Board Members
Profiles
Vittoria is the owner and operator of Adhami and Adhami Financial Group, an investment and insurance brokerage. She is also a Life/Professional/Divorce Coach, Mediator and Motivational Speaker and an Associate Professional of Peel Halton Collaborative Family Law Group. Vittoria is an author and member of the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto.
Pina is a Chartered Professional Accountant and Chartered Accountant and has spent the last 20 years as a business and financial professional at Loblaws Inc. Show Less
Currently, she is involved with training and change management for corporations with ERP projects. Her extensive business acumen, includes strategy, planning & analysis, risk management in addition to financial operations and external financial reporting.
In addition to previous volunteer experiences with COSTI, Pina has been involved in various fundraising efforts from National MS Walks, to local school fundraising events. She is a past Treasurer of the YWCA.
Refat is a Chartered Professional Accountant with 25 years of corporate business experience, plus 15 years more recently with the Aga Khan Development Network. He has worked in the United Kingdom, North America and Central Asia. Refat is a C-Suite executive (Chief Financial Officer and Chief Executive Officer) in Corporate Canada and the Charities sector with experience in strategy development, operational execution, and financial management. He retired as the Chief Financial Officer of the Aga Khan Museum at the end of 2020.
Refat serves on the Board of Directors of Imagine Canada (national umbrella organization of Canadian Charities and Not-For-Profit Organizations) as Treasurer and Chair of its Risk Management, Finance & Audit Committee, and Member of Standards Council.
For over 20 years, Gina has been inspiring and supporting individuals and organizations to strategically define their hopes and achieve their goals. As the Senior Program Director of Ryerson’s Law Practice Program (LPP), Gina is responsible for the development, implementation and general management of this innovative transition year training program for lawyer licensing candidates in Ontario. In this role, she is responsible for ensuring academic excellence and the quality of service and program delivery for participants, and outreach to hundreds of contributing members of the legal profession. Gina has also been actively involved with the development and recent launch of Ryerson’s new innovative law school.
With a passion for adult education, leadership and diversity, she completed her Masters of Education in 2012 and received her Coaching Certification in 2017. Gina developed and directed the award-winning Internationally Trained Lawyers Program at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law and spent more than 12 years with Osgoode Hall Law School of York University, first as Director of Career Services, followed by nine years as the Assistant Dean of Student Services. Between 2013 and 2014, Gina was the Director, Strategic Planning and Knowledge Management for the Legal Services Division of the Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario.
Following her graduation from Osgoode Hall Law School, Gina began her legal career practicing family law and civil litigation in Toronto, Canada. She is a proud Greek-Canadian soccer mom living with her family in Toronto.
Leo is President of Optimal Assessments and Consulting Inc., a Toronto-based organization that provides performance assessment tools, certification and consulting services to corporations, human resource consultants, executive search firms and executive coaches. Over the past twenty-eight years, Leo has worked for an international consulting firm and two of Canada's largest financial services organizations. He has held a variety of progressively senior positions in financial management, sales, management consulting and general management.
Leo has represented two Canadian financial institutions on both international and domestic boards, and has an M.B.A. from the York University Schulich School of Business and a B.A. from the University of Toronto.
Adrian David is a current Member of the Board and Chair of COSTI’s Facilities Committee and Member of the Finance and Business Committee. Over the past 35 years, Adrian dedicated his work to the occupational health and safety of workers in the workplace.
As a safety professional, he brings extensive experience in the field as well as a global perspective of the occupational health and safety profession. He received his accreditation as a Canadian Registered Safety Professional (CRSP) in the year 2000.
His Canadian record of service for the last 22 years includes Health and Safety Inspector (retired) for the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Environment Health and Safety Manager for S.G.S. – Alcoa, and Consultant for Ontario Service Safety Alliance – component of the WSIB partnership.
In his international work, Adrian worked for the Ministry of Labour in Romania as General Inspector and Director; was the head of the health and safety department for a large manufacturing holding with about 15,000 employees; acted as financial officer for the European Union funded health and safety program in Romania. He managed and coordinated different international projects in health and safety with Health and Safety Executive in UK; Directorate of Labour Inspection in Denmark; and Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
Adrian is a former COSTI client and obtained his first job in Canada while in training with COSTI.
Rupa is an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Resource Management and Organizational Behaviour at the Ted Rogers School of Management. Dr. Banerjee is interested in exploring the employment experiences of immigrants and racialized Canadians. She examines this issue both from the perspective of highly skilled and educated immigrants, as well as lower skilled temporary foreign workers.
Rupa is motivated to understand the factors that pose barriers for immigrants and the potential avenues for immigrants to overcome their disadvantage. To that end, she has undertaken a number of recent studies examining the labour market experiences of immigrants. From 2012 to 2015, she was the principal investigator of a study funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), which investigated the occupational trajectories of live-in caregivers in Canada as they transitioned from temporary foreign workers to permanent residents. In another recent project, funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research.
Rupa is collaborating with COSTI to develop a digital tool to help new immigrants with integration into Canada. Most recently, Dr. Banerjee was awarded a five-year SSHRC grant to examine recent changes in skilled immigrant selection policy and how these changes affect employers and newly arrived immigrants, and their ability to integrate into Canadian society.
Mary Anne has held several senior positions over the course of her thirty year career in the Ontario Public Service spanning communications, policy analysis and program development.
Mary Anne started her career in public policy with the Ontario Women's Directorate. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (History) from the University of Western Ontario and earned her Master of Arts degree in History from York University.
Mary Anne has been an active member of her community. Her outreach has included sitting on the Board of a local daycare, leading the marriage preparation program at St. Bonaventure's Parish for 10 years, as well as organizing fundraising events to benefit St. Clare Inn, a transitional home for homeless women with mental health challenges.
