Board

Kismet Bhandar
Governor

Kismet Bhandar is a seasoned litigator with 22 years of experience with personal injury, property damage and other claims. With her open, approachable and cooperative style, she fosters teamwork with her clients and works with them to reach a positive outcome. 

Kismet was born and raised in Victoria, BC. But she did not fully understand her good fortune until she moved away and lived in other parts of Canada and overseas. She came home to go to law school in 1994 and has enjoyed working on Vancouver Island ever since.

Pam Copley
Governor

Pam is a graduate of University of Victoria’s Cultural Resource Management Program. She enjoyed her career in heritage preservation policy and planning with the B.C. Heritage Branch until 2016.

She has contributed to her community in several volunteer capacities since the early ‘90s, ultimately serving as a three term Oak Bay Municipal Councillor between 2005 and 2014, with related committee responsibility on CDR Arts, Royal & McPherson Theatres Society, Oak Bay land use and Official Community Plan renewal.

Pam is delighted to have an opportunity as a CCPA Board member to return to her early passion for theatre arts! While her family was growing, she worked as assistant scenic painter for the VOS, POV, (and even a movie!) as well as volunteer painting coordinator for the Oak Bay High Drama Program. In 1998 while working as an administrator of a youth mentoring program in heritage and culture, CCPA was among her first sponsoring  organizations; another reason she is excited to take on this role.

With her husband Brian, Pam lived in Oak Bay for over 40 years raising three children, and now lives close by in Fairfield Gonzales. She still serves on committees and also enjoys dabbling in visual art, singing in two choirs and spending time with her five grandchildren.

Maia Crockett
Secretary

Maia has been connected to the Canadian College of Performing Arts since enrolling as a student there in 2012. After graduating from the Applied Performing Arts Diploma program in 2016, she worked with the College as an artistic contractor before joining the administrative team full-time in the fall of 2017 as a graphic designer, then executive assistant and I.T. coordinator. During that time, she also worked around Victoria as an actor, projection & sound designer, and stage manager.

While she left the staff in the summer of 2021 for a position with the provincial public service, she continues to hold the work of CHAS and the College close to her heart, and is grateful for this opportunity to continue to work to support a welcoming, inclusive, and encouraging atmosphere at CCPA.

Maia also currently serves as secretary of the Board of Directors for Impulse Theatre.

Tom Croft
Vice Chair

Tom Croft’s work experience and background are in banking and real estate, and his heart is in creating community.

Tom is well known in Oak Bay as a founding member and active participant in the Community Association of Oak Bay (CAOB). He is also a Member at Large and Past Secretary of Oak Bay Tourism and Member/Past Director/Past President Rotary Club of Oak Bay. Among other projects, Tom participated in the creation of the Peter Pan Spray Park at Carnarvon Park and the Teen Centre at Oak Bay Rec Centre.

Tom served as a Municipal Councillor in Oak Bay from 2014-2018, which came with appointments to the Oak Bay Advisory Design Panel Liaison, as well as the Municipal Insurance Association of British Columbia, South Vancouver Island Prosperity Project, and University of Victoria.

Austin Eckert
Governor

Austin graduated from the Company C program in spring 2015. Originally from Regina Saskatchewan, he is honoured to be the first African Canadian to be given the opportunity to join the Board of Directors of the Canadian Heritage Arts Society.

Since childhood, Austin has enjoyed performing in everything he could, starting from chamber choirs, to community musical theatre productions, plays, opera, commercials, television, dance, improv, film and a band that somehow stuck together throughout highschool.

Now living primarily in Vancouver, Austin has made quick work of starting his career in film and television – as well as playing in most of the major theatres in western Canada. Select Theatre credits include; Miss Understood (Frank Theatre), Spring Awakening (CCPA/ Belfry), Hair (Mayfield), Mamma Mia! (WCT), The Winter’s Tale, Much Ado.., As You Like It, Macbeth, Shakespeare in Love, Taming of the Shrew (Bard on the Beach), As You Like It revival tour (MTC/ Citadel/Chicago Shakespeare). Television: ‘Supernatural’, ‘The Flash’, ‘Batwoman’ (CW), ‘Project Bluebook’ (History), ‘Narcoleap’ (Telus/ CBC), ‘Colony’ (USA), ‘The Magicians’ (SyFy), ‘Snowpiercer’ (TNT).

Ingrid Fawcett
Governor

Ingrid was raised at the four compass points of North America: California, New York, Mexico, and British Columbia, and she has called Oak Bay home for over twenty-five years.

