Endeavour is led by an executive team with diverse skills and experiences from the non-profit sector, consulting and industry.
Senior Leadership Team
Heather Waldman, Chief Executive Officer
Heather Waldman held chief financial officer positions in companies in both for-profit and charitable sectors, before branching out to provide financial leadership in a fractional CFO capacity for a number of organizations. For the past eight years, Heather has been helping companies improve overall performance and impact, and clearing pathways for organizations to realize their full potential. As Executive Director at Endeavour Volunteer Consulting, Heather brings a wealth of expertise in non-profit development, sustaining community impact, and encouraging and engaging skilled individuals and corporations to become active partners. Heather earned her business degree in marketing and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in Cape Town, South Africa before moving to Canada and requalifying as a Canadian CA-CPA. She served as finance chair on the board for an organization dedicated to ending violence against women.
Audrey Wong, Vice-President, Talent Management
Audrey is a health system planner at Ontario Health and an avid volunteer. She joined Endeavour as a consultant and later took on the role of engagement manager. As the Vice-President of Talent Management, Audrey works with her team to recruit and retain stellar talent to support Endeavour’s mission.
Outside of Endeavour and work, she is a board member for the University of Toronto’s Public Health Alumni Association where she previously co-chaired the Dalla Lana School of Public Health’s student-alumni mentorship program for two years. She is also a passionate member of the Toastmaster club “Toast to Your Health”.
Audrey has a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Science in Health Studies with a specialization in Gerontology and Health
Hamad Akram, Vice-President, Operations
As the Vice-President of Operations, Hamad works closely with the Endeavour Executive Team to coordinate internal processes, eliminate bottlenecks, and help achieve organizational goals.
Looking for impactful and fulfilling volunteer opportunities, Hamad found the perfect fit with Endeavour in 2018. He has worked on multiple different projects and has held several different roles such as Consultant, Senior Consultant, and Engagement Manager. Each project has allowed Hamad to connect with the local community, meet dedicated individuals, and support the non-profit sector. Hamad hopes to continue volunteering at Endeavour and help other non-profit organizations achieve their full potential.
Currently, Hamad works at PepsiCo Canada as a Data Scientist where he leads a global advanced analytics initiative. His previous experience includes working as a Supply Chain Leader at one of PepsiCo Canada’s largest distribution centers. Outside of PepsiCo, Hamad has held different engineering and business facing roles in the aerospace, nuclear, and business intelligence industries.
Hamad holds a Bachelor of Engineering and Management degree from McMaster University, specializing in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. In his free time, Hamad enjoys playing sports, reading, and learning to cook.
Igor Skapinker, Vice-President, Information Technology
Igor joined Endeavour as the Director of Knowledge Management in 2011. In this role, he developed and enhanced the platforms to provide knowledge sharing and retention within the organization.
In 2014 he moved to Director of Information Technology role. In this role, Igor is responsible for developing and implementing an IT roadmap to support Endeavour’s strategic growth. He is also responsible for managing the development and maintenance of web applications to improve the overall productivity of the organization from an IT standpoint.
Impressed by Endeavour’s vision and mission, Igor joined the organization so he could contribute his extensive experience in business and information technology to the community. He is motivated by the passion and dedication of many professionals who contribute their time and talent helping non-profit organizations. Combining his extensive industry experience with strong analytical and strategic thinking skills, Igor’s focus is to help Endeavour build a technological base that will support the organization in achieving its strategic goals and growth.
Igor is one of the founders of RedSoft Global Services, a boutique IT consulting firm that helps organizations to achieve results and accelerate growth using Information Technology.
Igor holds an MBA degree from the Schulich School of Business at York University.
Ilene Hyman, Vice-President, Evaluation
Ilene joined Endeavour in 2015 as a member of an engagement team in Round 16. She continued her involvement with Endeavour as an Evaluation Associate providing consultation to community multi-service agencies on theory of change models and evaluation, conducting internal evaluation activities and assisting with agency presentations and reports.
Ilene Hyman is a social epidemiologist, community-based researcher and adjunct professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Her academic background includes an MHSc (currently MPH) in Community Health from U of T, and a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Montreal. Much of her research explores issues of health and social equity. Since 2006 Ilene has been working as a consultant providing services in strategic planning, policy analysis, community-based research, and evaluation to government, academic, and community-based health and social service agencies.
Shahroz Ehsan, Vice-President of Consulting
As the Vice-President of Consulting, Shahroz leads a team of executives in prospecting, selecting and onboarding new clients. Additionally, he is in charge of project scoping, engagement resourcing, and relationship management.
AShahroz is an engineering graduate and currently works as a Commercial Manager for the City of Calgary to deliver transit infrastructure. He has extensive experience working collaboratively with public Clients in Toronto and Edmonton to ideate, plan and execute City and community building initiatives. He has also been involved with other non-profits in Toronto such as Pathways to Education and University Consulting Group.
