Board of Trustees

Rob G. C. Sobey, Chair

Stellarton, NS

Trustee

A fourth-generation business family member, Rob worked at Sobeys Inc. for 30 years before retiring to focus his efforts on philanthropy, volunteering, and governance. He currently serves on the boards of Empire Co., SeaFort Capital, Queen’s Smith School of Business, and the Institute of Corporate Directors. He is the Chairman of the Sobey Family Council.

Rob’s philanthropy focuses on access to education and the Canadian visual arts. He has served on the boards of Queen’s University, Dalhousie, NSCAD (Vice Chairman), and NSCC (Chairman). He was the Chair of the NSCC Capital Campaign and chairs several ongoing scholarship and bursary programs (Queen’s, Dal, Kings, NSCC, VFC). He is Honourary Chair of Venture for Canada and is an Honourary Governor of NSCC.

Rob is Vice-President of the Sobey Foundation, Chairman of the DR Sobey Foundation, Past Chairman of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and is an Honourary lifetime Governor of the AGNS. A Distinguished Patron of the National Gallery of Canada, he is also a Director on the Emeritus Board for the Gallery’s Foundation. Rob also served as a member of the WWF Atlantic Council.

Selected Top CEO for Atlantic Canada in 2009 by Atlantic Business Magazine, Rob has an honours undergrad from Queen’s University, an MBA from Babson College, and the ICD.D designation. He was awarded an Honourary Diploma from NSCC and received a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Canadian Forces Decoration for his work as Honourary Colonel in the Canadian Army (artillery).

Rob’s interests include music, boating, and racquet sports. He resides in rural Nova Scotia with his wife, Monique. They have two children, Jane and Matthew.

Bernard Doucet, Executive Director

Stellarton, NS

Trustee

Bernard is Executive Director and Trustee of the Sobey Art Foundation. He is an internationally recognized philanthropy and arts’ administrator who believes that the visual arts provide boundless opportunities for the foundation of human and community connections. Bernard has been a central figure in the evolution of the contemporary Canadian art ecosystem for the past decade. He occupies a singular professional position at the intersection of: partnership building with public institutions; cultural philanthropy and funding; the national and international promotion of practicing Canadian artists and the associated engagement of art and mainstream media across Canada and around the world. He is known for his collaborative approach to creating new avenues for Canadian artists and institutions to reach broader audiences with stable funding models.

Bernard holds a BA Hons in German Studies from McMaster University and an MBA, Finance from Dalhousie University.

Jaimie Isaac

Victoria, BC

Trustee

Jaimie Isaac is a curator and interdisciplinary artist, based in Winnipeg, is a member of Sagkeeng First Nation in Treaty 1 Territory and is of mixed heritage. Isaac is dedicated to making space for underrepresented voices and decolonizing art and cultural institutions. Currently an independent curator, artist and art administrator working nationally on building institutional decolonial frameworks and capacity, public art projects, advising, and engaging in curatorial collaborations. She served as the Chief Curator at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria for 2 years, was Curator of Indigenous and Contemporary Arts at the Winnipeg Art Gallery for more than 6 years and has been in other leadership positions in arts and cultural organizations. Isaac holds a degree in Art History from University of Winnipeg and a Master of Arts from the University of British Columbia, with the thesis focus on Decolonizing Curatorial Practice. Isaac has curated many shows, notably curated a national tour of Boarder X exhibition from 2016-2023, which was the recipient of an outstanding achievement award in exhibitions category in 2021 from the Canadian Museums Association, and group curated Nahdohbii: To Draw Water in 2021, an international curatorial collaboration triennial touring Winnipeg, Canada, Victoria, Australia, and Wellington, New Zealand with the Winnipeg Art Gallery where in her tenure, initiated many dynamic and sustained partnerships and programming.

