About Us
OUR PROGRAM
Homes For Heroes Foundation (H4HF) delivers a comprehensive supportive housing program for Veterans. Our on-site case workers provide individualized reintegration support tailored to each resident’s specific needs and goals. The key focus of the H4HF Veterans’ Village Program is to furnish supportive housing within a dedicated “Veterans’ Village” community while also providing residents with comprehensive, customized programming.
H4HF partners with Veterans Affairs Canada and local social service agencies to identify Veterans in need and connect them to the program. Support is provided through one-on-one counselling, group therapy sessions, and additional programming offered by Veterans Affairs Canada and its partners. This holistic approach enables Village residents to overcome their personal challenges in a safe, clean, and supportive environment. The ultimate goal is for each resident to achieve stability, secure employment, and attain the ability to live independently.
Our Team
STAFF
Brad Field, President & CEO
Brad comes to Homes for Heroes with over 30 years of local and international, private and not-for-profit leadership experience. Until 2021, Brad was the president of BRC Group, headquartered in Calgary. With locations in Canada and the US, Brad and his team created an industry-leading reputation of excellence. Through his experience in transportation, healthcare, strategic consulting, and fire suppression, he brings a wide range of skills to the Homes for Heroes team. Brad was past board chair of Terminator Foundation and currently sits on the board of Business for Calgary Kids.
Brad has been a proud Calgarian for over five decades. His volunteer work in building homes for the impoverished with Homes for Hope, has provided him with valuable insight into the challenges facing our unhoused population. An avid supporter of our Canadian Veterans, Brad is honored to represent this organization.
Wayne Liebenberg, Director of FInance
Wayne is a qualified financial expert with a deep passion for helping people and using his experience to better the lives of those less fortunate. Wayne has more than 20 years international business and financial leadership experience. His experience in property, construction, financial services, investment management, technology and renewable energy, brings a wide range of skills to the Homes for Heroes team.
Until 2024, Wayne was the CFO of an insurance company in South Africa that developed unique affordable products for the often-neglected low-income segment of the South African public. Under his guidance the organisation used technology and digital products to become one of the most respected and valued organisations in the industry.
Wayne led numerous charities and volunteer projects in South Africa aimed at bettering the lives of the less fortunate, homeless and unemployed citizens of South Africa. Wayne and his family arrived in Calgary at the beginning of 2024, he is excited to be joining the Homes For Heroes team and assisting the organisation to achieve its goals, while changing the lives of homeless Veterans in Canada.
Angie Shilliday, Director of Village Operations
Angie is a dedicated advocate for social change and has spent her life championing causes close to her heart. Her passion for addressing homelessness and addiction, coupled with co-occurring mental health challenges, has been the driving force behind her journey.
As a board member and volunteer at Recovery Acres Calgary Society (Men) and C.A.R.E. for Women, Angie played a pivotal role in reshaping the narrative surrounding recovery. Her visionary leadership and hands-on approach were instrumental in the conceptualization, creation, and construction of a safe haven for women on the path to recovery.
Beyond her local initiatives, Angie’s commitment to making a difference reached global proportions during her tenure as a Global and Local Ambassador for Habitat for Humanity. Leading teams with unwavering enthusiasm, she personally contributed to building homes for families in need, both domestically and abroad. Her work with Habitat for Humanity underscored her belief in the transformative power of community-driven action.
Kim Shippey, National Director, Development
Kim brings over 20 years of experience in nonprofit fundraising and excels in capital campaign management, major giving, organizational strategy and branding and communications. With family members who served in the military, Kim has a deep personal connection to the challenges veterans face and is motivated to advocate for their needs. She has successfully led multiple multimillion-dollar fundraising initiatives and capital campaigns, helping to secure critical resources and provide sustainable solutions.
Prior to joining Homes For Heroes, Kim has held key positions with social service agencies, post-secondary institutions, arts organizations and independent schools, where she has developed innovative fundraising strategies that significantly increased donor engagement and expanded outreach efforts.
Kim believes in the power of collaboration and relationship-building. She is committed to fostering meaningful connections with donors and stakeholders, ensuring that every contribution makes a lasting impact. Her leadership style emphasizes transparency, creativity, and a results-driven approach, enabling Homes For Heroes to thrive in its mission.
Kim holds a Master of Music degree from Western University and the Royal College of Music, U.K., and is a proud board member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals Golden Horseshoe Chapter.
