Judith Andrenacci

Judith has been a volunteer and member of Community Living Toronto for 20 plus years.  She was a past member of Pilot Parents, the Education Committee, CLToronto representative to the TCDSB Special Education Advisory Committee, Scarborough Council Co-chair, Scarborough Council member and Nominating Committee member.

Judith has a daughter with an intellectual disability. Judith worked with parents of children with an intellectual disability for 15 years as a home visitor (Woodgreen Community Services – Parent Outreach Program).

James (Stephen) Andrews

Stephen has experience in various sectors such as energy, environment and social services.  In addition to this, he also has experience in Management and Senior policy advisory roles.

He is currently the Government Relations Advisor at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP.  Prior to this he was Manager of Communications and Public Affairs at Toronto Hydro Corporations where he was responsible for leading a team of six public affairs professionals.  Stephen has experience being on various committees.  He is currently the Vice-President of the Advocacy Committee at Public Affairs Association of Canada.

Stephen has been a member of Community Living Toronto’s Government Relations Committee for the past ten years where he has helped develop government relations strategies and increased our connections to municipal government.  Stephen holds a Master of Social Policy from the University Toronto. He is the parent of a teenager who has autism.

Donna Britten

For more than 40 years, Donna has been an active member of Scarborough Region Council, the Board of Directors and many Board Committees. She is currently a member of both the Government Relations and Resource Development Committees. Donna is also CL Toronto’s representative on the OASIS Board of Directors.   Member of OPADD   [Ontario Partnership on Aging and Developmental  Disabilities] as a representative of OASIS and CLT.  Founding member of Extend-a-Family and Pilot Parents, Founding member of Developmental Services Toronto [ DSTO ] and Chair of the DS Council.

Donna has also served as President of Community Living Toronto.  Past CLT representative on the CL Ontario Board of Directors, Chair of CLT’s membership committee.  Led the team of volunteers and staff to update the Mission and Vision statements in 1998 and 2008

With her experience Donna brings leadership, organization and communication skills and a deep commitment to the people we support and the Association that supports them.

Donna has a son, David, who lives in one of our group homes.

 Lorraine Bradley

Lorraine has been on the Self-Advocates Council for 6 years.

Lorraine likes to speak out. She’s not afraid to speak out. Lorraine likes to talk about the good things she does, like volunteering for 31 years at the Kadima Centre, in a Jewish synagogue. Lorraine likes to help people. It makes her happy to volunteer at the 40 Birch Club House, where the smiles on people’s faces brighten her day.

Lorraine reads a little bit – but prefers to learn about things in verbal form. She likes discussing things.

Lorraine has been married 26 years this June and is very vocal about the right of persons labelled with disabilities to be in relationship. This is something that is very important to Lorraine.

Colleen Broadhurst

Colleen first became involved with Community Living Toronto in 1994, seeking service for her daughter who was just two at the time. A few years later, she joined North York Council where she has served as a member and past Council Chair. Presently, she is the North York Regional Council Board Representative to Community Living Toronto Board of Directors.

At Council level, she created a TTC Readiness and Money Readiness program for members and was one of the founders of the first Night of Stars fundraising event which has evolved into Community Rocks.

She has been an advocate for inclusive education and served as a member and past Chair of the Education Committee.  She was very involved with developing an interactive game called Spinclusion which helps create awareness about inclusion for children and youth in their communities.

She has been a member and past Chair of the Quality Assurance Committee, and presently she is a member of the executive committee.

Michael Challes

Originally from Winnipeg, Mike moved to Toronto several years ago with experience volunteering with young individuals with an intellectual disability. As a volunteer at Community Living Toronto, Mike collaborated with staff and created the “One Direction Social Group” for young adults with a disability. Mike plans monthly events for the group, which consists of anywhere from 6 to 10 individuals, and chooses activities based on what the participants want to do. Whether it’s playing board games at Snakes and Lattes on a Saturday afternoon, bowling or going to the movies, Mike is open to all ideas and always fosters a fun, accepting and inclusive environment.

