Alan Young

Principal ~ Owner

Alan Young practiced corporate law with Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt throughout the 1980s and 1990s. During that time, he also accepted outside positions in the Government of Ontario as Executive Assistant to the Chairman of Management Board and Minister of Financial Institutions, the Financial Sector Policy Branch of the federal Department of Finance, and a major Ottawa government relations consulting company. In 1996, Alan became Vice President, Policy with the Canadian Bankers Association where he was responsible for a wide range of public policy issues, including revisions to the Bank Act and other federal financial institutions legislation, consumer affairs, small business, insurance, international trade, financial planning and federal-provincial issues. Alan joined Tactix in 2001 and built a substantial practice with clients in the financial services and information technology sectors. In January 2004, he left to serve as Chief of Staff to the Hon. Reg Alcock, President of the Treasury Board, Minister Responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board and Political Minister for Manitoba. In this role, he was engaged in numerous major initiatives, including strengthening public sector management, expenditure review and Smart Regulation.

Alan re-joined Tactix in September 2005. Then in 2006, he volunteered as the Director of Policy and Platform for the Hon. Ken Dryden’s campaign to lead the Liberal Party of Canada. Alan’s diverse experience in government, the Liberal Party, law, business and consulting provides clients with a rare strength of vision and judgment.

Alan holds a Juris Doctor from Osgoode Hall Law School, an Honours B.A. from Wilfrid Laurier University and a B.Ed. from Brock University. He has lectured at the University of Toronto Law School and the Bar Admission Course of the Law Society of Upper Canada. Alan served on the board of the Government Relations Institute of Canada and is a Member of the Churchill Society for the Advancement of Parliamentary Democracy.

Dan Duguay

Principal

Dan Duguay, TACTIX Principal, joined the firm in 2018 after 22 years in the private sector and the Government of Canada. Dan’s leadership roles in private industry and government have resulted in a sound understanding of the business development opportunities and barriers faced by many sectors – energy, environment, communications infrastructure, and data technology. Dan has a unique ability to navigate political, economic and policy issues that affect TACTIX’ clients by employing exceptional strategic insight to address the most complex of issues.

Early in his career with Nortel Networks, Dan held engineering, new product introduction and management roles. Subsequently, he worked with a number of technology start-ups in advanced photonics and nanotechnology-based products. After joining the Government of Canada in 2004, Dan managed the development of energy, environment and climate change technologies, the launching of the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises at Public Works and Government Services, and the development of science, technology and innovation policies. As Senior Director of the Defence Industrial and Regional Benefits (IRB) Policy, Dan oversaw the creation and implementation of the most substantive round of IRB Policy changes to date, as well as an overhaul of the policy’s operational framework.

In 2012, as Executive Vice President, Business Development and Corporate Affairs, Communications Research Centre (CRC) Canada, Dan implemented significant restructuring of the CRC. Later he led the development of recommendations to the Prime Minister in support of new public safety broadband services and was subsequently appointed as a Director General in the Spectrum, Information Technologies and Telecommunications Sector at Industry Canada. When Dan returned to the private sector in 2016, he joined Thomson Reuters as Senior Director Business Development – Canada, where he led strategic initiatives to meet public sector mission-critical data and intelligence needs by leveraging the entire portfolio of Thomson Reuters data, technology and expertise.

Born and raised in Ottawa, Canada, Dan completed a B.Sc.A., Chemical Engineering (Magna Cum Laude, 1988, University of Ottawa). An NSERC Scholar, Dan completed a Master’s Degree, Chemical Engineering (1990, McGill University), followed by Ph.D. studies at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, where he developed mathematical models and statistical methodologies to predict the degradation of implanted medical devices. Dan has been a part-time university lecturer and an industry advisor for Carleton University’s Institute for Data Sciences.

Dan is an avid aikido practitioner, motorcyclist and musicologist. He is married to Nicole and they have three children.

Gordon Frosst

Senior Associate

A broad and strategic thinker, Gordon is able to quickly visualize business and technical tradeoffs. Over many years of general business management, he has become skilled in: international marketing and exporting; high tech R&D management and product development; large program capture planning and execution; large complex proposal design, compliance, management writing; and program management, strategic planning and corporate finance.

