United Way of York Region, Community Investment

As Co-Founder and President of Endeavour, Andrea works closely with the Senior Leadership Team and Board of Directors to set and achieve Endeavour’s strategic directions.

Andrea currently works as Community Investment Manager at United Way of York Region, collaborating with volunteers, non-profit agencies and other community stakeholders to build capacity and improve community impact. Before this, she worked in Policy and Public Affairs at the Ontario Hospital Association, contributing to efforts to advise and influence government on health care investment and policy issues through her work in the area of health finance and research. With an interest in community development, she also spent a month volunteering as a human rights intern in Mongolia at the National Legal Institute, an agency of Mongolia’s Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs. Prior to pursuing her career interest in the non-profit sector, Andrea worked at RBC Global Asset Management and the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

Andrea holds a Master of Public Policy, Administration and Law at York University, with research completed under Dr. Brenda Gainer, Professor of Non-Profit Management at the Schulich School of Business. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce with High Distinction from the University of Toronto.

Katherine Choi, Vice-President, Consulting

Digital Cement, Marketing Strategy

Katherine always had a keen interested in the non-profit sector and charity work within her community. Throughout her volunteering experience, she was impressed by how many people in Toronto are willing to contribute their time and expertise for a good cause. She joined Endeavour because the idea of bringing together like-minded individuals and empowering them to help others is very meaningful to her. She envisions Endeavour to be a place where volunteers are able to achieve their personal growth while bringing organizations closer to their goals.

As Vice-President, Consulting, Katherine is responsible for leading and managing Endeavour’s management consulting services for non-profit organizations. Responsibilities include client management, project management, and evaluation.

Katherine currently works in the strategy team at Digital Cement, a marketing agency. Prior to that, she spent a few months on a consulting engagement in Ghana, Africa with SMIDO, a development organization in a large engineering cluster encompassing over 200,000 impoverished working people in a variety of unregistered and labour-intensive enterprises. She helped the organization develop financial and management systems to improve organization efficiency. Using her strength in building relationships, she worked with major companies in Ghana to integrate the Magazine’s micro, small, and medium enterprises into the formal sector of their economy. Prior to her MBA, Katherine worked at Petro-Canada as an Environmental Engineer. She also worked at P&G in a consumer market knowledge role in which she developed strategies for various brands and led research projects with brand teams.

Katherine holds an MBA from the Rotman School of Management and a Bachelor of Applied Science (Chemical Engineering) from the University of Toronto.

,Ontario Hospital Association, Patient Safety

Ada has a keen interest in the not-for-profit and public sectors and have been actively involved in the community through various board positions and volunteer activities. Through her work at Endeavour, Ada looks forward to enabling more non-profit organizations to not only achieve their goals, but also make a lasting impact in the communities that they serve.

As Vice-President, Human Resources, Ada is responsible for leading and managing the recruitment, development and retention of Endeavour’s volunteers. Responsibilities include volunteer management, advisor relations, and training and development. Ada also serves as the Chair of Endeavour’s Board of Directors.

Previously, Ada has served on various not-for-profit boards including the Canadian Hearing Society and the Sunnybrook New Leaders Board. She was also Co-President for the University of Toronto Consulting Association (UTCA) and a pro-bono consultant for their Volunteer Consulting Group. Ada has also volunteered for Global Youth Network and travelled to Peru in the summer of 2007 for a volunteer mission to help with community development projects and justice education.

Ada holds a MHSc Health Administration degree and a Bachelor of Applied Science and Engineering (Engineering Science) from the University of Toronto.

Oliver Wyman Group, Health & Life Sciences Strategy

Diana has been involved with Endeavour since its first year and was previously involved with the University of Toronto’s Volunteer Consulting Group. Diana has always been active in the community, being one of the original members of now nation-wide Cuts for Cancer, and a board member on the BALANCE for Blinds leading the Strategic Planning Committee. Diana is aware of the special issues that non-profits face and is passionate about making a difference at the strategic level through Endeavour.

