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Executive Team
Ross McMillan
President & CEO
Ross was appointed President of Tides Canada in 2007. He provides overall strategic direction for Tides Canada and identifies opportunities to bring philanthropy, civil society, business, and government together in pursuit of positive social change. He has worked with Tides since 2002, leading projects and building relationships with the non-profit community and consortiums of donors and international philanthropic foundations.
Ross was a principal architect of the Great Bear Rainforest project – one of the most significant conservation programs in North American history. He has worked extensively on diverse social policy matters including housing, urban social change, and aboriginal issues. With nearly 30 years in the not-for-profit, public, and private sectors, Ross has extensive experience managing organizations and coalitions to achieve success in complex circumstances.
Sarah Goodman
Vice President, Business Development and Services
Sarah provides strategic and business development leadership for Tides Canada, with specific accountability for strategic planning and programs, project development and oversight, and communications. She joined Tides Canada in April 2009 from Teck Resources, where she led the company’s corporate affairs activities.
Before joining Teck, Sarah spent eight years with Weyerhaeuser where she was Vice-President of Government and Public Affairs and then Vice-President of Transactions in the company’s acquisitions and divestitures group. Sarah is currently on the board of TransLink, the transportation authority for the Vancouver region. She is also a trustee of the Jack Webster Foundation and previously served on the board of the Coast Mental Health Foundation. She is also a past board member of Iisaak Forest Resources, a First Nations-led forest-services company based in Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia.
Sheherazade Hirji
Vice President, Client Services
Sheherazade joined Tides in September 2010. She qualified as a Solicitor in England, and as Barrister and Solicitor in British Columbia. She has worked in the philanthropic sector for 22 years. At the Ontario Trillium Foundation, she served as Acting CEO, Vice-President of Grants, and Director of Learning and Evaluation. As the founding Executive Director of the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation, she transformed a corporate charitable impulse into a national strategy to support women’s shelters and violence prevention.
Since 2004, Sheherazade worked with individuals, private and public foundations, corporations and government funders through Hirji + White Consulting. The practice focused on deliberative philanthropy, strategic program development, connecting donors to issues, and program evaluation.
Sheherazade has served on the board of Wellesley Institute and the Ismaili Council for Canada. She Co-Chaired the Council on Foundations 2004 Conference Toronto Host Committee, and was Founding Co-Chair of the Toronto Association of Corporate Grantmakers. She currently serves on the National Committee of Aga Khan Foundation Canada and on the Board of the Canadian Women’s Foundation.
Jeff Garrad
Chief Financial Officer
Jeff provides strategic leadership for Finance and Information Technology for Tides Canada. He draws on his 20 years as a Certified General Accountant operating in complex executive roles for a diverse set of business, government, First Nations, and not-for-profit organizations.
Before joining Tides in August 2011, Jeff worked with First Nations groups on Olympic, Tourism, and Economic Development initiatives. Prior to that, he was CFO of the BC Olympic Secretariat, the BC Government agency responsible for overseeing the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, and was the VP Finance and Administration for the Pacific National Exhibition. Jeff chairs the discipline panel for the Certified General Accountants of British Columbia. He is a past board member of the BC Youth In Agriculture Fund, and past board member and chair of the Whistler 2010 Sport Legacies Society.
Margaret Dickson
Director, Tides Canada Initiatives
Margaret joined Tides Canada in May 2010 to provide oversight for the operations of Tides Canada Initiatives (TCI), home to over 40 of the country’s leading environmental and social justice projects. With 25 years experience in diverse business and community settings, she brings legal, process and fiscal discipline to TCI plus expertise in family philanthropy and charity law. Having created her own business, Margaret also has hands-on experience in the day-to-day challenges of running an early-stage entrepreneurship. Prior to joining Tides Canada, Margaret was Director of Inclusion for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. There she managed innovative social sustainability programs including establishing a carpentry training program for at-risk inner-city residents who built ski racks, wheelchair ramps and other wooden items for the 2010 Games.
Dave Secord
Director, Strategic Programs
Dave joined Tides Canada in June 2010, where he leads a team that brings strategic content knowledge together with funding strategies and multisector solutions. Before moving to Vancouver, he oversaw conservation grantmaking in Alaska and parts of western Canada for the Wilburforce Foundation. Prior to joining Wilburforce, he was a professor at the University of Washington from 1996-2007, where he played founding or leadership roles in two award-winning applied environmental programs.
A marine biologist by training, he has explored rocky shores and other ecosystems from Antarctica to Alaska and beyond. He has been a Fellow of the International Canadian Studies Institute and the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program. To Tides Canada he brings direct experience in arctic, urban, terrestrial and marine projects; a perspective that blends conservation science, policy, and communications; and experience bringing diverse parties and perspectives together to advance creative solutions to complex problems.