Gordon is an entrepreneur and business leader with a Master's Degree in Aircraft Design from Cranfield University in England, and is a licensed private pilot. Gordon has a deep understanding of aviation and aerospace engineering, spacecraft design, and systems engineering. Exploiting his combination of engineering background and strong business acumen, Gordon has worked with major suppliers of vehicles, ships, aircraft and logistics support services world-wide, providing key technical and management leadership for a number of multi-billion dollar proposals.

In 1988, Gordon co-founded Excalibur Systems Limited, which grew to become a recognized and respected name in Defence Electronics worldwide. Excalibur created cutting edge Electronic Warfare training and simulation/stimulation products and successfully marketed these throughout the western world, Asia and the Middle East for 16 years.

At General Dynamics, Gordon was responsible for the Airborne group strategy and a business capture portfolio worth in excess of $1 billion. He led the capture team for UAV/UAS systems, and conceptual design teams for manned ISR platforms of various sizes and complexities, including helicopter based ISR systems. He also led work on a systems-of-systems approach to ISR, exploiting layers of platforms including; spacecraft, manned and unmanned air vehicles of various sizes and capabilities and land/naval systems, to collectively provide a complete common surveillance picture.

Howard Mains

Managing Principal ~ Owner

Howard Mains has more than 30 years of combined public service, business and consulting experience, affording him the distinctive ability to implement highly effective government relations strategies for private sector clients.

His experience includes directing or leading a variety of public affairs strategies – ranging from grassroots lobbying, to industry-wide advocacy efforts, to government relations campaigns that build awareness and support for client issues. Prior to joining Tactix in 1998, Howard was a member of the environmental and public affairs practice groups of Burson-Marsteller and National Public Relations. From 1985 to 1989, he served on the staff of Hon. Paul Dick, Minister of Public Works and Government Services.

Howard’s efforts on behalf of his clients invariably result in legislative, policy or regulatory change aligned with their corporate objectives. He offers strategic counsel to a diverse range of Canadian and international companies on all facets of agriculture, health and environment public affairs challenges as well as the complex fields of government procurement and government support for major research and development programs. In this era of heightened environmental awareness and public interest, Howard has developed and implemented several successful product defence strategies.

In addition to earning an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business, Howard holds a B.Sc. from Cornell University and is a graduate of Kemptville College of Agricultural Technology. In addition to being active in community affairs and Conservative politics, Howard has been recognized by his peers with the honour of the Ivey Alumni Award for his service to the Richard Ivey School of Business over several years.

Jill Fairbrother

Senior Associate

With more than 25 years of experience working in both the public and private sectors, Jill Fairbrother has an extensive issues management background involving crisis preparedness, media relations and communications strategy. She brings a depth of understanding of how the news media work, and how to manage communications to achieve effective storytelling.

Jill understands the forces that shape reputation and how to manage them. She works with clients to help them prepare for media attention, helping them hone their stories to improve audience understanding through more effective communications.

Most recently, Jill worked with the Assembly of First Nations in the Office of the National Chief as the Senior Communications Advisor. Before working with TACTIX, Jill held senior leadership positions at two of the world’s top five PR agencies. Jill led the Brand Practice for a global agency in Toronto and was a member of the firm’s global Food Practice, Issues & Crisis Network, and the Global Public Affairs team. Prior to that, Jill served as Director of Communications to the Leader of the Official Opposition in the House of Commons, as a member of the Premier’s Strategic Communications Advisory Group in Ontario, and as Director of Communications for a Cabinet Minister in the Ontario Government.

Jill Fairbrother began her career as an Information Officer for the Ontario Ministry of Skills Development. She is an Honours Graduate of the Public Relations Program at Humber College of Applied Arts and Technology, and holds a certificate in Research & Analytics from the Canadian Marketing Association. She is also a Board member for Nutrients for Life, a foundation dedicated to agricultural sustainability and educating people about the role fertilizer plays in feeding the world’s growing population.