Ingrid has spent almost forty years as an educator spanning the range from elementary, middle, secondary and post-secondary settings. Currently, she is a Principal with the Greater Victoria School District. A supporter of the arts, Ingrid taught high school theatre, completed her Masters with a focus on Drama in Education, and has served with local art organizations including the Oak Bay Community Artists Society and the Victoria Chapter of the Federation of Canadian Artists.

Ingrid is an avid hiker and paddler and expresses her gratitude to be a visitor on the traditional territories of the Lək̓ ʷəŋən and WSÁNÉC peoples.

Albert Fowler
Governor

Major the Rev. CD2, OMM, Al, is a retired military chaplain and a minister in the United Church of Canada. By avocation he is a military historian and author of Peacetime Padres, a history of Canadian military chaplains 1945-1995.

Al has served in civilian churches in New Brunswick, Ottawa, Kingston, and Victoria. He served for several years on the national executive of the Canadian Authors Association and for the past twenty years has been on the national executive of the Storytellers of Canada-Conteurs du Canada. While serving at Royal Roads Military College, 1990-1993, he set the college up as a military museum.

Pre-COVID, Al and his wife Sheila were helping feed CCPA students and enjoyed the personal connection. They have been pleased to offer the Fowler Family Awards for dance and for the best 5 minute play.

Kevin Harter
Governor

Kevin has deep expertise in both leading organizations and spearheading national research aimed to drive innovation, improve quality of care, and create services to improve the health and wellbeing of older Canadians and their caregivers. He is actively engaged with both the BC Hospice Palliative Care Association and the Hospice Care Alliance of BC.

Prior to joining Luther Court in June of 2023 he was the CEO of Victoria Hospice. He has held leadership positions in long term care for over eighteen years. From 2013 – 2018 he was the President and CEO of York Care Centre (YCC), the largest long term care facility in New Brunswick. During his five years at YCC, he forged several national strategic partnerships and worked as part of the team that created the AGE-WELL’s National Innovation Hub: Advancing Policies and Practices in Technology and Aging where he later became the Executive Director.

In addition to his work with AGE-WELL, Kevin developed CIRA (Centre for Innovation and Research in Aging) a research centre in partnership with the University of New Brunswick, the University of Toronto and Simon Fraser University; he is a former Member of the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) Home and Continuing Care National Advisory Committee; and he participated in the Seniors Quality Leap Initiative, a collaborative of nursing homes across Canada and US who lead in the benchmarking of clinical quality standards. He is results-driven with a collaborative and strategic approach; a number of the quality improvement initiatives he led at the YCC have been adopted provincially and nationally.

Roxanne Helme K.C.
Chair

Having studied economics at the University of Victoria and law at Dalhousie University, Roxanne has been in the private practice of law in Victoria for over 35 years. She has enjoyed periodically guest lecturing at the University of Victoria law school on a number of civil and criminal law topics.

She has extensive governance experience, having served her colleagues at the Bar locally, provincially, nationally and also internationally. Roxanne has served her community in a number of capacities including as a Community Appointee to the Leadership Council of the Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness, as a Provincial Appointee to the Victoria and Esquimalt Police Board and also the British Columbia Association of Police Boards and as Board Member and President of the Inter Cultural Association of Victoria. In addition to serving as Chair of the Canadian Heritage Arts Society she serves on the Board of the Vancouver Island Trail Association.

She is married, the mother of two gainfully employed adult children, and the devoted owner of a young black Labrador Retriever named Reggie.

Jodi Lauder
Governor

Born and raised on the beautiful unceded and ancestral traditional lands of the Lekwungen/Songhees and WSÁNEĆ peoples, where her grandparents landed when they immigrated in the early 1900s, Jodi was fortunate to be immersed in the performing arts from a young age. She has the special honour of being an original cast member of the Spirit of A Nation national touring company in celebration of Canada’s 125th anniversary, which was directed and produced by CCPA’s founders, Janis Dunning and Jacques Lemay. This 1992 tour, along with the Confederate Centre of the Arts summer training and performance program for young Canadians that followed in Charlottetown, PEI, is credited as the inspiration for the founding of the Canadian College of Performing Arts.

For Jodi, community has always shared centre stage, alongside dance and family. After graduating from UVic with a degree in Child and Youth Care, she devoted 17 years to a not-for-profit agency, supporting families, children, and youth. She is an alumnus of Leadership Victoria, and has served on the boards of DanceWorks Society and OCTA/ArtsReach Society. Interwoven with these endeavors, and with a nod to her Chinese Canadian heritage, Jodi has been an instructor in tap dancing as well as traditional Chinese dance. She is a proud wife and mother, with a 10-year-old daughter who also loves the arts.

