Alana Kainz

Alana Kainz is a Canadian journalist and philanthropist.

Kainz was employed as a technology reporter for the Ottawa Citizen when she married CJOH sportscaster Brian Smith in 1993. Smith was murdered two years later in CJOH's parking lot by paranoid schizophrenic Jeffrey Arenburg.

Kainz subsequently began a public campaign for changes in legislation around mental health issues, including the adoption of the Ontario Mental Health Act. She also established a scholarship fund in Smith's memory. She retired from journalism, and has since been involved mainly in charity administration.

Kainz began a new relationship with Cognos CEO Michael Potter less than a year after Smith was killed. Kainz and Potter married in Newport, Rhode Island in 1999, aboard Potter's yacht, but the couple separated just three months later. Kainz subsequently filed for divorce in 2001, asking for a lump sum of $10 million and monthly alimony of $100,000. This would have been the largest divorce award in Canadian legal history; in fact, Kainz settled for an undisclosed lump sum and $17,500 a month.