ASF Canada Directors

Louie Porta a leading Canadian environmentalist and life-long wilderness explorer. He serves as the President and CEO of the Atlantic Salmon Federation. Previously, Louie was the founding Executive Director of Oceans North. Under his leadership Oceans North became Canada’s foremost ocean focused charity – helping to secure some of world’s largest ocean conservation areas.

Louie represents Canada at the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, reflecting his commitment to international environmental collaboration. He serves on board of directors of The Rideau Hall Foundation, the Governing Council of the Ocean Tracking Network, the board of directors of Oceans North Kalaallit Nunaat, and is a longtime senior Advisor to the Right Honourable Mary Simon, Canada’s first Indigenous Governor General.

Louie is a high energy, high impact leader known for his collaborative, partnership based approach, and ability to build bridges across all aspects of society.

Bill Taylor of St. Andrews, N.B., is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Atlantic Salmon Federation. Mr. Taylor joined the staff of ASF in 1988, serving as Manager of Regional Programs, Director of Communications, Executive Director of Public Policy and in 1995 was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer. He has served on several regional, national and international conservation boards and committees including Canada’s Atlantic Salmon Advisory Committee and as an NGO representative to the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization. In 2015 he co-chaired the Minister’s Advisory Committee on Wild Atlantic Salmon in Eastern Canada. He has received several awards in recognition of his work in Atlantic salmon conservation, among them the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Mr. Taylor graduated from Acadia University in 1983.

Stephen Lloyd was born and lives in Montreal, Quebec. He is a partner with and Canadian board member of the global law firm 大成 Dentons, practicing corporate commercial law, often involving the forest products sector. He also sits on various boards and acts as an advisor for a number of private family-owned businesses. In the field of conservation work, he sits on the board of American Friends of Canadian Nature. He was also for many years on the board of directors of The Nature Conservancy of Canada and served as Chair of their Quebec branch. He currently also serves as an elected councillor for the Town of Barkmere, a conservation-minded community in the Laurentians area of Quebec, in charge of planning and zoning issues. He has worked actively to reconcile commercial real estate interests and conservation priorities on the Island of Montreal, through his presidency of the 1000-member Association for the Protection of Angell Woods. His other not-for-profit contributions include acting as the long-time Vice-Chair for Bishop’s University, where he currently sits on the board of its Foundation. He also sits as a trustee of the McGill University Martlet Foundation and a member of the McGill Sports Hall of Fame committee, in support of elite athletics at McGill. He received a B.A. in Economics at Bishop’s University and his law degree at McGill and has three university-aged children with his wife Marie-Hélène Gauthier.

Alan Graham is a native of Kent County in New Brunswick. He was first elected Member of the New Brunswick Legislature Assembly in 1967 under the then Premier Louis J. Robichaud. He served as the MLA for the riding of Kent for 31 years, until his retirement from politics in 1998. Between 1970 – 1987 while in opposition he acted as critic for Agriculture, Natural Resources, Housing, Health and Transportation. He was also Liberal Caucus Chairperson and Opposition House Leader. In 1987, Mr. Graham was named Minister of Agriculture from 1987 – 1991. He then was named the Minister of Natural Resources and Energy from 1991-1998. During that time he served as Chairman of the Board of Forest Protection Ltd. and Maritime Forestry Complex Corporation. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of Provincial Holdings Ltd. and the New Brunswick Government Economic Development Fund Inc. He was named Deputy Premier in 1997 while still keeping his portfolio as Natural Resources and Energy Minister, until his retirement. In 1999 he became a Board Member of the South East Health Care Corporation and served as Chairman of the Finance Committee until his retirement in 2001. Mr. Graham now serves on various board such as the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, a Trustee of the Nature Conservancy of Canada, a past Director of the Board of Vanerply AB in Otterbacken, Sweden, a Director of the Board of Systemair Inc., a member of the Board of Atlantic Salmon Federation Canada and a member of the Board of Miramichi-Uganda Foundation Inc. He also is Honorary President of the Atlantic Canada Woodworking Centre of Excellence. He serves on several boards of the family-owned businesses related to lumbering, agriculture, transportation and export, including Graham Export Sales, Graham & Associates and Alcon Holdings Ltd. Alan and his wife, Connie have five adult children. Mr. Graham is self-employed and now resides in Rexton, NB with his wife.

Tim MacDonald, C.M. is president and CEO of Ideal Supply, a family held electrical supplies and auto parts distributor based in Listowel, ON with multiple locations in Central Ontario. Ideal Supply has been named as one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies for eight consecutive years. Tim attended Carleton University studying Political Science and English, and joined Ideal Supply in 1981. His community engagement initiatives include: President of the Listowel Chamber of Commerce, Chair of the Western Ontario Chapter of YPO and Chair of the Electro-Federation Canada. He sat on the Board of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and was the Founding Chair of the Stratford Perth Community Foundation. He is the recipient of and Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Assumption University and the Queens Diamond Jubilee Medal and is a member of the College of Fellows of the Royal Canadian Geographic Society. Tim and Jim Balsillie co-founded the Arctic Research Foundation in 2010. Tim and his wife Alexandra live in Stratford, Ontario.

Susan McArthur is a successful businesswoman who founded LockDocs Inc. She has 35 years of experience across the finance, real estate technology, and insurance sectors.  She has served as a corporate director for a number of Canadian public companies and is a past Chair of the Canada Revenue Agency Board of Management.

Susan is also an avid volunteer and a highly engaged community member. In support of Canada’s military, she participated in two True Patriot Love expeditions to raise funds for wounded veterans and their families. Susan skied to the magnetic North Pole and hiked Mackenzie’s grease trail in B.C. to honour and support Canada’s troops. Susan believes strongly in public service and was recently asked by the Government of Ontario to Chair the Ontario Workforce Recovery Advisory Committee.

Ms. McArthur completed the Rotman School of Management ICD program and is a graduate in Political Science from the University of Western Ontario (now Western University).

Ernie Nutter of Toronto, Ontario joined the investment team at Los Angeles headquartered money manager Capital Group in June 2004. Prior to this Mr. Nutter spent almost 14 years with the Royal Bank of Canada group where he was Managing Director of RBC Capital markets, head of RBC’s Global Mining Research team and former Chairman of RBC Dominion Securities’ (now RBC Capital Markets) Strategic Planning Committee. He is both author and co-author of technical and financial publications dealing with mineral exploration, deposit types, and markets, has presented papers on mining finance and a variety of related mining topics to organizations throughout the world. He was ranked as a top mining analyst by institutional investors in each of the last 10 years in the brokerage business. Mr. Nutter is also Past Chairman and holds a BSc in Geology from Dalhousie University (1976).

Brian Porter served as Scotiabank’s Chief Executive Officer from November 1, 2013 to January 31, 2023.

Mr. Porter is Chair of the University Health Network (UHN) Board of Trustees and Chair of the Board of Governors of Huron University College at Western University. Mr. Porter previously served as Vice Chairman and Treasurer of the Washington-based Institute of International Finance (IIF) as well as a Board Member of the Council of the Americas and The BlackNorth Initiative.

Mr. Porter earned a B.Comm. from Dalhousie University, and has been awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) from Dalhousie University (2008) and Ryerson University (2018). He is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program of the Harvard Business School.