Randall Mang
Governor

President, RandallAnthony Communications; Special Projects Editor for The Globe and Mail’s Custom Content Group

Randall Mang is the Founder & President of RandallAnthony Communications (RAC), a Sidney, BC-based content marketing and communications design firm.

Over the past 18 years RAC has established itself as the leading supplier of custom content to The Globe and Mail, for which RAC produces over 100 print and digital special features annually. Among its key clients RAC also proudly serves HSBC Bank (Canada) as its content agency, and provides services ranging from content strategy, development and creative design to digital and social media amplification for esteemed brands and organizations including Export Development Canada, Novo Nordisk, Express Scripts Canada, the Canadian Dermatology Association and others.

Randall and his wife Louise have six children and three grandchildren. In addition to Randall’s work with CCPA, he is serves on the board of the Duke of Edinburgh International Awards BC & Yukon Region. The Mang family is also a longtime friend and supporter of WE charity.

Derrold Norgaard
Treasurer

Derrold is a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia. For most of his career, Derrold was a Tax Partner with KPMG, working out of both the Vancouver and Victoria offices. Derrold held the dual role of Tax and Office Managing Partner in Victoria until his departure from KPMG is 2008.

Derrold’s primary areas of practice include personal tax planning, international tax and corporate taxation. He has authored several articles on Canadian tax planning and has been an instructor in Canadian tax programs for many years. He is a frequently requested speaker to business groups throughout Canada and Asia. He has also been recognized as one of the Chartered Professional Accountants of BC and Canada’s top instructors for his teaching in various tax programs over the years, including the Advanced Tax Program sponsored jointly with the Canadian Tax Foundation.

Bob Plecas
Governor

Most importantly, married to Pauline Rafferty, 5 kids, 14 grand kids. A food-wine- travel family.

40% of my working life. Long time Deputy Minister. 5 Premiers, 10 different Ministries plus acted as government’s trouble shooter, fixer, negotiator — federal, business, labour, international agreements — and the most fun, the opening of EXPO with the Prince and Princess of Wales. Concurrently, lecturer at the University of Victoria and Queen’s in negotiations and crisis management.

Left government—other 60%. Vancouver based consulting business. Non-lobbyist for industry — major forest and other large companies/unions, and small business organizations. Focus on solutions to government created problems and major issues. Clients: Presidents and CEO’s. Government interruptus — twice. First, Premier asks return to public service, to manage the largest re-organization in the province’s history, creation of the Children’s Ministry — 18 months. Second, 10 years on, briefer, Head, independent inquiry into a horrendous child welfare incident. Recommendation led to increased funding and adopted best practices.

In between and after, BC’s industry lead in softwood lumber negotiations with the USA. Then several years mediating disputes between industry and First Nations concerning large, litigated delayed, commercial project start-ups and operational interface problems. Advisor, Costal First Nations (Great Bear Rainforest folks).

Wrote two books, one a BC politics best seller, one historical fiction currently with an agent.

Media. Enjoyed 12-15 years as a political panellist on radio and television, written extensively on political issues for the print media.

Additional relevant public boards: Serauxman Service Club (Nanaimo), Garth Homer Society, Victoria Philharmonic Choir Society, the Victoria Conservatory of Music, and the Sovereign Order of Jerusalem, Knights Hospitaller.

Gongs. Queen’s Jubilee Medal, Honorary Appointment for non-church-members to BC Diocese of Anglican Church.

Life today–travel 4-5 months a year, plus family/write/read/exercise and volunteer Boards.

Mel Cooper C.M., O.B.C.

Mel Cooper is one of the most decorated citizens of Victoria. As a result of his community leadership, he has received the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia, among much other recognition. Mel was a Vice President of Expo ’86 and Chair of the Board of Governors of the 1994 Commonwealth Games. He sold his radio stations in Victoria and Kelowna, concluding a 60-year career in broadcasting.

Mel has been involved with the College since it was founded. Today, as Chair Emeritus of the TELUS Victoria Community Board, he and the Board have been financial supporters.

Mel and his wife Carmela share a joint enthusiasm for the College.

Lina de Guevara

Originally from Chile, Lina de Guevara is an actor, theatre director, drama teacher and storyteller. She’s a specialist in the techniques of transformational theatre, Theatre of the Oppressed and Commedia dell’Arte.