Sherri Clarke, Senior Case Worker and Program Director, Edmonton
Sherri joins the H4HF team having dedicated much of her career to the mental health profession, with education in Applied Psychology and Counselling, as well as Community Mental Health. She is a member of the Canadian Professional Counselling Association and the Canadian Addictions Counsellors Certification Federation. Previously, she helped to open Jessie’s House, the emergency shelter for domestic violence survivors in Morinville Alberta, where she worked as a client advocate. Sherri also volunteers at the Veterans Association Food Bank in Edmonton, where she works on the client care team as an addiction counsellor.
As the wife of a veteran, Sherri understands the military culture which informs her therapeutic approach to be rooted in empathy, respect, and a genuine commitment to her clients’ well-being. Her goal at Homes for Heroes is to assist her clients in achieving sustainable recovery, fostering resilience, and embracing a fulfilling and meaningful life.
Travis Cellini, Case Worker / Veteran Service Manager, Kingston
Travis comes to H4HF after spending 26 years serving in the Correctional Services of Canada as a Correctional officer and Correction Manager at Kingston Penitentiary and Millhaven Institution. Travis also managed the Safe Consumption Site in Kingston Ontario before joining H4HF. Prior to his service with the Correctional Services of Canada, Travis was a member of the Canadian Armed Forces as a Signals Intelligence Specialist.
As a Veteran and retired Correctional Officer, Travis brings a unique view and understanding of the military structure and culture which allows him to almost connect with our villagers seamlessly. His goal at Homes for Heroes is to engage, assist and provide a safe productive place for Veterans to heal, recover, strengthen their resolve while empowering the Veterans to commit to themselves to begin their new journey leading profound lives.
Kris Clarke, Case Worker / Addiction Counsellor, Edmonton
Kris’s background is centred in the addictions field. Kris graduated with honours with a Community Service and Addiction Diploma and has gone on to earn her CACII from The Canadian Council of Professional Certification. Kris brings a very trauma-informed and client-centered approach which stems from her vast work experience. Previously, Kris worked at an addiction recovery house, a supportive sober living facility, as well as an all-gendered domestic violence shelter. Kris has endeavoured to continue to expand her counselling techniques and build on her knowledge to best suite her clients.
Kris has a unique understanding of the military culture as she comes from a military family and her husband is an injured veteran who served for 30 years, which is the driving force behind Kris’s desire to assist her clients with the utmost empathy, dignity and autonomy they deserve. Her goal is to help her clients who reside in Homes for Heroes villages, to find and sustain a meaningful life in the civilian world, as well as motivate them to recognise their own resilience and to discover what it means to find balance in their everyday life.
Amy Dahl, Case Worker / Addiction Counsellor, Calgary
Amy comes from a counselling background focusing on addiction and mental health. She has worked with many different vulnerable populations and has a passion for supporting individuals struggling with life challenges. Her education is in addictions counselling and counselling psychology. Being in the addiction and mental health field since 2011, she has worked at detox facilities, shelters, treatments centers, and is now excited to have a very rewarding role with The Homes for Heroes Foundation. Amy takes a caring client centered approach assisting veterans in achieving their goals.
Katrina Lowe Case Worker / Military Trauma Counselor, Kingston
Katrina has spent 22 years working in Housing and Mental Health, with the last 7 being more specifically with the homeless and most vulnerable in Peel Region through ROP and CMHA. With a brother in the CAF for the last 10 years and observing his challenges with adjusting to Military life, she began her personal journey of education, completing her Bachelors at University of Guelph, in Community and Social Services, then Masters degree from Adler University in Psychology, with a focus on Military Trauma.
Katrina is a mother of three and enjoys quality time with her Harley Davidson in her spare time.
Katrina’s goals working at H4H is to help bridge the system navigation and reintegration into the new reality of Veteran life. With a client centred approach, and Trauma lens, she’s excited to collaborate with the Team and the Vets to create healthy happy futures.
Anita Huynh, Financial Analyst
Prior to joining the Homes For Heroes Foundation, Anita worked with Scouts Canada for six years as an Accounting Assistant. Anita provided financial support for Scouts Groups, Camp Committees and National Scouts programs. Through a variety of fun experiences, outdoor adventures and contributions to their community, Scouts builds resilience and skills that set them up for life. Anita has many years of experience in accounting for nonprofit organizations involved in education, arts, and construction. Anita enjoys working with nonprofit organizations and being part of creating a better tomorrow.
Anita is applying her experiences and educational background to support the H4HF team and assist our Canadian Veterans successfully transition back to civilian life.