Artistically, Isaac co-founded The Ephemerals Collective, which was long-listed for the 2017 and 2019 Sobey Art Award. Collectively and independently, she has exhibited and presented work internationally. Jaimie collaborated with an artistic teams on public art sculptures at the Forks called Nimama at South Point path: Niizhoziibean and Cyclical Motion: Indigenous Art & Placemaking at the University of Manitoba. She designed a solo public art work; 8th and Final Fire at the Forks, Winnipeg, 2021 and solo exhibition, Brings to Light at the 1co3, 2022, and a featured artist with the 2023 Nuit Blanche Festival in Winnipeg. Isaac is director of two films about reconciliation and rematriation of knowledge, language and food, and co-director of two films with The Ephemerals about cultural appropriation and Indigenous motherhood. With published work, Isaac has contributed to scholarly collections of writing within the textbooks The Routledge Companion to Indigenous Art Histories in the United States and Canada, the Introduction to Determinants of First Nations, Inuit and Metis Peoples' Health in Canada: Chapter 13 Taking Care: Indigenous Peoples' Art, Resurgence and Wellness, The Land We Are Now: Writers and Artists Unsettle the Politics of Reconciliation, West Coast Line 74 and Public 54: Indigenous Art: New Media and the Digital Journal. Jaimie has contributed articles and features for Art + Wonder, C Magazine, Border Crossings, and essays for exhibition catalogues; Insurgence Resurgence, Boarder X, Close Encounters: The Next 500 Years, and unsacred.

In community, Jaimie was co-faculty for the Wood Land School at Plug In Summer Institute in 2016. She is a Curatorial Advisor for the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, currently serves on the Advisory Committee for the Manitoba Museum and is on the board of directors for Border Crossings Magazine, Trustee for the Sobey Art Foundation and Scholar in Residence for the 7 Oaks School Division. Jaimie is an honouree for Leaders of Tomorrow from the Manitoba Museum 50th Tribute Awards 2020 and CBC Future 40 Finalist Recipient 2020.

Nancy McCain

Toronto, ON

Trustee

Nancy McCain is Chair of the Toronto Foundation, one of Canada’s largest community foundations. She is Co-chair of the National Arts Center Next Act Campaign, member of the Campaign Council for the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and member of the Board of Governors for Acadia University, where most recently she served as Chair of the Campaign for Acadia. Her past volunteer roles include President of the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Chair of the Canadian Art Foundation, Chair of the Arts Access Fund, Director of Arts for Children of Toronto, and Director of the National Gallery of Canada Foundation. She is also president of the Morneau McCain Foundation, a family foundation focused on supporting education and cultural causes. Professionally, she worked at the Art Gallery of Ontario as well as at Sotheby’s in Toronto, London and New York. Nancy has an MA in Arts Administration from New York University.

Kent Monkman

Dish With One Spoon Territory (Toronto, ON)

Trustee

Kent Monkman is an interdisciplinary Cree visual artist. A member of Fisher river Cree Nation in Treaty 5 Territory (Manitoba), he lives and works in Dish With One Spoon Territory (Toronto, Canada).

Known for his provocative interventions into Western European and American art history, Monkman explores themes of colonization, sexuality, loss, and resilience-the complexities of historic and contemporary indigenous experiences-across painting, film/video, performance, and installation. Monkman’s gender-fluid alter ego Miss Chief Eagle Testickle often appears in his work as a time-traveling, shape-shifting, supernatural being who reverses the colonial gaze to challenge received notions of history and Indigenous peoples.

Monkman’s painting and installation works have been exhibited at institutions such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Musée d’art Contemporain de Rochechouart; Maison Rouge; Philbrook Museum of Art; and Palais de Tokyo. He has created site-specific performances at The Metropolitan Museum of Art; The Royal Ontario Museum; Compton Verney, Warwickshire; and The Denver Art Museum. Monkman has had two nationally touring solo exhibitions, Shame and Prejudice: A Story of Resilience (2017-2020), and The Triumph of Mischief (2007-2010).

Monkman’s short film and video works, collaboratively made with Gisèle Gordon, have screened at festivals such as the Berlinale (2007, 2008) and the Toronto International Film Festival (2007, 2015). Monkman is the recipient of the Ontario Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts (2017), an honorary doctorate degree from OCAD University (2017), the Indspire Award (2014), and the Hnatyshyn Foundation Visual Arts Award (2014).

