Leadership Conference.
Anna has a Master of Business Administration from Saint Mary’s University and Bachelor of Arts (Political Science) from St. Francis Xavier University. She is also a Prosci Certified Change Management Professional and a Chartered Professional in Human Resources.
Erin McSorley is a lawyer at Stewart McKelvey with a practice in civil litigation. As a lifelong theatre fanatic, she is thrilled to be joining the Neptune Board of Directors, and values the opportunity to contribute to Halifax’s vibrant arts community. Erin lives in Bedford with her husband Jamie and dog Juno.
Stacy O’Rourke is a senior communications professional with over 25 years experience spanning across the private industry, government, and not-for-profit sector. She specializes in strategic communication planning; stakeholder and community engagement; emergency and crisis communications; and issues and reputation management. Stacy is currently the Director, Corporate Communications at Medavie. Stacy’s love of theatre started at a young age through a community theatre group in Cape Breton. As a Nova Scotian who is deeply passionate about the arts, she is excited to join Neptune’s board to contribute to building a vibrant arts community in Halifax.
John Pelley is a financial services professional turned consultant. He has been helping businesses improve their financial positions for over 40 years. From small town NL to London UK, he has been helping companies achieve financial success and operating efficiencies. With regional, national and international business experience, he brings a wide range of views to the board table always seeking unique and innovative solutions.
Ranked by Yahoo Finance as a top coach in 2021, Harriette Schumacher, MA, MCC, CEC has over two decades of global leadership development experience and has successfully led and scaled leadership development programs for Fortune 500 companies including Amazon, Walmart, Nike, and Estee Lauder. She brings a wealth of experience from working with diverse companies across various industries including healthcare, financial services, professional services, utilities, construction, and government. Harriette is passionate about elevating women into leadership positions and founded LEADHERSHIP in 2020, a women’s leadership development program designed to help organizations recruit, retain, and advance women into senior leadership roles.
Originally from Newfoundland, Jane Soucy is a litigation lawyer with McInnes Cooper. Prior to law school, she earned a Bachelor of Music in voice and opera from Memorial University of Newfoundland. A passionate performer and theatre enthusiast, Jane is thrilled to join Neptune’s Board of Directors. Outside of the office, she enjoys live music, practicing yoga and Pilates, and trying new recipes with her partner Chris.
Jerid Watton is a proud member of Glooscap First Nation, located in the Annapolis Valley. He has spent many years serving his community as a volunteer with Summer Day Camps and as a Youth Representative on the Glooscap Ventures Board of Directors.
In his current role Jerid is the Coordinator of Indigenous Outreach and Research with Halifax Regional Municipality’s Office of Diversity & Inclusion. Through his involvement in the Indigenous community Jerid has seen the power storytelling has a vessel of cultural preservation and he is excited to bring this insight to Neptune Theatre.
Lauren Wu is a senior leader working at the intersection of public affairs, communications and philanthropy. Professionally Lauren has worked in healthcare, energy, transportation and consumer packaged goods. Prior to joining the board at Neptune Theatre, Lauren has worked with several arts organizations throughout Canada in various leadership and volunteering roles including programming, marketing and development.
Life Directors
Allister Byrne
Rick Emberley
Tim Margolian
Ralph Medjuck
Lloyd Newman
Senator Donald Oliver, Q.C.
Mrs. J.G. Simpson
Dr. Jim Spatz
Honourary Directors
Rebecca Hiltz LeBlanc
Jamie Baillie
David Glenn Fountain
Jim Mills
Maureen Reid
Dr. Joan McArthur-Blair
Robbie Harrison
Rob Batherson
Rebecca Hiltz LeBlanc
