Our Leadership

Karen Stewart is an accomplished financial entrepreneur, having founded or co-founded eight businesses over her 30-year career. After experiencing a difficult and distressful divorce, Karen resolved to find a better way. Combining her financial acumen and entrepreneurial expertise, she created Fairway Divorce Solutions in 2006.

Fairway is a national dispute resolution company delivering a better alternative to traditional divorce and conflict resolution. Karen developed Fairway’s unique INR method; a step-by-step process that dramatically reduces time, costs, stress and protects the children during the process.

In 2008, Karen released her first best-selling book Clean Break: How to Divorce with Dignity and Move on with Your Life. In addition to her first book Karen has continued to write articles and books on the subject of divorce including Divorce for Women: A Guide to Creating a Better Life After Divorce and Divorce for Men: A Guide to Creating a Better Life After Divorce. She’s a recipient of PROFIT Magazine’s Top 100 Business Women award, Calgary’s Woman of Vision Award, andUniversal Women’s Network, Women of Inspiration; Advocate and Catalyst for Change award. Karen is a sought-after speaker known for her inspiring presentations, shared at events and institutions including University of Saskatchewan’s Edwards School of Business, Vancouver’s Wellness Show, HRPA Seminars, E-Women Network Luncheon’s, Breathe Now Conference and the Canadian Institute of Financial Planners. Karen continues to give back to the community by sitting on a number of academic and corporate boards and advisory councils.

Daryl Maksymec knows what it takes to build a winning digital team with an online strategy to match. His expertise in information technology gives him deep insight that proves invaluable on online growth strategies and complex, multi-channel projects.

Daryl founded his first company in 1993, a full-service multimedia firm with a client list that included the City of Regina, Samuel L. Jackson, Imperial Oil, and CBC Television. In 1998, his work for the PGA Tour earned him the Forbes Best of the Web Award. The year 2001 saw the birth and subsequent growth of two companies; SidePix, a web design and marketing firm specializing in the financial and insurance sectors, and CanEquity, Canada’s largest mortgage broker website. Since then, he’s added to the roster with superbrokers.ca, pixeltribe.com and software development company Colloco Enterprises.

As a well-respected digital pioneer and diversified software and web developer with in-depth knowledge of business development, online strategy and partnerships, Daryl is uniquely poised to lead Fairway into the digital future and beyond.

Brittany Doucet has practiced almost exclusively in Family Law since being called to the bar. After guiding clients through the court system and litigation, Brittany realized she wished to help people work their way through separation and divorce ina way that wouldn’t destroy the family unit.

At Fairway, Brittany works closely with our Resolution Experts and office locations across Canada to ensure each has the most current understanding of matrimonial and family law. She provides legal information about family law to clients and consultative advice to our resolution experts on matters affecting individual case files to ensure our clients receive the best service possible.

As a senior mediator at Fairway, Cameron Don has pursued his passion for assisting people in difficult situations. He has a unique ability to understand both the financial details and the family dynamics that influence the separation and divorce process. His years of extensive mediation experience have been enhanced by expertise in financial analysis and finding the best solution through an intuitive problem-solving skillset.

Having been through the wrong side of conflict resolution, Cameron believes in the Fairway process. He remains dedicated to guiding families to the other side of conflict and as a trusted mentor and guide to our resolution experts.

Colette Fortin is one of the leading mediators and divorce coaches in Southern Ontario. As the owner-operator of Fairway Waterloo-Wellington for the past ten years, Colette has been a positive force, using her 20 years of experience in family-centered conflict resolution to guide hundreds of couples to the other side of disputes and on with their lives. She is an Accredited Family Mediator, a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst, and a member of both the Ontario Association for Family Mediation and the ADR Institute of Ontario.

As a well-regarded franchisee, instructor and leader, Colette oversees the training program for all new franchise partners and mediators, ensuring each person who represents Fairway masters the knowledge and tools needed to emerge as a conscientious business owner and efficient INR mediation expert.

