Board of Directors

Erik Austin

Chair, Board of Directors
Vancouver, British Columbia

Erik Austin is a seasoned leader in the ski industry, recognized for his contributions to destination resort marketing, reservations strategy, and customer service innovation. Now retired from Vail Resorts, he remains actively engaged in the skiing community through consulting and ongoing support of the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame and Museum.

Over more than 20 years, Erik held senior leadership roles with Intrawest, Whistler Blackcomb, and Vail Resorts, most recently serving as Vice President of Reservations and Customer Service. His work focused on building industry‑leading central reservations organizations through entrepreneurial governance and guest‑centric strategies. Earlier in his career, he contributed to adventure‑based startups, New World River Expeditions and RezRez. Erik holds a Diploma in Business Administration from the British Columbia Institute of Technology.

Raised in Québec, Erik is a bilingual entrepreneur with a deep family legacy in Canadian skiing. His mother, Peggy Johannsen, is a former Canadian ski champion and founder of Jackrabbit Ski Wax, and the daughter of Hall of Famer Herman “Jackrabbit” Johannsen, a pioneer of skiing in Canada.

Stephen Finestone

Past Chair, Board of Directors
Ottawa, Ontario

Stephen is a Level IV member of the Canadian Ski Instructors Alliance (CSIA), Level III Canadian Ski Coaches Federation (CSCF) Alpine Ski Coach and former member of the Canadian INTERSKI Team. He has been associated with the ski and leisure industry in various roles for over 40 years including six years as Chair of the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame and Museum. You can often find him with his wife PJ and two daughters on the slopes of Mont Tremblant where Stephen continues to teach, coach and ski.

Stephen is President of Shalfine Facilitation & Consulting Inc., an independent service business based in Ottawa, Ontario. His passion is helping people to have better conversations that enable more informed decision-making. Previously, Stephen was a Director with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) Advisory Services, where he worked for over 25 years providing strategy and change consulting services to public and private sector clients both in Canada and internationally.

Jean Cloutier

Director, Finance
Montreal, Quebec

Jean is currently Vice President of Operations & Business Development at Raymond Lanctôt Ltd. in Montreal. Lanctôt is a Canadian-based distributor of premium sporting goods, apparel and eyewear.

Jean has been in the ski and bike industry for over 35 years. After working a few years for an accounting firm in Montreal, Jean held positions at Jupa Sports (skiwear manufacturer) before joining OGC in 1994 where he is also an equity partner in the company. He holds a B.A.A. from École des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC) and obtained his CA in 1985. He also serves as a city councillor since 2006 for the municipality of Lac-Tremblant-Nord, where he enjoys cycling and skiing on weekends with his wife and two young daughters. Jean has competed at an elite level in both alpine and water skiing and still practices those sports at competitive levels. His wife, a medical doctor, is also an accomplished athlete who has done Ironman and competed in the world triathlon championship.

Janie Soublière

Executive and Legal and Governance support
Montreal, Quebec

Janie is a Lawyer who acts as legal counsel and consultant in anti-doping to International Sporting Federations and investigator in sport related disputes. Also a Chartered Arbitrator, Janie is an active roster member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada (SDRCC) and many other International sport dispute resolution panels.

Janie holds a Bachelors Degree in Social Sciences (Philosophy and Political Science), a Bachelors Degree in Common Law, was called to the Law Society of Upper Canada Bar in 2002 and is a member in good standing of the Ontario Bar Association, as well as holding a Masters in International Sport Law. She has also acted as athlete-agent to Canadian athletes, and is a North American representative of WISLaw (Women in Sport Law).

Jane Chisholm

Director, Promotions & Events 
Montreal, Quebec

Jane Chisholm is the President of J Creations Inc., a company she has owned and operated since 1980. Today, she is enjoying a second career in Real Estate Staging following 30 successful years as a leading Importer/Distributor of sportswear in the ski and golf industries. Jane was an entrepreneur starting from a noticeably young age and has been raising the bar since the 1970s when she produced her first fundraising event in Montreal in support of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team, just prior to the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. 

Jane is a CSIA Level 3 Instructor and a former Canadian Interski Team Delegate.  She had the honour of producing Tremblant’s 75th Anniversary Gala event in 2014 and the Alpine Canada Alumni Reunion in 2016.  As Director of Events, Jane chairs the organizing committee for “The Legends Classic” ski race held annually in March at Mont Tremblant in support of the CSHFM. Jane is also chairman of the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame annual induction event. 

Dan Hermosa

Secretary
Ottawa, Ontario 

Dan is a Level 2 member of the Canadian Ski Instructors Alliance (CSIA). He has been an enthusiastic skier at Tremblant for many years and continues to enjoy the exhilaration of gliding over fresh tracks. That enthusiasm extends to his interest in preserving and sharing Canada’s rich ski heritage and in the recognition of excellence in our ski and snowsports in all its forms. To advance the mandate of the CSHFM in preserving skiing history for the next generations, Dan contributes his active interest in history and governance.

Dan is a former (retired) counsel with the Federal Department of Justice, providing advice relating to the activities and responsibilities of the Minister of Finance. He is an expert in negotiating international agreements relating to trade, financial transactions, money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as experience in the creation of national agencies and in advising on annual budget matters. He is also a former President of Big Brothers Ottawa, a former member of the Board of Directors of the United Way Ottawa and a member of the Board of Governors of the Community Foundation of Ottawa-Carleton.