As Vice-President, Marketing & Development, Diana is responsible for leading and managing Endeavour’s marketing and development to support Endeavour in achieving its mission. Responsibilities include marketing, communications, branding, fundraising, and community relations. Diana was previously Vice-President, Volunteer & Client Relations, building up the volunteer recruitment process and training as well as client recruitment in Endeavour’s early years. Diana is also a member of Endeavour’s board of directors.

Diana is a management consultant in Oliver Wyman’s Health & Life Sciences strategy group. Previously, Diana worked in the Corporate Strategy financial services practice at Deloitte Consulting. Diana also worked at SHI Consulting and Pangaea Consultants facilitating life sciences and health care strategies. In addition, Diana was a Lecturer at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China teaching business strategy to undergraduate business students. In addition to volunteering for Endeavour, Diana continues to be involved with the Life Science Career Development Series at the University of Toronto as a mentor and guest speaker.

Diana holds an MBA in Health Sector management at the Richard Ivey School of Business, a Master of Science in diabetes research from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Science (Honours, Biochemistry) from Queen’s University.

Wasib Muhammad, Vice-President, Operations

Rockwell Automation, Project Management

Wasib is passionate about volunteering and the change that volunteers bring to communities through their skills and experience. He has been involved with Endeavour as a consultant and as an information advisor, in addition to working with the emergency and trauma division at Trillium Health Center and the Council of Agencies Serving South Asians (CASSA). He is excited at the opportunity to utilize his (limited) consulting experience in conjunction with his technical skills to enhance Endeavour’s knowledge management capabilities.

As Vice-President, Operations, Wasib is responsible for leading and managing Endeavour’s internal support functions to support the operations, growth and sustainability of the organization. Responsibilities include knowledge management, information technology, business intelligence, internal consulting engagements, and finance.

Wasib currently works in Lean Six Sigma project management at Rockwell Automation, handling projects within manufacturing, engineering, quality, business systems, and development. Prior to this, he has held positions within design engineering and project management and has been involved in various product development and knowledge management initiatives.

Wasib holds a Master’s degree in Engineering Design from McMaster University and a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Ryerson University.

Canadian Tire Corporation, Supply Chain

Charumitra has a keen interest in not-for-profit organizations and has been actively involved in such organizations from university. He worked as Vice President (Internal) for graduate student association at McMaster University, where he worked on various graduate student advocacy projects and worked closely with different offices in university like school of graduate studies, career centre and international students office to design and implement special programs for graduate students. To help international graduate students get accustomed to Canadian education system and culture he proposed organization change in GSA and created a special position of international student representative which is essentially a liaison officer between school of graduate studies and international office which usually focus on undergraduate students. One of his major accomplishments at GSA was working on an IT revamp and introduction of online voting and nomination system for student awards which increased the number of applications dramatically from previous years.

As Director-Information Technology, he is responsible for developing and implementing an IT roadmap for endeavour considering its fast paced growth and strategic vision. He will also be responsible for development and maintenance of web applications for improving the overall productivity of the organization from an IT standpoint.

Charumitra has a Master’s degree in engineering design from McMaster University and has worked on a research project in planning and supply chain area at McMaster University. He is currently working with Canadian Tire Corp as a Business Analyst in their supply chain and technology division. He is currently working on assortment planning and optimization, implementing solutions for assortment planning and data mining operations.

Sara Maki, Director, Marketing

Schulich School of Business, International MBA Candidate

Sara is deeply committed to the non-profit sector, having worked for various charitable organizations both in Canada and abroad for the last six years. She pursued and completed a Master’s degree related to international non-governmental organizations in order to make a stronger impact in and larger contribution to the non-profit sector. She strongly understands the need for an organization such as Endeavour, and looks forward to being a part of Endeavour’s strategic growth and meeting all of the amazing volunteers.