Kevin Klein, Winnipeg Fundraising Chair
Kevin Klein is a prominent figure in the Winnipeg community, he has an impressive track record, serving as the Publisher and CEO of Sun Media, Winnipeg City Councillor, Chair of the Winnipeg Police, and former Minister with the Government of Manitoba. His active involvement in various community organizations has earned him a well-deserved reputation as a thought leader and a person who gets things done.
Serving as a Winnipeg City Council, Kevin advocated strongly for Homes for Heroes in Winnipeg, which resulted in land being secured for a Homes for Heroes village. His strong passion positions him well to support our Veteran community.
John McCabe, Strategic Donor Engagement
With a distinguished career spanning over 30 years, John has successfully raised millions of dollars, partnering with organizations across Atlantic Canada, Ontario, and Quebec. His impressive portfolio includes work with prominent entities such as the KW Hospital Foundation, JDRF Canada, the Canadian Red Cross, and most recently, the Halifax & Region Military Family Resource Centre. Additionally, John has collaborated with several of Canada’s leading fundraising consulting firms.
A passionate supporter of the arts, John began a Fine Arts degree in university before discovering that his ambitions were better suited to the fundraising world. He enjoys painting in his free time and is also dedicated to coaching high school football in Dartmouth, where he has led his team to a Division 2 Championship over the past five years.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
David Dupuis, Chairman
A successful business owner and entrepreneur for over 25 years, Mr. Dupuis now under his Family Office Geodetic Capital Inc. directly invests and helps manage in a multitude of different enterprises, including financial, land development and manufacturing across North America. Mr. Dupuis is an active member of the communities his family office is invested in and continuously provides mentorship for young entrepreneurs across the country. In addition to his efforts with Homes for Heroes Mr. Dupuis and his family office continuously provide philanthropic support to a multitude of communities and organizations.
David Passingham
Dave Passingham has more than 40 years’ experience in construction and has been involved in both project design and management. Dave has many years of experience in commercial construction of all sectors of the industry and now uses this knowledge to help project teams working on retail projects to understand the needs of the client.
As project executive, Dave uses his knowledge of construction and client needs to meet and exceed the client’s expectations. He manages the overall construction operations of the project, and is accountable for production, quality, cost, safety, scheduling, and general project performance. Dave oversees the safety plan, budget, contract documents, and schedule to ensure all aspects of the project are on time, within budget, and that they follow the design, exceed quality expectations, and are completed safely. His general approach is to facilitate collaboration and consensus building within the entire project team.
Stephen Lacroix
With over 35 years of service in the Canadian Armed Forces, Stephen (Steve) Lacroix is a proven strategic leader and brings a wealth of experience to the Government of Alberta. He was hired in December 2020 as the Managing Director of the Alberta Emergency Management Agency (AEMA). He was immediately seconded as the Executive Lead of a multi-disciplinary team of Alberta Public Service professionals, to further support and complement the steps that Alberta Health and Alberta Health Services have already taken to deliver the COVID-19 vaccines to Albertans. He will formally assume his new role as Managing Director of AEMA after the task force work is complete.
His military career has been evenly split between duty in the Canadian Army and strategic staff portfolios at National Defence Headquarters. His most recent role was as Commander of the 3rd Canadian Division/Joint Task Force – West where he had the privilege to lead and soldier with over 15,000 military and civilians in the four western provinces and two territories. From 2017 to 2019, he served as the first Canadian to hold the assignment of Director-General of the Inter-American Defense Board in Washington, DC. The Inter-American Defense Board is the oldest defence and security cooperation organization in the world. It is an international committee of nationally appointed diplomats and senior defence officials who develop collaborative approaches and policies on common defense and security issues facing countries in the Americas and the Caribbean. Between 2015 and 2017, he commanded Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Edmonton and CFB Wainwright and led CFB Suffield and CFB Shilo, MB.
His operational and international experience is varied. He started his career in Germany upon receiving his commission with the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps. He was posted to the United Nations Mission in El Salvador in 1992, and Haiti in 1994. He was deployed in the Former republic of Yugoslavia in 1996 and once again in 2004. In 2010, he served as a Senior Mentor to the Commander of an Afghan National Police Regional Headquarters, responsible for the operations of 22,000 police officers stationed in the volatile southern provinces of the country.
Brett Holmes
Brett is an accomplished entrepreneur in the medical device industry. In 2004, he founded Medlines Inc. Leveraging his experience working with Fortune 500 organizations and small innovative start-ups, Brett built Medlines Inc. for the purpose of providing leading edge products and technologies to patients in Canada. Brett also serves on the board of directors for BTT Health, located in Munich, Germany. BTT health is a niche manufacturer of medical devices.