Earl Kaplin

Director, Membership
Mont-Tremblant, Quebec

Earl is a Senior Financial Planner with 38 years of experience assisting high net worth families manage their financial affairs. He is a lifetime member of Assante’s Chairman’s Council Elite, representing the firm’s top 25 advisors, and part of Assante’s National Advisory Council, serving as an interface between senior management and advisors.

Earl graduated with a BComm 80 (Hons) from Concordia University and was a founding member of the Canadian Certified Financial Planners designation CFP®. He holds the Canadian Investment Management CIM® and has served on the board of the Canadian Association of Financial Planners, the Corporation Professionnelle des Administrateurs Agrées, and the Jewish Community Foundation’s Professional Advisory Council.

Earl and his wife Julie have a pied à terre in Montreal, but their home is in Mont-Tremblant where they ski, golf, hike, sail and plan their different travel experiences. He was a competitor in the early days of freestyle and active in the Tremblant community where he has served as a director at both the Lake Tremblant Association and the Tremblant Resort Association.

Ian Wolfe

Director, Archives & Artifacts
Toronto, Ontario

Ian is a professionally trained Archivist with a joint Master’s degree in History and Archival Studies from Wayne State University and the University of Windsor, and a Bachelor’s degree in History from Bishop’s University.   For close to 25 years, he has worked as an Archivist in university, municipal, multi-national corporations, not-for-profits, museums, archives, and member associations.   Ian’s career has seen him develop a local museum archives from the ground up, repatriate archival collections from across the globe, accession, appraise, and arrange countless archival collections and undertaking significant digitization conversion projects.  Complementing his archival experience, Ian has professional expertise in corporate knowledge management, memory projects, historical research and writing, and heritage preservation.

As a life-long skier, skiing is in Ian’s DNA.  The son of one of the founding members of Alpine Ski Club in Blue Mountains, Ontario, Ian has an endless passion to understand, preserve and promote the history of skiing and snowsports not only locally for Ontario ski clubs and resorts, but also to capture and preserve the textual, oral, and visual history of skiing and snowsports in Canada.

Jonathan Herman

Director, Legal and Governance
Ottawa, Ontario

Jonathan is a lawyer and experienced association executive. He is the CEO of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, the national not-for-profit association of Canada’s 14 provincial and territorial law societies that regulate the legal profession in the public interest. Before joining the Federation in 2006 he practiced corporate and commercial law in Montreal and was involved in numerous leadership roles in the political and public sector world, including as Chief of Staff to Canada’s Minister of Justice.  Jonathan currently serves as an officer of the International Institute of Law Association Chief Executives (IILACE), as well as the Bar Issues Commission of the International Bar Association, a major division of the IBA that brings together 200 bar associations and law societies around the world.

Jonathan and his wife Sandra are the proud parents of two former alpine ski racing daughters based out of the Camp Fortune Ski Club in Chelsea, Quebec.  Years as a race volunteer and official led to parent leadership as well as involvement on the Club’s Board of Directors.  Jonathan chaired the Board’s Governance Committee and led significant reforms of club structure and governance including the introduction of a Club Code of Conduct and discipline procedures.

Kate Scallion

Director, Nominations Committee
Vancouver, BC

Kate is a Victoria-based lawyer whose practise includes sports dispute resolution. She is finally contributing to society as a gainfully employed taxpayer after spending an arguably unreasonable amount of time collecting degrees, which include a JD and LLM (both from Dalhousie), a BA and an MA. Obviously, she has a propensity to ruin the utility of a general degree by continuing her education in specialized topics (and also, she really likes reading).

Kate grew up in the small skiing community of Wentworth, Nova Scotia. She was lucky enough to have a family very involved in cross-country skiing and spent several years skiing competitively with the Nova Scotia provincial team and at the university level for Carleton University. She likes to spend as much time as possible outside biking, running, and skiing (though that is slightly less accessible than ideal in Victoria). She perhaps has an unhealthy addiction to chocolate and is always happy to escape to faraway lands for adventures. She is also on the board of directors for Nordique Canada. 

Kayley C. Leon

Director, Legal Affairs

Toronto, Ontario

Kayley is a lawyer, licensed to practice law on either side of the Canada/U.S. border (Ontario and the State of California). She has broad experience in sports law and is a passionate representative and advisor for sports organizations at all levels with respect to Rules of Play, Safe Sport (UCCMS), concussion protocol, doping, governance, arbitrations, litigation and other matters.

Kayley holds a Bachelors Degree in Media and Information from Western University, and two law degrees (J.D.) from the University of Windsor and the University of Detroit Mercy, School of Law.

Outside of work, Kayley is a sports enthusiast and spends her free time traveling and exploring new countries.

Joanne Hale

Executive Director
Montreal, Quebec

Joanne is a results-oriented strategic leader with more than 25 years of experience across the financial services, retail banking, and auto retail sectors. Her career includes leadership roles with the Royal Bank of Canada, American Express Merchant Partnerships, and Leggat Auto Group, where she served as a Director and member of the executive team, leading people strategy, IT, and digital transformation initiatives, including the company’s first rebranding in over 100 years. She also leads a consulting practice advising executives and leadership teams on organizational effectiveness and business strategy.

Joanne currently serves as Executive Director of the National Ski Academy, working with the board, NSA team, and community partners to advance high-performance student-athlete development and strengthen the academy’s long-term sustainability.

She is Past President of the Board of the Argyle Institute for Mental Health and Past Chair and Executive Director of The Action Centre and Foundation in Montreal.