To create and produce plays about the immigrant experience, she founded PUENTE Theatre in 1988 and was its Artistic Director for 23 years. Her director’s credits include I wasn’t born here, Crossing Borders, The House of Bernarda Alba, Mother Courage, Canadian Tango, Letters for Tomas, Sisters/Strangers, Canadian Tango 09, Storytelling Our Lives, Algarabia/Danza, Scene and Heard, The woman who fell from the sky, Chile con carne, and The pilgrimage of the nuns of Concepción. She’s directed and dramaturged several one-woman shows, such as Emergence, Uthe/Athe, Patriot in search of a country, Heinz 57, and Peace Mum.

James Griffith B.A., M.Ed.

Jim’s career focus has always been education and student support. He spent 35 years working in post-secondary education and retired from the University of Victoria as VP Development and External Relations and President of the University of Victoria Foundation.

Before that, Jim was Executive Director of Student and Ancillary Services, and in 1993-94, he served as UVic’s Director of Operations for the Commonwealth Games. Jim initiated faculty and staff development programs; presented numerous workshops at regional, national, and international levels; and received national recognition awards for his work in the development and promotion of student services. He was a member of many professional organizations, and held office in most of them.

Chair of the Board of the Canadian Heritage Arts Society from 1994-99, Jim was involved in the foundation of the Canadian College of the Performing Arts and the establishment of the Legacy Scholarship Endowment Fund, and he continues to support both. He returned to the Board in 2016 for a two year term. An active community member, Jim has served a variety of associations such as the United Way and Friends of the RBCM.

Kimberley Rampersad

Kimberley Rampersad is a theatre artist, born and raised in Treaty 1 Territory, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

As an actor she has appeared in various theatres across Canada including Mirvish, RMTC, Stratford and Shaw. 

Her work as a choreographer has been recognized with two Dora nominations for Passing Strange (Musical Stage/Obsidian) and Seussical – the Musical (YPT) respectively, and an Evie Award in 2019 for Matilda – The Musical (Royal MTC/Citadel/Arts Club).

As a director, Kimberley was featured in the New York Times in July 2022 for her production of Rabindranath Tagore’s Chitra and in July 2019 for directing a full- length production of Bernard Shaw’s Man and Superman, both at the Shaw Festival. Her production of Tré Anthony’s  How Black Mothers Say I Love You (GCTC) received a Prix Rideau Award for outstanding production, and her productions of The Color Purple (Neptune and Citadel/ Royal MTC) received Merritt and Sterling Award for outstanding direction and productions.  She recently made her directorial debut at the Stratford Festival with Serving Elizabeth by Marcia Johnson. She was the recipient of the 2017 Gina Wilkinson Prize for an emerging female director (Ontario Arts Foundation). Her season in 2023 includes directing King Lear at the Stratford Festival, and The Amen Corner at the Shaw Festival.

In the community she contributes to the work of the Philp Akin – Black Shoulders Legacy Award, the Gina Wilkinson Prize, and sits on the board of AFC.

Kimberley completed her dance teacher certification through the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in Political Science, from the University of Manitoba.  She is currently a graduate student in Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph.

Kimberley is currently the Associate Artistic Director of the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

Marguerite Rowe

Marguerite is a lifelong supporter of the arts and education and a passionate crusader for the Canadian College of Performing Arts. As a health care executive, Marguerite has received numerous national and provincial recognitions for health care quality and leadership. An experienced teacher in community colleges and previous member of numerous arts and fundraising boards, Marguerite appreciates our talented faculty, staff, volunteers and board members who work to create an amazing experience for our students.

Duncan Stewart C.S.A.

Duncan Stewart is a Casting Director & Partner at Stewart/Whitley. Prior to forming Stewart/Whitley, Duncan was the in-house Director of Casting for National Artists Management Company (NAMCO) on various Broadway/West End productions. This year he celebrates 16+ years as the Casting Director of Chicago. Previous to this he worked with Alaine Alldaffer (Head of Casting) on numerous productions at Playwrights Horizons.  

Duncan has been a TV guest judge and panelist for ABC’s Emmy-winning ‘Extreme Weight Loss’ and Broadway TV’s ‘Next Broadway Star’, and is often booked as a guest lecturer and seminar/workshop leader for numerous colleges, studios and universities in the US, Canada and UK.  Mr. Stewart is an Artios Award winner and proud member of the Casting Society of America (CSA).