Our Board and Staff
Our Board
PTP is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors with experience and knowledge related to adult education, financial management, human resources and organizational development.
Executive Committee
Jeffrey Ma – Chair
Jeffrey chose to volunteer at PTP because quality work is one of the most fundamental avenues for finding purpose and stability in life. PTP successfully empowers people to learn and find work they value, which is a mission that Jeffrey firmly supports.
Jeffrey is currently Legal Counsel at the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation. Prior to his current position, Jeffrey was an Articling and Summer Student at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP. Jeffrey has also volunteered and worked for a number of non-profits and startups including his current positions on the Board of Directors of Community Innovation Lab and sitting on the Rotman Commerce Alumni Steering Committee.
Jeffrey holds a J.D./M.B.A. and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto.
Liana Guiry – Vice Chair
Liana is passionate about driving forward social justice through the power of education and supporting organizations that positively action these beliefs. Her strategic thinking and ability to translate complex data into valuable insights will serve PTP well as the organization continues to evolve its unique value proposition for sustainability.
Liana is an accomplished marketing executive with extensive experience building transformative brands and enhancing customer experiences across global services such as American Express, Ontario Tourism, Delta Hotels and Resorts and most recently Vice President of Marketing at Revera Inc. She is currently consulting for various organizations.
Liana holds a Masters in Business Administration from The Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario and a Bachelor of Applied Science from The University of Guelph.
Colan Wang – Treasurer
After hearing from others who had found meaningful work through PTP’s programs, Colan joined the Board of Directors in 2018 to help further PTP’s mission of providing tailored, positive pathways to success.
As a Consultant at Boston Consulting Group, Colan advises Canadian and multinational organizations across a variety of industries with their strategic and transformation initiatives. Prior to his current position, he worked as a Business Consultant at TD Bank in their wealth management group and as a Senior Consultant at Deloitte Canada. Colan has also served on the Board of Directors and Committees of other local organizations, including the CFA Society Toronto and LGBT Youthline.
Colan received his MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was named a Palmer Scholar. He also graduated from Ivey Business School’s HBA program and is a CFA Charterholder.
Summer Somani – Communications Officer
Summer believes in the importance of removing barriers and empowering individuals to enter and succeed in the workforce, which is why she chose to volunteer for PTP.
Summer is a lawyer who is passionate about employment law. She has represented employees and employers in all areas involving workplace law and human rights. Prior to practicing law, Summer worked for a boutique consulting firm where she assisted organizations with creating efficiencies and removing redundancies by streamlining processes and utilizing technology.
Summer holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto and a law degree from the University of Windsor.
Kevin Robinson
Kevin strongly believes in the ethics of volunteerism. He is actively committed to lifelong learning and empowering individuals to maximize their potential and has always been engaged in his community through initiatives to support the pursuit of academic goals, changing lives and creating a positive social impact.
Kevin has extensive multi-sector experience in strategic planning, sustainable value creation and service delivery, including executive leadership roles with multi-national corporations and Crown agencies. He currently serves as Senior Director at the Local Health Integration Network Shared Services Office. In prior roles, he served as founder and principal consultant for a private consulting firm that provided project and program management services to a range of clients including Fortune 500 companies.
Kevin holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of East London, an Executive MBA from Richard Ivey Business School and completed training in Leadership Strategies for Health Information Technology at Harvard University School of Public Health. He holds the professional designation Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute and a Board Diversity Governance Certificate from Ryerson University.
Laban Lin
As someone who grew up in an immigrant community in Canada, Laban understands the struggles that accompany those with language and literacy barriers. He feels strongly that in addition to providing competitiveness in the job market, language skills offer people peace of mind and a sense that they belong to the communities in which they live. For this reason, Laban was drawn to volunteer at PTP.
Laban is a consultant, and has worked with clients in insurance and mining. Currently, he works at Bain & Company, a leading global management consultancy.
Laban holds honours degrees in Business Administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business and Software Engineering from the University of Western Ontario.
Lauren Bell
Lauren’s interest in PTP stems from a longstanding commitment to community service; experience volunteering with service organizations, community agencies, boards, and board committees. Paired with a strong foundation in the determinants of health, which notes the importance of education and literacy in the ability of individuals to achieve positive health outcomes, she is excited to contribute to an organization focused on improving the social and economic well-being of its participants.
