ABOUT PPW

Rosemary has a Doctor of Education from the University of Toronto and is a certified teacher, principal, and supervisory officer. She is currently the website Coordinator for the Promising Practices in Indigenous Education Website sponsored by the Martin Family Initiative.

Dr. Gannon has fulfilled many senior leadership roles in her career both provincially and internationally. She was the Director of Canadian Programming at Sunway University, Malaysia, the Director of Investigations and Hearings at the Ontario College of Teachers, and a Regional Director for the Ontario Ministry of Education.

During her years as an educational leader, Rosemary has gained a breadth of knowledge in policy development and implementation, school board operations, and standards of practice for the teaching profession. She describes that her purpose and reason for going into teaching was “to make a difference for kids” and after nearly 50 she has never lost that purpose.

Catherine McCullough is of Métis ancestry and lives in Orillia, Ontario. She has been actively involved in education in Ontario for more than 40 years and performed many senior leadership roles including Supervisory Officer in Barrie and Director of Education in Sudbury.  She has served as coordinator of the “Strong Districts and Their Leadership” project with Dr. Kenneth Leithwood, education researcher at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, U of T.

She has a Master of Education from Brock University, post-graduate certificates in Strategic Leadership from the Rotman School of Business, Executive Coaching from Fielding University and is a certified Executive Leadership Coach.

Currently, as the President and CEO of CMCLeadership, she specializes in conducting leadership workshops in Organizational Relationships, Strategic Planning and Change Management to a wide range of organizations in both the business and public sectors nationally and internationally.

Nathan Matthew is former Chief of the Simpcw First Nation. Matthew was the first executive director of Aboriginal Education for Thompson River University (TRU) and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters in 2006. In 2018 he was appointed the Chancellor for TRU.

He was a senior negotiator for First Nations education in BC, and played a key role in advancing education jurisdiction legislation and the Tripartite Education Framework Agreement between First Nations, provincial, and federal governments.

Matthew was also a founding member and chair of School District 73’s First Nations Education Council. For his advocacy in education, Matthew was recognized with an honorary membership in the BC First Nations Schools Association in 2006 and the national Indspire Award for Education in 2017. Most recently, he was awarded School District 73’s Owl Award of Excellence in Public Education. Nathan Mathew has been called the education chief of Canada.