Our Team

Dr. Alan Ulsifer graduated as an optometrist in 1990 from the University of Waterloo, where he was acknowledged for several awards in clinical achievement, including the Ontario Association of Optometrists Award for Excellence in Patient Management.

After graduating, Dr. Ulsifer became one of the founders and a managing partner of Northern Vision Centre, which developed into one of Canada’s largest independent optometric practices. Dr. Ulsifer has also been involved at the executive level with various not-for-profit Boards including the Alberta Optometric Association, Rotary, Optometry Giving Sight, the Alberta Freestyle Ski Association and the Grande Prairie Chamber of Commerce.

In 2008, Dr. Ulsifer oversaw the creation of FYidoctors, which still stands as the largest business merger in Canadian history in terms of the number of companies involved. He was awarded the Ernst & Young Emerging Entrepreneur Award for Western Canada in 2008 and the Prairies Entrepreneur Award in 2012. Dr. Ulsifer has served on other not-for-profit Boards over the years and has an ICD.D designation. He currently serves as CEO and Chairman of the FYidoctors Board of Directors.

Mr. Michael Ross is a University of Alberta graduate, Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants (FCPA), Fellow of the Certified Management Accountants (FCMA), Certified Management Consultant (CMC), Chartered Professional in Human Resources (CPHR - retired) and Institute of Corporate Directors certified (ICD.D).

Mr. Ross retired as CEO of Conroy Ross Partners in 2012. As an Ernst & Young partner he held many roles including National Managing Partner (Canada) of middle market and entrepreneurial consulting.

In addition to sitting on the FYidoctors Board of Directors, Mr. Ross also sits on Boards for Fountain Tire, Frac Shack Inc., Norseman Group Ltd., G2 Integrated Solutions (Systems Integrity Management Solutions, Inc. — Houston, TX) and CORUS Orthodontists Inc.

Dr. Craig Meckelborg graduated as an optometrist from the University of Waterloo in 1993 and later completed a certificate in ocular therapeutics at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. He went on to practice in Edmonton and Calgary before acquiring his first practice in Airdrie.

Dr. Meckelborg was later elected onto the Alberta Association of Optometrists as a Council Member. He then started a practice in McKenzie Towne, Calgary, which was one of the first clinics to join FYidoctors as a bannered location.

Dr. Meckelborg continues to be active in the Alberta Association of Optometry Political Action Committee. Over his last 9 years on the FYidoctors Board of Directors, he has sat on both the Audit and Governance and Compensation Committees. He continues his educational pursuits through the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Dr. Michael Naugle acquired his Bachelor of Science Degree with honours from the University of New Brunswick. He then attended the University of Waterloo where he received his Doctorate of Optometry with honours in 1992. Since 1996, Dr. Naugle has served on the Council of New Brunswick Association of Optometrists, including two years as President from 2000-2002. Since 2010, he has also served on the Board of Directors as Chair of the Canadian Coalition of EyeCare Professionals.

In his current role as VP, Optometric Partnerships, Dr. Naugle has served as Vice Chair since 2008, as well as Chairman of the Governance & Compensation Committee, Vice Chairman of the Advisory Committee, and Chair of the Nominating Committee of the Advisory Committee.

With an extensive 30-year career as a Doctor of Optometry, Dr. Kelly previously served on the Saskatchewan Association of Optometrists Council as President and Registrar. He was also the Minister's representative on the Health Assessment Board, and is a past Saskatchewan Association of Optometrists President's Award recipient.

Dr. Kelly also spent a decade as a director for Horizon Laser Vision Center, six years as a Senator for the University of Regina, and has also served as a consultant and lecturer for several pharmaceutical and contact lens companies.

Dr. Kerby Kelly is the Chair of FYidoctors' Advisory Committee and been on the Board since its inception.

Dr. Alan Ulsifer graduated as an optometrist in 1990 from the University of Waterloo, where he was acknowledged for several awards in clinical achievement, including the Ontario Association of Optometrists Award for Excellence in Patient Management.

After graduating, Dr. Ulsifer became one of the founders and a managing partner of Northern Vision Centre, which developed into one of Canada’s largest independent optometric practices. Dr. Ulsifer has also been involved at the executive level with various not-for-profit Boards including the Alberta Optometric Association, Rotary, Optometry Giving Sight, the Alberta Freestyle Ski Association and the Grande Prairie Chamber of Commerce.

