Thank yous

The organization

Foremost amongst the people that should be recognized for the project are the members of the Vartana Core Team and the board of directors. The project was built through the deep abiding belief and commitment of the Core Team: a group of people that came together from a variety of different backgrounds. The Core Team committed many thousands of hours to seeing the project proceed. Almost all of the members of the Core Team worked on the project on a full time basis at different points of the project bringing their unique skills and passions to the table; and choosing to make that commitment against the backdrop of senior professional careers. This kind of commitment is rare in the non profit sector and Vartana got so close to coming to life because of the commitment of these individuals, their creativity, and their passion. The members of the core team were: Alec Zimmerman, Mary Anne Elliott, Jeff Pentland, Chris Thompson, John Thompson, Benoit Long, Kirstin Beardsley, Prashant Pathak and Aaron Pereira.

The Core Team was supported by a strong board of directors who at times were almost like members of the team itself: accompanying the team to meetings with a variety of stakeholders, or engaging stakeholders themselves directly, as well as being involved in reviewing the business plan development process. A group of stellar Canadians, the organization is lucky to have had their commitment to the initiative. Members of the board of directors included at various points: Judith Maxwell, Tim Brodhead, John Evans, Ed Waitzer, Sheila O'Brien, Marcel Cote, Pierre Legault, Ron Farmer, Joanne Linzey, Lynne Toupin, John McArthur, Margaret Newall, Bill Young. Subsequently the organization was lucky to have the engagement of Patrick Johnston, Lynne Eakin, Tonya Surman and Bill Young. The project was long, complicated, and at many points very arduous - through the high points and the low points Vartana was lucky to have this group of directors.

One other organization and individual needs to be recognized and thanked. Deloitte and Bill Currie did an absolutely outstanding job for Vartana developing the business plan for the project; Bill also provided pragmatic and practical advice for the project; provided leadership in a number of different capacities; and most of all made a huge and fundamental commitment to the initiative. Its because of Deloitte's and Bill's outstanding leadership that the initiative was able to submit an exemplary business plan to the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), recognized by OSFI as one of the best that they had ever seen. As well as because of his advice that Vartana was able to navigate waters that became tricky as the government process got longer.

Individuals

There is a large group of people that need to be thanked for their support through the Vartana process. There are too many to be named: Vartana really was a stone soup. For all the many ways that the project was moved forward: thank you. It was only because of the efforts, the support, and the assistance of the many many people who worked with us that we were able to make this massive project come close to possibility.

Foundations

There was a small group of foundations that were willing to believe in a highly risky charitable initiative at an early stage. These foundations need to be recognized for their incredible willingness to take a risk, and take a chance that it was possible for something like this to come into being.

Ashoka

Bahen Foundation

Bealight Foundation

Max Bell Foundation

Hamilton Community Foundation

J.W. McConnell Family Foundation

Northpine Foundation

Rasch Family Foundation

Tides Canada Foundation

Michael Young Foundation

Corporate Donors and Partners

A number of corporate partners were the arms and legs for the development of the business plan and the path of development for the bank. Many of these companies made substantial commitments to the project: both outstanding work as well as financially.

Arnold Worldwide

Deloitte Consulting

Goodman & Carr LLP

IBM

Ipsos-Reid

Ketchum Consulting

Monitor & Co.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers

Stikeman Elliott LLP

Trillium Corporate Communications

BMO Financial Group

Hewlett Packard

Masterfile

Navantis

Research in Motion

Steelcase