Nadia Myre

Montreal, QC

Trustee

Recognized for creating symbolic images of wounding and resilience that convey something deeply human while addressing urgent social concerns, Nadia Myre is an award-winning artist whose interdisciplinary practice speaks to identity and the politics of belonging. As exemplified by important works such as Indian Act (2002), The Scar Project (2005-2013), and Living with Contradiction (2018) Myre prioritizes collaboration, community building, and skill sharing as activities that further cultural understanding and indigenous futurity. Weaving together beadwork, photography, sculpture, video, and performance, her work is held in eminent collections including the Canadian Embassies of New York, London, Paris and Greece. Myre’s practice is distinguished with such honours as the Ordre des arts et des lettres du Québec (2019), Banff Centre’s Walter Phillips Gallery (2016), Sobey Art Award (2014), and the Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship (2003). In tandem to art making, Myre has served on advisory and assessment committees for the Heritage Canada, Canada Council for the Arts, Conseils des Arts et des lettres du Quebec, Manitoba Arts Council, and has been a member of the executive boards of the Regroupment des artistes en arts visuel (RAAV, 2006-09), the Canadian Artist Representation/Front des Artists Canadien (CARFAC, 2006-09), Canadian Artist Representation Copyright Collective (CARCC, 2006-07), Indigenous Curatorial Collective (ICC, 2013-18), Biennale d'art contemporain autochtone/Contemporary Native Art Biennial (BACA, 2016-20), and Oboro (2016-21). In addition to being a co-founder of the first Indigenous artist run centre in Montreal, Centre d’art Daphne, Myre currently sits on the Indigenous advisory committees of the Conseils des Arts de Montreal, and the McCord Museum.

Dell Pohlman

Calgary, AB

Trustee

Dell Pohlman, P.Geol, is a retired geologist, and was formerly Exploration Manager with Baccalieu Energy Inc. of Calgary where he was a founding member of the management team of the company.

A resident of Calgary since 1982, Dell has a passionate interest in contemporary Canadian art. This passion has led to volunteering and philanthropic support of the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, the Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton, the Southern Alberta Art Gallery in Lethbridge, and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.

In addition to involvement with artistic institutions, Dell enjoys mentoring young art collectors while also continuing to enhance his own contemporary Canadian art collection.

Frank C. Sobey

New Glasgow, NS

Trustee

Frank C. Sobey is a Director of Empire Company Limited and a member of the Trebek Council. Mr. Sobey was Vice President, Real Estate of Empire Company Limited until his retirement in 2014 after 36 years with the company. Mr. Sobey also served as a trustee and Chairman of Crombie REIT from 2006 to 2019, as Chairman of the Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation, as well as a board member of the Canadian-U.S. Fulbright Program.

Mr. Sobey graduated from Harvard University Business School’s Advanced Management Program and earned the ICD.D designation. He holds an honorary degree from Dalhousie University.

Janis Sobey-Hames

New Glasgow, NS

Trustee

A graduate of Mount Saint Vincent University, BSc Nursing, Janis was a Director of the Aberdeen Hospital Foundation 1989-1995 and National Director, Fathers of Confederation Buildings Trust 2004-2017. She also served on Mount Saint Vincent University’s Board of Governors 2009-2015, was Co-Chair of the Leaders of The Way campaign, Pictou County United Way 2017. Janis is also a Member of the David Sobey Centre Endowment Committee and the Sobeys Scholarship Endowment Fund Committee at Saint Mary’s University as well as Chair of the David and Faye Sobey Foundation.

Janis enjoys skiing, golf and travel. Married to Christopher Hames, they have 4 daughters and 8 grandchildren

Gaëtane Verna

Toronto, ON

Trustee

Gaëtane Verna is the Executive Director of the Wexner Centre for the Arts. From 2012 to 2022, she was the Director and Artistic Director of The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto. From 2006 to 2012, she was Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Musée d’art de Joliette. For more than seven years, Verna also served as Curator of the Foreman Art Gallery at Bishop’s University, Sherbrooke, while also teaching in the Art History department of both Bishop’s University and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Since 1992, Verna has curated and organized exhibitions by emerging, mid-career and established artists, and has edited and contributed essays to numerous books and catalogues. Verna holds an International Diploma in Heritage Administration and Conservation from the Institut National du Patrimoine in Paris and received a DEA and master’s degree in art history from the Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Holt/Smithson Foundation, the Sobey Art Foundation, the Franz Erhard Walther Foundation, the Mosaic Institute and the Advisory Committee of the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Arts of Global Africa and the Diaspora. In 2017, Verna was named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters) by the French government.