Synergy Associates : Committed to excellence in nonprofit governance, board development, volunteer leadership, and organizational effectiveness.
Providing research, diagnostic, evaluation, outcomes assessment, training, support and facilitation services and resources for…governance, management, organizational development and strategic planning…to hundreds of non-profit and public sector organizations and associations since 1999, with associates in Ontario and western Canada. |
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INTRODUCING MEL GILL, PRESIDENT
Mel Gill , B.A., MSW, is President of Synergy Associates. He is the author
of the widely acclaimed book,
Governing for Results: A Director's Guide to Good Governance ,
Trafford Publishing, 2005, based on his research, management and consulting experience. Leaders in
nonprofit, public and private sector organizations as well as academics and consultants have
endorsed this handbook for directors as an excellent resource for organizational leaders. It has
been adopted as a core resource for the United Way - Centraide Canada board development
curriculum.
Mel is also the author of the
Governance Self-Assessment Checklist (GSAC),
a research-validated educational and diagnostic instrument
(See Publications )
designed to assist boards in evaluating and improving their governance practices .
(See What Others Have Said
about it.)
Mel is respected as an innovative thinker and a leading authority on nonprofit and public sector
management, governance and organizational effectiveness. He brings perspectives from his
studies in law, social work, psychology, political science and economics;
experience as a senior manager in government; program, policy and budgeting analyst
with the Saskatchewan Treasury Board; internal Treasury Board consultant responsible for
implementation of a Program-Based Management Information System in several
government departments; development of standards for management and funding of
community services and employment grants to nonprofit and business corporations;
CEO of one of the largest nonprofit social service agencies in Canada; and as a volunteer
board member with a score of local, provincial and national nonprofit boards.
He was a Senior Associate of the Institute On Governance in Ottawa from 1999 to 2004. His
research and paper on a ‘New Framework for Governance' provided the foundation for development of
the Institute's website offering on Board Governance.
Mel is a well-known authority on nonprofit and public sector management and governance, as well
as policy development and partnerships . He has been consulting, conducting research, writing,
training and speaking on these subjects since 1999. During this time he has conducted governance
reviews and training with more than one hundred non-profit organizations and public sector agencies
(See Projects ).
He has presented several papers and workshops at national and international research and industry
conferences, a number of which have been published in professional and trade journals.
(See Publications).
He is a regular contributor to the Canadian FundRaiser, Charity Village and Charity Channel
web magazines and a frequent conference speaker.
He received grants from the
PricewaterhouseCoopers (now IBM) Endowment for the Business of Government
and several government departments between 1999 and 2002 to support his research on governance in
nonprofit and public sector organizations. He has received numerous honors for innovative work and
leadership in mental health and children's services. Mel has also advised United Way Canada on
redesign of its board development curriculum and United Way International on the development of
'Global Standards' for 'Governance, Privacy and Ethics'
He is a member of the faculty of the 2007 'Fundamentals of Governance' course offered by
Queen's University, School of Business
, Executive Development Program. He has also been a sessional lecturer in a number of university
courses on the politics of change; mental health services; health care, nonprofit and public
sector governance.
