Principal, Mendicant Group

Alex Gill is a social entrepreneur and university instructor who enjoys working with community activists, non-profit executives, corporations and others who want to make a difference. He currently heads Mendicant Group, a consultancy that helps charities, non-profit organizations and companies improve their social impact. Prior to founding Mendicant, Alex spent more than a dozen years as an executive at a number of large non-profits and associations. Mendicant’s current clients include a diverse range of NGOs, including those from areas such as health care, child and youth development and the environment.

Alex holds appointments in Ryerson University’s Department of Politics and Public Administration and the Institute for the Study of Corporate Social Responsibility, where he regularly lectures about non-profit management, advocacy and corporate citizenship. In 2010, Alex co-authored AIM: Achieve, Inspire, Make a Difference, a book which helps people use proven executive coaching methods to develop their own ability to give back to others.

Director, Social Impact, LIFT Philanthropy Partners

Alexandra is Director, Social Impact at LIFT Philanthropy Partners, a venture philanthropy organization supporting not-for-profit, social enterprises and other organizations that address health, skills development, education and employment.

Prior to joining LIFT, Alex was with Aperio, a consulting firm that specializes in the social sector. She worked with a diverse group of clients in the areas of strategic planning, organization and governance review, social enterprise and earned income, partnership strategy, program design, and evaluation. She also spent several years with MEDA, an international development organization focused on business solutions towards poverty. With a focus on Africa and Asia, she conceived, developed, and implemented a number of initiatives that strengthened small businesses. Alex previously worked in trade promotion in Malaysia at the Canadian High Commission and as Executive Director of the Malaysia Canada Business Council.

She has a BA from Huron College, University of Western Ontario and a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University in New York City.

Lecturer and Director, Social Enterprise Initiative, Rotman School of Management

Dr. Ann Armstrong was an instructor at the Rotman School of Management for the past 15 years. She was the Director of the Social Enterprise Initiative responsible for increasing the School’s involvement in the non-profit and social enterprise sectors through curriculum design, research and community engagement.

Ann teaches change management in the Executive Development Program as well as in the MBiotech and Innovation Programs at the University of Toronto at Mississauga. She was the Academic Co-Director of Rotman’s Learning Exchange with Regent Park. Ann is working on an SSHRC-supported research project that looks at the social economy of Ontario. She has written articles on a broad range of subjects such as diversity in the non-profit sector to case studies on green social enterprises.

She has co-authored the Canadian edition of a textbook on organization design with Dr. Richard Daft and a textbook on Canada’s social economy with Drs. Jack Quarter and Laurie Mook. Ann has ‘Canadianized’, with Joan Condie, ORGB by Nelson and Quick.

Ann received her Ph.D. in organizational behaviour from the University of Toronto. In addition, she sits on several not-for-profit boards.

Principal, Charitably Speaking

Ann Rosenfield, MBA, CFRE is an award-winning professional who has been helping donors, volunteers, Boards, and neighbours make good decisions about charity for over 20 years. She is Principal of Charitably Speaking and serves as the the Editor of Hilborn Charity eNews. She has spoken on philanthropy from Amsterdam to San Francisco and her professional volunteer leadership service includes over 8 years with Imagine Canada. She is the Chair of Association of Fundraising Professionals Congress in 2018 – the largest fundraising conference in Canada. In her spare time, she serves as Board Secretary of Rainbow Railroad and is a roll up the sleeves volunteer with several local charities including Not Far From The Tree.

Senior Manager, KPMG Strategy & Operations

Candice is a member of the KPMG Strategy team in Toronto with experience in areas such as strategic planning, new business development, customer assessments, and organizational design and behaviour. Candice focuses on helping clients pursuing external growth opportunities as well as those looking to optimize their own internal design and activities in order to fulfill their growth ambitions. In her approaches she integrates creativity and rigorous analysis with a heavy emphasis on stakeholder engagement, resulting in strategies that reflect the unique realities for each client context. She has had the opportunity to collaborate with clients from a diverse set of industries including retail, financial services, media, natural resources, healthcare, and the public sector. Her experiences also include working with non-profit organizations in developing and implementing strategies to fuel their growth and enrich the arts and patient-based communities that they serve. Beyond her client work, Candice is a part of the core team driving the strategy for the practice’s national recruitment efforts.

