A Marvellous Merger

“There are so many charities doing the same thing. Why don’t they just merge?” It’s a fair question, and a good one. But it’s rarely that simple.

Mergers cost money. They require alignment on purpose and culture. They ask boards to make difficult decisions, leaders to navigate significant change, funders to invest differently, and organizations to let go of pieces of their identity in order to build something new.

But when the conditions are right, bringing organizations together can create possibilities that neither could achieve alone.

Join us for the October Social Profit Project Speaker Series as we explore what it really takes to merge, and the bigger question behind it: how do leaders know when deeper collaboration is the right path?

At the centre of the conversation is the creation of Trellis Society, formed through the amalgamation of Aspen Family & Community Network Society and Boys & Girls Clubs of Calgary. The merger became one of the sector’s most closely documented examples of nonprofit amalgamation, examining everything from governance and culture to finance, operations, funder relationships, and social impact.

Jeff Dyer, CEO of Trellis Society, will share the leadership journey behind bringing two established organizations together and creating a new organization with a shared purpose.

Joining Jeff for the conversation:

• Karen Macdonald, Executive Director of Viewpoint Family Office and Viewpoint Foundation, bringing the perspective of a philanthropic partner that worked with Trellis through the merger.
• James Stauch, Co-author of Merging for Good and Executive in Residence, Ivey Business School, who worked with Trellis to examine and document the amalgamation.
• Karleen Batty, Partner, Managing Partner at Ernst & Young Calgary office, who served as Chair of the Trellis Society Board of Directors during the merger.

Meaghon Reid, Executive Director of Converge Mental Health Coalition, will facilitate the conversation and broaden the discussion from mergers to the different ways organizations can work more deeply together.

We’ll get into the decisions that happen behind the scenes: When is a merger the right move? When isn’t it? What does it ask of boards and executive leaders? What role should funders and advisors play? How do you navigate culture, identity, and leadership? And what needs to be true for something stronger to emerge on the other side?

This is a conversation about mergers, but it’s also about something bigger: how we design organizations, partnerships, and systems around the impact we want to achieve, rather than the structures we’ve inherited.

Event highlights include:

• Net working with peers across the P4 ecosystem
• Keynote presentation
• Moderated panel discussion
• Audience Q&A

The Social Profit Project brings together senior leaders, funders, board members, and community partners working across the P4 ecosystem to advance practical, strategic social impact.

Keynote Speaker

Jeff Dyer
CEO of Trellis Society

Jeff has lived his entire life in Treaty 6 and 7 Territory and is grateful to serve as the CEO of Trellis Society, where he tries to bring together his experience in poverty reduction, affordable housing, and youth leadership to support growth across generations. He obtained both a Bachelor of Education and Masters of Business from the University of Alberta, focusing his capstone on the area of mergers in the nonprofit sector which he put to practice at Trellis, which is the result of one of Canada’s largest nonprofit amalgamations. His aspiration is to live into his Blackfoot name, Natosi’kitstanoppkai which mean’s sun offering. He is here on behalf of his teammates who share the vision of a community where everyone can flourish.

Panelists

Karen Macdonald
Executive Director of Viewpoint Family Office and Viewpoint Foundation

Karen is the Executive Director of Viewpoint Family Office and Viewpoint Foundation. She has built her career working with family-controlled and private enterprises, with a focus on financial stewardship, governance, and philanthropy.

Her interest in this field was shaped early in life as a third-generation member of a business family, where she saw firsthand the important contributions entrepreneurs and family-owned businesses make to their communities, the charitable sector, and Canada’s economy. Karen remains deeply engaged in both the business and philanthropic communities.

She currently serves as a director of Viewpoint Investment Management Corporation, Calvert Home Mortgage Investment Corporation, Radostits Holdings Inc., Monark Inc., Converge, and CAWST. She also serves on the Canadian Avalanche Foundation Investment Committee and the 51 Fund Advisory Committee.

Karen holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting from the University of Alberta, is a CPA, and is a Family Enterprise Advisor. Outside of work, she enjoys skiing, cycling, and hiking with family and friends.

James Stauch
Co-author of Merging for Good and Executive in Residence, Ivey Business School

James Stauch is a social innovation and systems change educator and sense-maker based in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. He serves as Executive in Residence with Innovation North at the Ivey School of Business, Western University, and as Executive in Residence with the J Herbert Smith Centre for Technology Management & Entrepreneurship at the University of New Brunswick. James has also served as Complex Systems Strategist with ATCO's SpaceLab, Co-chair of the Banff Systems Summit, and Visiting Fellow at the Skoll Centre, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

James was the Executive Director of the Institute for Community Prosperity at Mount Royal University, where he developed leadership, systems-focused, and futures-oriented learning programs for undergraduate students and the broader community. Among the many publications he authored or produced at the Institute is Merging for Good: A Case-Based Framework for Supporting Effective Nonprofit Amalgamations (2021) prepared for Trellis and co-authored with Cordelia Snowdon-Lawley. Previously, James served as a foundation executive and philanthropy consultant, including designing and managing Arctic and Northern programming with the Gordon Foundation. His most recent publication is the internationally-acclaimed book The 55 Minutes: An Atlas to Navigate Problems, Reveal Systems, and Ask Beautiful Questions in a Radically Shifting World (2025).

Karleen Batty
Managing Partner at Ernst & Young Calgary Office

Karleen Batty is EY Calgary’s Office Managing Partner. She has over 25 years experience providing a variety of professional and business valuation services covering many industries including: Power Generation, Retail Power, Oil & Gas Midstream, Exploration & Production, Oilfield Services, Retail & Wholesale Agriculture, Manufacturing and Other.  Her experience has been with public and private companies and includes comprehensive valuation analysis and valuation estimates, fairness opinions, critique reports, opinion of business loss and quantification reports for financial reporting, mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures, ownership restructuring, succession/ estate planning and income tax reorganizations.

She is the mom of two teenagers, and is married to a professional services partner. She loves travelling with her family, reading fiction books, and until recently, proudly served as the Chair of Trellis Society Board, an organization that helps helping people experiencing homelessness and trauma to flourish in the community.

Facilitator

Meaghon Reid
Executive Director of Converge Mental Health Coalition

Meaghon Reid is the inaugural Executive Director of Converge Mental Health Coalition, a national organization working to transform Canada's mental health system through collaboration, innovation, and systems change. For more than 20 years, Meaghon has worked at the intersection of mental health, public policy, and organizational leadership, bringing together governments, researchers, community organizations, philanthropy, and people with lived experience to tackle complex social challenges. Prior to joining Converge, she served as Executive Director of Vibrant Communities Calgary and previously held senior leadership roles with the Mental Health Commission of Canada in Ottawa and the National Council for Mental Wellbeing in Washington, DC.

A sought-after speaker and facilitator, Meaghon is known for translating complex systems challenges into practical, collaborative action. She speaks on systems transformation, collective leadership, cross-sector partnerships, and the future of mental health in Canada, drawing on two decades of experience leading initiatives that bridge policy, practice, and community. Meaghon believes Canada's biggest mental health challenges will not be solved by any one organization, sector, or government. They will be solved by creating the conditions for collective action, where diverse partners come together around a shared purpose to build a stronger, more connected mental health system.