Having started with Endeavour in 2017, volunteer consulting presented Shahroz with a perfect opportunity to create organizational impact for the local non-profits while also growing personally by learning from an environment rooted in meritocracy, collaboration, diversity, and support. Given Endeavour’s positive community building role in GTHA, Shahroz returned as a Senior Consultant and an Engagement Manager. Prior to his current role he served as a Project Manager to drive consulting team to deliver projects efficiently. He believes in times like today, organizations such as Endeavour are essential for the non-profits that otherwise cannot afford professional consulting.
Shahroz holds a B.A.Sc degree from University of Toronto, specializing in Civil Engineering and an Engineering Business Certificate from Rotman School of Management. In his spare time, he likes to hang out with friends, read, run and play tennis.
Leanne O’Brien, Vice President Marketing and Communication
Leanne is a versatile communications practitioner with eighteen years of experience producing on B-to-B and non-profit strategies to generate awareness among audiences. A data- and results-driven collaborator, Leanne has a strong foundation in theory, methodology, and measurement. With a high level of creativity and accountability, she has a deep interest in contributing to meaningful impact for organizations and their people.
Doris Huiting Duan, Vice-President, Volunteer Experience
Doris is a Chartered Professional Accountant and currently works as Manager of Analytics at Empire Life. She joined Endeavour back in 2018 as a consultant and later took on the role of Senior Consultant. In her varied career path, she has worked in or volunteered in customer service, sales, accounting, financial planning & analysis, data management and merge & acquisition. Throughout all the experience she had, training and development of new staff and new members has always been part of her roles. She is very excited to continue her involvement in training and development with Endeavour.
Outside of Endeavour and work, Doris is an entrepreneur and the founder of D Âme Jewelry Boutique, a jewelry brand that creates classic and demi-fine jewelry pieces and encourages girls in a digital world to ‘D’efine beauty on their own terms. She is also a huge dog lover; she has a Corgi and an Akita Inu at home.
Doris holds both a BCom degree with Rotman School of Management specializing in Public Accounting and a Major in Economics at University of Toronto.
Jesse Gerva, Vice-President, Volunteer Experience
Jesse Gerva is a business strategist specialized in organizational change and value creation. Through his work at Gerva Academy School of Business, Jesse develops projects for a number of organizations such colleges, universities, chambers of commerce, religious entities and business incubators. His fascination for what education and entrepreneurship can do in a community has led him to work in initiatives as a mentor and keynote speaker in community centers worldwide.
He is a member of the Brazilian Bar Association (as a lawyer) and a member of the Law Society of Ontario (as a licensed paralegal), has a post-graduation in commercial law, and is an MBA candidate (specialization in Sustainable Commerce) at the University of Guelph.
Linda Kenny, Vice President Finance
Directors
Violet Wu, Director, Talent Management
Violet is a research scientist in the life science industry. She is passionate about giving back to the community, continuing education, and personal development.
Violet first volunteered with Endeavour in Round 24 (Project: Ukrainian Canadian Social Services – Toronto), then as a senior consultant in Round 25 (Project: Camp Awakening) and Round 26 (Project: Canadian Neuroendocrine Tumour Society). She enjoyed her experience with Endeavour greatly, and hopes to continue contributing to Endeavour’s mission and values.
Violet holds an MSc from the University of Toronto. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, going to concerts and musicals.
Katherine Chan, Co-Director Operations
Jennifer Li, Co-Director Operations
Sandra Lai, Director Information Technology
Sandra is an experienced IT manager with progressive experience specializing in analytics, project management, and technology. She has a proven track record of driving regulatory, marketing, and analytics initiatives to completion, supporting critical analytical platforms, and promoting new processes, methods and documentation standards to improve customer experience.
Sandra has volunteered for over 20 years for non-profit organizations, community groups and student unions, and has been on the Board of Director for 5 years (Toronto Triathlon Club and Toronto Bicycling Network). Her affiliative leadership style focuses on team collaboration and proactive communication with a focus on accountability.
Irina Pop, Co-Director Evaluation
Matthew Murray, Co-Director Evaluation
Michael Martin, Co-Director, Client Relations
Michael is a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto focusing on neuroscience. He became interested in consulting early in graduate school and has been working in a variety of roles both within and outside of academia to further that interest. As he has been involved in volunteer organizations for the last ten years, moving into his role at Endeavour was a good way to marry his interests in consulting and giving back to his community. Outside of Endeavour and his thesis, he enjoys bouldering and team sports of any kind and is trying to get into photography.
Laura Koek, Co-Director, Client Relations
Laura is a PhD candidate in the Department of Physiology at the University of Toronto. She first volunteered with Endeavour in Round 30 as part of the Client Relations Team and is excited to be back for Round 31. In her spare time, she enjoys bouldering, cooking and hiking.