Candice holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Mount Allison University.

Director of Education and Youth Engagement, Jane Goodall Institute of Canada (JGI)

Carissa MacLennan is the Director of Education and Youth Engagement at the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada (JGI). Prior to JGI, Carissa was an Education Manager with UNICEF Canada, working on children’s rights-based approaches to education. She has also worked for JHR (Journalists for Human Rights) where she developed and managed programming for their domestic and international departments, working in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Zambia, and in universities across Canada. Carissa’s governance experience includes serving on the boards for Canadian-Sudanese Volunteers for Development, OneChild, and Local Buttons.

Transformation Consultant, Ontario Public Service

David Ycasiano wants to help make this world a better place. He understands this can be done in many ways, and is particularly interested in how this happens at the intersection of government, business and community. He has tried to structure both his career and volunteer paths to align with this.

David is currently a Transformation Consultant for the provincial government, where he helped establish an internal consulting team to provide end-to-end support to ministries undertaking business transformations. In this role, David has supported senior executives through strategic and organizational reviews, operational design initiatives and implementations. Prior to joining the government, David worked as a management consultant at Deloitte where he worked with different clients in the public and private sectors on broad organization design and change management initiatives.

Director, Canadian Energy Infrastructure Ratings

Gerald Hannochko is a Director and credit analyst at S&P Global Ratings in Toronto. His focus is on the midstream sector, including pipeline companies, unregulated power and project developers, and energy project finance. Before assuming the role at S&P Global Ratings in December 2011, Gerald was a sell side equity research analyst covering special situations, agriculture, and clean energy companies. Previously, he was a partner at Genuity Capital Markets. Gerald worked at National Bank Financial and Canaccord Capital as an analyst covering business income trusts. Before this, he was an associate and analyst at Scotia Capital covering oil and gas producers and royalty trusts. Gerald holds a Chartered Financial Analyst designation and has a bachelor degree in Economics from the University of Calgary.

Director, Digital Transformation, PwC

As the Canadian Digital Transformation Leader, Howe’s work focuses on helping large enterprise clients deploy best-in-class technology solutions that results in not only high rates of adoption and usage but innovative and sustainable change to user and workplace experiences.

Howe has over twelve years of industry and management consulting experience where he has designed and led large scale transformation programs serving financial services, telecom and public sector clients in Canada, the U.S and China. Areas of specialization include UX design, cloud strategy, workforce transformation, target operating model design, process redesign, corporate strategy, financial regulatory compliance (US and Canada) and operational risk management.

Senior Manager, Thermo Fisher Scientific

Ian heads up the marketing team for the Laboratory Automation Business Unit at Thermo Fisher Scientific. His focus is on creating products and solutions to meet the needs of scientists around the world. Previously Ian was at Fitzii, which he co-founded in 2011 to address systemic barriers to employment in the workforce, and to provide organizations a more objective way to assess the fit between jobs and applicants. Fitzii was acquired by the Ian Martin Group in 2014. Prior to moving to Canada, Ian has lived and worked in the US, Sweden and the UK.

Ian volunteers as an advisor to start-ups and as a mentor to newly promoted managers. He is passionate about building effective teams and finding the best ways of working together. He coaches girls soccer with a local community soccer association and volunteers at the neighbourhood school.

Ian holds a Bachelor of Sciences in Applied Biology from the University of Hertfordshire. He received his Master of Business Administration in 2011 from the Rotman School of Business, University of Toronto, where he graduated as Bregman Scholar (with honors) and Valedictorian.

Senior Executive Officer, Ontario Nurses’ Association

Judy Fantham is the Senior Executive Officer of the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA). ONA is the union representing 60,000 registered nurses and allied health professionals and more than 14,000 nursing students providing care in hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, clinics and industry.

