About Us

OUR

TEAM

Our team includes published and award-winning governance thought leaders who have been recognized for their leadership and contributions nationally and internationally.

Paula Minnikin, ICD.D (she/her)

Principal

Paula’s career has focused on technology, strategy, and governance. Paula strives to help her clients strike the appropriate balance between avoiding risk and embracing opportunity through the appropriate use of people, process, and technology.

Paula has served as a leader, senior executive, and board director for Private, Not-For-Profit, Academic, and Crown Corporations both domestically and internationally.

Mitch Archibald (he/him)

Associate & Not-for-Profit Lead

Mitch is the primary resource for most of MRI’s not-for-profit projects and leads our Student Governance Practice. Mitch empowers his clients through his expertise with not-for-profit governance, policy, and strategy.

Mitch’s career includes roles in the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors. He has served on and worked with purpose-led organizations in education, health, poverty alleviation, community engagement, advocacy, housing, and publishing.

Robert Patzelt QC, ICD.D (he/him)

Senior Associate, Corporate, Private and Family Business Lead

Robert Patzelt, Q.C., ICD.D. is a business executive with 30 years’ extensive experience in all facets of organizational leadership and business development.  He has degrees in business, economics and law.  He most recently was CEO of a publicly traded resource company.  He has been a respected Board Director for multiple organizations and a leader of a number of major initiatives in a variety of corporate, not-for-profit and non-governmental agencies including some undergoing major transformational change.

As impressive are his business credentials his charitable work is equally so.  He has been nationally recognized by many organizations and was awarded both the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals for his contributions to Canada. 

OUR

STORY

01.

The governance landscape has changed more in the last five years than it has in the prior fifty.  The political, economic, technological, and social realities of governing have and continue to evolve rapidly

02.

We recognize that good governance does not come in a one size fits all format.

03.

What is good governance at one organization might be a burden at another.

Policies

Processes

Procedures

OUR

EXPERTISE

GOVERNANCE is the collection of processes and structures organizations use to make decisions. Beyond knowing the policies, processes, and procedures, governance is about leadership and setting the tone for the culture of your organization.

At MRI, our team works with organizations to assess the current state of their governance, make short-term adjustments and implement long-term strategies to provide the strength and agility required to meet the demands placed on them now and in the future.

We empower boards and leadership teams to:

  • Enhance their understanding of their purpose, responsibilities, and duties.
  • Govern effectively to improve overall organizational performance.
  • Adopt mature ESG and Cyber Risk Stances
  • Identify and work productively with all of the participants in their ecosystem.
  • Understand, oversee, and influence the culture of their organization.
  • Evaluate, manage, and moderate risk.
  • Develop, articulate, and execute strong policies, strategies, and plans.
  • Develop, implement and integrate strong environmental, governance, social and cyber stances.
  • Clearly understand the different roles of everyone involved and set appropriate boundaries and supports.
  • Develop, implement and monitor Board Level Crisis Communications, ESG, Cyber Risk and Business Continuity plans.

We support clients from a wide variety of industries across North America and Europe.

We have diverse governance backgrounds and strong reference clients in:

  • Privately Held Corporations
  • Crown / State / QUANGO Organizations Public Interest Organizations
  • Local, Provincial/State and National Regulatory Bodies,
  • Professional Associations
  • Student Unions and Associations
  • Academic Governing Bodies
  • Not-for-Profit Organizations