Aside from planning and facilitating the social group’s activity, Michael has also spent time doing corporate volunteering at Community Living Toronto. He, along with his then colleagues from Deloitte, volunteered at multiple group homes in the North York Region for their annual Impact Day. When he’s not busy planning outings for One Direction, Mike also finds time to sit on the Finance and Audit Committee for the Board of Community Living Toronto.

Volunteer of the year- When told he was receiving the award, Mike said, “You know, I didn’t need an award. I have really enjoyed organizing the group. It is always a high point of my week. I’m a lucky guy to be involved with such a great organization. I really feel like I found a home at Community Living Toronto.”

Lisa A. Ellis

Lisa Ellis is a Senior Manager at BMO Financial Group where she leads a Process Design and Implementation team.

Lisa has a younger sister with an intellectual disability.  Since 2011, Lisa has been involved with Community Living Toronto as a Board Member and a member of the Finance and Audit Committee. Lisa also raises funds and awareness for number of charities through her participation in 100+ km charity bike tours.

In her leisure time, Lisa strives to combine her love for travel with sports ranging from Scuba diving to tennis to marathon running.

Victor Figueiredo, 1st Vice President

Victor’s 35-year business career includes senior management positions in the consulting and financial sectors. He has led operations and administration functions such as Facilities, Real Estate, Information Technology, Human Resources, and Business Intelligence. He currently holds the position of Facilities Services Regional Director – Canada, for Willis Towers Watson, a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company whose unique perspective allows them to see the critical intersections between talent, assets and ideas, and enables them to design and deliver solutions for clients around the world that manage risk, optimize benefits, cultivate talent, and expand the power of capital to protect and strengthen institutions and individuals..

Victor has experience working with and for other non-profit organizations and has had the opportunity to examine the similarities and differences in strategy goals and performance between public and private-sector organizations. Victor has helped Moorelands Community Services, a non-profit that works with children and youth affected by poverty, and is a past president and past board member of the Beaches Community Soccer League. Victor also has a BSc (Honors) in Actuarial Science from the University of Toronto.

Victor has close friends who have children with genetically-impaired learning disabilities including Down syndrome and Autism, with whom he often spends time. He has also coached children with varying physical, emotional and social abilities in soccer, and has participated in the establishment of employment diversity policies in a number of private sector organizations.

Donald Hale

Donald Hale is a lawyer who serves as one of the Vice Chairs with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal (WSIAT).  This body hears appeals from decisions made by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) respecting entitlement to worker’s compensation benefits.

Don’s son Matthew has a developmental disability. Since 2011, Donald has been active in Community Living Toronto’s Scarborough Region Council and joined the Board of Directors in 2014.

Don and Matthew enjoy travelling around the city on the TTC on the weekends and lead busy lives focused on the goals of keeping fit and having fun.

Morris Jesion

Morris Jesion is the retired Executive Director of senior’s advocacy organizations.

Morris has served as an Executive Director/Senior Manager in non-profit organizations for over 40 years and has worked in government with the Ministry of Community and Social Services also worked at Baycrest Centre as the Chief Operations Officer. He is an active member of Community Living Toronto’s North York Region Council and has also served on the following Boards and Committees; SSAH Advisory Committee, Family Advisory Committee, Toronto District Health Council, North York Board of Health, Local Synagogue Board and on Regional Council for the Federal Government on New Horizons for Seniors Programs and Ontario Hospital Association. He is also active with local charitable groups. He is the parent of a daughter with an intellectual disability.

Colette Kent, 2nd Vice President

Colette Kent is an experienced senior executive with over 30 years of experience in the Ontario Public Service.   Colette began her public service career as an Adult Protective Service Worker and went on to hold a range of senior positions in policy, operations, corporate services and project management.

Colette has served on the Board of Directors of Community Living Toronto for the past seven years. She is a member of the Quality Assurance Committee and  the Rights & Ethics Committee of the Board. She is a past Director on the Community Living Ontario Board of Directors.

As a family member of a sister with an intellectual disability, Colette has had a lifelong interest in Developmental Disabilities.

Edward Lau

Edward is the founder and the President of DD Community Connector, an organization that helps Chinese-Canadians with intellectual disabilities.  He was also the past President of Spirit of Life, an organization with a similar mandate to DD Community Connector.  DD Community Connector annually hires musicians and supporting staff with intellectual disabilities to perform and work at the organization’s annual fundraising concert at professional rates.  Edward supports employment equity for people with intellectual disabilities.