Judy is primarily responsible for strategic planning and leadership development. Working directly for the Chief Executive Officer her responsibilities range from organizational re-design to the project management of initiatives such as violence prevention in healthcare to speech writing.

For many years she worked as a television reporter and producer with CBC-TV. Her skills as a producer have stood her in good stead as she frequently uses documentary production to showcase stories in support of organizational and systemic change in healthcare.

Judy has volunteered internationally on humanitarian missions to Kenya, Peru, Bolivia and India and also gives back closer to home. She is a member of the Board of Directors for Mixed Company Theatre – an organization that uses “forum theatre” to provoke social change. And she volunteers weekly at the North York General Hospital. Judy is proud to belong to the Endeavour team as both a Board member and Advisor – sharing, learning and being inspired by up-and-coming agents of change.

Director, Product Strategy and Innovation, RBC Ventures

Julian Antony is Director of Product Strategy and Innovation at RBC Ventures, focused on building and acquiring new business ventures to re-imagine the future of banking. Julian brings a mix of banking, management consulting and social sector experience in developed and emerging markets, with 10 years of projects in Corporate Strategy, M&A Due Diligence, Business Building and Operations Optimization.

Julian started his career in Canada as an engineer at BlackBerry, followed by business strategy at Capital One, where he worked on new product launches and growth partnerships. Julian then took on a variety of international roles, including scaling a social enterprise in Haiti, launching a microfinance bank in the Philippines and developing global corporate strategy for Standard Chartered Bank, based in Singapore.

Julian is passionate about leveraging business sector approaches to drive sustainable impact in the social sector, and returns to Endeavour after previous experiences as a Senior Consultant and a member of the Development Committee. Julian holds a Chartered Financial Analyst designation and has an Honours Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from McGill University.

Director, Volunteer Relations, Project Managers without Borders  

Lynn Shannon is an experienced project manager and program director with over 25 years of experience in the IT, communications and media industries. Her career includes senior management positions in digital strategy at Rogers Communications, Torstar Digital, and McClelland and Stewart Publishers.

Originally trained as a teacher, Lynn continues to coach and mentor students and is a popular project management instructor at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies.

Lynn is also an active volunteer with the Project Management Institute (PMI), is a former president of its Toronto Chapter, and continues to represent and present at PMI conferences around the world.

Besides her PMP designation, Lynn holds a Bachelor of Education from McGill University and certifications in Graphic Arts Management from Ryerson University.

Manager, Clarkson Centre for Business Ethics and Board Effectiveness, Rotman School of Management

Matt Fullbrook has been Manager of the Clarkson Centre for Business Ethics and Board Effectiveness (CCBE) at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto since 2003. The CCBE is best known for its annual corporate governance ratings, and contributions to the Globe and Mail’s annual Board Games report. In 2011, CCBE, in partnership with Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions and the Institute of Corporate Directors, released a study into board oversight of talent issues. In addition to the Centre’s ongoing research into executive compensation, this report contributes to CCBE’s leadership in cutting-edge corporate governance research. Matt has also recently authored a series of toolkits designed to help boards of Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) navigate common boardroom challenges.

Matt received his B.A. in English and Philosophy from the University of Toronto.

Consultant, Non-profit and Community Sector

Ming-Young Tam has been involved with Endeavour since 2009 as a project advisor. She has worked with non-profit sector and community-based organizations for over 10 years, and is experienced in program development and evaluation, stakeholder relations, policy research, and strategic and operational planning. As she is a generalist at heart, Ming-Young has worked with a variety of social issues, including newcomer settlement, child and youth development, violence against women, community health, grant-making, and non-profit management. Her professional experience includes a variety of social policy and public administration positions with organizations such as the United Way Toronto, City of Toronto, Laidlaw Foundation, and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

As a freelance consultant, Ming-Young supports community and social service agencies to increase impact, build capacity, and measure outcomes. She is also an active volunteer, and has recently been involved as facilitator for an immigrant settlement program, board member with a research organization, scholarship application assessor for a national awards program, and executive team member with a youth policy engagement network.

