Vice-President
Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer
National Research Council

Dale MacMillan is an experienced executive with various organizations. She was appointed Vice President, Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer in January 2017. In this capacity, she oversees the operations of the Finance and Procurement Services, Client Service Centre, Real Property and Planning and Management, Health, Safety and the Environment as well as Security branches.

Prior to joining the NRC, Ms. MacMillan served as Director General, Financial Operations and Deputy Chief Financial Officer at the Department of National Defence where she was responsible for financial accounting and reporting, policy, systems, internal controls, and accounting operations.

From 2006 through 2014, she worked with the Office of the Auditor General of Canada leading financial and performance audits involving numerous federal government organizations. She also led the Service Delivery and Information Management audit team as a specialist in these types of audits.

In addition, Ms. MacMillan spent more than 18 years working with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in various roles. She started her career with CBC in corporate finance, followed by several years in Toronto with the English Services networks before returning to regional operations in Ottawa, all in various financial roles. She was a leader on the team that implemented the organization’s SAP solution in 1999 as well as leading several initiatives as part of the network’s transformation of their business processes and tools for the management of broadcast services in 2005.

Ms. MacMillan is a graduate from Carleton University with both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Public Administration and holds a designation as a Chartered Professional Accountant.

Jean-François Robert is a Director General within Public Services and Procurement Canada’s (PSPC) Science and Parliamentary Infrastructure Branch. He currently leads multi-skilled teams in the management and delivery of major capital projects, supporting the Long Term Vision and Plan strategy that guides the restoration and modernization of Canada’s Parliamentary Precinct. He holds both a bachelor’s degree (Université Laval) and Master’s degree (Université de Sherbrooke) in civil engineering. He has more than 20 years of project management experience, beginning his career as a professional engineer in the private sector, and later with the City of Gatineau. In 2009, Jean-François joined the Federal Public Service in PSPC’s Real Property Branch, moving to the Parliamentary Precinct Branch in 2013. He has a proven track record of providing sound strategic advice based on his strong project management principles, practices and techniques, as well as his in-depth knowledge and experience.

Liz Tough is the Director of Real Property Strategic Policy and Planning for Global Affairs Canada. In this role, she leads global strategy, policy and investment governance for the stewardship of the Government of Canada real property platform around the world.

Liz started her federal real property career in 2000 with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Pacific Region, returning home to Ottawa as the RCMP Director of Governance before moving to Public Services and Procurement Canada Real Property Branch.  Over the course of her career, she has worked in multiple real property areas from sustainable development to capital accounting and investment management to operational delivery.

She has a Masters of Environmental Design in Environmental Science from the University of Calgary and spent many years trekking the mountains to get it.

Mr. Clayton Truax is currently the Senior Director, Environment, Health and Safety within PSPC. In this role, he is responsible for national functional direction as well as operational support within the National Capital Area related to environmental compliance and custodial health and safety.

Clayton joined the department in October 2001 and has subsequently occupied a number of progressive positions related to expanding the Department’s leadership role in contaminated sites within the federal government including Manager, National Centre of Expertise for Contaminated Sites until assuming his current role in December 2019. He has been a long-time contributor to the organization of the RPIC Federal Contaminated Sites Workshops including acting as the Chair. Prior to joining PSPC, he spent 14 years in the private sector as an environmental consultant managing contaminated sites and other environmentally related projects in Canada and the United States.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto and a Master’s Degree from the University of Waterloo in Civil Engineering and is a licenced Professional Engineer in Ontario.

Sonia Powell is a Real Estate executive who started her career in 1993. She has broad experience in project management, contracting, and setting policy direction, with specific expertise in office portfolio strategy and workplace strategy. Sonia is on a mission to show organizations how they can successfully implement hybrid working.

Sonia holds a bachelor of engineering degree from Memorial University and a certificate as a functional specialist in real property from the Government of Canada. She has recently obtained a Deloitte Faculty Excellence (DFX) facilitator certification from Deloitte University North.

After 30 years of public service, she retired from her position as Director General, Accommodation Management and Workplace Solutions within Public Services and Procurement Canada’s Real Property Services Branch, overseeing the workplace transformation program for the Government of Canada. Over the course of her career she has been responsible for a diverse portfolio including marine procurement, environmental engineering, facilities management, technical services, surface programs (highways), and the management of bridges and dams. She has worked in a number of federal departments including Public Services and Procurement Canada, the Department of National Defence, and Transport Canada.

Sonia actively contributes to the Real Property community and has been a member of the Real Property Institute of Canada (RPIC) Board of Directors since 2015, serving in a number of positions on the Executive, including President and Past President. She is currently serving as a member of RPIC’s Senior Advisory Council and is proud to join the CoreNet Global Canadian Chapter Leadership Council.

Real estate and planning are part of Sonia’s everyday life. On weekends, Sonia loves planning her next home renovation project or planning her next travel destination.

Debbie Beresford-Green is the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Corporate Services Branch for Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada. She is responsible for the delivery of all national Real Property projects for the health portfolio. She is also the Chief Security Officer for Health Canada.

Ms. Beresford-Green currently serves as the Champion for Health Canada Persons with Disabilities.

Ms. Beresford-Green joined Health Canada in 2008 and has held various executive positions, including A/ADM Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, and has been in the role of ADM CSB since 2014.

Ms. Beresford-Green began her Public Service career as a Customs Inspector. Over the course of her career with the Public Service, she has also worked at Industry Canada, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and the Canada Revenue Agency.

