External advisory panel on service

The external advisory panel on service supports the Canada Revenue Agency's (CRA) overall service transformation by sharing experiences and lessons learned from their area of expertise and by providing advice on emerging trends, plans and practices in service design and delivery.

Chaired by the Chief Service Officer of the CRA, the panel is comprised of senior leaders and experts from the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors with expertise in digital services, client-centric service design, delivery and innovation.

Meetings

The panel will meet virtually twice per year.

Members

geneviève bich, Vice President, Human Resources at Metro Inc.

Respect, transparency, authenticity and honesty; these are the values that live in geneviève bich, Woman of distinction Business and Entrepreneurship.

As vice president, Human Resources at METRO, geneviève has been successfully orchestrating the development and implementation of a vast talent management program for more than six years. The overall objective of this program is to give each employee the means to develop his or her full potential through numerous initiatives, as well as to contribute to the emergence of a solid succession plan. For example, the METRO & Elles program, implemented under her aegis in 2015, provides a host of initiatives aimed at the advancement of women. For its part, the LEAD program offers numerous training programs accessible to all employees, focusing on leadership, excellence, action and development.

Currently, she and her team are contributing to one of the largest human resources operations in Quebec, that of integrating the Jean Coutu Group within METRO, involving nearly 90,000 of her colleagues.

Throughout her career, geneviève has been immersed in organizational environments in the midst of change. Her vision has always been to make change a springboard for companies and employees, ensuring that they have the necessary tools and opportunities, and evolve in a humane culture where integrity and honesty are the rule. This is her winning formula for building a culture that inspires commitment and loyalty.

Her mission is to move people forward, convinced that this is how organizations also advance. Thus, geneviève is committed to supporting the achievements and innovations of the members of her teams to enable them to implement their creativity and vision, thereby supporting their development.

“It’s the humanity in everyone that thrills me,” she says. She has been involved in the community since the age of 25, including serving on boards of directors. For example, from 2010 to 2019, she sat on the Board of Directors of College de Bois-de-Boulogne and on the Treasury Board Human Resources Management Exchange Table. Since 2015, she has also sat on the Board of Directors of Hydro-Québec, as a member and chair of the Human Resources Committee.

The promotion of minorities, the advancement of women, and the establishment of a culture and programs that give everyone the opportunity to fulfill themselves are the common denominator of her efforts.

Setting herself apart from other leaders, geneviève is a realistic, down-to-earth, open-minded woman, concerned about aligning the needs of the organization with the future and the development of the people who inhabit it. For her, “the human being, in addition to being essential, is the most powerful lever available to an organization… A company is above all a group of people,” she says. “If they are competent, motivated and work together, there are no limits”.

Zahra Ebrahim, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Monumental

Zahra is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Monumental. She is a public interest designer and strategist focused on deep, community-led approaches to policy, infrastructure, and service design. She is an established bridge-builder across grassroots and institutional spaces and is a leading practitioner in reforming institutions to be more human-centred and equitable.

She serves as an Executive Advisor to Deloitte on Cities and Design, and as a senior advisor to political and public interest initiatives across the country. Prior to this role, she built and led Doblin Canada (Deloitte’s Human-Centred Design practice), focusing on engaging diverse sets of stakeholders to use human-centred design to address complex organizational and industry challenges, largely focused on public sector and civic innovation. Before Doblin, Zahra led one of Canada’s first social design studios, working with communities to co-design towards better social outcomes and leading some of Canada’s most ambitious participatory infrastructure and policy programs. 

Zahra has taught at OCAD University and MoMA, and is currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto’s School of Geography and Planning. She has served on the boards of Jane’s Walk, St. Stephen’s Community House, and is currently Vice-Chair of the Canadian Urban Institute, and the Board Chair for Park People. She serves as an advisor for a range of organizations including Toronto Public Library, Progress Toronto, and Code for Canada. 

She was recently named Next City’s Vanguard “40 under 40 Civic Leader”, Ascend Canada’s Mentor of the Year, one of “Tomorrow’s Titans” in Toronto Life, and one of WXN’s “Top 100 Women in Canadian Business”.

Marie Josée Lamothe, Founder and President of Tandem International, Board Director, and Professor of Practice at the Desautels business faculty of McGill University

A 25-year veteran of the competitive Consumer Products world, Marie Josée Lamothe is best noted for her expertise in International Management and Omni-Channel Branding.

Ms. Lamothe is the Founder of Tandem International, an advisory firm specialized in omnichannel retailing & branding; covering areas such as brand building, corporate reputation, business restructuring and human capital with an emphasis on profit-driven analytics.

Prior to founding Tandem International, Ms. Lamothe was Managing Director at Google Canada for nearly 5 years, where she helped brands harness the power of digital to scale their business in Canada and globally.

