Michael Anhorn
Chief Executive Officer
Michael is a settler of Irish, German and Scottish descent who grew up on the traditional lands of the Niitsítpiis-stahkoii (Blackfoot) First Nation in what is now known as Saskatchewan. For the last 19 years, he has lived, worked and played on the traditional and unceded territories of the səl̓ilwətaɁɬ təməxʷ (Tsleil-Waututh), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam) First Nations, also known as Vancouver.
Michael has worked in the non-profit sector for over 20 years. He spent eight years as Executive Director of the CMHA Vancouver-Fraser Branch before entering his role as CEO of CMHA Toronto in November 2020.
Michael has served on the Board of Directors of several not-for-profit organizations, and he was one of the founding Directors of two of them: one focused on preserving the spiritual practices of Indigenous peoples, and the other a community service organization for the LGBTQ2S+ communities.
Michael is passionate about helping people live mentally healthy lives and creating an inclusive society, and supports the growing role of peers in the delivery of mental health services. He works to ensure that the not-for-profit sector in general, and specifically CMHA Toronto, has the leadership and governance capacity it needs to support people in our communities.
He has a Master of Arts in Planning from the University of British Columbia.
Garfield Bembridge
Director, Organizational Performance
Garfield Bembridge has been with CMHA for over 21 years, spending the last 11 as the director of Organizational Performance at CMHA Toronto. His current portfolio includes Health Equity, Decision supports, Mental Health Promotion, Communications, Accreditation, and Fund Development.
Garfield has over 25 years of experience in community mental health and a proven track record as a collaborative and respected system leader. He has extensive experience in quality improvement, health and safety and scorecard development.
He is passionate about reducing the stigma associated with people dealing with mental health issues and is constantly working to eliminate health disparities and improve access to mental health services for all.
Garfield holds a Master of Science in Health Administration from the University of Toronto. He is a certified Patient Safety Instructor as well as a certified Psychological Health Safety Practitioner. He also holds a Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma. He has been certified as a Health Executive by the Canadian College of Health Leaders.
Kathy Chau
Director, Justice & Specialized Services
Kathy Chau is the Director of Justice and Specialized Services and has worked for CMHA Toronto for over three decades. Before becoming the Director of Justice and Specialized Services in 2013, she worked as a residential support worker, case manager, court support worker and program manager.
Under her portfolio, Kathy supervises and oversees the following programs and services: mental health and justice programs, community treatment order program, forensic services, addiction services, dialectical behaviour therapy, healthy families program, and City of Toronto homelessness programs.
Kathy’s responsibilities include the strategic planning and development of programs, developing and maintaining collaborative partnerships with external and internal stakeholders, meeting program standards and performance targets, providing leadership and support to all program managers, leaders and staff, and supporting agency-wide strategic planning and initiatives.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from McMaster University and a BSW and MSW from York University. Kathy has always wanted to work in a field that helps people and is passionate about social work and social justice. In her personal time, she enjoys outdoor activities such as jogging, hiking and camping.
Michelle Rehder
Director, Specialized Services & Primary Care
Michelle Rehder is the Director of Specialized Services and Primary Care. She has over 25 years of hospital and community mental health experience as a registered nurse, manager and director.
Michelle is responsible for overseeing community mental health programs such as the assertive community treatment teams, intensive case management programs, housing first, early intervention and youth programming, employment (regional and national) and peer-led social support programs. She ensures that the programs and services are tailored to meet the changing needs of the community.
She is an innovative leader that has led the development of special projects and initiatives within the agency, including enhancing clinical services, assisting in the development and implementation of the early intervention model, and our primary care initiative, which includes telemedicine.
Partnerships are an integral part of delivering coordinated and comprehensive mental health services. Michelle’s strength is in building strong cross-sector partnerships to ensure clients, families and caregivers receive the highest quality services within their local communities.
Rann Sharma
Director, People and Culture
As the Director of People and Culture, Rann oversees CMHA Toronto’s human resources strategy and operations. This includes talent acquisition, culture and engagement, total rewards, human resources policies, and equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Rann is a transformational HR leader in provincial healthcare, technology and not-for-profit. She was most recently employed at Ontario Health, where she was responsible for several key initiatives, including building the Ontario Health Lab Network team responsible for COVID-19 testing and vaccines, comprehensive talent acquisition programs grounded in equity, diversity, inclusion and anti-racism, and change management through the adoption of HR systems. Prior to that, she led human resources at Health Shared Services Ontario through an integration into Ontario Health. Past roles include HR leadership at health service providers and the not-for-profit sector.
Rann has been awarded admission into the Women’s Executive Network (WXN) Wisdom II Mentorship Program, which features Canada’s most influential female audience. She has served on the University of Toronto’s Career Centre Advisory Board. Rann was selected as one of 16 Canadians across Canada to work on public policy and leadership development as an Action Canada fellow.
Rann is thrilled to support CMHA Toronto as it provides services and supports for individuals experiencing mental health issues in the city of Toronto.
Rann holds a Master’s in Human Resources.
Susan Bower
Director, Finance & Corporate Services
As the Director of Finance and Corporate Services, Susan leads our finance and business strategy as well as our information technology strategy. She collaborates with staff across the organization to align corporate service solutions by supporting the adoption and integration of technology across the organization and ensuring safe work and programming locations meet the needs of our staff and clients.
Susan has over 25 years of executive management experience in the charitable sector, including national organizations such as Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada and Girl Guides of Canada. Finance, IT oversight and general administration are among her areas of expertise, with an emphasis on organizational growth and collaborative process improvement. Susan previously served in progressive capacities at VisionTV, a not-for-profit charity operating during the emergence of competitive specialty television channels in Canada. Most recently, Susan served as the Director of Finance and Administration with Canadian Stage.
Understanding that administration is a calling, Susan leads community-based organizations to effectively plan and deliver services using efficient economic systems, processes and protocols.
She graduated from Chatham University with a BA in Philosophy and Psychology and earned her Certified Professional Accountant designation during her post-graduate studies.
Frank Sirotich
Director, Data Analytics, Research and Evaluation
Frank Sirotich is the Director of Data Analytics, Research, and Evaluation (DARE) at CMHA Toronto and an Assistant Professor (Status Only) at the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work.
He began his career at CMHA Toronto in 1998 and has worked in various roles, including case manager, court support worker, manager and program director. In 2015, he was named Director of Data Analytics, Research and Evaluation (DARE).
As Director, Frank leads research projects that advance understanding of the service needs of people living with mental illness and that evaluate the effectiveness of these services in meeting these needs. This work promotes the continuous improvement of care provided to people using community mental health services.
He is currently leading CMHA Toronto’s research and evaluation initiative and supporting sector planning and quality improvement projects. For more information about the DARE program and research at CMHA Toronto, please click here.