Rob joined Infrastructure and Environment at the Department of National Defence in November 2017 and has been serving as the Assistant Deputy Minister since June 2019. He has been a federal civil servant for more than 20 years, dividing his time between central agencies such as the Privy Council Office, Treasury Board and the Department of Finance, and line departments such as Employment and Social Development Canada and Crown Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. He studied political science at Acadia University in Nova Scotia, and is a graduate of the National Security Programme at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto. He served in the Primary Reserve with the 30^th Field Regiment of the Royal Canadian Artillery. Rob and his wife, Nancy, have two children, Adrian and Keira.

Tara Dinsmore is Vice President, Real Estate National Capital Region & Atlantic and Vice President, Acquisitions & Business Development. Tara leads Canada Lands’ real estate development activities in the National Capital Region and Atlantic. She is also
responsible for the acquisition of surplus federal sites across the country as well as business development activities with the federal government. Tara has been with the Company for more than 20 years. She held a variety of progressive positions in acquisitions until 2018, when real estate development was added to her responsibilities. Tara is also Canada Lands’ lead on building relationships with Indigenous groups. Tara holds leadership roles with the Real Property Institute of Canada and the National Executive Forum on Public Property.

Diane Orange joined PSPC in 2022 as Special Advisor, Strategic Divestiture Initiative for Real Property. Prior to this, in 2017, as Assistant Deputy Minister at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, she lead the Horizontal Fixed Asset Review on Real Property.  She served as the Assistant Deputy Minister, Human Resources and Corporate Services from 2012-2017, and as the Special Advisor, Science Enterprise Centres Initiative at Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Diane served as Director General in the Real Property Branch of PSPC from 2005 to 2012. Previously Diane worked at Canada Post, ESDC & NRCan in a variety of Policy & Real Property positions. 

Nick Xenos is the Executive Director of the Centre for Greening Government within the Treasury Board Secretariat of the Government of Canada. The Centre is working with federal departments and agencies towards zero-carbon, sustainable and climate-resilient government operations. Previous to this position Nick has worked on climate change impacts and adaptation, Arctic science, space policy and infrastructure policy.  Nick has a Master’s in Business Administration from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Ottawa.

Judith Amoils is a consultant specializing in public sector and government real estate and asset portfolios, combining management consulting expertise with real estate industry experience. She assists occupier organizations to align their business and operational strategy with their space, workplace, and real estate portfolio.  

Her professional designations include Counselor of Real Estate (CRE) and Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (FRICS). She is a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) and has Change Management (PROSCI) Certification. 

She has worked in real estate and asset management consulting, real estate development, and in management consulting for ten years with PricewaterhouseCoopers and IBM. She lead the Canadian real estate consulting practice at CBRE Limited for eight years.  

In Canada, she has worked with federal, provincial and local governments. As a consultant to the World Bank, she has worked with governments internationally. She is a published author, and frequently presents at conferences.  She is an Associate Member of the National Executive Forum for Public Property and has acted as Canadian Chapter Chair (2020-23) and PropTech Interest Group Vice-Chair (2022-23) for the Counselors of Real Estate. 

Judith brings discipline, rigorous analytics and critical thinking to complex problem solving, in combination with reflection and creative insight. As a project leader of multi-disciplinary teams, she values diversity of team skills and cooperative effort, as well as an environment of respect and appreciation. Her unassuming style enables her to work with teams at all levels, from understanding real estate operational issues through to communicating strategic needs at senior management and executive levels.   

Kevin is a partner at Deloitte and leads the National Real Estate Advisory practice. He is also a Lead Client Service Partner for the Government of Canada Account Central Agencies. He has an extensive operational background in various senior positions in Government and served proudly in the Canadian Armed Forces for 20 years. He was also honoured to serve as the Assistant Deputy Minister Champion of RPIC, a position he held proudly for 3 years (2016-19). He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from RPIC in 2019. He now serves on the Senior Advisory Council and is honoured to continue to work and serve with and mentor RE leaders at all levels in Government.

Jaida has over 25 years of experience working in real property and project management, and she is currently the Operations Support Manager for the RCMP’s Departmental Security Section (Pacific Region). Jaida began her 20-year career with the RCMP as the Project Leader for the RCMP “E” Division Headquarters project in Surrey, BC. This project brought employees from 21 different locations into one purpose-built campus that is now home to approximately 3,000 employees. In 2021, Jaida started focusing on portfolio management. She worked with the Treasury Board Secretariat to develop policy guidance on real property portfolio strategies and then led the development of the RCMP’s national real property portfolio strategy.

Steven Brasier joined the Real Property Institute of Canada as Executive Director in June 2017. He has spent most of his career in senior management roles, working primarily with national non-profit organizations. He brings to RPIC a progressive leadership style, a pioneering spirit, and wide-ranging experience in governance, operations, communications, policy, project management, partnership building and financial management. Prior to joining RPIC, he worked as Executive Director of the Canadian Institute of Planners where he was responsible for operational management and personnel, financial administration, governance support, partnerships, project management, and overseeing the work of numerous volunteer committees. He also oversaw CIP’s role in upholding national certification standards and recognizing university planning programs, working in collaboration with seven provincial and regional planning institutes. Before that, he served as Director of Communications for the Canadian Association of Medical Radiation Technologists, and as Manager of Publications for the Standards Council of Canada.

Rosa has been a longstanding contributor to RPIC, having served as President and in other Board of Director roles. She recently retired from the Treasury Board Secretariat in 2021 and is currently serving as our Executive Advisor.