Catherine Rowe, CFRE

Catherine Rowe joined the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Centre Foundation in 2012 as Executive Vice-President, Development, responsible for leading the $150 million Healing More Better campaign, the most important fundraising campaign in the institution’s history. The target was surpassed to reach $255 million under her leadership. The Sainte-Justine UHC is the largest mother-child centre in Canada and one of the four largest pediatric hospitals in North America.

From June 2006 to October 2012, Ms. Catherine Rowe was the Executive Director, External Affairs at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital - The Neuro - where she led the $40 million Thinking Ahead Campaign. In this role, Ms. Rowe oversaw all program activities related to fundraising, communications, media and government relations.

Prior to assuming this position, Ms. Rowe was the Director of Major Gifts at Centraide (United Way) of Greater Montreal. 

In 1997, Ms. Rowe became one of the first in Quebec to earn her Certified Fund Raising Executive accreditation (CFRE). She is also a graduate of the Association of Fund Raising Professionals (AFP) Leadership Academy, as a Faculty trainer.  Ms. Rowe holds a Masters of Public Administration (1991) from Carleton University and a Bachelor of Commerce (1986) from McGill University.

Active as a volunteer within her profession, Ms. Rowe served as President of the Board of Directors for AFP Quebec, serves on the AFP Education Committee and National Philanthropy Day Awards Committee, and is a Board member for Seed Change Foundation, an Ottawa based agroecology organization.

Jennifer Paquet, CFRE

Passionate about philanthropy and the non-profit sector, Jennifer Paquet began her career at the Montreal Neurological Institute and quickly became a key member of the team that launched the $40 million Thinking Ahead Campaign in 2007.

In 2008, Jennifer set off to live in Sydney, Australia where she pursued her career in philanthropy taking on the role of Development and Alumni Relations Manager for the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sydney. In this role, Jennifer built a fundraising program to deepen relationships with alumni for the Faculty. In 2009, Jennifer moved into the role of Relationship Manager for Redkite, a grass-roots organization in full growth which provides practical services and support for families of childhood cancer. At Redkite, Jennifer helped create a major gifts program as well as set up and ran successful workplace giving campaigns, a new initiative in Australia.

In 2011, Jennifer returned to Canada enriched by her experience abroad and was recruited to the role of Major Gifts Officer at Centraide of Greater Montreal where she managed a portfolio of donors and high-level volunteers and was a key member of the major gifts team which raised $10 million annually.

In 2016, Jennifer was promoted to Director of Major and Leadership Giving. In this role, she led a team of fundraisers and senior volunteers responsible for raising $10 million annually for Centraide. Under her leadership, the major donors program saw significant growth and maintained a retention rate of over 90%.

Jennifer is an active volunteer in her profession, having served on the board of the Association for Fundraising Professionals (AFP) from 2006-2008. In addition, Jennifer co-chaired the Curzon Preschool board in Montreal West.