Marcellina is Vice President, Human Resources, for Celestica, a Canadian global leader in design, manufacturing and supply chain solutions.
She is an experienced Senior Human Resources Professional with a strategic business perspective. Through her work with the Ministry of Labour, The Sun Products Corporation, Molson and Bombardier Aerospace, Marcellina is known as a leader in the development and integration of human resources strategies, policies and programs to support the achievement of business results.
Marcellina is a member of the Board of Mens Sana and former Member of the Board of Centro Scuola and former Chair and Board Member of Harmony Day Care.
Fausto Gaudio is a current Member of the Board of COSTI Immigrant Services. An accomplished banking executive, Fausto is the founding and current President and Chief Executive Officer of IC Savings. He has been leading this credit union — one of Ontario’s best managed — since it began in 2000. A firm believer in community banking, he had the singular vision of launching a financial co-operative within the Italian-Canadian community in the Greater Toronto Area.
His generous volunteerism underscores both his personal beliefs in stronger and healthier communities and the credit union’s mission to give back to the communities it serves. Currently, he serves on The IC Savings Foundation and the Calabrian Benevolent Foundation. Past appointments include serving on the Humber River Hospital Foundation, as well as chairing its volunteer fundraising cabinet; Mens Sana Families for Mental Health; Ontario Sustainable Energy Association; and VITA Community Living Services.
Frank has had a varied career in private practice, academia, government and the judiciary.
Frank was born, raised and educated in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he received his B. Comm. and LL.B. from UBC. He went on to receive his LL.M. and Dip. Intl L. from Cambridge. He began his career in 1964 as a lawyer at a large New York firm, where he practised corporate and securities law. In 1967, he joined the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, and was a Professor of Law there until 1985. He also served as Vice President, Internal Affairs at the University of Toronto from 1975 to 1979 and Dean of the Faculty of Law from 1979 to 1983. From 1983 to 1985, he was Vice President and Provost of the University. In 1985, Mr. Iacobucci was appointed Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General for Canada; in 1988, Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Canada; and in 1991, a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.
The Honourable Frank Iacobucci retired from the Supreme Court of Canada in June 2004 and served as interim President of the University of Toronto from September 2004 until June 2005. On July 1, 2005, he joined Torys LLP as Counsel and became Chairman of Torstar Corporation (to 2009). He served as Chairman of the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (from 2006 to 2012), and presently is Conduct Review Advisor for the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and of the Advisory Board of General Motors of Canada. He also served as member of the Ontario Law Commission. He was the federal government representative in the negotiations leading to a settlement of the Indian residential schools (IRS) legacy. In December 2006, he was appointed Commissioner to lead an inquiry into the conduct of Canadian officials regarding certain individuals alleged to be related to terrorism. In April of 2008 as a special advisor to the Minister of Natural Resources for Ontario, he provided advice for a framework toward a long-term agreement between Grassy Narrows First Nation and the Province of Ontario dealing with forestry and related issues. In 2013, he prepared a report as an Independent Review for the Ministry of the Attorney General on representation on juries of First Nations individuals. In 2014, he submitted a report on police encounters with people in crisis prepared for the Chief of the Toronto Police Service.
He has authored or co-authored numerous books, articles and commentaries on a variety of legal subjects and is the recipient of numerous awards and honours in Canada and abroad, including honorary degrees in Canada and Italy, and his election as an Honorary Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada in July, 2007 and in 2009 received the Justice Medal for lifetime achievement from the Canadian Institute of the Administration of Justice.
JULIE MAHFOUZ REZVANI
Director, Chair, Public Relations and Communications Committee / Member, Women’s Committee
Peter has over thirty years of experience in management consulting and project management. He is currently retired.
Matthew is President of Meridian Time Inc., with expertise in Time & Attendance Management, Payroll Interface Programming, Computer Software Development, Cloud Solutions, Building Access Control, Surveillance Camera Systems and Parking Facilities, working with customers from prestigious large size companies, all the way to medium and small companies across a large variety of industries.
Originally, from Beijing, Matthew is an internationally trained professional who immigrated to Canada more than twenty years ago. He is a former COSTI client.
Julie is the Founder and Managing Director of The Orion Group Inc., a Toronto based, Canadian search firm specializing in the Real Estate, Property Management and Construction industries.
She previously held the position of Vice President of Sales for Direct Energy (Centrica PLC), a publicly listed, worldwide, energy retailer. Julie has over fifteen years of executive level experience in the private sector.
Julie is the former Program Director of The Clothing Drive and Executive Director of Mes Amis Canada, whose mission was to help with programming and secure clothing, footwear, toys and other essential items for over 3,000 Syrian newcomers arriving in the greater Toronto area and beyond. She co-founded Darzee, an initiative focussed on self-employment of newcomer women through sewing. Her commitment to youth and education is realized through her role as an Instructor with the Aga Khan Education Board’s Let’s Speak program, which trains children of all ages to use the power of their voice to affect change. Julie is the recipient of the Governor General of Canada’s Sovereign Medal for Volunteers.
Jim is retired after a career in engineering and IT management. He is currently working as a technology journalist with special interests in technology marketing and communications.
Mike is President of MYCON Inc., a management consulting company that deals primarily with regulatory, reliability and strategic issues in the wholesale electricity industry.
Prior to becoming a consultant, he held senior positions in both Ontario Hydro and Hydro One. Mike is a former university researcher, lecturer and administrator at the University of Toronto.
Mike has been a Board Member of COSTI for over 45 years and represents a link to COSTI's early days as a small and largely ethno-specific agency.
