About Us
Operation Smile was founded in 1982 by Dr. William (Bill) P. Magee, Jr., a plastic surgeon, and his wife Kathleen (Kathy), a nurse and clinical social worker, after travelling to the Philippines with a group of medical volunteers to repair children’s cleft lips and cleft palates.
What they found was overwhelming. In Naga City, approximately 300 families arrived hoping their children would receive surgery, but the team could only treat 40 children. As they prepared to leave, the Magees made a promise they would return to help more children. They returned and helped approximately 100 more patients. Again, hundreds more still waited.
Today, Operation Smile is a global medical charity helping to improve the health and lives of children in more than 35 countries. We’ve provided more than 350,000 children and young adults born with cleft lip, cleft palate and other facial differences with free life-changing surgical procedures and dental care. We train doctors and local medical professionals, donate medical equipment and supplies and provide year-round medical treatments through a network of comprehensive care centres. Operation Smile Canada was established in 2011 and became a registered charity in 2012.
35+ COUNTRIES
350,000+ SURGICAL AND DENTAL PROCEDURES
Canadian Leadership
Michael Bezuhly,
MD, MSc, SM, FRCSC, FAAP
Plastic Surgeon and Board Chair
Ken Wilson, MD, FRCSC
Past Chair
Byron Gilchrist
Treasurer
Darcy Huda
Secretary
Christine Nakamura
Director
Vivek Panchapakesan
BSc, MD, FRCSC, Plastic Surgeon
Director
Rick Mangat, PhD
Director
Jim Siti
Director
Dr. Bill Magee
Co-Founder
Mark Climie-Elliott
Chief Executive Officer
Meet The Team
Diana Church
VP, Talent & Culture
Kristy Rousseau, MBA, CFRE
VP, Philanthropy
Annabelle Rocha
VP, Finance & Program Compliance
Sharon MacPherson
VP, Marketing & Operations
Susan Soto
Director, Program Compliance and Reporting
Tamar Shostakovsky
Director, Direct Response Marketing
Melanie Dekker
Director, Philanthropy
Tenley Soares, CFRE, MFA-P™
Director, Philanthropy
Nathalie Punkkinen, CFRE
Director, Brand & Communications – Directrice, marque et communications
John Branton
Director, Corporate Philanthropy & Partnerships
Alex Morosovskiy
Director, Database Management, Finance & Analytics
Leslie McCourt
Executive Assistant & Office Manager
Ahmad Nataj
Finance Officer
Michael Gross
Smile Partner Program Specialist
Jake Chong
Database Integrity & IT Specialist
Marta Serdoncillo
Database Integrity Specialist
Kaitlin Waters
Talent & Culture Specialist
Julia Navarro
Brand & Communications Specialist
Joseph Pires
Direct Marketing Coordinator
Michael Williams
Community Engagement Specialist
Candy Keillor
Community Engagement Specialist
Phoebe Cheng
Corporate Philanthropy Specialist
Paige Melvin
Philanthropy Officer
Karley Staskus
Philanthropy Officer
Kayla LeBlanc
Philanthropy Officer
Tenzin Dolker
Donor Care Specialist
Valeria Contreras
Donor Care Associate
Maha Saeed
Donor Care Associate
Toni Maggio
Administrative Specialist
Financial Overview
Program Investments Fiscal Year 2024
- Surgical Programs 45%
- Comprehensive Care Centres
including nutrition, speech, dentistry and other pre- and post-operative care programs 39% - Training & Education/Research 16%
Operation Smile Canada Foundation (OSCF) is a registered Canadian charity (Registration Number 84064 3605 RR0001). Our first fiscal year ended June 30, 2013. We comply with all of Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) annual reporting requirements for charities.
Audited Financial statements can be requested by email to [email protected]. All of our audited financial statements since we became a registered charity are available for viewing or downloading.
Our Impact
Current, insightful, and filled with stories about the smiles you bring to the faces of patients and their families, our Smile Report partner newsletters are your window into the life-changing and life-saving work of Operation Smile.