Board of Directors

Max Keeping

Max Keeping has been a journalist in Ottawa since 1965, first with CFRA Rdaio, then 7 years on Parliament Hill with CTV National News, and for 37 years, with the local affiliate CJOH (now CTV Ottawa).

He’s also been active in the community for most of those years. He is currently CTV’s Ambassador to the Community, Ambassador for CHEO, chair of the Ottawa Senators Foundation, 2011 campaign chair for United Way Ottawa, honourary chair for the Children’s Wish Foundation, a member of the Military Families Fund committee, co-founder and board member emeritus of Child and Youth Friendly Ottawa, patron of the Ottawa Alzheimer Society, patron of the Ottawa Christmas Exchange, and a champion/supporter of another dozen charities in the capital.

Max is a member of the Order of Canada, Order of Ontario, an inductee in the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame, and holds honourary degrees from the University of Ottawa and Carleton University.

Lesley Baird
Board Member, Max Keeping Foundation
Television Producer, CHEO &   Heart Institute Telethons

Julie Best

Julie Best brings a wide range of business and entrepreneurial skills to the Max Keeping Foundation, including a deep understanding of sales, marketing and business development.  Julie has served the Ottawa Citizen, Canada’s capital’s leading daily, English language newspaper, for the past decade and a half.  She has successfully progressed from her entry Career Sales position in the Advertising Department to the newspaper’s Marketing Department as a Sponsorship Specialist.  Her sales and marketing roots began in the tourism and hotel industry in the early 1980’s, with Ottawa Tourism, the Radisson and Lord Elgin hotels and the Ottawa Convention Centre.

Julie is an engaged community organizer and volunteer, and has been highly successful in establishing employee fundraising initiatives at the Ottawa Citizen along with forming partnerships with local agencies, business and community organizations which have led to effective cause marketing efforts and revenue generating projects. In addition to her volunteerism on several Boards and committees, Julie co-founded the ‘Just One Person’ Award in 2006, a scholarship program for youth-in-care that also features an accompanying award to acknowledge the contribution of a community member who has ensured the health and well-being of children and their families.  In 2002, Julie joined the Max Keeping Foundation as a dedicated volunteer and was invited to join the Foundation’s Executive Board in 2011.

Born, raised and educated in Ottawa, Julie Best is the proud Mother of two grown children.

Dan Champagne
Board Member, Max Keeping Foundation
General Sales Manager CTV & CTV Two Ottawa

30 years in the broadcast industry and a member of the CTV Team since 1990. Ottawa born. Married to the most amazing lady in the world, Fiona and proud father of two wonderful children Matthew & Chelsea.

Keelan Green

Keelan Green is President of Thornley Fallis Group, a communications, public relations and creative services agency which includes Thornley Fallis Communications, 76design and Corum.  He joined the firm in 2002 after several years in the Government of Canada.  His current and past clients include Lockheed Martin, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, Ford of Canada, Textron Systems, Waste Management, the City of Ottawa, Dell, Cognos, the Ottawa Hospital, the Canadian Medical Association, Alenia Aeronautica, Enstream, Enablence, L-3 Communications, Visa Canada and a variety of Government of Canada departments and agencies.

Heavily involved in the community, Keelan is President of the Canadian Public Relations Society Ottawa-Gatineau Chapter and serves on several other volunteer boards and committees, including the Max Keeping Foundation, the Salvation Army Ottawa Advisory Board, the Canadian Committee for World Press Freedom, Third Tuesday Ottawa and the Men’s Committee at Rivermead Golf Club.  He is a member of the Canadian Public Relations Society, the International Association of Business Communicators, the Public Relations Society of America Counsellors Academy, the Canadian Marketing Association, the Government Relations Institute of Canada, the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries, the Canadian Club of Ottawa, the Economic Club of Canada, Rivermead Golf Club and the Ottawa Tennis & Lawn Bowling Club.

In 2008, Keelan led the firm’s Ottawa office to the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce Business Achievement Award for Professional Services Firm of the Year and he was selected as one of Ottawa’s “Top 40 Under 40” by the Ottawa Business Journal. His work for clients has been recognized with awards from the CPRS, IABC and Webbys.

Keelan attended Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia where he received a Bachelors’ degree in Business Administration. He is an avid golfer at Rivermead Golf Club, plays on two rec league hockey teams and enjoys tennis at the Ottawa Tennis & Lawn Bowling Club.  Born and raised in Nepean, he currently lives in downtown Ottawa with wife Laura and son Peyton.

Dan Holland
Treasurer, Max Keeping Foundation

Cory Ready
Board Member, Max Keeping Foundation
Investment Advisor, BMO Nesbitt Burns

Dave Ready
Director, Max Keeping Foundation
Former President of Ottawa Sens Fdtn. & Former VP – CHEO Foundation