Board of Directors

Daniel Banko

Daniel Banko is the President of Banko Media, a graphic design and photography studio in downtown Hamilton, and the Curating Partner of Nathaniel Hughson Art Gallery. With an art degree from McMaster University, a background in commercial photography and art direction, his primary area of expertise is visual communication. Daniel has served as the Chair of the AGH CLiC committee and as the Vice-Chair of the Hamilton Arts Council. He looks forward to continuing to promote the arts and downtown renewal through his role on the Board of the Art Gallery of Hamilton.

Paul Berton

Paul Berton is editor-in-chief of The Hamilton Spectator. He was editor-in-chief of The Free Press in London, Ontario, where he served on several boards and committees. He has a degree in journalism from Carleton University and a degree in English and history from the University of Western Ontario. He is the inventor of a board game called Eye Know.

Luigi V. Celli, BAcc, CA

Chair

Lou is a Chartered Accountant and Partner with Grant Thornton. His areas of expertise include assurance, corporate & personal tax planning and corporate financing. He has served as Board Chair for Hamilton’s Ronald McDonald House and adds his financial and strategic skills to various committees in addition to the Board.

Dr. Brenda Copps

Brenda is a family physician and Assistant Clinical Professor at McMaster University. She is Past Chair of the Hamilton Family Health Team, which is the largest in Ontario serving approximately 235,000 people. She has served on the AGH Gala Committee since 2011. Brenda received her medical degree from McMaster University and is a Fellow of the College of Family Physicians.

Charles Criminisi

Past Chair

Charles is a partner at the law firm of Agro Zaffiro LLP where he practices commercial law and litigation. He is a founding member and past Chair of both the Burlington Community Foundation and Villa Italia Retirement Residence. Charles is a founding member of The Law Group, which supports the Gallery’s endowment by raising funds for the Building a Legacy 2 campaign.

Laurie Davidson

Laurie Davidson is the Regional Vice President for RBC Royal Bank responsible for the delivery of all Personal, Financial Planning and Small Business products and services to clients in the Greater Hamilton market. Over her 35-year career with RBC she has held a variety of positions across Canada and internationally in Hong Kong. Active in the Greater Hamilton community, Laurie also sits on the Mohawk College Welcoming Communities work force. Laurie’s commitment to volunteerism includes serving on boards and committees of not-for-profit organizations dedicated to supporting families in the communities where she has lived and worked.

Adrian Duyzer

Adrian Duyzer is a partner and the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Parallel, located on King William Street in downtown Hamilton. As the leader of Parallel’s team of dedicated technical professionals, his roles range from hands-on development and engineering work to project management, strategy development and consulting. He has over 15 years of professional development and project management experience, ranging from large and complex database-driven systems to fun experiments and mobile applications. In addition to his professional roles, Adrian enjoys writing about issues affecting Hamilton such as urban renewal, local politics, technology and transportation. His articles have been published by The Hamilton Spectator, CBC Hamilton, and raisethehammer.org. He lives in downtown Hamilton with his family.

Shelley Falconer

AGH President and CEO

Before joining the AGH, Shelley Falconer was founder and CEO of Cultural Asset Management and Director, Exhibitions/Programs, McMichael Canadian Art Collection. Her 25-year career includes national and international experience as a senior administrator, curator, consultant, fundraiser and educator with a variety of important cultural organizations including Sotheby’s (England), Waddington Galleries, (England), the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the government of Canada, the Ontario government, the University of Toronto , the Art Gallery of Ontario and the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. She received undergraduate and graduate degrees in Art History, Museology and Arts Administration from York University, Sotheby’s England, Sorbonne, Université de Paris and U of T.

David Kissick

David Kissick is the District Vice President for TD Commercial Banking responsible for the region encompassing Hamilton, Brantford and the Niagara Peninsula. David’s 27-year career with TD has involved roles in Retail Banking, Head Office and Commercial Banking. Career stops include Halton and Toronto as well as the Hamilton market for the past eight years. A graduate of the University of Toronto, David is currently Chair of the AGH Finance Committee.

Craig Laviolette

Craig is a Chartered Accountant and Vice President of Finance, Energy at Siemens Canada Limited, a global company specializing in the manufacture and servicing of energy equipment. He has lived and worked abroad and has had responsibility for staff located around the world. His public service includes nine years on the Board of Hamilton Health Sciences where he held positions of Chair of the Audit Committee, Board Treasurer and finally Chair of the Board. He has also served on the Board of the Kidney Foundation and was the chair of the Company Campaign for the United Way. He was actively involved with the Project Business Program with Junior Achievement.

Lisa Marcuzzi

Lisa is the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of ArcelorMittal Dofasco, the ArcelorMittal Country Counsel, Canada, the ArcelorMittal Legal Entity Governance Regional Coordinator for the Americas, and an ex-officio committee member of ArcelorMittal Dofasco’s Corporate Community Investment Fund. Prior to this, Lisa was a partner at an international and national law firm where she was engaged in a broad corporate/commercial and securities law practice with an emphasis in mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, infrastructure financing, governance and regulatory compliance. She was previously a contributing editor to the Business Law Reports and to O’Brien’s Encyclopedia of Forms. Lisa has served as a director/officer of a number of companies and charities including the Adoption Council of Ontario and Baddest Beatz Inc. Lisa holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Masters of Business and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1998.

John Noestheden

John was born in Amsterdam in 1945 and moved to Canada in 1952. He received a BFA in 1973 from the University of Windsor and an MFA in 1975 from Tulane University, New Orleans. In 1990 he accepted a position at the University of Regina teaching Visual Arts. He retired in 2010 and moved to Hamilton where he maintains a rigorous art practice working in a renovated church studio. His work is regularly exhibited at international Art Fairs and is found in permanent collections in Canadian and American art museums as well as public, corporate, and private international collections. He is represented by JHB Gallery in New York City.

Maria Pearson

Elected for three terms to Stoney Creek Council (Ward 3) beginning in 1991, Maria currently serves the constituents of Ward 10 on Hamilton’s City Council. She actively participates on over 20 council boards and committees, including the Airport Implementation Task Force, the Economic Development and Planning Standing Committee, and the Hamilton Public Library Board. She was previously employed as a legal secretary and automobile sales and leasing representative.

Dr. Leonard Waverman

Leonard Waverman joined McMaster as Dean of the DeGroote School of Business in January 2013. His recent research concentrates on the growth and productivity impacts of the roll-out of the Internet, as well as the services and applications it enables. Professor Waverman is on the Academic Advisory Board of Columbia University’s Centre for Tele-Information, the Academic Advisory Board of Georgetown University’s McDonough Business School’s Business and Public Policy Center, and is a Fellow of the University of California at Berkeley’s Fisher IT Center. He is a non-executive board member of BNP-Paribas Canada and a board member of the CD Howe Institute. He was a board member of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra from 2009 through 2012. He is a citizen of Canada and France, and has been awarded the honour of Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Academiques from the Government of France for his distinguished contributions to education. His undergraduate alma mater University College, University of Toronto, honoured him as one of its “Top 100 Alumni of Distinction” in 2012.

Hanno Weinberger

A Docent at the AGH since 2012, Hanno is chair of the Volunteer Committee Executive. He enjoys conducting tours of temporary exhibitions as well as the AGH permanent collection. Hanno is a retired elementary school teacher. Over the past 10 years, he has served on the governing Councils of two self-regulatory colleges in Ontario. He has just completed his second term as President of the Ontario College of Denturists.