Jeff He, Director, Finance

Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto

Jeff has a keen interest in community involvement, which has brought him to participate in various youth initiatives including tutoring in the Saturday Program at the University of Toronto to help underprivileged students with their school work and facilitating the first Youth Listening Summit in Canada. Jeff is looking forward to working with everyone at Endeavour to make a difference.

As Director of Finance, Jeff supports Endeavour’s growth and success through his responsibilities for financial recording and monitoring, budgeting and forecasting, and preparing and presenting financial reports.

Jeff currently works in research at the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto. He completed his Ph.D. dissertation in Dr. Michael Ward’s lab at the University of Toronto, investigating the effect of oxygen deficiency on the vascular system. Jeff is also pursuing his CFA designation. As the Financial Officer of the Life Science Career Development Series Committee at the University of Toronto, he has prepared annual budgets as well as recording and monitoring all financial transactions for the Committee.

Jeff holds a Ph.D. and a Bachelor of Science (Honors) with High Distinction, both from the University of Toronto.

Tatjana Ljaskevic, Director, Volunteer Recruitment and Retention

University of Toronto, Bachelor of Applied Science Candidate

Since moving to Canada in 2002, Tatjana was impressed with the culture of volunteerism and enthusiastic about giving back to her local and school communities in a meaningful way. She first joined Endeavour in 2007 as a consultant on one of the pilot projects and is now looking forward to the ongoing improvement of the recruitment and retention processes and increasing Endeavour’s positive impact on non-profit organizations.

As Director of Volunteer Recruitment and Retention, Tatjana is responsible for volunteer recruitment, selection, communications, feedback, and retention.

Tatjana has recently completed a sixteen-month engineering internship in the Infrastructure Management and Planning Group at the Markham office of GENIVAR Consultants LP. Her volunteer experiences include being a tutor for elementary school students with remedial reading skills though Toronto Public Library’s Leading to Reading program, Weekend Volunteer Committee member for Pride Toronto, and Finance Coordinator for Organized Sound, one of the largest student organizations at the University of Toronto at Scarborough.

Tatjana is currently in the final year of her undergraduate degree in civil engineering at the University of Toronto.

Judith Lau, Director, Evaluation

ZS Associates, Management Consulting

Judith firmly believes that an individual or small group can drive positive change, and that collaboration can do even more; and this belief is why Judith has been always dedicated to volunteerism. She is excited to collaborate with her Endeavour teammates and non-profits organizations to make positive change happen.

As the Director of Evaluation, Judith’s main objective is to ensure that Endeavour consulting teams are making meaningful and lasting impacts for non-profit clients. She is responsible for developing and overseeing a system to capture impact, as well as for maintaining client contact and monitoring project outcomes.

Judith brings experience from her involvement as founder and advisor of Citizen Engineer, a student club which focuses on raising awareness and involvement of students in key public policy issues, which have great impact on society. She has attended the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, and volunteered for various community summer camps, outreach activities and mentorship programs.

Judith currently works at the management consulting firm ZS Associates. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto.

Igor Skapinker, Director, Knowledge Management

Manager, Open Text

Igor joined Endeavour in Spring 2011 as an Advisor for IT and Knowledge Management. He joined the organization as he was impressed by its vision and by the positive role that Endeavour play in the community. He was motivated by the passion and dedication of many professionals who contribute their time and talent helping non-profit organizations. He believes that his extensive industry experience and strong analytical and strategic thinking skills will help Endeavor to build a technological base that will support further growth of the organization and help achieve its strategic goals. 

As an advisor, he focuses on platforms to enhance knowledge sharing and retention within the organization as well as the development of IT infrastructure to support Endeavour’s broader strategic goals.

Igor currently works at OpenText Connectivity solutions group as a Manager of R&D. In this role he manages the development of a number of products from the Exceed family - a world leading portfolio of connectivity software products that provide fast, secure, and reliable access to remote X and Windows applications for Microsoft Windows, Linux/UNIX and MAC desktop users.

Igor holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Schulich School of Business from York University.

