Ostomy Halifax - Meet the Executive Team
To start things off, let’s get to know a little more about our fearless leaders! We are so fortunate to have a dedicated group of volunteers willing to share their time, talents and brilliant ideas with our group, some of whom have done so for several years and one brand new!
Stephen Likely - President
Stephen is beginning his second term as President of Ostomy Halifax, and his third as a member of the OHS executive team. Stephen has had his ileostomy since 2015 after several years struggling to manage his severe ulcerative colitis.
He’s very grateful to be elected as a leader of Ostomy Halifax for another two years and is looking forward to continuing to help Nova Scotian ostomates and advancing our mission!
Outside of Ostomy Halifax, Stephen works as Head of Process for an early-stage company in the environmental and climate space, helping to build their engineering capabilities and scale up new technologies. He enjoys golfing (poorly), rock climbing (also poorly), and is a huge baseball fan (i.e. watching the Jays play poorly). Stephen lives in Dartmouth with his partner Lindsay, who is sick of hearing all his terrible jokes.
Graham Owen - Vice President
Born and raised in Dartmouth where he currently resides with his wife Nancy (Vickers), they have a son Mitchell (Taylor) and a 15 month old grandson Hazen. Graham recently retired after a 45 year career in the Automotive Industry, the last 25 years with the Steele Auto Group as a General Manager.
He is member of Brightwood Golf and Country Club where he was a Past President of the Club and a 9 year veteran of the Board of directors. He is Past President of Dartmouth Subways Major Midget Hockey Club as well as Past Chairman of the Dartmouth General Golf Classic Committee for 10 years, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Dartmouth General Hospital.
Graham has been a long time Hockey coach with the Dartmouth Whalers, Auburn High School, Prince Andrew High School as well as coaching a few years of lacrosse as well. Graham has recently gone through a long battle with rectal cancer and has had an Ostomy since March 29, 2022. He enjoys this very worthwhile cause and looks forward to helping others now, and in the future.
Theresa Mason - Treasurer
Theresa became an Ostomate on April 7, 1997 and became a member of the Metro Halifax Chapter of UOA of Canada Inc. that same month. She has been Treasurer of what became Ostomy Halifax Society since July 1, 2008, and before that was the secretary and worked on the hospitality desk with Betty Woolridge. In her spare time Theresa likes to read, go to live theatre, garden and spend time with her family. She is the oldest of 14 siblings, a wife, proud mother of a daughter, Charlana and Grandma to two terrific grandchildren.
Pat Othen - Recording Secretary
Pat is a colostomate of 7 years and doing well. She has surpassed the 5 year cancer survival milestone and happy to say that she is forging onward cancer free. She has been involved with Ostomy Canada since 2018 and agreed to take on the Recording Secretary role two years ago and recently for the next two years. Pat has volunteered for most of her life supporting causes such as CUSO, OXFAM, Read to Me and most recently Ostomy Halifax.
In her spare time she likes to garden, fish, canoe, hike and enjoy her cottage get-away, all the while supporting newcomers to Canada, her partner’s family of children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and her partner and offering her knowledge to fellow Ostomates.
Bill Power - Past President
Bill was born in Ottawa and raised in Halifax. He attended St. Patrick’s High School like his father before him. Growing up he played baseball and hockey. In 1982 Bill was drafted by the Ottawa 67’s and later was offered a full scholarship from the Royal Military College to play hockey with them as they had just joined the OUAA. He decided he wanted to remain in Halifax and go to TUNS where he graduated in 1988 with a Civil Engineering degree.
In 1987 he had life changing emergency surgery that left him with an ileostomy after his Ulcerative Colitis progressed well beyond being manageable. Life was just beginning!
After his B.Eng. he worked for Lindsay Enterprises before getting an MBA in 1993 at Western University. During reading break in 1992 Bill’s life changed when he met Niki Anthes. That meeting led to another, and eventually Niki and Bill were married in March 1994. With stops in Rankin Inlet and Yellowknife along the way they arrived back in Halifax in time for YK2 with two young girls in tow. Their third girl was born in 2001. The kids grew and Bill has worked for local startups both inside and as a consultant since. Without life saving surgery he couldn’t have had a great and purposeful life, and his girls certainly wouldn’t have grown up thinking all boys pooped that way!
Join Ostomy Halifax!
Looking ahead to the next few months, there’s a lot to be excited about for Ostomy Halifax! Stay tuned for upcoming events and opportunities. If you would like to join us this year (membership is free) just go to: Join Ostomy Halifax / Membership Form
