Audit and Risk Committee
Audit and Risk Committee
Audit and Risk Committee
The Audit and Risk Committee assists the Board in discharging its oversight responsibilities related to the quality and integrity of financial reporting and enterprise risk management, including internal controls and fraud detection and prevention. Three of TRAF’s Board members and an external accounting professional sit on this committee. Additional details regarding the function of the Audit and Risk Committee are set out in its Terms of Reference.
The current members of the Audit and Risk Committee are set out below.
James Bedford
Chair
Appointed to committee June 17, 2024
Before retirement, James Bedford was a high school science and mathematics teacher in the Louis Riel, St. Boniface and Norwood School Divisions for nearly 30 years. From 2015 to 2023, he was elected and served as Vice President and then President of The Manitoba Teachers’ Society (MTS). During his teaching career, he also served as President of the St. Boniface Teachers’ Association, Vice President of the Louis Riel Teachers’ Association, Chief Governance Officer and Chair of the Disability Benefits Plan of MTS, Vice Chair of the TRAF Board, Executive Vice President of the Manitoba Federation of Labour, a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation and Trustee for the MTS Staff Pension Plan.
James received his Bachelor of Science (4-year) and Bachelor of Education degrees from The University of Winnipeg and a Master of Science (Health and Radiation Physics) from McMaster University.
James is a member of the Retired Teachers’ Association of Manitoba and sits on the board of the Lutheran Urban Ministry (The Urban) in Winnipeg.
Nike Bello
Appointed to committee February 26, 2018
Nike Bello is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) with more than 20 years of professional accounting experience in Chief Financial Officer, Finance Director and Controller roles at organizations including Macdonald Youth Services, Economic Development Winnipeg, Pfizer Inc., Microsoft Ireland Operations, Xerox Europe Ltd. and Marks & Spencer.
Nike is the President of Olanike Bello CPA, a public accounting firm. She is also the co-owner of a UPS Store franchise in Winnipeg.
Nike serves on ACCA Canada as a network panel member, and is a council member of Ka Ni Kanichihk and member of the Associates of the Asper School of Business.
She was the Treasurer of the Board at St. John’s-Ravenscourt School Parents’ Association and Com-Spam Inc. and Chair of the Finance Committee of the Manitoba 150 Host Committee Inc.
Nike holds a Master of Business Administration from Oxford Brookes University (UK) and four professional accounting designations – Chartered Accountant (CA – IFAC), Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA – Europe), Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA – Canada) and Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE – North America).
Dave Najduch
Appointed to committee September 25, 2023
Dave Najduch is a former President of the Winnipeg Teachers’ Association (WTA), having served for 11 years over three separate terms, where he was involved in contract negotiations and personnel matters.
He also completed extensive work through various committees with the Winnipeg School Division and served one term on the Provincial Executive of The Manitoba Teachers’ Society as chair of the Health and Safety Committee and the Regional Bargaining Coordinator for the Metro area.
Dave had a 38-year teaching career, teaching social studies to Grade 9 to 12 students. He worked in Birtle, Manitoba for three years, followed by a semester in Quebec and then returned to the Winnipeg School Division where he taught for 35 years before retiring in 2019.
Dave received his Bachelor of Education and master’s degree in Educational Administration from the University of Manitoba.
Lauren Tolton
Appointed to committee June 15, 2020
Lauren Tolton worked at BDO Canada LLP for more than 20 years. She was admitted to the partnership in 2013 and retired at the end of 2020. Her area of expertise is accounting and assurance services and she has focused on working with public sector and not-for-profit organizations in several areas, particularly education and local governments. She has also worked extensively with several union pension and health and welfare plans. Her work in the public sector includes providing tax and accounting advice to companies from manufacturing and construction, to agriculture and retail. She also has experience in conducting federal and provincial government recipient-contribution agreement audits.
Lauren was a member of the Board of Regents for the University of Winnipeg and the Chair of its Audit and Risk Committee for six years from 2015 until 2020.