OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Richard Robinson, Co-Chair (he/him)

Rick’s healthcare career spans more than thirty-five years working in administrative roles in three provinces. He began as a medical technologist managing both private and hospital medical laboratories in BC. He embraced a mid-career change from laboratory medicine to senior healthcare administration working in both small rural and large urban healthcare organizations. Rick was the first regional healthcare CEO in BC.

Since retiring and moving to Sooke from Winnipeg in 2012 he has been active in the volunteer community. Rick is the vice-chair and past board chair of the Sooke Region Communities Health Network and is a founder and co-chair of the Sooke and Juan de Fuca Health Foundation. He sits on several South Island health care committees helping to coordinate and improve primary healthcare access for citizens of the Westshore and Sooke. Currently, he is also involved in the planning for a new seniors’ centre in Sooke.

In helping to create the Sooke and Juan de Fuca Health Foundation, Rick believes in the willing generosity of the people in the Sooke region to improve the health and well-being of the population. 

Rick is the recipient of the Certificate of Honour for Community Services from the World Hope Foundation and the Award of Merit from the British Columbia Society of Medical Technologists. He is married to Linda and together they have three adult children.

Dr Chris Bryant, Co-Chair (he/him)

Born and raised on Vancouver Island, Chris came to live and work in Sooke in 1991 and looks forward to living here for the rest of his life. A graduate of UBC Faculty of Dentistry, he had the honor of lecturing to congresses of the Canadian Dental Association and the Federation Dentaire International on evidence based preventive primary intervention dental care. 

He has served both professional associations and industry as a pioneer in the reduction of heavy metal contaminants from public waterways. His publications have appeared in peer reviewed journals and textbooks internationally. 

Chris has enjoyed being an active volunteer within Sooke, and sees volunteerism as a tool for social change. His involvement in this foundation takes particular interest in the metrics required to make Sooke an economically and ecologically self-sustaining community.

Dr Roy Brown (he/him)

Roy Brown is Emeritus Professor of the University of Calgary, and Emeritus Professor of Flinders University, Australia. He also holds the position of Adjunct Professor at the School of Child and Youth Care, University of Victoria.

As a psychologist he has had a career in teaching, research and practice in the field of disabilities and life span challenges in learning and cognitive disability. He has worked in clinical practice, and has directed support and intervention programs in the UK, Canada and Australia. He has authored a wide range of books, chapters and articles relating to the social impact and needs of families over the lifespan and has consulted in the areas of individual and family quality of life in Canada, Australia, Europe, China and Mexico.

Roy has chaired a range of agency boards and government scientific and review committees in Canada, Australia and the UK. On retirement he took became founding director of the Academy of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IASSIDD) to provide workshops around the world on intervention and support across the lifespan for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. Honours include the Order of the University of Calgary and the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Gent, Belgium for scientific contributions to Disability Studies. Recently he was awarded “The Dr. Robert E. Cooke Lifetime Achievement Award” from the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry.

Now retired, Roy is Vice-Chair of the Sooke Region Community Health Network and Chair of the Age Friendly Committee. He is a strong believer in a collaborative and multidisciplinary approach to health, one that will provide adequate services to people who face major life challenges, and will promote wellbeing and inclusion.

Sally McLean, Secretary (she/her)

Sally has worked for many years in the field of Early Intervention with the families of young children with disabilities. This included fifteen years in the Lower Mainland with the Infant Development Programs in Vancouver, Richmond and Delta, as well as with the Squamish First Nation. 

After moving to Shirley, Sally was invited to create and mentor the Aboriginal Infant Development Program to serve all of the First Nations across Saanich, the Victoria region,  Beecher Bay, T'Sou-ke and Pacheedaht. This was followed by a period of several years living in the north of England and serving as Regional Parent Support Manager with the charity CEREBRA.

Sally has three adult children and is now retired and living in James Bay, Victoria.  She volunteers as an Emergency Management caseworker with the Canadian Red Cross as well as client services volunteer with the Health Equipment Loan Program.  She is honoured to be a founding Director and Secretary of the Sooke and Juan de Fuca Health Foundation, and believes in the vital role that local communities can make in identifying health care and social priorities. These local priorities will inform and guide the Foundation as it grows over the coming years, helping create an important support for the future.

Nan P. Hundere (she/her)

Nan is an attorney licensed in Texas and Washington State with over 30 years experience representing public and private educational organizations. As a school district attorney, Nan advised and conducted training for boards of trustees and administrators concerning issues relating to governance, employer/employee relations, student discipline and special education law. Nan continues to serve as a mediator, facilitator, investigator and consultant for a variety of public entities and private clients. 

Prior to entering the practice of law, Nan taught high school social studies and was an administrator for a federal program serving Native American students. She is the proud mother to four grown children and grandmother to seven fabulous grandchildren.

For the past 25 years, Nan and her husband, Michael, have split their time between Texas and East Sooke. Now that she lives in East Sooke full time, Nan is anxious to be involved with projects that positively impact all members of the community. As a Foundation Board member, Nan offers her energy and enthusiasm to this vital effort to enhance the health care needs in the growing Sooke region.

Margot Swinburnson (she/they)



As a long-time community volunteer, Margot has been involved with many organizations in Sooke, and was one of the founding members of SPLASH (Sooke Pool Lobby Association for Swimming Health) which was successful in lobbying for a referendum to build a swimming pool in Sooke. Margot was elected as a school trustee for School District 62from 1999-2022, when she retired. As a trustee she served the District representative for Provincial Council and as representative on the BCSTA Working Group on Child and Youth Mental Health. She sat on the BC School Centered Mental Health Coalition from 2012-2022. Margot is a former Board Member for the West shore Low Cost Housing Society, and a member of the Rotary Club of Sooke .

In her nursing career Margot worked worked in many area, including Psychiatry, Palliative Care, as an isolated post nurse in an Indigenous Community.  Margot's final work was as an Assisted Living, Long Term Care and Residential Access Case Manager.

Margot and her husband own a 10-acre hobby farm west of Sooke, and she fills her spare time with being a very involved grandparent.