Margaret McCain has left an indelible mark on public policy in numerous organizations that promote child development, women's rights, social equality, education, music and the arts. She was Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick from 1994-1997. She has been awarded numerous honours and awards including: Officer of the Order of Canada (1998); Order of New Brunswick (2004); YWCA Toronto Women of Distinction Award for Philanthropy and Volunteerism (2005).

She is Chair of the Margaret and Wallace McCain Family Foundation, funding education, health and social services initiatives in Ontario, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.

Guy Laliberté is founder and CEO of Cirque du Soleil, an internationally renowned Quebec-based entertainment organization. A former street performer, Mr. Laliberté has created the Guy Laliberté Foundation and will soon launch the One Drop Foundation.

In 1997, he was made a Knight of the National Order of Québec, the highest distinction awarded by the Government of Québec, the highest distinction awarded by the Government of Québec. In 2003, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and was honoured by the Condé Nast Group as a part of the Never Follow Program, a tribute to creators and innovators. In 2007, he received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Richard W. Ivey is a member of the Board of the Ivey Foundation. He also serves as Chair of the Canadian Institute of Advanced Research, and on many other nonprofit boards, including the University Health Network, the Advisory Boards of the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation, Social Capital Partners and the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. He practiced law at Torys until 1982 and then spent almost twenty years in a variety of capacities in the packaging and logistics services industries. He is Chair of Ivest Properties Ltd.

Bharat Mehta is the Clerk to the Trustees of the City Parochial Foundation (UK). He took up this position in March 1998.

Before taking up this post, he was Chief Executive of the National Schizophrenia Fellowship (NSF, recently renamed RETHINK), one of the largest British mental health charities working with severely mentally ill people, their carers and relatives. He joined NSF as Director of Development in 1989 and became its Chief Executive in 1993.

Bharat is a trustee of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (2003 – present), a non-executive director of the North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust (2005 – present) and a founder member and currently, a patron, of the Revolving Doors Agency (1996 –present). He was the chair of governors of a local state school from 1999 to 2004.

Gerry Salole currently serves as chief executive of the European Foundation Centre (EFC) in Brussels, Belgium, a Mott grantee. The EFC is an international association that promotes and serves independent funders active in Europe. Salole assumed his post in September 2005 after having worked as the Ford Foundation’s top representative in South Africa since 1999, where he oversaw projects to reduce poverty, increase racial equities and strengthen democracy.
Throughout his professional life, Salole has been interested in community development issues and is considered a specialist in the field. His career has included working at the Bernard van Leer Foundation, Save the Children Federation, and Oxfam.

Managing Director of the King Baudouin Foundation (Brussels) since 1996. He is also Vice-President of the European Foundation Centre and President of the Network of European Foundations for Innovative Cooperation (NEF) and past president of the European Foundation Centre (EFC). He is the author of Foundations - Creating Impact in a Globalised World (2005).

Steve Gunderson is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Council on Foundations, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit membership association of more than 2,000 grantmaking foundations and corporations.

Prior to joining the Council in 2004, Gunderson served as the Senior Consultant and Managing Director of the Washington office of The Greystone Group, a strategic management and communications consulting firm.

He served for 16 years in the U.S. Congress, and three terms in the Wisconsin State Legislature. His professional focus during this time was preparing America’s citizens, and indirectly the organizations supporting them, for the 21st century global economy.

Dr. Indira V. Samarasekera, O.C., is the 12th President of the University of Alberta, one of Canada's most respected research-intensive universities.

Since taking office on 1 July 2005 she has spearheaded the development of Dare to Discover: A Vision for a Great University, a seminal document that will serve as the guiding force in the University's quest to become one of the top 20 public universities in the world by 2020.

Over a professional career spanning three decades, Dr. Samarasekera has distinguished herself as one of Canada's leading engineers. Her work in the field of metallurgical process engineering earned her the Order of Canada designation, one of the country's highest honours.