Board Members – Connect Charter School

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Board Members
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Connect Charter School’s staff is committed to exemplary learning, teaching, and leadership.

Board Members

The Board of Directors is elected at the Annual General Meeting of the Society and is responsible for the governance and overall operation of Connect Charter School in accordance with the Society By-Laws, the School Act and Alberta Education Regulations. Up to a maximum of one third of Directors can be parents of students attending the school and the other Directors are community members with a area of specific expertise who support the charter goals and overall mandate of the school. The board can have between 9 and 21 members, but the desired number is 15 comprised of 10 community members and 5 parent members. Parent Directors are elected for a 1 year term, community Directors for a 3 year term and Directors cannot serve more than 3 consecutive terms. Directors also serve on various committees which make recommendations to the Board.
Bryce Monar

Bryce Monar

Board Chair

Board

Bryce Monar is a parent of 2 students at Connect Charter School. He volunteers as much as possible as he enjoys spending time with the students, teachers and other parent volunteers on the many excursions throughout the year. There is always an opportunity to learn, grow and share from these volunteering experiences. Bryce is an electrician and an electrical engineer and has worked in many capacities up to engineering director for a global engineering company that has an office in Calgary. Bryce is currently working as a project engineering manager/project manager. Bryce and his family spend a lot of time outdoors throughout the year and more so in the summer camping in western Canada. Bryce and both children are competitive swimmers and he also volunteers at their swim meets regularly as well.

Email: [email protected]

Ron Koper

Ron Koper

Director

Board

Ron Koper has been a director since 2017. “Having two outstanding educational leaders as parents, Janet and Larry Koper, I grew a deep appreciation for what remarkable schools look like and how important they are. Since 1982 I’ve pursued a passion for learning, leadership development, business and organization effectiveness and Human Resources, holding internal and external consulting, managerial and corporate executive roles. Serving the people, place and community of Connect has been a rare gift, combining a career passion with truly important work and marvellous people.”

Email: [email protected]

Jo Towers

Jo Towers

Director

Board

Jo Towers joined the Board in 2021. Jo is a Werklund Research Professor in the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary. Her areas of expertise include students’ mathematical understanding, student experience and identity in relation to learning mathematics, and inquiry-oriented approaches to teaching, learning, and teacher education. She was the recipient of the 2015 University of Calgary Teaching Award for the Rank of Full Professor, the 2018 Alberta Teachers’ Association Educational Research Award, and, with her co-authors, a 2015 Canadian Association of Foundations of Education Publication Award for their book entitled Provoking Conversations about Inquiry in Teacher Education. Jo is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the journal For the Learning of Mathematics and a member of the Editorial Review Board of the Alberta Journal of Educational Research. Jo grew up in the UK where she taught in secondary schools and completed her first graduate degree at Oxford University before moving to Canada in 1995 to complete her Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia. She is a volunteer Puppy Sitter for the Pacific Assistance Dogs Society and fosters animals in need for the Cochrane and Area Humane Society. She also volunteers as a Peer Mentor with the Family to Family Connections Program at the Alberta Children’s Hospital and is a member of Foothills Concert Band, a community band that contributes to the Calgary community by offering musical events including free concerts in extended care and assisted living facilities (when Covid protocols allow).

Email: [email protected]

Cameron McDonald

Cameron McDonald

Director

Board

Cameron McDonald joined the Board in 2024. Cameron is a Partner at Humanis Talent Acquisition & Advisory, a retained national executive search firm. He specializes in the recruitment of senior talent across corporate services and operations within oil and gas, oilfield services, financial services, manufacturing, real estate and construction, as well as non-profit.Cameron is active in the community volunteering his time with numerous charitable organizations including The Calgary Stampede’s Courtesy Car Committee and the Executive Committee for The Top 7 Over 70 Awards Program. He previously sat on The Canadian Cancer Society’s AB/NWT Advisory Board and also mentored youth through Rotary’s Tom Jackson Stay in School Program. Outside of the workplace, Cameron spends most of his time enjoying the outdoors with his wife and three young children.

Email: [email protected]

Meghan Leary

Meghan Leary

Director

Board

Meghan Leary joined the Board in 2021. Meghan is a Chartered Professional Accountant with over 10 years of experience in financial reporting and accounting under different accounting standards. Currently she works as Manager, Financial Reporting for a Canadian pipeline corporation. She previously provided audit and assurance services on a wide variety of clients ranging from large publicly listed international corporations to smaller private, non-profit, and public sector companies in various industries, including energy and resources, construction, and real estate. She has expertise in reporting complex accounting issues and ability to communicate such issues to senior leadership and audit committees. She enjoys hiking and camping and is interested in applying her financial background and her love of the outdoors to contribute to the Connect community.

