BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Dr. Jeffrey Roberts, MD, FRCSC
President
Dr. Roberts has B.Sc. and M.D. degrees from the University of British Columbia. He completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at McGill University, then a fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility at Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University.
Upon completing his training, Dr. Roberts was appointed Assistant Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Brown University, where he served as a Reproductive Endocrinologist and director of the Women and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island Egg Donation Program. Presently he practices clinical and academic medicine as the co-director of the Pacific Centre for Reproductive Medicine (PCRM) and Assistant Clinical Professor in the University Of British Columbia Faculty Of Medicine departments of Anesthesia, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, and Obstetrics and Gynecology.
He is an active member of the Reproductive Medicine community in Canada and has served on the board of executives for the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society (CFAS) since 2008 as the National Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Director, and presently sits on the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Technical Subcommittee on Reproductive Tissues.
Dr. Roberts is particularly dedicated to advancement of the field of fertility preservation for young women with cancer. Through his work as the director of the PCRM Fertility Preservation Foundation and the chair of the CFAS Fertility Preservation Special Interest Group, he has contributed widely to this important topic within our discipline, through lecturing, research and publication.
Andrea Mestrovic
Vice-President
Andrea has 15 years of experience in global marketing, communications strategy, luxury brand management, digital and social strategy, and media planning. Her work spans a wide spectrum of industries, including publishing, advertising, hospitality, food and beverage, travel and tourism, technology, fashion and retail. In 2004 she was the founding partner of a global public relations firm, and is an accomplished lifestyle journalist and published author – she has been the international editor for Olivia Palermo for over six years and a contributor to Vogue AUS since 2014. Andrea headed global public relations for Kit and Ace, a technical apparel retailer with record international growth, between 2014 and 2016. Prior to founding Very Polite Agency in 2017, she was the Vice President of marketing for Mark Anthony Group of Companies. Andrea has been honored with 2017 Top Forty Under 40 Award by Business in Vancouver Magazine. Andrea has employed, mentored and propelled the careers of many young women, as well as raised over 1 million dollars for various charities throughout her career.
Danielle Dubois
Director
Danielle joined the Ottawa Fertility Centre in 2011 and completed her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Queen’s University, receiving the AJ Baumgart Outstanding Achievement Award. She is now completing her Masters of Health Studies through Athabasca University and maintains professional affiliations with CFAS, CNO, RNAO with special interest groups in Nursing Research and the Nursing Leadership Network of Ontario. Danielle began her nursing career in Edmonton, working at the University Hospital, the Birth Control Centre and the Sexual Assault Response Team (SART). While with SART, she received the Alberta Health Regional Reach Award in Teamwork. Danielle has worked within the world of fertility and endocrinology since 2005. She was an integral part of developing the IVF Program at the Edmonton Fertility and Women’s Endocrine Clinic, receiving the advanced practice SMART ART X Community Outreach Award for her achievements in the success of Edmonton’s IVF program.
As the Clinical Manager at the Ottawa Fertility Centre, Danielle oversees the nursing, phlebotomy and ultrasound department team members, as well as participates in quality control and clinical improvement measures. She is active in the centre’s research program, currently working with the research team on a Phase 3 Clinical trial. Danielle has developed poster presentations at the 2012 & 2013 CFAS conferences, participates in the OFC Community Outreach events, and has contributed her extracurricular time towards two independent fertility related projects.
Taylor Hahn
Treasurer
Taylor currently serves as a Director of Finance and Operational Accounting at Inception Fertility LLC, a leading provider of comprehensive fertility services in North America. Taylor oversees all finance functions including accounting, business support, financial reporting, internal controls, and tax at Inception. Prior to joining Inception, Taylor was an Associate Vice President at KPMG Corporate Finance Inc. where he specialized in managing various M&A divestitures and business valuation projects with deal sizes ranging from Enterprise Value of $10 million to over $200 million. Taylor has over 10 years of experience building and leading accounting and finance teams in global companies with significant operating scale and complexity. Taylor completed his CPA designation in 2015 and holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting from the University of British Columbia Sauder School of Business.
Amanda Hancock
Director
Amanda is a graduate of Queen’s School of Business and a Fellow of Memorial University’s Applied Health Services Research Master’s Degree program. Amanda is a Human Resources professional in St. John’s, Newfoundland and coaches swimming in her spare time.
Having gone through breast cancer and oocyte cryropreservation herself in 2014, Amanda is now passionate about raising awareness and funds for fertility preservation so that cancer patients from all over Canada can access this service with ease. She is a proud founder of The Ultimate Egg Hunt fun walk/run at Quidi Vidi Lake and values physical activity as a critical part of her recovery and wellness. An athlete for life, Amanda is now healthy and still enjoys participating in rowing and triathlons.
Holly Ovington
Director
Holly is a dog trainer specializing in separation anxiety in dogs. She has been running a successful business for 5 years now. Holly spends most of her spare time with her pets, baking or doing Pilates.
Holly was diagnosed with borderline tumors on her ovaries and throughout her abdomen in 2018. She had surgery for tumor removal in 2019 which removed all the tumors in her ovaries and surrounding areas, thankfully able to preserve both ovaries.
In the years following, the tumors came back and have been growing to the point where she is due for another surgery soon. Learning that her ovaries could potentially be removed during the next surgery she was forced to be proactive about the situation and freeze her eggs. This was a big financial undertaking for Holly but she thankfully had the time prior to surgery to find the resources, like Fertile Future, to support her.
Holly is passionate about patient advocacy and helping patients understand their options when it comes to fertility preservation.
Rachel Schechter
Director
Rachel advises public and private sector organizations on various privacy matters, including privacy policies and procedures, compliance, data protection, privacy impact assessments, access to information requests, incident response planning, and privacy and cybersecurity due diligence in M&A and other commercial transactions. Rachel acts as counsel in cybersecurity and data breach matters, including ransomware attacks and business email compromises, helping clients with management of forensic investigation teams, development of crisis communications and notification and reporting strategies, and legal risk management. Rachel also acts as counsel in inquiries before the Information and Privacy Commissioner, both in private and public sector matters, and in related judicial review proceedings.
Rachel’s intellectual property practices focuses on trademark, copyright, and brand protection. She advises on enforcement of rights including trademark and copyright disputes, licensing of IP rights and conducting due diligence for the disposition of intellectual property. Additionally, Rachel has experience helping clients with domain name disputes under the UDRP and CDRP, and enforcement of their underlying trademark rights.
Rachel has appeared before all levels of Court in British Columbia and the Federal Court. Her dispute resolution experience includes commercial and contract claims, oppression proceedings, intellectual property disputes, privacy breach and cybersecurity litigation, defamation claims, complex tort claims, professional negligence and insurance defence litigation. Rachel has a particular interest in the evolution of law in the digital age and its application to new technologies and cross-border disputes. She leverages her in-depth understanding of the Court system, having previously clerked at the Supreme Court of British Columbia, to provide practical and strategic risk management advice to clients.
Rachel is active in the Vancouver legal community. She is the Vice Chair of the CBABC Freedom of Information & Privacy Law section Executive and serves as a Member-at-Large on the CBABC’s Women Lawyers Forum Executive. In her spare time, Rachel enjoys exploring BC with her dog, Teddy, and trying new recipes (mostly successfully).