Leadership and Board of Directors
CCASA Leadership
Danielle Aubry, Chief Executive Officer
Danielle Aubry began her career in anti-violence work 26 years ago as a volunteer and progressed to a variety of positions including educator, shelter worker, and therapist. She is the CEO at CCASA, and founded the agency in her home in 1994. Her work in establishing CCASA as a stable presence in the community earned her national recognition in 1998 when she was awarded one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40 leadership and management awards.
Danielle holds both a Bachelor and Master’s degree in social work from the University of Calgary, with a Master’s focus on management, community development, organizations and policy. Her Master’s thesis specifically explored the potential of collaboration between social service agencies. In 2007 she was awarded a Muttart Foundation Fellowship Grant to further her study into forms of consolidation for not-for-profit organizations.
Danielle has been heavily involved in the creation and development of Connect Family and Sexual Abuse Network www.connectnetwork.ca . She is a member of the Connect Strategic Planning Committee, and believes Connect is a vital collaboration to provide a complete range of services for the people of Calgary and area affected by family and sexual violence.
CCASA Board of Directors
The members of CCASA’s Board of Directors are elected from and by the agency’s membership. The Board of Directors consists of 5-6 elected individuals who work closely with CCASA’s Executive Director and leadership team (but are not involved in the day to day work of the agency) to establish the strategic direction of the agency so to ensure the strongest service and program delivery for our community members and CCASA clients and accountability and ongoing growth for the organization
Leigh Anne Sturmy – President
Board Member since 2012
Leigh Anne Sturmy provides a variety of valuation-related services. She has valuation experience working with both public and private companies across many industries relating to mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, purchase-price allocations, intangible assets, income tax reorganizations and other financial reporting services. Leigh Anne joined the Valuation & Business Modelling Group in 2007. Before joining the Group, Leigh Anne worked in Ernst & Young’s audit practice for six years in both Halifax and Calgary. She holds her CA and Chartered Business Valuator designations as well as a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Saint Francis Xavier University.
Desmond (Des) Biss – Vice President
Board Member since 2015
Desmond Biss holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree with a Major in Marketing and is a certified Change Management practitioner. He has lead a versatile career in Oil & Gas operations, Marketing Communications, and in Telecom leadership roles focused on enhancing customer experience through continuous improvement and effective change strategy. He is presently establishing himself as a consultant to aid organizations in growing value by addressing the people side of change and by promoting adoption and usage of change solutions.
At both a professional and personal level, Desmond is driven and passionate about growth, learning, and positive change. As someone who was impacted by child sexual abuse, he recognized opportunity through his own healing journey to change the context in which we as a society respond to child sexual abuse. Des is committed to growing the general awareness of the dedicated support and healing resources that are available for men and women alike.
Sarah Jesberger – Secretary
Board Member since 2015
Sarah Jesberger is a new member of the CCASA board and this is her first board position. Sarah graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 2008 and has been a Chartered Accountant since 2010. Sarah currently works in the Treasury group of a pipeline company and previously worked in audit and assurance for PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
Deniece Kennedy – Treasurer
Board Member since 2016
Deniece Kennedy is a chartered accountant with seventeen years of progressive management experience focused on accounting, finance, tax and corporate strategy. Deniece is currently the Senior Director, Business Intelligence and Special Projects with the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation where she is responsible for financial modelling, strategic analysis and special projects such as CalgaryNext. Previously, Deniece was employed by Deloitte, the Government of Alberta, and BDO Dunwoody where her focus was corporate income tax in the energy sector.
Arleigh Vasconcellos – Director
Board Member since 2012
Arleigh Vasconcellos has volunteered for various organisations for the past 15 years including but not limited to; Whistler Adaptive Ski Program, Calgary Women’s Emergency Centre, The Kerby Centre, and the University of Ottawa Career Centre. She brings her expertise from the PR, communications and marketing sector. She currently runs her own PR firm and has a BA in communications.
Jennifer Marshall
Board Member since 2017
Jennifer Marshall graduated from the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Arts (Sociology (Concentration – Structured Inequality)) in 2004 and received her LLB (Bachelor of Laws) from the University of Calgary in 2008. Jennifer has practiced law with the firm of Blake, Cassels and Graydon LLP since graduating from law school, with a practice focused on M&A and corporate finance. In this capacity, Jennifer advises purchasers, target companies and vendors on a variety of public and private merger and acquisition transactions and regularly advises issuers on continuous disclosure obligations, corporate governance requirements, incentive compensation plans, stock exchange matters and general securities and corporate law matters. Jennifer is the Co-Chair of the Blakes Pro Bono Committee and has worked with CCASA on various legal matters. Jennifer currently acts as the Corporate Secretary of Axiom Oil and Gas Inc., a privately held junior oil and gas company.
Barry Cochran
Board Member since 2017
Barry Cochran is a team oriented individual always seeking challenging opportunities. Barry has served on a variety of local boards as a Director and holds a number of certifications and accreditations. Barry’s past has also included a dynamic 26 years with the Calgary Police Service assigned to areas of covert operations, major crimes investigations and was a 15 year member of the crisis negotiator’s team where he retired from the rank of Staff Sergeant. He is currently the manager of Security and Emergency Services at SAIT where he is responsible for the safety and security of students, staff, facility and visitors. Providing leadership, managing change, consensus building with stake holders is a strength Barry has developed over time and has been a critical skill in implementing successful safety and security strategies at the post-secondary education level.
Danika Szucs
Board Member since 2018
Danika Szucs graduated from Ambrose University in 2017 with a Bachelor of Arts in Behavioural Science. As an undergrad she gained experience and skills in leadership, advocacy and policy development as the Student Council President, and while sitting on the university’s Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Policy development committee. She now works with clients at the Ambrose University Library as the Circulation Manager. Danika joined CCASA’s board of directors in the spring of 2018 as a guest member through the G(irls)20 Girls on Boards Initiative, and has completed DiverCity onBoard training through Ryerson University.