Lauren is a health informatics professional with diverse public healthcare strategy and implementation experience. Her professional roles span positions within public health, St. Michael’s Hospital, University Health Network, Health Quality Ontario and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. In her current role as Manager of Innovation & Strategic Partnerships for Plexxus, a healthcare shared service organization, she is responsible for supporting large health care procurement for hospitals that support a greater move to value-based healthcare.
Lauren holds a Bachelor of Health Sciences from Western University and a Master of Health Informatics from the University of Toronto.
Regnard Raquedan
Regnard knows what it feels like to be a newcomer and needing to build the skills and experience required to create a better life for his family. With the support of the right services and resources, he was able to build a career in technology in Toronto. Regnard feels that many deserve this kind of opportunity, a value he shares with PTP.
Regnard is the Co-founder at Agile Starts and Pre-Kode. With over 15 years’ experience in Product Management, User Experience Design, and Web Development, Regnard is committed to educating the next generation of tech professionals and transforming organizations big and small.
Despite having completed advanced studies (he has an MBA from the Asian Institute of Management, a Masters in Information Management from Ateneo De Manila University, and an executive certificate on Strategy and Innovation from MIT Sloan School of Management), Regnard is most proud of his completion of the Improv Program at The Second City Training Centre.
Salloni Kummar
Salloni chose to serve on the PTP Board and become an integral part of spreading literacy in society. She believes in the power of collective action and movements as agents of social change. Her expertise in the financial sector will enable her to be an active participant and strategic decision maker to lead PTP along the right path to its financial and mission success.
Salloni has more than fifteen years financial industry experience, specializing in asset management, corporate liaison, relationship management, and business development. Most recently, she was responsible for global asset building and fund development at Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management company, India. Her role included raising assets across Asia, Europe, UK and USA for equity and fixed income funds and widening the target segment of clients to include pension funds and family offices.
Salloni is the Managing Director at SPG Global Investments, a Toronto based investment consultancy that provides strategic institutional partnership opportunities for public funds with investment companies, pension funds, asset management and insurance companies in Canada and USA.
Salloni has completed her Masters in Business Administration from Indian Education Society, Mumbai and Bachelor of Commerce and Economics from University of Mumbai.
Our staff
Chief Executive Officer
Chief Operating Officer
Director
Heather Paterson, Business Development
Kamran Ahmadpour, IT & Digital Transformation
Program Managers
Anne Marie Williams, LBS, West
Kunga Norzom, Newcomers – English for Work Program and Sector Specific
Milena Lomovic, Employment Services
Simone Morrison, LBS, East
Program Coordinators
Andrew Shaver, Newcomers – English For Work
Karin Meinzer, LBS, West
Katherine Rios, LBS, East
Lyudmyla Vavryshchuk, Women’s Employment Readiness Program
Maria Anwer, Business Development
Olena Marchenko, Employment Essentials, East
Vishnu Lilhardar, Marketing and Communications
Instructors
Chris Harris, CLI
Kamran Ahmadpour, East
Karin Meinzer, West
Katherine Rios, East
Lauren Morris, West
Leila Naderi, East
Linda Armstrong, West
Lucy Ng, East
Richard Pathak, West
Rita Asare, CLI
Rogue Witterick, Women’s Employment Readiness Program
Ryan Harron, West
Shadia Ismail-Ahmad, West
Shahina Suleman, Sector Specific
Sujena Sutharsun, East
Yvonne Voulgaris, East
Employment Counsellors/Job Developers
Alana Anderson, Employment Services
Biljana Milinkovic, Employment Services
Iryna Radzikhovska, Employment Services
Katherine Green, Sector Specific
Nicholas Lorraway, Workforce Development: Pathway to Work for Youth with Disabilities
Tina Deyhimi, Employment Services
Zainab Jalwa, Employment Services
Facilitators/Social Workers
Cheryl Reid, Women’s Employment Readiness Program
Christian Chang, Social Worker, Let’s Connect
Juliet Agyei, Women’s Employment Readiness Program
Administrative Support
Adriana Mendoza, Employment Services
Avis Henry, East
Linda Le, Finances
Diana Lizarralde, Sector Specific
Hephzibah Imran, Executive Assistant
Huong Hoa Nguyen, Finances
Minh Chung, Employment Services
Patricia Kowalska, West