HFN BOARD of DIRECTORS

Frances O’Malley (Chair)

Frances O’Malley is a physician and Professor Emerita at the University of Toronto. During her academic career she served on many provincial, national and international medical committees. Dr. O’Malley was the recipient of several major research grants in the areas of hereditary breast cancer and predictive biomarkers in breast disease. She has published widely in these areas and is the editor of a book entitled Breast Pathology – a volume in the series Foundations in Diagnostic Pathology.

Since retiring from academic medicine, Dr O’Malley has trained as a Mindfulness Meditation Teacher. She currently teaches Mindfulness Meditation in the therapeutic setting.

Frances has had a life-long passion for professional theatre and live performance. 

She resides in Stratford and Toronto.

Susan Moffat (Vice-Chair)

Susan was born and raised in Stratford Ontario.  After obtaining a B.A. in Theatre from the University of Windsor she has worked in the performing arts in a number of positions most recently as Managing Director of the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto.

Susan returned to Stratford when she retired and currently serves on the Board of Directors at the United Way Perth-Huron and previously served on the Board at Pal Stratford.

She is very proud to support the wonderful work being created at Here for Now Theatre.

Jessica is an actor, playwright, and teacher. Born and raised in Montreal, she works as an actor in both English and French. She is a McGill University alumna and co-teaches Chekhov and Shakespeare at the National Theatre School.
Jessica has performed five seasons with the Stratford Festival. Here for Now Theatre was home to readings of her first two plays, The Dark Ladyand In Search of Catharsis. Both plays now have full productions planned for 2022/23. The Dark Lady had a staged reading as part of the Stratford Festival's Forum Events in 2021.

Here for Now Theatre's mandate is something she holds very close to heart. She is honoured to have the opportunity to help support this wonderful company any way she can.


Jessica splits her time between Montreal and Stratford, and calls both places home.

Jessica B. Hill

(Artist Representative)

Alison Noble (Treasurer)

Alison Noble is a graduate of the University of Michigan (Computer Engineering) and Harvard Business School.  She has held a variety of engineering and management positions in the technology and consulting industries.  As Director of Software Development at Attachmate Canada, she led a group of engineers developing networking and communications software.  At Monitor Consulting Group, she advised Fortune 500 companies on strategic issues..

After retiring from the corporate world to raise a family, Alison founded and ran a small business, Noble Communications, that provided a website design and corporate communications.

Alison also served for several years on the non-profit Board of the Sterling Hall School in Toronto.  In that capacity, she led the acquisition of real estate adjacent to the school and led a project exploring diversity at Sterling Hall and other private schools in the Greater Toronto area. 

Alison lives with her husband in Toronto, Ontario.

Jo-Dee Burbach (Secretary)

Jo-Dee was born in Toronto to Dutch immigrant parents. She has lived in three countries, and along the way earned a BA in Liberal Arts and an MA in Communication Studies. Since 1999,

Jo-Dee has lived in Stratford, Ontario, where she currently resides with her three children. She runs her own businesses in graphic design and communications, and has published and edited an online magazine about the Arts in Stratford. In 2018 she became a City Councillor for the City of Stratford, running on a platform that included creating affordable housing, expanding public transportation, improving walking and cycling infrastructure, nurturing a vibrant City culture, and developing forward-thinking environmental preservation and protection programs.

She received Optimism Place's Woman of the Year Award in 2020 in the category of Allyship & Advocacy for her efforts focused specifically on anti-Black racism in our community