In 2008, Dr. Ulsifer oversaw the creation of FYidoctors, which still stands as the largest business merger in Canadian history in terms of the number of companies involved. He was awarded the Ernst & Young Emerging Entrepreneur Award for Western Canada in 2008 and the Prairies Entrepreneur Award in 2012. Dr. Ulsifer has served on other not-for-profit Boards over the years and has an ICD.D designation. He currently serves as CEO and Chairman of the FYidoctors Board of Directors.

Mr. Imran Gulam obtained his Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Calgary and articled at PwC, where he obtained his Chartered Accountant designation. He later achieved a Masters in U.S. Taxation from Golden Gate University in San Francisco.

Mr. Gulam joined FYidoctors in 2014, bringing his financial skill sets in budgeting, forecasting, tax and treasury proficiency, as well as his past experience as the CFO of a publicly listed company. He is also a director at the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society (CCIS), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing settlement and integration services to refugees and immigrants living in Southern Alberta.

Darcy Verhun obtained an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business after 10 years as a tax and audit professional. Since then he has had a progressive career as a business advisor and coach at the Executive and Board levels. During his career, Darcy has held senior leadership roles at Ernst & Young, Grant Thornton and Cap Gemini.

Darcy has been recognized as a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants and was a founding Director of The Calgary Homeless Foundation. He volunteers today as a Director of HomeSpace Society, which is intent on increasing housing for vulnerable Calgarians.

Darcy oversees core company functions and works closely with the management team to contribute to FYidoctors' high-performance culture through enhanced leadership skills, accountability, and team effectiveness.

Scott Shaw is an experienced professional with the optometric industry. Prior to joining FYidoctors, he spent eight years with CIBA Vision Canada, starting as a sales rep before being promoted to National Account Manager; a role which involved working with large Canadian optometric groups, including DEN, Iris and FYidoctors. During his time at CIBA, Scott also managed the Lens Care business, working with retailers such as London Drugs, Pharmasave, Overwaitea Foods and Safeway.

Scott officially joined FYidoctors in October of 2008. In his current role he communicates and coordinates with FYidoctors employees, suppliers and partners, in addition to advising on acquisitions and new clinic rollouts.

Terry is a business and financial professional with over for 25 years of experience working in the banking industry for companies including the Alberta Treasury Branches and CIBC. After leaving the banking sector, Terry would later go on to become the Manager of the Northern Vision Centre optometry practices.

Since joining FYidoctors, Terry has been instrumental in transitioning new practices within FYidoctors and currently manages numerous other internal and external programs. He is also heavily involved in the organization and management of the Regional and Practice Coaches in order to further streamline communications and patient care at all FYidoctors locations.

Kevin joins FYidoctors with over 20 years of experience in IT leadership. Building IT shops from the ground up to over 90 cross-functional team members, and successful project management and implementation of mission critical multi-million dollar corporate initiatives are among his accomplishments. He brings business knowledge in the healthcare, insurance, transportation and government sectors, including practical experience in the areas of privacy and security – particularly as they apply to the interoperable Electronic Health Record initiative in Canada.

He became part of the FYidoctors IT team as VP of Innovation and IT in January of 2016. Kevin is working closely with the team to improve the overall utility and value of our IT hardware and software assets and services, putting a heightened focus on customer experience, capitalizing on new technologies, mindful organizational change management, and team building.

Kevin was born and raised in BC, and enjoys his time in our Ophthalmic Laboratory in Delta, BC.

Dr. Frédéric Marchand graduated from the University of Laval in 1996 with a BAA in Marketing and Finance. He later graduated from the University of Montreal in 2001 as an Optometrist and soon joined the Marchand Optometry family business, becoming the only third-generation optometric company in Quebec. Under his leadership, the Marchand Group grew from 30 to 70 locations before joining FYidoctors in 2015.

Frédéric is actively involved in the Assocation des Optométristes du Québec (AOQ) and is currently Quebec’s elected representative on the Canadian Association of Optometrists (CAO). He is also president of the Financing Committee for the School of Optometry and an active member of the Montreal Business Club; a private group of business leaders from Quebec.

In 2012, Frédéric received the title of “Bâtisseur” from the University of Montreal for his overall contribution to the profession, and for his role as a founding partner of “Centre Oculaire de Quebec”; a new and innovative partnership model between Optometry and Ophthalmology.