Rachel Yuen, Co-Director, Marketing & Communications
Rachel is an experienced marketer specializing in media and digital strategies. Her day-to-day responsibilities focus on formulating and executing sound media plans for clients to ensure their bottom-line growth. When she is not spinning in the marketing world, Rachel enjoys a good read with a cup of coffee.
Wynonna Gomes, Co-Director, Volunteer Engagement
Wynonna is a CPA with experience spanning over five years in professional services within the Financial Services, Asset Management, and Non-Profit sectors. She began her career as a public accountant at PwC Canada, before deciding to pursue management consulting. She currently works at Blue-Mark Management Consultants, where she helps leaders align on and implement business strategies and priorities while navigating complex change. Passionate about ensuring everyone’s voice gets heard, Wynonna strives to bring diverse perspectives to the table during the decision-making process. She has a unique ability to foster safe and inclusive environments that bring forward these perspectives.
Her professional experience combined with her love of collaborating with others led her to volunteer as a Consultant in Round 25 (Project: Camp Awakening). After seeing the positive impact of the engagements in Round 25, she subsequently volunteered as a Senior Consultant (Project: InFact) and member of the Recruitment Committee in Round 27.
Wynonna graduated First Class with an Honours Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University and obtained her Graduate Diploma in Accounting in 2016. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of CAYR Community Connections.
Iona Frost, Co-Director, Volunteer Engagement
Iona leads an enthusiastic team dedicated to developing programs and services to support volunteer seekers and volunteer managers at non-profit organizations across Toronto. Prior to joining Volunteer Toronto Iona led a provincial Advocate Program for the Trillium Gift of Life Network (TGLN), providing Ontarians with tools to make informed decisions about organ and tissue donation. Iona has also had the great privilege of managing the education and outreach strategies at the Artists’ Health Alliance and Times Change Women’s Employment Service, working to design and enhance preventative healthcare education, career exploration and poverty reduction resources.
A long-time and avid volunteer, Iona has enjoyed delivering public workshops in community spaces, engaged as a “Go Girls!” program leader and In School Mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Toronto, and most recently served two years as an Executive Board Member with The Toronto Association for Volunteer Administration (TAVA). She is excited to be joining the Endeavor Team, and looks forward to applying her passion for non-profit capacity building in new ways.
Chris Zegarra, Co-Director, Training and Development
Chris joined Endeavour in 2022 with aspirations to support Endeavour volunteer teams and help develop the skills needed to drive success. He is a professor at two top colleges in Toronto and is a freelance consultant for local businesses. His professional career started in the global logistics industry where he worked in imports and quickly moved into various management roles where he implemented projects and training programs for both clients and internal customers. He brings with him a passion to create value, support local nonprofits and help make a real difference in his community.
Chris currently holds a BComm in Global Business Management from The Ted Rogers School of Management at Toronto Metropolitan University. In his free time, Chris likes to cook or learn about different cooking techniques and recipes.
Nadia Sayeh, Co-Director of Training and Development
Nadia is a champion for women and girls. Her diverse background, curious spirit, and inclusive nature have helped her successfully lead various teams. Nadia is an entrepreneur and a visionary leader with over ten years of experience providing leadership, coaching, and support in the non-profit sector, and graduated from Seneca College with a Post-Graduate Certificate in Non-Profit and Social Sector Management.
As a community advocate, she is passionate about Muslim Women, empowerment, civic engagement, activism, inclusion, and social development. She is excited to continue advocating for women, girls and diverse equity-seeking groups to overcome barriers and reach their full potential. Her wish is to contribute to the community and attempt to make a significant change in the community.
Her motto that she lives by is “If more women are in leadership roles, we’ll stop assuming they shouldn’t be.”
Uyen Dang, Co-Director, Project Management
Uyen is a Senior Insights Consultant at Prophet, a marketing and branding consultancy firm in New York City. Prior to being in analytics, she had extensive project management experience at Dalhousie University, and several multinational market research firms. Uyen has been passionate about volunteering since childhood, from local volunteering in Toronto at soup kitchens, homeless shelters and retirement homes, to internationally with Habitat for Humanity, community schools, and traveling healthcare teams. As a professional, skilled volunteering led her to Endeavour, starting as consultant, then Engagement Manager and since Round 31 as a Co-Director of PM. In her spare time, she enjoys Latin dancing, reading, exploring new food spots, traveling, and building upon the skills needed to do a handstand pushup.
Ulker Tas, Co-Director, Project Management
Ulker is an aerospace engineer and a technical leader with a Master’s degree, PMP certification and 13 years of asset management and business strategy experience in client-facing and high-visibility roles spanning aviation, rail and manufacturing industries. Ulker built and led diverse teams of varying sizes and roles, including technical managers, specialists and data analysts. She loves mentoring, coaching, supporting and influencing her teams towards on-time and within-budget strategy creation and project execution. After a few months of career break post-COVID, Ulker is getting ready to start a consulting role in Toronto. Her personal interests lie in nature, traveling, investing, fitness, nutrition and mindfulness.