As our Director of Franchise Development, Travis implements creative innovation and entrepreneurial expertise in sales, sales coaching, and business building. He possesses an extensive sports marketing background, working for teams in Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, and the National Hockey League.

Travis was one of the early franchise partners for Canada’s leading home healthcare franchise, Nurse Next Door, back in 2008. He helped to grow his market into a multi-million-dollar operation during his tenure. Travis comes with experience in all aspects of franchise development, business growth, and procedures. He brings the unique perspective of a successful franchisee to the franchisees we work with and is an exceptional communicator and motivator who thrives on building strong relationships and putting those around him in a position to succeed.

Travis aims to help take Fairway to the next level, helping create more successful franchisees along the way.

Patrick Wyness has been building systems in franchising for over 15 years. A natural problem solver and relationship builder, Patrick provides expertise in systems onboarding, training, and performance coaching to Fairway. He has worked with two of the most admired brands in Canada, Nurse Next Door and 1-800-GOT-JUNK? helping to grow both from 10 locations to over 100. Patrick’s achievements include developing his 1-800-GOT-JUNK? franchise into an award-winning, $1 million+ location.

During his time, Patrick has successfully launched and supported hundreds of franchisees in both North America and Australia, showing that he knows a thing or two about systems and scalability. Patrick relishes the opportunity to implement the various best practices that he has learned throughout the years to help emerging brands scale up fast and efficiently.

Don Thompson, QC, is a former lawyer who has acted as a legal industry regulator for over 35 years.

Called to the bar originally in BC, Don relocated to Alberta to lead the Law Society of Alberta as CEO for 19 years. His career work focused on yielding inter-organizational change through the leadership of national and regional groups and organizations, many of which he continues to lead today. Don’s interests and expertise also include business process design, organizational and change management, governance, professional competence, the law and practice of professional regulation, and access to justice.

Don believes individuals and families transitioning through a divorce or separation should have access to the type of mediation expertise Fairway provides, allowing them a healthy and constructive future.

Shawn Wilson has been founding, operating, and financing successful businesses for over a decade. Well respected as a creative dealmaker, his diligence, drive, and thirst for knowledge are critical factors in his success. To date, Shawn’s areas of focus have been technology, marketing, and finance. He recognized the Internet’s extraordinary potential in its early days and has leveraged that power to build several dynamic and profitable companies.

Shawn is the Founder and CEO of Muzooka, a platform that allows artists to manage media assets from any festival, venue, ticketing, or radio platform on one central hub. Muzooka also sends verified show reports to collecting societies to ensure rights holders are properly paid when their songs are performed live. The company is an industry leader, encompassing 1.6 million artists and some of the industry’s biggest companies, including iHeart, Billboard, The Grammys, Gracenote, Eventbrite, and many more.

In 2001, Shawn co-founded The Canadian Equity Group and successfully sold his stake in 2005. He then co-founded Strategic Sales Delivery to develop and market a new mortgage delivery platform. The company secured an exclusive contract with Marlborough Stirling Canada, owned by United Utilities ($4B Market Cap).

Peter Baran is a leadership coach, business strategy consultant and process improvement expert whose skillset is invaluable to Fairway.

Growing up working in a small family business, Pete went on to work for multiple Fortune 500 companies, rising to VP. Wanting to make more of an impact, Pete took on challenging mandates, including as a partner of a rapidly growing IT project services company and CEO of a start-up B2G services company. He’s acted as a turnaround COO of a TSX listed B2B bio-composite manufacturing company, Director of Projects and Corporate Strategy for a rapidly expanding luxury food retailer and “fix-it guy” for the Alberta Department of Energy. He’s also a founding Board Member of the BC Land Titles and Survey Authority.

Peter has a degree in Commerce from the University of BC, a certificate in High-Performance Leadership from Cornell University, a certificate in Process Engineering from Villanova University, and courses in Financial Statement Analysis and Mentorship from the Sauder School of Business.

As a firm believer that each of us can change the world, Peter is committed to being the difference.