Former commissioner Suzanne Lamarre also elected to board
OTTAWA — The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) is enhancing the regulatory expertise of its board with the recent election of four new directors, including former CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein and former CRTC commissioner Suzanne Lamarre.
PIAC said in a news release the four new directors are all experts in either telecommunications, broadcasting or class actions, which will help to boost its consumer advocacy work when appearing before the CRTC to argue for better services and consumer protection for customers of Internet, wireless, telephone and broadcasting services.
“PIAC’s extensive work on behalf of consumers before the CRTC requires the utmost guidance and insight,” said John Lawford, executive director and general counsel of PIAC, in the news release. “We are therefore thrilled to add to our Board persons with unparalleled experience to guide our communications advocacy, as well as an expert in consumer class actions as this sector becomes more litigious.”
The four new directors elected to PIAC’s board are the following:
- Konrad von Finckenstein is a lawyer and consultant based in Ottawa. He was previously chair of the CRTC, an Honourable Justice of the Federal Court of Canada and the commissioner of competition at the Competition Bureau of Canada. In addition, he has held senior posts in the Government of Canada in positions related to international trade, telecommunications, competition and electronic commerce. Von Finckenstein has been elected as PIAC’s chair of the board.
- Suzanne Lamarre is a lawyer and engineer with the firm of Therrien, Couture and is a former commissioner of the CRTC. Lamarre works in the areas of telecommunications, radiocommunications and broadcasting law as a strategic advisor on regulatory and governmental matters at both the national and international level.
- Monica Auer is a lawyer and the executive director of Canada’s Forum for Research & Policy in Communications (FRPC), a non-partisan organization focused on Canada’s communications system. She previously worked at the CRTC and the CBC. Auer has been elected as PIAC’s vice-chair.
- Jonathan Schachter is a Toronto-based lawyer with Sotos LLP, with his practice areas including class actions, consumer protection litigation, competition and price fixing, privacy litigation, professional liability litigation, and trademarks and intellectual property litigation and arbitration.
