Mary-Jo Fetterly
Chair
Mary-Jo excels where human engagement is emphasized and people’s capacities and potential are cultivated. As a former CEO, mother, farmer, chef, facilitator and entrepreneur Mary-Jo is a seasoned Project manager and communicator. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion, especially after becoming paralyzed 18 years ago, with two young teens.
Her roles as a Health Coach and Yoga teacher/therapist has given her diverse skills that straddle from human relations to designing the written programs that translate ideas into reality. Mary-Jo’s position as a “Peer Health Coach” with the University of Toronto has involved building the frameworks, then administering coaching programs to the disabled SCI community. In addition to creating and building businesses – cafés, yoga studios and national training programs, she is an UG student (U of Waterloo) of Social Work/Social Development. It is her belief that if we make a way, we will include everybody even those who don’t think they can – because we can. Mary-Jo thinks green, acts locally and lives sustainably, and strives to leave the world a better place.
Geoff Dodds
Secretary-Treasurer
Geoff Dodds is a Managing Partner and Personnel Partner at Buckley Dodds LLP. Geoff joined the board in 2020 and helps manage the financial reporting/operations of the Foundation and affiliated Societies.
Katelynn Fetterly
Director
Katelynn Fetterly is a strategic consultant at Diversio, where she leads client programs focused on inclusive culture, accessibility, and employee wellbeing. With deep experience in DEI analytics, leadership development, and mental health education, Katelynn brings a unique blend of data-driven insight and human-centred design to her training and consulting engagements.
A certified Mental Health Coach through Headspace, she’s passionate about empowering organizations to take practical, values-aligned action that supports psychological safety, cultural maturity, and workplace resilience. She’s designed programs ranging from inclusive leadership workshops to accessible workplace audits, and brings a trauma-informed, systems-aware approach to every engagement.
Katelynn has supported dozens of organizations across sectors, including tech, public service, and professional services, and is known for making complex cultural change feel actionable, inclusive, and sustainable.
Keiko Honda, Ph.D., MPH
Director
Keiko is a scholar, founder/director of an arts organization, and an emerging artist. After earning her PHD in Health Behavioral Sciences from NYU, she did her post-doctoral work in cancer epidemiology at Columbia University. Shortly after moving to Vancouver, Keiko opened her house to artists and local residents, and began hosting artists’ salons, called Artists-in-Residence. Her salons became so successful that the City of Vancouver proclaimed her one of their “Remarkable Women” in 2014. Keiko believes that community is as important as the joys of life-long learning. Following this belief, she founded the Vancouver Arts Colloquium Society (VACS) in 2014, to bridge generations and cultures and to offer marginalized communities in Vancouver opportunities for artistic self-discovery. Keiko also teaches a course, Social Artistry Through Co-Creation, at SFU to explore the shared roots of artistic development and social change to expand cultural possibilities in our community. She enjoys writing and painting with watercolors.
Kristin Bibbs
Director
Kristin believes deeply in the importance of human engagement, collaboration and life-long learning. A humanitarian at heart, Kristin thrives when engaging in activities that foster community and help people actualize their full potential.
Combining an education in counselling psychology with a decade of fundraising, development, and event planning in the non-profit sector, Kristin approaches life with a curiosity for people, desire to build meaningful relationships and passion to support individuals on their unique journeys to self-fulfillment.
With volunteer experiences spanning from answering calls on the Fraser Health Crisis Line to establishing a Helpline in Western Samoa while providing counselling services to abused youth in the nation, Kristin brings flexibility in her approach to each situation. She enjoys thinking outside of the box and pushing the boundaries to create effective, impactful strategies to achieve desired outcomes that meet the needs of each person or project she is engaged with.
Kristin’s career has led her into the world of conservation with a love of animals and goal of making a positive impact on the future of all living things on this planet.
Yoga and mindfulness practices such as writing and spending time in nature fill her cup. With a deep belief in the value of human connection, she keeps her family and friends close. Following her interest in creative expression, she can be found at concerts, plays, exhibits, enjoying discussions across topics or simply making jewelry.
Sandra Pronteau
Director
I was born with my disabilities (Congenital Birth Defects), scoliosis and hard of hearing as well. I’m happy to introduce myself as a Cree-Metis Indigenous lady originated from The Pas, MB, a survivor of the 60’s Scoop growing up in Winnipeg, a proud mother of four adult children and a grandparent to one. I believe we are open to exploration of what our special abilities may consist of and we can excel in whatever our minds set us to do in life.
I’m known for my past activism work for children within the Vancouver School Board (VSB) and advocacy for inner-city families who faced daily socio-economic challenges and a fight for equal education rights. Being a young mother at the time, I learned to be proactive in various areas – Indigenous/social issues/special needs children needing extra support.
Over the years I got connected within the DTES area by volunteering, working, and connecting with social issues such as poverty, homelessness, and Indigenous folks with Disabilities. During the mid 90’s I attended Native Education Centre and completed my Family Community Counselling certificate. Over time I got involved with the Arts movements from theatre performances to visual art making products (abstract painting/poetry/Indigenous arts). During the 2010 Olympics I had the honor to exhibit and have a venue to share my work. My last profession was a Support Worker for nearly 9 years working with women, mums, and babies finding alternative ways to healthy living, sustaining their families, and being free of substance abuses. So I decided to change gears to being more active within the disabilities community. I look forward to being with this foundation and look forward to what the trailblazer journey will bring forth.
Sam Sullivan
Non-voting honorary member
Our founder, Sam Sullivan, wanted to rebuild his life following a high-level spinal cord injury. Over a 20-year period, Sam established seven non-profit groups offering opportunities to people with physical disabilities in Vancouver and across Canada. Sam found that his greatest strength was in bringing people together to create self-maintaining groups: people with disabilities who want to be more engaged, and volunteers and other supporters who want to make a difference.
And that’s what the Disability Foundation does to this day – supporting programs and services that provide opportunities for assistance, activities and social engagement for people with physical disabilities to empower their individual journey.
In Memoriam
The Disability Foundation was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Terry LeBlanc on December 19th, 2022. Terry’s impact on the Disability Foundation, our affiliated Societies, and the disabled community is impossible to measure. He was a mentor to so many, always available to share his experiences in the hope that they would help someone else.
One of Terry’s favourite things was a conversation with friends, whether in a garden or overlooking the water at Jericho Beach. He was an avid gardener, competitive sailor, and ASABC’s top sip ‘n’ puff sailor. Terry had a great sense of humour and was a loyal Canucks fan. His leadership was felt throughout all of the Foundation’s societies as he played a crucial part in creating the Disability Foundation, served on multiple boards for many years, and helped in the development of the Martin 16 and the sip n puff device.