HONORARY PATRONS
David Howard, Founder
For more than two decades, David has worked to support the men and women who have stood on guard for Canada. In 2005, David founded the Canadian Legacy Project, a registered charity with the mission to build programs to help our Canadian Veterans successfully transition back to civilian life. Within David’s work in the Veteran community, he saw a dramatic increase in Veterans experiencing homelessness and the need for a solution to eradicate this growing concern. In forming the Homes For Heroes Foundation, David met with Veterans across Canada to get their input on how the program should be developed. Through his research, David’s focus was to build a charity that integrates our Veterans experiencing homelessness back into the community through the provision of housing and wrap-around social services.
In 2023, David retired from his roles as CEO and President of the Homes For Heroes Foundation but continues to support the charity’s new village development efforts. David has been awarded Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee Medal and Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Medal for his advocacy and support of our Canadian Veterans.
David Johnson
The Right Honourable David Johnston was Canada’s 28th governor general. During his mandate, he established the Rideau Hall Foundation (RHF), a registered charity that supports and amplifies the Office of the Governor General in its work to connect, honour and inspire Canadians. Today, he is actively involved as Chair of the RHF Board of Directors. In 2018, he was appointed Colonel to the Royal Canadian Regiment.
Prior to his installation as governor general, Mr. Johnston was a professor of law for 45 years, and served as President of the University of Waterloo for two terms, and Principal of McGill University for 3 terms. He was president of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada and of the Conférence des recteurs et des principaux des universités du Québec. He was the first non-U.S. citizen to be elected chair at Harvard University’s Board of Overseers from which he graduated in 1963 magna cum laude and was twice named all-American in hockey and was named to Harvard’s Athletic Hall of Fame. He holds degrees from Harvard, Cambridge and Queen’s and has received more than three dozen honorary degrees or fellowships.
David has authored or co-authored more than 30 books. He was named Companion of the Order of Canada in 1997. He has chaired or served on many provincial and federal task forces and committees and has served on the boards of more than a dozen public companies. He has been married for 57 years to Sharon and they have 5 daughters and 14 grandchildren.
Sharon Johnston
Sharon Johnston graduated in Physical and Occupational Therapy in 1966 from the University of Toronto and some years later obtained her Doctorate in Rehabilitation Science from McGill University.
Sharon’s early career was as a psychiatric occupational therapist working with children and young adults until the birth of her five daughters.
As the wife of the 28th Governor General, she used her position to advocate for mental health awareness and the importance of anti-stigma programs. As an honorary witness to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission she has advocated for our indigenous Canadians. For twelve years she managed a dressage training centre near Waterloo, Ontario before moving to Ottawa.
Sharon is writing a trilogy of historical fiction. The first novel, Matron and Madams, published in 2015, a fictional account of life in southwestern Alberta during a colourful, post-Great War era, based on her grandmother’s experiences. Patchwork Society was released in March of 2020 and is set in Sault Ste-Marie.
NATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD
Commander Chris Hadfield
Chris Hadfield is an engineer, military fighter/test pilot and thrice-flown astronaut, having done two spacewalks and commanded the International Space Station.
He is an advisor/director for multiple high-tech companies and leads the Space stream at the Creative Destruction Lab tech incubator. Chris is a four-time internationally best-selling author, a professor at U Waterloo and online at Masterclass, and has created/hosted TV series with both BBC and National.
General (retired) Walt Natynczyk
A native of Winnipeg, General (retired) Walt Natynczyk, CMM, MSC, CD is a leader of national distinction, an advocate for veterans and their families, and an agent for change. He joined the Canadian Forces in 1975 after spending five years as an Air Cadet, served in countless Royal Canadian Armoured Corps (RCAC) command positions and rose to the position of Chief of the Defence Staff.
General Natynczyk attended Royal Roads Military College, Victoria, BC and Collège Militaire Royal, Saint-Jean, QC (Business Administration). He is a graduate of the Canadian Forces Command and Staff College, the U.K. All-Arms Tactics Course and the US Army War College (Master in Defence Studies).
General Natynczyk served as Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff from 2 July 2008 to 29 October 2012. Key events over his tenure were the combat mission in Afghanistan, the 2010 Winter Olympics, humanitarian support to Haiti and the NATO mission over Libya.
General Natynczyk served as President of the Canadian Space Agency from August 2013 to November 2014. On November 3, 2014, he began his role as Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs Canada, until his retirement in May 2021.