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Board of Directors

The Board of Directors (Board) governs the business of CAPR and provides priority driven leadership and direction to staff who carry out the operations of the organization. The Board is comprised of one representative from each member province/territory, ensuring that the diverse interests across the country are valued and heard. The Board is responsible for six core activities including:

  • Strategic Planning
  • Major Policy Approval
  • Effective Board Governance
  • Oversight of Risk Management and Internal Controls
  • Appointment of the Chief Executive Officer, and
  • Succession Planning.

CAPR Board of Directors for 2022-2023

Dale Pitura – President (Saskatchewan)

Dale has more than 30 years of governance and board experience, including six years of strategic planning with the Sports Medicine and Science Council of Saskatchewan, three years on the Canadian Athletic Therapists Association Board of Directors (one year as president) and Past President of the Saskatchewan Games Council. Dale currently works with the Saskatchewan Worker’s Compensation Board as a Physiotherapy Consultant and is the President of the Saskatchewan College of Physical Therapists (SCPT). Mr. Pitura’s career has spanned decades starting in the 1990’s where he was employed as an Assistant Athletic Therapist for the Saskatchewan Roughrider Football Club. Since then, his career has blossomed with varied roles such as staff physiotherapist, clinical manager, rehabilitation coordinator just to name a few. Dale now serves as a physiotherapist at Courtside Sports Medicine & Rehabilitation/LifeMark.

Dianne Millette – Vice President (British Columbia)

Dianne is a physiotherapist and has been working in regulation services since 1988. Dianne has held various positions at the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario, College of Podiatrists and Chiropodists of Ontario, College of Physiotherapists of Alberta and College of Physiotherapists of British Columbia. She has also served in several roles at the Canadian Alliance of Physiotherapy Regulators (CAPR) including Chair, Vice-Chair, Interim CEO and currently Registrar’s Committee Chair. Dianne is also a Board Member of Physiotherapy Education Accreditation Canada. Dianne is currently enrolled in a DSc program at the Queen’s University and was a 2021 CPA Medal of Distinction recipient.

Manon Dufresne – Treasurer (Québec)

Dr. Bob Haennel – Secretary (CEO)

Dr. Bob Haennel comes to CAPR with 35 years of academic and leadership experience. Dr. Haennel has been on faculty at the University of Alberta for the past 17 years, first as the Chair of the Department of Physical Therapy and later as the Dean of the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine. During his time at the university, he led the development of a satellite campus in Calgary, which became instrumental in expanding the faculty’s future within the Calgary marketplace and enabled occupational and physical therapy students to study in either Edmonton or Calgary. He also established a faculty-wide Continuing Education program, which included the first bridging program in western Canada for internationally educated physiotherapists.

In January 2023, Dr. Bob Haennel join CAPR as the CEO and is responsible for managing the resources and operations, making corporate decisions, and acting as the main point of contact between the board of directors, staff, and the public. He also leads the ideation, planning, and implementation of new and long-term business strategies that will position CAPR as leaders in their industry.

Stephanie Connolly (Yukon)

Upon moving to Yukon in 2017, Steph Connolly began working for Professional Licensing and Regulatory Affairs branch of government, which is responsible for regulating various health and business professionals. Steph was responsible for the portfolio with pharmacists, physicians and consumer protection. After a year, Steph took on the role of Manager of Strategic Policy and Programs and was responsible for implementing modernization strategies for the branch, including initiating the move to registration and licensing online. In July of 2021, Steph took on the role of Director for the branch and is the Registrar for 12 health professions and 11 business professions. Steph is excited to bring her knowledge and skills to support and lead the team through the next phase of modernizing the branch and supporting public safety through regulating professionals.

 

Joyce Vogelgesang (Alberta)

 

Mark Hall (Evaluation Services Committee Chair)

Mark is an Associate Teaching Professor and Director of the Master of Science in Physical Therapy program at the University of Alberta. Mark graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa with a BSc(Physiotherapy) in 2000 and has worked clinically in several practice areas in South Africa, the United Kingdom and Canada. He began working at the University of Alberta as an Assistant Professor and the Academic Coordinator of Clinical Education in 2007. He received his PhD in Rehabilitation Science at the University of Alberta in 2013. Mark has been involved with CAPR since 2006 when he joined the Evaluation Services Committee which he has Chaired since 2017.  In his spare time, he enjoys travelling, food and a good red wine, and dabbles in cross-country skiing and paddle boarding when he has the chance.

 

Jenn Billeck (Manitoba)

 

Gary Rehan (Ontario)

 

Ellen Snider (New Brunswick)

Ellen has been Registrar of the College of Physiotherapists of New Brunswick (CPTNB) since June 2019, following several years at the helm of a provincial rehabilitation professionals’ association. Prior to CPTNB, she worked in project management and government relations in the not-for-profit sector. Ellen has a BSc from Mount Allison University, Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Education from the University of New Brunswick. She has served as a member of the CAPR BOD since 2019.

 

Kristin Taylor ( Nova Scotia) 

Kristin Taylor graduated from Dalhousie University in 2003 with her Physiotherapy degree, and is currently pursuing her Masters in Health Administration. Kristin works at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, the largest pediatric hospital east of Montreal. She has worked there as a clinician, a professional practice leader, and she now manages the Pediatric Perioperative Services department with a large multi-disciplinary team.  Kristin describes physiotherapists as professionally-trained problem solvers, which has prepared her well for leadership and managing complex environments. She served on CAPR’s Board of Examiners (BOE) since 2015, including a term as Chair of the BOE and member of the Evaluations Services Committee (ESC), before becoming a member of the CAPR Board of Directors in 2021. Her commitment to the BOE, ESC, and now the CAPR Board, stems from her belief that CAPR committees are doing important work to help regulators ensure that the right people—safe, ethical, competent—are eligible to practice physiotherapy.

Jennifer Buote (Prince Edward Island)

Jennifer Kelly is a Dalhousie University graduate, with a bachelor’s in Science of Kinesiology in 2009 and a Masters in Physiotherapy in 2012. Over the last 10 years, she has worked in both the public and private sectors with most of her work in a multi-disciplinary private practice clinic, where she currently works. In addition, she has worked as the Registrar for the Prince Edward Island College of Physiotherapy (PEICPT) for the last three years and for the last year and a half has been a Board of Directors member for the Canadian Alliance of Physiotherapy Regulators (CAPR).

 

Michael Kay (Newfoundland & Labrador)