Edward was the co-author of the Ontario Trillium Foundation funded Spirit of Life publication, Moving Forward: A Needs Assessment and Feasibility Study for the Establishment of the Chinese Developmental Disability Services Council in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).  The findings of this research study had inspired Edward to create DD Community Connector.

Edward currently works as Acting, Crew Superintendent for the Transport Canada (TC) Air Cargo Security Program.  He has a Master of Arts degree in Public Policy and Administration from Ryerson University, which was fully funded by TC.  Edward is the TC Alternate Representative for Employment Equity Committee for People with Disabilities.  Edward organized the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, 2015 Toronto celebration for the Federal Public Service.

He was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013 as well as the Transport Canada National Award of Excellence in 2010.

David Layton

David has served on the Board of Directors for Community Living Toronto for the past eight years, and having been Board President from 2013 to 2015, is currently Past President. He is the Chair of the Association’s Real Estate Committee, and a member a number of other committees, including the Executive, Finance & Audit, and Nominating committees.  He is also one of the founding members of the West End Keys to Inclusion – a committed group of families & volunteers working to leverage neighbourhood opportunities to help adult family members and friends with intellectual disabilities reach their potential.

For more than 25 years, David has been active on a variety of Boards and Committees including the White Ribbon Campaign, Reach for the Rainbow, Ryerson University and organizations local to his west Toronto neighbourhood.

He has worked in both the private sector and with not-for-profit organizations, and is currently an executive with the YMCA of Greater Toronto.  His career has always revolved around working successfully in teams, and his experience with the Community Living Toronto Real Estate Committee has been no different, combining staff and volunteers.

David’s eldest daughter, Erin, has an intellectual disability, and through her he has become connected with many other young people and their families.

Susan McCloy

Susan, who has held various senior finance positions in the Life Insurance industry is currently the Director of Life Insurance Group at the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions.

Susan has been a member of Community Living Toronto’s Central region council since 2004. With her background in finance, she volunteers her spare time to help prepare tax returns for low income persons.

As a mother of a 27 year old son with an intellectual disability, she is very passionate about helping individuals supported by Community Living Toronto.

 Laura Parsonson

Valérie Picher

Valérie joined TD Bank Group in May 2013 as a Senior Manager, Community Relations. She helps to manage one of the largest corporate donations budget in Canada, which supports more than 2,500 NGOs, universities, colleges and arts organizations every year. With her focus in the area of Education and Financial Literacy, she works with a variety of organizations to promote access to post-secondary education, support excellence at Canada’s Universities and Colleges and invest both financial and human resources to raise financial literacy levels in underserved communities across Canada.  She also has the responsibility to coordinate the Bank’s community giving for Aboriginal communities, oversees the Employee Volunteerism programs and manages the national TD United Way Employee Giving Campaign.

After graduating the University of Ottawa with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Valérie began her career in politics.  She’s served 8 different Cabinet Ministers at the federal and provincial levels over a period of 15 years starting as a receptionist and working her way up through the ranks as a political policy advisor, press secretary, and director of communications.  In the final 6 years of her political career, she served as Chief of Staff for 2 Cabinet Ministers under the McGuinty/Wynne governments.

Outside of work, Valérie loves to spend time with her husband and young daughter and also serves as a volunteer board member with Community Living Toronto and Ophea.

Susan Silma

Susan is the Director of Compliance and Registrant Regulation at the Ontario Securities Commission.   She is an executive leader with a strong knowledge of the securities industry from both regulatory and public company senior management.  Susan is recognized as an individual with lots of energy, the willingness to take charge, strong leadership skills, and the ability to resolve complex organizational and strategic problems.  She has held a number of senior positions in a variety of companies.  Susan has done volunteer work for the Ontario Special Olympics as well.

Susan holds an LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, as well as an MBA from York University (Dean’s List).  She is fluent in Estonian, and has a working knowledge of French as well as limited Spanish.

Susan has been a member of our Education Committee for the past year.  Susan is very involved in the life of her brother, who has Down Syndrome.