Ms. Lamothe sits on the boards of The ALDO Group, Reitmans Canada Limited, and LightSpeed, a point-of-sale and e-commerce software provider, as well as OSMO, a not-for-profit organization created to support the development of the startup ecosystem in Montreal. Ms. Lamothe was also appointed by the Treasury Board of Canada to the Audit Committee for the Ministry of Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC).

In addition, Ms. Lamothe is a Professor of Practice at the Desautels business faculty of McGill University, where she teaches Innovation in Retailing and the Fundamentals of Retail at the Bensadoun School of Retail Management.

Ms. Lamothe currently co-chairs the annual campaign for United Way/Centraide Montreal, a not-for-profit organization which invests locally in Montreal to break the cycle of poverty and social exclusion.

Prior to joining Google, she held various roles during her 12 years at L’Oréal, from International Marketing Director in France to CMO & CCO in Canada where she leveraged the strengths of digital to help L’Oréal’s 33 beauty brands compete.

Ms. Lamothe was also appointed to the 2017 Advisory Council on Economy and Innovation for the Government of Quebec and was a Member of Canada 150 Research Chairs Multidisciplinary Review Panel, which aims to award research chair positions to Canadian universities and enhance Canada’s reputation as a global center for science, research and innovation excellence.

Since her return to Canada, Ms. Lamothe has been awarded the Desautels Achievement award by McGill University, which recognizes individuals who serve as role models for students in their education, career, and philanthropic contributions. She received an honoree diploma from the University of Montreal for her contribution to the advancement of our society. The Boardlist named her among the Top 10 women in tech in Canada, InfoPresse nominated her as a Personality of the Year in Quebec. She was also recognized among Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women in the Financial Post and Canada’s Marketers of the Year by Strategy magazine. Forbes Magazine and Social Media Magazine (US) recognized her among Top Marketing Minds To Follow on social media in North America and Canadian Business magazine nominated her among Canada's 40 Global Leaders.

Ms. Lamothe is a graduate of Mathematics and Economics from the University of Montreal.

Elizabeth Mulholland, Chief Executive Officer of Prosper Canada

Elizabeth Mulholland is the Chief Executive Officer of Prosper Canada, a national charity dedicated to expanding economic opportunity for Canadians living in poverty through program and policy innovation.

As Canada’s leading national champion of financial empowerment, Prosper Canada works with government, business and community partners to develop and promote financial policies, programs and resources that transform lives and foster the prosperity of all Canadians. These include initiatives to reduce barriers to tax filing for people with low incomes and to sustainably scale interventions that better connect vulnerable Canadian to tax credits and income benefits that reduce poverty and build financial stability.

Ms. Mulholland joined Prosper Canada in 2011, after a decade of independent public policy consulting and five years as the Senior Advisor on Social Development in the Office of the Prime Minister, providing strategic direction on national social and health policy issues. She has held senior policy positions in the non-profit and private sectors, working throughout her career to strengthen the relationship between Canada’s voluntary, public and private sectors and to develop the capacity of non-profit organizations to participate effectively in public policy making.

Maxime Guénette, Chair, Assistant Commissioner of the Service, Innovation and Integration Branch, Chief Data Officer, and Chief Service Officer at the Canada Revenue Agency

Max was appointed Assistant Commissioner, Service, Innovation and Integration Branch, Chief Data Officer, and Chief Service Officer at the CRA on October 12, 2021. Prior to this he was the Assistant Commissioner, Public Affairs Branch and Chief Privacy Officer for the CRA, a position he held since August 2016. He joined the CRA from Finance Canada, where he held the position of Director General, Communications and Consultations, serving as the senior communications and consultations advisor to the assistant deputy minister, the deputy ministers, the minister and departmental officials on financial policy issues, including the development, tabling and implementation of the annual Federal Budget.

Previously, Max was Director General of Communications at Environment and Climate Change Canada, where he spent 3 years. As the departmental Head of Communications, he was responsible for all aspects of delivering strategic communications planning and advice for both internal and external audiences, as well as for managing public affairs and issues management, and ensuring departmental compliance with Government of Canada policy requirements. He was also the Senior Departmental Official for Web Renewal and Lead for Canada.ca's Environment and Natural Resources Theme, and Departmental Champion for the 2014 edition of the Public Service Employee Survey.

From 2005 to 2013, Max was at the Treasury Board Secretariat, where he was Chief of Strategic Communications before being appointed Director of Corporate Communications, a position he held for 6 years.

Max has held several senior positions at Communication Canada and the Privy Council Office, including Chief of Staff to Communication Canada's Deputy Head from 2003 to 2004.

He holds a Bachelors of Social Sciences, with a Specialization in Political Science, from the University of Ottawa, and is a graduate of the Canada School of Public Service's Living Leadership: The Executive Excellence Program.

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