Ming-Young is a graduate of Queen’s University at Kingston, and has a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Toronto.

AVP Innovation, Great West Lifeco

Patrick brings more than 15 years experience in insights and innovation. He excels in helping companies understand and succeed in new markets and categories by working in the intersection of strategy, design, and customer empathy. He creates engaging experiences across a broad spectrum of media. He is driven to uncover unmet needs, and develop creative and disruptive solutions.

In his current role, as AVP Innovation at Great West Lifeco, he leads a multidisciplinary team of strategists, designers, and anthropologists to solve problems, unlock opportunity, and create value.

His client roster includes projects for multiple Fortune-1000 clients, including Abbott, Campbells, KPMG, LG, Pepsi, RBC, Samsung, and more. His research and consulting experience spans B2C, B2B, as well as work for non-profit organizations – and across a wide range of industries.

Independent Consultant and Writer

Ron has held senior positions in corporate and project finance at EY, PwC, and boutique advisory firms, and served as a consultant and economist to clients in Canada, the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa.

Much of his career has been spent at the interface between the public and private sectors. He has managed or advised on transactions and financings in Canada and internationally for airports, highways, hospitals, court houses, correctional facilities, and other infrastructure classes, as well as services such as food distribution, telecoms, and security.

Ron is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan, the University of Toronto, the London School of Economics, and the Humber School for Writers. He has served as a CUSO volunteer in Botswana, where he worked on resource and development issues, and as a commissioned naval officer. He is the author of two novels, A Person of Letters, published in 2015, and Poplar Lake, to be published in 2018.

CEO, CMC Research Institutes

Sandra Odendahl is President and CEO of CMC Research Institutes (CMCRI), an environmental tech and innovation company that facilitates the testing and scale-up of technologies that reduce carbon emissions from industrial sources. She joined CMCRI in September 2017 with over 20 years of experience in environmental science, engineering, and responsible finance. She previously headed the Royal Bank of Canada’s Corporate Sustainability, Social Finance and Social Innovation teams. Prior to joining RBC, she worked as an environmental scientist for Noranda in Montreal, and as an environmental consultant for BEAK Engineering in Toronto and Vancouver.

Sandra volunteers on several non-profit boards that reflect her interests in responsible finance, sustainability and innovation. Ms. Odendahl is Chair of the Board of the Toronto Atmospheric Fund; and a board director of the Ontario Clean Water Agency, Pollution Probe, and U of T’s Institute for Leadership Education in Engineering (ILead). She has also enjoyed serving on many expert panels and advisory groups.

Sandra has a degree in chemical engineering from the University of Ottawa and an M.A.Sc from the University of Toronto. She is a licensed professional engineer, and a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder. Sandra lives with her husband and two children in Toronto.

Director of Emerging Solutions, TELUS

Shant Sethian is the Director of Emerging Solutions at TELUS where he has held a variety of leadership roles across consumer and business marketing over the past 8 years.

He has extensive experience in product marketing, product development, business casing and strategy. Shant has also worked for a few start-up, including a software company he co-founded during graduate school which instigated his passion for the world of technology marketing.

Shant received his Master’s and Bachelor’s of Engineering from Queen’s University in applied mathematics with a focus on communications engineering.

President, Common Good Strategies

Steven Ayer is the Founder and President of Common Good Strategies, a market research and strategic consulting group that specializes in research for the non-profit sector. Current non-profit projects include surveys, evaluations, fund development, and data strategies.

Before starting Common Good Strategies, Steven was a Senior Research Associate at Imagine Canada where he co-authored several reports on the non-profit sector. His publications include Corporate Community Investment Practices, Motivations and Challenges: Findings from the Canada Survey of Business Contributions to Community, believed to be the most comprehensive study of corporate contributions to non-profit and charitable organizations conducted in North America, and the 2007 Highlights Report for the Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering, and Participating, the largest study of individual giving and volunteering behaviour in Canada. He has also written extensively on fundraising costs, transparency and revenue strategies. Prior to his work at Imagine Canada, Steven was Research Manager and Research Associate at the Institute for Sport Marketing, where he managed an array of research and consulting projects related to marketing and sponsorship.

