Leslie Benson P.ENG
Treasurer
Leslie is a professional engineer specialized in water resources engineering. She was the Project Manager of the three-year Port Hope Channelization Project. She spent 22 years in municipal engineering both as Director of Public Works for the City of Quinte West, and later as Manager of Transportation and Design for the Municipality of Clarington. In her volunteer capacity, she was an inaugural member of the Board of Directors for the Capitol Theatre in Port Hope, inaugural Board of Directors for the Shelter Valley Folk Festival, and has served on the Vintage Film Festival Committee, the Board of Directors for the Marie Dressler Foundation and a member of the Building Committee for Community Care Northumberland for Ed’s House Northumberland Hospice Care Centre in Hamilton Township.
Clark Harrop LLB
Secretary
Clark is a partner and business lawyer in Dale & Lessmann LLP’s Corporate and Commercial group, and is recognized
as a leading authority on franchising, licensing and distribution laws in Canada. He joined the firm after spending close to two decades in-house with Tim Hortons and McDonald’s. He is a past board member of the Canadian Franchise Association and the Tim Horton Children's Foundation, and is presently a member of the executive of
the Ontario Bar Association’s franchise law section. He is the co-author of a chapter in
Fundamentals of Franchising, Canada (2nd edition) published by the American Bar Association. He is a frequent speaker
on legal and business issues at seminars and conferences and guest lectures at the University of Toronto, University of Western Ontario, York University and Ryerson
University.
Cathie Houston
Director | Fundraising Director Eye2Eye International Film Festival
Cathie is a 27 year career veteran in the entertainment industry. She served as Director of Customer Service and Sales Administration for the Home Entertainment Division at Universal Studios Canada. She continued her passion for film in her retirement by serving as a volunteer on numerous community organizations that advance the film/media industry including the Vintage Film Festival held in Port
Hope, Ontario. She is a volunteer board member of Community Living & Services Northumberland, also serving on the governance and resources committees of this organization. She also serves as
Treasurer on the board of the Citizens’ Council of Hamilton Township, the ratepayers association for the Township in which she lives.
Micol Marotti
Director | Festival Director Eye2Eye International Film Festival
Micol is VP/Sr. Producer at Media Monkey Productions Inc. She has 25 years of experience in the entertainment industry including producing roles at CTV, Rogers, Global, OMNI and CityTV. She has held PR and executive positions at Alliance Communications, ACTRA, The Academy of Canadian Cinema & TV, The National Film Board of Canada, Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, and the Banff World Television Festival. Her production credits include; feature documentaries, Operation Oblivion narrated by Colm Feore, Billy Bishop: Canadian Maverick and Open Doors narrated by Isabella Rossellini. She is a contributor for the Smithsonian Magazine American Indian, the Canadian Society of Cinematographers Magazine, and Watershed Magazine.
Adriana Monti
Director
Adriana is an independent producer and filmmaker with more than 30 years of experience.
She was the founder and manager of the film school Laboratorio di Cinematografia – Albedo (EURIMAGES), in Milan, Italy. She taught film history and production at both the Women’s Free University and at the Film and Television School.
She moved to Canada in 1996 and worked for 15 years at OMNI Television before starting her production company A&Z Media Ltd. In 2012, she produced Icework, and Never too Late series in collaboration with a group of seniors at Christie Gardens residence in Toronto. In 2014, she organized the conference "Love and Violence: The End of the Fairytale" in collaboration with International Feminist Network, and Cornerstone Family Violence Prevention Centre (Cobourg).
Ross Pigeau
Chair of the Board of Directors
Prior to his retirement in 2010, Ross Pigeau was a Director General for a research institute for the Department of National Defence based in Toronto, Ontario with an annual operating budget of $30 million. More recently, Dr. Pigeau
was a board member of Community Power
Northumberland, a not-for-profit solar cooperative, and a committee member of the Vintage Film Festival in Port Hope, Ontario, as well as Chair of ReaRView a documentary
film festival in Cobourg, Ontario. Ross brings strategic thinking skills to FAN as well as an appreciation for the value of long term planning.
Sharron Wharram-Spry, CPA, CA, CMA
Director
Sharron has more than 30 years of public accounting experience. She joined the firm of Langhorne Irwin Wharram-Spry, LLP in 1993, and became a partner in 1996. In 2019, she moved to Baker Tilly KDN LLP as a partner. She is a member of the Cobourg Rotary Club for the past 21 years, served on the Boards of Cobourg and District Library, was one of the founding members and chairperson of Habitat for Humanity Northumberland and was part of the fundraising committee for the Cobourg Community Centre, and was part of the Community Care Hospice fundraising campaign. She served as treasurer on the Marie Dressler Foundation Committee for the Vintage Film Festival and continues to volunteer her services to the Robert S. Scott. She, and her husband, host the annual Spry Christmas Tree Event to support the Northumberland Hills Hospital with 100% of the funds donated to the hospital.
Chris Worsnop MA MEd
Vice Chair | Director
Chris is a retired curriculum co-ordinator (English, Drama, Media Education) assessment specialist, and served a one year secondment to the Ontario Ministry of Education as an Education Officer. For 10 years he worked for the International Baccalaureate Organisation, developing a new IBO Arts Diploma course in Film, and serving as its first ‘Chief Examiner’. He has published many books and articles on assessment and media
education, and traveled widely as a speaker and workshop leader. For more than 20 years he was an active board member of the Film Federation of Eastern Ontario (FFEO), and then the Ontario Film Association (OFA). He served on the OFA organising committee for the Grierson Documentary Film Seminar. He was awarded an OFA life membership in the early 1990s. He has served on the committees and chaired both the Marie Dressler Foundation’s Vintage Film Festival, and the ReaRView Vintage Docfest.