Board

Antonella Ceddia is a litigation lawyer at the City of Toronto, with expertise in human rights law and policy.    Before joining City Legal, Antonella practiced law at McCarthy Tetrault LLP for six years. She completed her articles of law at the Court of Appeal for Ontario where she clerked for Justices Abella, Moldaver, Feldman, and Austin.

Before studying law, Antonella held senior professional roles in the public and private sectors, with a focus on strategic policy advice and analysis.  She worked at the Ontario Cabinet Office, the Office of the Mayor (City of Toronto, Mayor Barbara Hall),   the Ontario Human Rights Commission, and Ryerson University. Antonella operated her own management-side consulting practice with private and not for profit corporations turning to her to problem solve contentious issues. As a trained Investigator she conducted investigations, advised on problem-solving sensitive and highly contentious issues, designed human rights compliant organizational systems and policies, and trained Boards of Directors  and Senior Management on human rights leadership.   Antonella continued to operate her consulting practice while she was in law school full-time.

Antonella has an LL.B  (Queen’s) and M.A. (Waterloo). She holds Certificates in Advanced Alternative Dispute Resolution (Windsor Law) and Not-for-Profit Governance (Rotman School of Management). She is a skilled negotiator and known for her creative yet practical approach to resolving difficult disputes.

In the legal community, Antonella Co-Chairs the Practice Advisory Committee to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.  She has served on the Executive of the Ontario Bar Association Constitutional Civil Liberties and Human Rights Section, and the Executive of the Women’s Law Association of Ontario.   She teaches at the Osgoode Professional Development Intensive Course on Written Advocacy, each year for the last 14 years.  She believes in sharing knowledge and is a regular presenter at legal conferences to the tune of presenting at least three conferences a year, on average, for the past ten years.  She also regularly lectures at Ryerson University at the graduate and undergraduate level on human rights law and incorporating human rights requirements into the planning of cities.

In the not-for-profit community and outside of her work life, Antonella is the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of WoodGreen Community Services, one of Toronto’s largest and most experienced multi-service not for profit corporation.  She has served as Director on various not for profits in the City including serving as Director on the Board of Directors of the United Way of Toronto where she was also Chair of the United Way Allocations Committee, responsible for oversight of United Way member agencies’ organizational performance and use of donor dollars and for allocation of donor funds across United Way member agencies.  In the last four years and continuing, Antonella has lead a women’s network- MAKE IT HAPPEN!- that provides information and knowledge sharing across a network of women across different sectors and from different backgrounds in the city.

Antonella speaks Italian, French (with a minor in French, as part of her B.A,U of T) , and some Spanish. She is a first generation Canadian, whose first language is Italian. She was raised in Toronto by working class parents who continue to call Toronto their home.  She is trained in classical piano and she taught Royal Conservatory curriculum piano, part-time, for  ten years as a way to earn money through high school and university.  She enjoys a variety of activities outside of work:  mentoring young women, teaching, film, reading fiction, the Walrus, classical (esp. baroque), flamenco, Latin and jazz music, dance, theatre, travel, wandering  around Toronto,  hard core challenging spin classes at Torq studio and lots and lots of running.

Sean Mullin is an economist, public policy wonk, consultant and think tank leader. Currently, Sean is the Executive Director of the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship at Ryerson University, a new entity with a mandate to enhance the role of innovation and entrepreneurship within Canada.

Prior to joining the Brookfield Institute, Sean gained extensive experience in public policy, serving as Deputy Director of Policy in the Office of the Premier of Ontario and in senior advisory roles to Ontario’s Minister of Finance. Sean has also worked in the private equity industry and as an economic and business strategy consultant.

Sean has a degree in Economics and Computer Science from the University of Toronto, an M.A. in Economics from McGill and an MBA from the University of Oxford.

Derek Bailey is a Senior Manager Systems Engineering with Cisco Systems, and held a similar position prior to this at Alcatel-Lucent. An energetic and innovative professional with 25+ successful years of telecommunications experience gained through roles in business development, sales, sales engineering and management. Derek’s experience also includes international exposure in the Americas, Asia and Europe. In the past Derek also lectured at Centennial College and Ryerson University. Derek was educated in the United Kingdom where he gained a BSc Honors in Computer Science & Statistics from the University of Wolverhampton.  Derek’s volunteer work includes Each One Teach One (Tropicana), Jamaica Canadian Association Saturday Tutorial program, 100 Strong Inc, Junior Achievement, motivational speaking in alternative schools, and coaching soccer.

Michael Conradi is an employment and human rights lawyer with more than a decade of experience advising private sector employers and acting as in-house counsel in the healthcare and financial services industries. Michael holds both a bachelor’s (honours) and a master’s degree in Sociology from Dalhousie University in Halifax, and is actively involved in coaching youth soccer. Michael became interested in volunteering with WoodGreen after seeing the innovative advertising campaign and its mission to provide opportunities to children, youth, seniors, parents and immigrants. He has lived in Europe three times and, while Toronto is home, he has also lived in Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, and Halifax.

Rasha El Sissi is the Head of Canadian and International Benefits, Human Resources at TD Bank. She is an experienced banking executive skilled in Corporate Governance, Stakeholder Relations, Finance & Audit, Risk Processes and Controls, Prudential Regulation and Legal Writing. She has a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University and a Master of Science in mass communications from the College of Communications, Boston University.

Lisa Purdy is a Partner at Deloitte and she leads the Canadian National Health Services Practice. For over 20 years, Lisa has worked with individual providers, regional systems, and provincial health organizations and agencies in addressing their strategic, governance, operations, and technology solution requirements. Through her work within the health sector, Lisa has developed an understanding of health system issues, hospital operations, stakeholder perspectives, and overarching system governance, business, and technology management considerations.

