Board of Directors
Susan McKenzie
President
Susan McKenzie is a lifelong communications and fundraising professional, having held numerous senior fundraising roles. These roles include major gift fundraising and the strategic planning and implementation or fundraising plans for large organizations that include universities, hospitals, non-profits, and other charities. She holds a Master of Arts in English from the University of Waterloo.
Sue received a kidney transplant from her sister-in-law in 2010. Her lived experience as a kidney patient translates into a deep passion for improving the care that kidney patients and donors receive and increasing access to kidney transplant for those who need one. As such, Sue dedicated herself as an advocate for kidney and transplant patients. She is the Co-Founder and Chair of the Transplant Ambassador Program and holds the positions of President of the Kidney Patient and Donor Alliance Canada and the Renal Patient and Donor Foundation Canada as well.
As a patient partner co-author published in 13 peer-reviewed papers since 2017, Sue provides advice and support for numerous other research and implementation projects. She hopes that kidney-related health care systems improve their care and access for kidney patients across Canada.
Wendy Bircher
Board Member
Wendy Bircher is a psychotherapist and entrepreneur. In addition to helping hundreds of psychotherapy clients, she founded and was president of a successful human resources company for 25+ years.
In the past few years, Wendy’s main focus has been to help raise awareness about kidney disease and increase the number of transplants that take place. To this end, she and her siblings created an organization in the US that has raised over 10 million dollars in funding and grants specifically for kidney related research, treatment and transplantation. https://pkidneycure.org/
Wendy recently joined the Board of the Renal Patient and Donor Foundation to help ensure the highly effective policies, programs and services that greatly facilitate the transplant process in America (and many other countries in the world), are incorporated within the Canadian healthcare system as well.
Sol Kasimer
Board Member
Sol Kasimer spent his entire career as a leader in the charitable sector in both staff and volunteer roles. He began his career in the YMCA where he worked for 31 years, including eleven years as CEO of the Montreal YMCA and eleven years as CEO of YMCA Canada. He was also CEO of Altruvest Charitable Services, National Advisor to The Learning Partnership, Senior Advisor to Imagine Canada and is currently Senior Advisor to Jump Math (also acted as voluntary CEO for six months during COVID).
As a volunteer, Sol acted as a Director with Portage, The Learning Partnership, Public Policy Forum, Conference Board of Canada (National Council on Education), Jump Math (Director and Chair) and others. He helped initiate the creation of the Voluntary Sector Roundtable and chaired the Capacity Joint Table with the Federal government.
Sol graduated from McGill University with a BSc in Psychology and from Purdue University with an MSc in Human Development. He recently received (November 2023) a kidney transplant from an anonymous living donor
Alicia Savage
Secretary
With a professional background in provincial and municipal government, along with her more than a decade as Managing Editor of her family’s independent newspaper publishing company, Alicia brings years of business, governance and communications experience to the foundation. She has served on numerous committees and boards gaining an understanding of process, interpretation of financials and strategic planning. As a Certified Life Celebrant, Alicia helps families tell their stories through personalized funeral, memorial and celebration of life services. A Collingwood native, Alicia resides in Simcoe County with her husband Rick where she is an avid tennis and pickleball player, downhill skier, gardener and indulges her love of cooking while entertaining friends.
Petra Taylor
Treasurer
My career began in social services, beginning with the Children’s Aid Society, followed by a 20-year segway as Executive Director of Glen Cairn Community Resource – both well before the dawn of the kind of information technology that seems to tie us together in this day and age. During those years, I learned tons about the importance of patience, the perseverance of the human spirit and the strength it takes for a community of compassionate people to bring about real and lasting change. Later, I ventured into the world of fundraising and discovered the “d” in that word to be somewhat unnecessary. My roles included principal gift fundraising, strategic planning, team management, proposal development and liaising with physicians and researchers. At Robarts Research Institute, St. Joseph’s Health Care Foundation and Grand River Hospital Foundation, I was given a whole new perspective on what it means to contribute and give back.
I’m grateful to have been invited to serve RPDF and excited to contribute in whatever way I can. It is an inspiration to work alongside people whose personal experiences have sparked a passion to help others live their most vibrant and healthy lives.
Michael Tremblay
Board Member
Michael has over 40 years of experience in the Canadian pharmaceutical industry. In 2018, he retired from Astellas Pharma Canada Inc. where he served as President of their Canadian operations. Michael has sat on a number of Boards, including Community & Home Assistance to Seniors (CHATS) and Innovative Medicines Canada (IMC), the organization representing the leading research-based pharmaceutical companies in Canada. He began serving on their Board in 2011 and was elected Chair of the Board in 2015 until November 2017. He currently sits on the Board at Knight Therapeutics Inc. and is an advisor for a couple of early start up companies.
Lynn Van der Linde
Board Member
Lynn’s commitment to kidney health transformation is deeply personal. In 2021, at the age of 19, her eldest son Max was very suddenly diagnosed with end-stage chronic kidney disease. After witnessing first-hand the challenges faced by kidney patients and families – including gaps in transplant information and donor work-up processes, Lynn donated a kidney to her son six months later. This experience fuels her commitment to improving kidney care in Canada, where she is a passionate advocate for improving outcomes for kidney patients, donors, and families nationwide.
Lynn brings more than 25 years of experience in stakeholder management, strategic planning, and organizational transformation to the Renal Patient and Donor Foundation. An Executive Director at KPMG, she supports public and private sector leaders through complex change – expertise she now applies to strengthening the RPDF’s impact and advancing patient- and donor-centered solutions. Her career includes senior leadership roles at Canadian Blood Services and IBM, where she led national initiatives in donor recruitment, marketing, rebranding, executive consulting, and stakeholder engagement. Lynn also brings deep governance experience from serving in executive board roles with Canadian not-for-profits including the CHEO Research Institute, Fertile Future, and The IBD Foundation of Canada, enabling her to help the RPDF build strong partnerships, scale its mission, and drive meaningful system-level change in kidney care.