Email: [email protected]

Perry Pasloski

Perry Pasloski

Director

Board

I have been an active volunteer for both my daughters time at Connect Charter and have attended numerous overnight and day trips over their time theres. These experiences at Connect have allowed me to create a special bond with my daughters and have created lifelong memories that we all enjoy reminiscing about as well had creating friendships with other parents and teachers within the Connect Community. I am an Information Technology Technical Leader and Manager for over 20 years in the Oil and Gas and high Tech industries. As an avid outdoors person, I love spending my spare time mountain biking, skiing, hiking and use landscape and wildlife photography as my creative outlet.

Email: [email protected]

Scott Norlin

Scott Norlin

Director

Board

Scott Norlin joined the Board in 2026. Scott is a Senior Research Manager at Wood Mackenzie, where he brings extensive expertise in strategic planning, finance, and economics across the energy industry. Scott also served for over a decade as a Naval Communicator and Public Affairs Officer with the Department of National Defence as part of HMCS Tecumseh in Calgary. Scott has a strong track record of volunteer leadership in Calgary's geoscience community. He currently serves as GeoConvention Board Chair for the Canadian Energy Geoscience Association (CEGA) and is a Member of CEGA's Board of Trustees. He previously held the role of Director of Finance for CEGA and has been actively involved with the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists since 2017. Scott's commitment to education runs deep, with family links to education spanning generations through his grandparents, father, and sister. He holds a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Geology from the University of Calgary. Scott enjoys carpentry and woodworking and he and his wife can often be found exploring the mountains with their two-year-old son and border collie, Mica.

Email: [email protected]

Scott Mar

Scott Mar

Director

Board

Scott Mar is the parent of two children in Connect Charter School. An enthusiastic volunteer, he has appreciated the many opportunities he has had both inside and outside of the classroom over the years. What began as a simple way to spend more quality time with his kids has turned into an even more personally enriching experience. Through volunteering, he has gotten to know and appreciate the teachers and support staff at Connect, contributed to the growth of the other students in the class, and witnessed firsthand the value of place-based learning and the importance of nature in education. Scott is a professional engineer with a degree in Engineering Physics and has held various project and technical roles in some of the largest energy-sector projects in Alberta and BC during his 20+ years within the industry. He is an avid rock climber, cyclist, and skier, and also enjoys spending time in the backcountry camping and fly-fishing.

Email: [email protected]

Mason Lam

Mason Lam

Director

Board

Mason is a lawyer and commercial real estate professional with over 20 years of business and legal experience.  He currently works at JLL, an international Fortune 500 real estate company, where he is an Executive Vice President, Broker of Record for Alberta & Saskatchewan and also leads the Calgary Office Leasing Team.  He specializes in legal compliance as well as commercial real estate strategy.   He is also the Vice President and Director for the Hong Kong Canada Business Association (Calgary Chapter) and volunteers his time with various charitable organizations around the City.  Born and raised in Northwest Calgary, Mason has twins and loves spending time with his family outdoors, usually running, swimming, skiing and playing hockey.  He is also an avid traveler having lived and studied abroad in Amsterdam and Hong Kong. He speaks Cantonese fluently and is conversational in Mandarin.   His life philosophy is that “the richness of one’s life is defined by the breadth of one’s adventures” and loves pursuing new experiences.

Email: [email protected]

Kevin O’Connor

Kevin O’Connor

Director

Board

Dr. Kevin O’Connor is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Education, at Mount Royal University. Dr. O’Connor is the National Chair of the Canadian Association of Teacher Education CATE- Self-Study in Teacher Education Practices SSTEP group, serves as an editor and reviewer for numerous education research journals worldwide and sits as an Advisory Board member on the Canadian Research Institute for Social Policy CRISP, NASA-GLOBE International Science Education Group, European Scientific Institute ESI and The Paulo and Nita Freire International Center for Critical Pedagogy. Kevin recently stated “Connect Charter School is a model school for exemplary elementary and secondary education and is highly sought-after as a professional development school within teacher education.” As a parent of 3 children, he feels very fortunate to be a part of the Connect community as it is committed to facilitating best practices in education and provides a clear roadmap for successful implementation of experiential and place-based education. Kevin continues to volunteer as a hockey and soccer coach for youth.

Email: [email protected]

Sunny Sharma

Sunny Sharma

Director

Board

A lifelong engineer and global energy executive, with much of his career spent in Calgary. With over 45 years of global experience in the oil and gas industry—including heavy oil, offshore drilling, pipelines, EPCM. He brings extensive leadership experience spanning more than two decades. His roles have included Chairman, President & CEO, and trusted advisor on capital investment, enterprise risk, and strategic growth initiatives. Sunny Sharma takes great satisfaction in mentoring the next generation of leaders. He also believes in giving back to the communities and institutions that have helped shape his path. Sunny Sharma has been investing in students at University of Calgary since 2021. He supports the Sharma Family Bursary in Medicine for undergraduate students MD program, and the Sharma Family Bursary for undergraduate students entering the Schulich School of Engineering.

Email: [email protected]