Throughout her career, Lisa has been involved in numerous system design projects. She has led complex stakeholder engagements with physicians, clinicians, other practitioners, and administrators, and has been instrumental guiding organizations through complicated operational changes. She has worked with clients to evaluate alternative models and move forward with a preferred direction to improve both the efficiency and quality of services provided, as well as developed effective business case for the future state. Lisa also brings extensive experience working with clients to identify opportunities for operational efficiencies through integrated models and shared services.

Lisa contributes her leadership to various advisory boards, including Ivey Centre for Health Innovation and Leadership and the Conference Board of Canada’s Canadian Alliance for Sustainable Health Care.

Akwatu Khenti is the Assistant Deputy Minister for Ontario’s Anti-Racism Directorate. He was formerly Director of the Office of Transformative Global Health at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). He is also an Assistant Professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. Akwatu led the development of several of CAMH’s innovations, including the Substance Abuse Program for African Canadian and Caribbean Youth (SAPACCY), its Eli Lilly Learning Centre, and most recently, Transformative Global Health. His professional life includes frontline community development and leadership of the Jamaican Canadian Association (JCA), Ontario’s largest Black human services agency. Akwatu developed and managed a national joint initiative for the federal government and a coalition of Black community organizations, entitled Facilitating the Academic Success of Black Children in Canada. Akwatu has also been a researcher/writer for the North York Board of Education, developing curriculum infusion resources for grades 7 and 8; and a human rights co-ordinator with the Inter-Church Coalition on Africa, responsible for human rights reporting to United Nations mechanisms on several African countries. He is the recipient of several awards including the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal (2002), the Educational Excellence for Community Care Award (2007) from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto and the Harry Jerome Award for the Professional Excellence from Canada’s Black Business and Professional Association (2010).

Judy Pfeifer is the Chief Public Affairs Officer with the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario. Throughout her career, Judy has held senior leadership positions across multiple sectors including the private, not-for-profit, public and municipal sectors, most recently as the Chief Communications and Public Affairs Officer at Metrolinx, and previously with the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and City of Toronto. She was also a Professor in the School of Media, Faculty of Communication, Art and Design at Seneca College.
A published author, Judy is a highly sought after speaker on public engagement, stakeholder relations and communications.
She holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Carleton University and a graduate Certificate in Human Resources Management from Seneca College.

John Brodhead is Director of Policy and Strategy at Sidewalk Labs and is based in Toronto.
John comes to Sidewalk after a varied career in government and the not-for-profit sector, most recently serving as Chief of Staff to the Canadian Minister of Indigenous Services. He previously served as Chief of Staff to the Canadian Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, as Executive Director of Evergreen CityWorks, as Deputy Chief of Staff for the Premier of Ontario, and as a Vice President at Metrolinx.

Raphael Schapiro has worked as an executive at BMO Financial Group since 2010. His current role is as Head, North American Customer Contact Centre Transformation, where he is responsible for technology initiatives, voice of the customer, and change management, all in the service of building a leading customer experience.

Prior to this he held multiple roles in the Technology & Operations Group building his strategy, technology capital budgeting, project management, and risk management capabilities.

Prior to BMO, Raphael spent six years as a consultant with McKinsey & Company working with clients in multiple sectors on performance improvement and strategy. Raphael holds a D.Phil and M.Phil from the University of Oxford in Economic and Social History and a B.A. from McGill University.

Janice Winton recently retired from Ryerson University, where she held the position of Vice President, Administration and Finance from 2014 to 2018. She is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), a Ryerson Business graduate, and holds a Master of Education (Higher Education) from the University of Toronto. Prior to becoming Vice President, Janice served Ryerson as Executive Director, Financial Services and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for over 24 years. Before joining Ryerson, Janice held a number of finance and accounting positions including Vice President, Finance at York Finch General Hospital. Raised in the Bahamas, Janice’s first career was as a registered nurse.

Roanne Argyle is senior vice president for Argyle Public Relationships, one of Canada’s largest independent public relations firms. She is an award-winning communications strategist who offers significant experience managing large-scale public information and advocacy programs that include stakeholder and public engagement, thought leadership, issues management and crisis communications. She is a trained and experienced facilitator.
As a passionate purpose-driven leader, Roanne is deeply committed to supporting and building capacity in organizations that serve the public interest, such as WoodGreen Community Services.
She recently volunteered as a Founding Board Member and Chair of the Leaside Sports Hall of Fame, partnered with Social Venture Partners Toronto, and served as the branding and marketing team lead with Eva’s Phoenix Print Shop and as a member of the Public Profile Committee at Eva’s Initiatives. She also spent 10 years as a volunteer and board member of the Leaside Girls Hockey Association.
Roanne has a Bachelor of Arts in English, Film and Communications from McGill University, and a Masters Certificate in Marketing Communications Management from Schulich School of Business, York University.

Shabnum Durrani is the Director of Public Affairs and Stakeholder Relations at the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA), representing Ontario’s publically funded hospitals.
She has an extensive background in advocacy and policy development with not-for-profits.
Prior to working at OHA Shabnum worked in a number of settings with a focus on community health, including: a poverty issues lawyer in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, focusing on tenants’ rights, and mental health and addictions issues; a senior policy advisor to the Ontario Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, as the lead in some key files including poverty reduction strategy, women and children’s health, aboriginal health and community health centres.
Shabnum has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Alberta, a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law, a Masters in Public Policy, Administration and Law from York University, and Masters in Public Health from John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.