Brian MacDonald
Toronto, Ontario
Secretary/Treasurer
Brian spent most of his working life in various capacities at university. He was University Chaplain, Dean of Students and Director of Public Relations and Alumni at St Francis Xavier University, and was Senior Fellow in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University. He holds a Masters degree in Public Relations and spent a few years as a freelance broadcaster with CBC. Brian is retired, serves on the board of L’Arche Daybreak and lives in Toronto.
Paul Kennedy
Toronto, Ontario
President
Paul operates a consulting practice offering marketing and general management counsel mostly to small and medium technology-based firms. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Certified Management Consultants, and has graduated from Ottawa, Queen’s and Harvard Universities. He and his wife Mary live in Toronto and have three children and three grandchildren.
Rob Ens
Member
Richmond Hill, Ontario
My professional background is electronics engineering technology and I am presently employed as a product manager for Fujfilm Canada Inc. I’ve been involved in a high tech world for most of my career. Outside of work, I have many other passions including outdoor adventure travel, kayaking and rockclimbing. Presently much of my time is spent as a volunteer in a community called L’Arche, where I am an associate member.
I believe in the Intercordia vision primarily because it falls in line with my personal learning experience. Growing up in a smaller community I was sheltered from many of this world’s realities, but had the intuitive sense to discover and expand my world-view through travel. Inspired by the book, “City of Joy” at a young age, I went on a journey to discover the treasures found only in the hidden cracks of this world, where the impoverished and marginalized live. These life changing encounters which continue to this day have shaped my life and continue to alter my world view. They affect everything I do and how I do them. Intercordia’s goal is to create these experiences for youth today.
Pamela Cushing
Pamela is an anthropologist whose research areas include disability, care giving, faith communities and experiential education. She did her PhD at McMaster on Jean Vanier’s L’Arche communities in Canada, and her Post-Doctorate at University of Aberdeen with the Camphill residential school communities. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Sociology, Social Justice & Peace Studies at King’s University College, UWO in London, ON, where she lives with her husband, Jay and their new baby boy, Sebastien.
John O’Donnell
Member
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
John O’Donnell holds degrees in Psychology (St.F.X.) and Divinity (Harvard) and is the Regional Coordinator for L’Arche in Atlantic Canada. He is also the Supervising Chaplain at 36 Canadian Brigade Group Headquarters with responsibility for providing support and guidance to chaplains in Army Reserve Units across Nova Scotia and PEI. He currently lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, with his wife, Nancy, and their three children, Bridget, Kathryn and Fiona.
Deborah Marshall
Deborah retired in 2005 as Global Education Secretary for The United Church of Canada. As Global Education Secretary she facilitated the connection of congregations with global partners. After studying at Shelton College, Yale University and the Institute for Christian Studies, Deborah taught high school English in Massachusetts and served as principal of two Christian day schools in Toronto. Deborah and her partner Jim (retired UCC staff for Economic Justice and Social Well-being) live in Toronto. They have three grown children and five grandchildren. Half of the year they live in Eleuthera, Bahamas, where they help to build respectful relationships between Bahamians and visitors.
Nathan Ball
Member
Ballantrae, Ontario
Nathan Ball is currently the Executive Director of the L’Arche Canada Foundation. For the past 20 years he has been a member of L’Arche. From 1990 – 2001 he was the Executive Director and Community Leader of the L’Arche community in metropolitan Toronto, Canada. He has extensive experience in creating and sustaining faith-based community in which people of differing abilities, religious, and cultural backgrounds live together. Nathan is committed to the broad dissemination of knowledge that has been generated within L’Arche over the past 40 years and is convinced that Intercordia has a role to play in fostering the deeply felt need for relationship, community, and compassion in our world. Nathan is married to Paula and has four young children.
Beth Malcolm
Beth has been active in many capacities in a privately held investment company in Toronto for 18 years. She sat on the Board of GSW Inc. until its sale, and has been a board member of a number of private businesses and not-for-profit organizations, as well as a long-term volunteer. She currently runs a private family foundation, and has been fortunate enough to travel frequently in recent years. She has two children.
