Board of Directors
The TSC Board of Directors is a volunteer board comprised of 9 directors with two-year terms elected on a rotating basis (5 directors / 4 directors) at the Annual General Meeting. The Annual General Meeting takes place in the Fall of each year. Every Board member has a portfolio.
The Board can be reached at: [email protected]
Byron MacDonald (President)
Byron has been Head Coach of the very successful University of Toronto Varsity Team for more than 40 years. In the early 1980’s, Byron saw a need for a high-performance swim club in downtown Toronto and formed a club that would eventually become the Toronto Swim Club. A few years later, Byron joined the Board of TSC and has remained an active member ever since.
Byron coaches the senior age swimmers of TSC. His accolades as a coach are many-- including more than 70 swimmers who have been on international teams and Olympic teams. He has coached numerous medal winners, including a 1992 Olympic Bronze Medalist and more recently Kylie Masse’s coach, who won a Bronze Medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and became the world record holder in the 100 Backstroke at the 2017 World Championships.
Byron's coaching draws on his personal international swimming career where he won numerous medals including two Commonwealth Gold Medals, and a 6th place finish in the 100 meter butterfly at the 1972 Olympics Summer Games (Munich). Byron is also the "voice of swimming" having commentated television swim coverage for ten Olympic and other Games --winning two Gemini Awards for his work.
Helena Tigert (Vice President - National)
Helena has been a TSC swim parent since 2015 and on the TSC board since 2017. She has two swimmers in the club - Leah and Sophie. Swimming with TSC has made a huge positive impact on her daughters both in and out of the pool, especially in building confidence and resilience.
Helena is Vice President of Financial Institutions at Visa for North America. She has over 20 years of business management experience across financial services and consumer goods sectors. Helena has her MBA from the Ivey School of Business and a BA from McGill University. She has also completed the Governance Essentials program with the Institute of Corporate Directors and the Rotman School of Management.
Herbert Law (Secretary - Senior White)
Herbert’s daughter Erica started swimming in TSC’s Academy program in 2019. Herbert believes in the tremendous value provided to kids when they participate in competitive sports. For instance, Erica has gained confidence and skills from competitive swim that can be applied both in and out of the pool such as resilience, perseverance, and drive. All of this is only possible because of the wonderful and supportive coaches, staff, and fellow swim parents from the TSC community.
Herbert is a Partner at Mathews, Dinsdale, and Clark LLP, a national workplace law firm. Herbert has over 20 years experience advising and advocating on behalf of employers in labour, employment, and human rights matters. Herbert has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from UBC, a Master of Industrial Relations and Law degree from Queen’s University and has served on several not-for-profit boards in the Toronto area.
Scott Rattee (Treasurer - National)
Scott's daughter Zoe is in the National group and has been swimming with TSC since she started in the Academy program in the 2017/2018 swim season.
Scott is a Senior Vice President at DBRS Ltd., a global credit rating agency, covering the telecom/media/technology sectors. Scott has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry in both fixed income and public equities, working in both Toronto and New York, NY. Scott has been a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) member since 2004 and earned his MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University in 1999.
Like many parents in the TSC community, Scott has spent countless hours in the stands at swim practice and meets over the years and witnessed first-hand the incredibly positive influence swimming with TSC has had in his daughter's development. Importantly she has learned the value of setting goals and working hard to achieve them with the help of great coaches and a fun team environment. In this role, Scott wants to continue to help build the club's outstanding tradition of enabling swimmers to achieve their potential both in the pool and out.
Krista Koteff (Member at Large - Fundraising - Senior White)
Krista Koteff is delighted to continue into her fourth year with TSC Board of Directors in the capacity of Fundraising. She is passionate about the people she works with and the athletes who work hard for both themselves and the Toronto Swim Club. She is excited to support new and existing fundraising strategies which will help bring the TSC swim community together in new and exciting ways.
Krista established her own business in 2004, servicing both public and private sectors creating and supporting marketing and gift giving strategies. She is actively engaged in fundraising committees and continues to work contractually for Corporate Event Planning leaders.
Krista has three children who are all involved in the sport of swim, with her middle son as a member of TSC since 2021.
Krista is an alumni of McMaster University in Hamilton, ON.
Benjie Levy (Member at Large - Strategic Planning & Athlete Development - Senior Provincial)
Benjie's daughter Romy swims for TSC in the Senior Provincial group. Since joining the club in 2019, he has seen firsthand the positive impact of TSC's program and community on Romy's personal and athletic development.
Benjie was most recently President and Chief Operating Officer of Score Media and Gaming Inc. and has over 20 years of experience in the digital sports media, technology and gaming industries.
Benjie graduated from the University of Toronto with a B.Com specializing in Finance in 2001.
Danielle Bischof (Member at Large - Officials - Junior Provincial, Top Provincial, Bronze Academy)
Danielle has been a TSC parent since 2019 and has 3 daughters in TSC: Zoe, Maya, and Kaitlyn. Danielle grew up swimming in the BC Summer Swimming Association and knows that there are no better friends than “swim friends”. TSC has had an incredible impact on Danielle's daughters - they have learned perseverance, time management, and how to move forwards when things don’t go as planned all in a fun, supportive environment surrounded by their swim friends.
Danielle is an Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto and works as a General Surgeon at Sinai Health. She is an alumni of UBC (BSc), the University of Toronto (MD) and Johns Hopkins University (MHS).
At swim meets you can usually find Danielle on deck working as a Level 3 Official. When not on the pool deck, you’ll find Danielle outside: in winter she enjoys downhill skiing and in the summer she enjoys biking, paddling and camping.
Carole Chan (Member at Large - Marketing & Communications - Top Provincial)
Carole brings to the TSC Board two decades of sales, marketing & communications expertise from her career in the pharmaceutical & medical device industries. As a Fractional Chief Commercial Officer, she provides executive leadership to health tech companies and builds brands to drive business growth. Carole is a double alum from the University of Toronto – initially trained as a pharmacist (BScPharm), she also graduated from the Rotman School of Management (MBA).
At home Carole is a mom of 3 children. Her eldest son Sébastien (Top Provincial) started swimming with TSC in 2022. She also has a daughter swimming with the Toronto Artistic Swim Club, and a preschool-aged son (hopeful future TSC swimmer!)
Carole is passionate about promoting TSC and engaging the swim parent community to support the growth & well-being of our young swimmers.
Tasneem Essaji (Member at Large - Volunteers & Events - Junior White, Top Provincial, Bronze Academy)
Tasneem Essaji had her first foray into TSC in 2023, when her eldest daughter joined the Club. Tasneem has three children in the Club now: Leila (Junior White), Patrick (Top Provincial), and Mariyah (Bronze). Tasneem enjoys driving across the city, sometimes multiple times a day, to support the love her children have of swimming. Swimming has taught them about hard work, resiliency, and how to build a supportive network of friends with a shared passion.
Tasneem is the Director of the Distribution and Consumer Assistance Policy Branch at the Ministry of Energy and Mines. She has over 20 years of experience in the public sector, focused in transportation, intergovernmental relations, health, and municipal affairs. She is an alumni of McMaster (B.Arts.Sc) and Queens (MPA).
