Barth H. Gillan

Barth H. Gillan – Alpha Psi Chapter – McGill University, 1985

Barth was born and raised in Muskoka (Ontario) and opted to leave the province to study at McGill University (BA-Linguistics) followed by an MBA at Concordia University. Barth went to his first convention the year he joined Zeta Psi and has been to every convention – except for one – since 1982. Following Barth’s final undergraduate year where he served as Phi of the Alpha Psi Chapter he moved to New York to begin a two-year term as a Chapter Consultant for Zeta Psi, starting in White Plains, NY and moving to the new headquarters building Pearl River, NY. This was the beginning of his career with the International organization.

Barth has served as a director and officer of the Alpha Psi

Elder Board, including Elder Gamma and Elder Phi; he has been a director and officer of the Zeta Psi Foundation of Canada; internationally, he has served the board of both Zeta Psi Fraternity and the Zeta Psi Educational Foundation (including a term as Phi Alpha and President from 2014-2016). As a volunteer he has served on the Awards Committee, Convention Advisory Committee, Discipline Committee, Finance Committee, Fundraising Committee, and Ritual Committee (serving as Chair for Ritual, Member Education and Discipline Committees).Barth has been involved extensively with the Ritual Committee, helping to revise the Ritual Exam, to document the history in video format, and to launch The Torch Program (being the second Worthy Brother in the program, with his essay on Stephen Leacock). With Will Woldenberg, Barth helped launch the 1847 Pledge Challenge in 2017, as a way to engage all Brothers in Zeta Psi in a fun competition. In the first four years of the Challenge over $120,00 was raised from over 2,300 Brothers. Barth also helped to launch the Brand Standards Manual [link to manual?] with Sims McGrath. During his tenure as Phi Alpha, he instigated the ZeteForward program to reorient the Fraternity out of a precarious Risk Management environment, and oversaw the installation of three chapters (Beta Sigma, Beta Delta, and Zeta Tau). During the chartering of the Psi Omicron in Paris in 2019 he was invited to speak about the history of the Fraternity Movement at the Cercle France-Amériques.

His professional career ultimately took him to the non-profit world, where he has worked for over 25 years, raising money primarily in the Education Sector. During this time he has also served on the boards of local non-profits to assist with their fundraising. Since 2018, Barth has dedicated his fundraising focus full-time in support of Zeta Psi. He lives in Montreal with his wife Diane and his daughters Chelsea and Daisy, all of whom have become dedicated convention attendees. When he is not doing Zeta Psi work his passion is his training in Daito Ryu Aiki Jujutsu.
Barth has received the following awards from Zeta Psi:
• Outstanding Undergraduate Award (1983)• Outstanding Alumnus Award (1999)
• Award of Merit for Chairing the Convention, in Montreal, QC (2008)
• The Worthy level of The Torch Program (2014)

At the 2022 Zeta Psi Convention in Brooklyn, NY, Barth was awarded Zeta Psi’s highest individual honor, the Distinguished Service Award.

Video Link “As We Tread the Pathway High: The History of Zeta Psi”