Nancy Morison is the VP of the FYidoctors Ophthalmic Lab located in Delta, BC. Delivering on the FYidoctors DNA of ‘Enhancing Life’, Nancy and the team are focused on the daily manufacturing and shipping of 1400 pairs of the most technically advanced glasses and supporting the clinics and ultimately the patients as FYidoctors provides the best care and experience in the industry.

Before joining FYidoctors, Nancy was the Chief Operating Officer of SPUD.ca (Sustainable Produce Urban Delivery) head officed in Vancouver, BC. Nancy joined SPUD in 2015 to support the rapid business growth and provide expertise and experience in ecommerce. SPUD supports online grocery with unique ecommerce features like Standing Orders and Fresh Harvest Boxes, has five local market/cafes and delivers local and organic groceries to more than 7,000 customers weekly.

Previous to SPUD, Nancy held various operational based roles at Clearly Contacts Inc (Clearly.ca). Starting with Clearly in 2003 when it was a $20M US focused contact lens e-retailer, Nancy as VP of Operations, was a key member of the management team that grew the company to a $215M global optical omni-channel retailer. She was also part of the merger team that sold the business to Essilor International for $443M in 2014.

Known for getting a distribution center live in one week, for successfully combining the optical and grocery industries with ecommerce distribution, for creating a customer first attitude and an operations team mantra of ‘good to great’ that has delivered industry leading net promotor scores (NPS).

Nancy’s informal and genuine leadership style has mentored many individuals on various Operations teams from entry level roles to managers and directors. Her success has been the result of focusing on corporate culture to ensure first that each employee has the same core values and working towards the same targets and objectives. She is equally proud of her team as she is of their accomplishments.

She is a graduate of the University of British Columbia in the field of Human Kinetics with a specialization in leadership and coaching. Nancy was a finalist in the 2013 YWCA Women of Distinction Awards in the Business and Professions category.

With experience at i2 Technologies as a Product Manager and at Loomis Courier Service (now Loomis Express/DHL), Nancy’s background in small pack express logistics and system and software development, provides the backbone for her success in fast paced, high growth e-commerce environments.

Nancy and her husband are proud parents of two teenage boys and their personal time is spent volunteering in the various amateur sports in which their kids participate. Weekends also find Nancy on the links, the slopes or on the ice, captaining her women’s hockey team to wins or just ensuring that everyone is having a good time.

Mr. Andrew Taub graduated from the University of Michigan with a BA in Finance and Accounting before going on to obtain an MBA from Columbia Business School. He currently is a Managing Partner at L Catterton, focused on the Buyout fund, and serves on the Board of Directors of several L Catterton portfolio companies.

Having joined L Catterton in 1996, Mr. Taub has nearly 25 years of experience in private equity and has led more than a dozen investments at L Catterton. Mr. Taub’s investment and operating expertise spans the consumer landscape through investments in the healthcare, restaurant, food, pet and marketing services industries. Mr. Taub previously spent three years as a Vice President at Nantucket Holding Company, a merchant bank. Mr. Taub also served in the corporate finance group of Coopers & Lybrand. He started his career at Dean Witter Reynolds in mergers & acquisitions.

Mr. Tim Gillespie is a graduate of the Haskayne School of Business and holds a Chartered Financial Analysts designation. He started his career as an International Equities Trader in Odense, Denmark and has spent over 35 years in the finance industry, holding numerous corporate lending and capital markets positions. During his long career, he has specialized in technology, real estate, transportation, retail and energy. He was most recently Executive Vice President and Head of ATB Financial’s Corporate Financial Services Division.

In addition to sitting on the FYidoctors Board of Directors, Mr. Gillespie serves on the Board of the HomeSpace Society and Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also Vice Chair for Meals on Wheels.

Mr. Rajan Shah holds a Bachelor of Accounting and Finance and a Master of Accounting from the University of Waterloo. He is a Vice President at L Catterton, a CPA and CBV in Canada and currently serves on the Board of Directors of several L Catterton portfolio companies.

Prior to joining the company in 2018, Mr. Shah was a Principal at the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board (OTPP), where he focused on global opportunities in the consumer and healthcare services sectors. He spent time in both OTPP’s Toronto and Hong Kong offices. Prior to joining OTPP in 2014, he spent time at Imperial Capital and the corporate finance group at PwC.