Lucie Drabinova, Director, Client Relations

Ontario Government, Ministry of Government Services, Change Management

Lucie is passionate about volunteerism, collaboration and contributing to a positive  and lasting social change. It all started during her university days and involvement  with AIESEC – The world’s largest student driven organization. Later, Lucie joined  UNICEF Canada as a volunteer and is a frequent speaker and workshop facilitator in  the area of global development issues and youth empowerment. Throughout her  volunteering and non-profit work, Lucie gained a solid overview of challenges the  non-profit world is currently facing. She believes that Endeavour is the right  organization that can help many non-profits to overcome these challenges.

As the Director for Client Relations, Lucie is responsible for nurturing relationships with Endeavour clients. She is responsible for client selection, follow up at the conclusion of the consulting engagement and development of case studies to ensure that Endeavour consulting teams are making meaningful and lasting impact for clients.

Lucie has lived, studied, and worked in several countries in Europe and the USA, and now calls Canada home. Currently, she works with the Ontario Government as the Business Improvement Consultant and her portfolio includes change management projects related to internal collaboration, communications, and youth talent strategy. Previously, Lucie worked with a non-profit TakingITGlobal, where she was responsible for youth projects empowering social entrepreneurs in the start-up and early growth stage of their non-profit organization. In Europe, Lucie worked with one of the top five consumer goods companies – Anheuser-Busch InBev, where she was responsible for the implementation of global change management and business improvement project in the Business Center for Western Europe.

Lucie holds a Master’s degree in Business Management from Silesian University in the Czech Republic and is Six Sigma White Belt certified.

Kartik Kamat, Director, Project Management

Capital One, Fraud Strategy and Operations

As an Engagement Manager with Endeavour in a previous round, Kartik was very impressed with the overall impact which Endeavour has on its eco-system comprising the non-profit clients, volunteers, advisors and executives. He decided to return in a new role to further this impact. Previously, he has dabbled in various areas of the non-profit world including social entrepreneurship, CSR, microfinance and sustainability.

As the Director of Project Management, Kartik is responsible for project staffing, liaising with all the consulting teams to monitor their performance and providing the necessary support to enable the teams to be successful.

At Capital One, Kartik is responsible for designing and implementing strategies for fraud loss mitigation while delivering an exceptional customer experience. He holds a B.Tech in Electrical Engineering and an M.Tech in Communication Systems from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).

Carissa MacLennan, Director, Training and Development

UNICEF Canada, Education Manager

Carissa comes to Endeavour from the non-profit sector, having worked both internationally and domestically for the past seven years in various management, governance, and volunteer roles. Through these experiences, Carissa has become passionate about empowering non-profits to maximize their social impact.

As Director of Training and Development at Endeavour, Carissa is responsible for working with the Executive Team to build Endeavour’s volunteer orientation, training and development program.   Carissa is currently employed at UNICEF Canada as an Education Manager, working on children’s rights-based approaches to education with ministries of education, school boards, schools, and faculties of education.  Previously, Carissa worked for jhr (Journalists for Human Rights) where she developed and managed programming for their domestic and international departments. With jhr Carissa worked in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Zambia, and in universities across Canada.  Carissa’s governance experience includes serving on the boards for Canadian-Sudanese Volunteers for Development and, presently, OneChild.

Carissa holds a Master of Education from the University of Western Ontario, focusing on International and Comparative Education with research conducted in Egypt and Rwanda.  Receiving her B.A. in Environmental Studies, a B.A (hon) in Geography as well as a Bachelor of Education, Carissa has taught secondary school geography in China, Cameroon, and with the Thames Valley District School Board.

Haydn Liang, Director, Development

Phd Candidate, University of Toronto

As Director of Development, Haydn’s focus is on raising funds and resources in the community to support Endeavour’s strategic directions and long-term growth. In this role, he leads a team in developing and implementing innovative fundraising strategies, and building and maintaining relationships with community partners and donors.