Steven holds an MBA degree from Laurentian University and is a recipient of the Social Science and Humanities Research Council’s Canada Graduate Scholarship. In his spare time, Steven is an enthusiastic volunteer and an equally enthusiastic mediocre athlete.

Manager, KPMG Strategy & Operations

Stuart is a consultant with KPMG’s Strategy & Operations practice in Toronto, and his experience has been focused on providing strategic advice for companies in energy, fast-moving consumer packaged goods, public and financial services sectors across three continents – North America, Europe and Africa – helping them address issues related to operational effectiveness, identifying new, untapped growth markets, optimizing product distribution and leading large, transformational change initiatives.

Stuart is former Rotarian who is passionate about working with non-profit and community organizations, with a specific focus on youth education in underprivileged communities both here and abroad. His service to helping the local and student community in London, Ontario garnered him the “Humanitarian of the Year” award for his graduating class. While at KPMG, Stuart has been an active volunteer at Free The Children’s Me-To-We Take Action Camp helping young leaders with strategic planning.

Stuart holds an MBA from IESE Business School, University of Navarra, and an Bachelor of Management and Organization Studies from The University of Western Ontario

Senior Manager, Run for the Cure Fundraising, Canadian Cancer Society

Tanya Rumble is an authentic and results-driven relationship and fundraising manager with over 10 years of tenure. Her background includes diverse and deep experience in government relations; community and public health; and the non-profit and academic sectors. She has cultivated expertise in fund development for the health charity industry, and is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE).

She is Senior Manager, Run for the Cure Fundraising at the Canadian Cancer Society and in this role leads all community engagement functions for the CIBC Run for the Cure with a fundraising portfolio of $17MM.

Tanya is Co-Founder of Toronto plus Acumen, an official chapter of Acumen. Tanya is a past 7 year leadership volunteer with Canada’s largest grant maker – the Ontario Trillium Foundation. She was most recently appointed by the Ontario Minister of Health and Long-term Care to the Citizen’s Council advising the Minister on healthcare and drug policy in the province. Additionally Tanya enjoys grassroots volunteer opportunities – she is a Project Advisor with Endeavour Volunteer Consulting for Non-profits, is a Jane’s Walk leader, and regularly volunteers with the Daily Bread Food Bank.

Tanya completed a Honours Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at McMaster University and a Masters Certificate at New York University with the World Health Organization. She is currently pursuing the Masters of Public Policy, Administration and Law at York University. Tanya is naturally inquisitive and a lifelong learner – she is a graduate of the 2017 AFP Inclusion and Philanthropy Fellowship, and 2010 DiverseCity Fellowship.

Director, Consulting and Deals Practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Canada

Teresa Huang is a Director with the Consulting and Deals Practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Canada (PwC). She is an experienced professional in the areas of business architecture and process engineering, sourcing and vendor management, program/project management, and merger integration.

Teresa has project managed and supported large business transformation projects especially in the area of Customer Care organization start up, realignment and outsourcing. Teresa has also assisted clients and internally at PwC with transactions of varying degrees of complexity. She is experienced in performing IT and operations due diligence, managing the deal signing and closing processes, as well as managing post merger integration and transition services.

Teresa holds a Bachelors of Applied Science degree in Mineral Engineering from the University of Toronto.

Principal, Lough Barnes Consulting Group

Tony Yu is a Principal at Lough Barnes Consulting Group. Tony is a skilled public sector and not-for-profit consultant with experience in conducting program/performance evaluations, strategic planning and implementation, service model design and business planning. His clients include Ontario’s Ministries and the broader public sector in the areas of health, child welfare, mental health and addictions, transportation and culture.

Tony holds an MBA from Schulich School of Business, York University, BSc from University of Toronto and is currently the Vice-Chair on the board of St. Michael’s Homes.