Ontario Hospital Association, Policy & Public Affairs

Andrea is passionate about engaging others in supporting the non-profit sector through Endeavour. It was through her experiences with the University of Toronto’s Volunteer Consulting Group that she developed a greater understanding and appreciation of the challenges faced by non-profits, and recognized the opportunity to benefit more communities through the creation of Endeavour. Having successfully established Endeavour with her team, she hopes to grow the organization to engage more business professionals and corporations in volunteer consulting with the non-profit sector.

As President, Andrea is responsible for the strategic vision, leadership and management of Endeavour, including building a cohesive leadership team to achieve strategic directions.

Andrea currently works in the Policy & Public Affairs Division at the Ontario Hospital Association, with a focus on projects to improve hospital and health system performance and sustainability. Prior to this, she worked in policy and governance at RBC Wealth Management and the Rotman School of Management.

Andrea is currently pursuing the Master of Public Policy, Administration and Law at York University. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce with High Distinction from the University of Toronto.

Deloitte Consulting, National Health Services

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 Chair of the Board of Directors and Vice-President, Board Relations, Ada leads the recruitment and day-to-day management of the Board of Directors, advisory board members and subject matter experts.

Ada currently works in the National Health Services practice at Deloitte Consulting. Her previous experiences include working as a Business Analyst in Deloitte Consulting’s Corporate Strategy practice, an Environmental Consultant for a major Canadian Financial Institution, and a Business Development Associate for a specialized engineering firm.

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 is currently pursuing the MHSc Health Administration degree at the University of Toronto. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Science and Engineering (Engineering Science) from the University of Toronto

Deloitte Consulting, Corporate Strategy

Diana is currently involved in pro-bono consulting at Deloitte 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 founding members of now nation-wide Cuts for Cancer, and a Fundraiser for Big Brothers & Big Sisters Canada. 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, Volunteer & Client Relations, Diana is responsible for recruiting and maintaining relations with Endeavour’s volunteers and client.

Diana is a Senior Consultant in the corporate strategy financial services practice at Deloitte Consulting. Previously, Diana worked at SHI Consulting and Pangaea Consultants facilitating life sciences and health care strategies. 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.

Accenture, Consulting

Jessica has always been keenly interested in the non-profit sector. She is a founding member of Team Kacina, a volunteer group that supports breast cancer awareness charities, such as Toronto’s annual Weekend to End Breast Cancer. Employment experiences in the non-profit sector include work with the Sick Kids Foundation and with Umugenzi for Refugees of Ontario. Through her varied experiences, Jessica has been able to see first hand some of the challenges that face non-profits. She is hopeful that the partnerships developed through Endeavour will help non-profits overcome some of these challenges, and achieve short- and long-term goals.

Jessica currently works in the consulting practice at Accenture.

Jessica holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto.

University of Toronto Rotman School of Management, Bachelor of Commerce

Stas has been actively involved in the community, including holding roles as an executive member of the Golden Key International Honour Society University of Toronto Chapter, and as the webmaster of the Actuarial Students’ National Association (ASNA).

As Director of Information Technology, Stas is responsible for implementing and managing various web applications that support the effective and efficient operation of Endeavour and endeavourvolunteer.ca.

Stas’ experience includes work in software development, and working for the federal government to provide technical and analytical support to the Strategic Planning and Governance Division of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) Branch.

Stas holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management.

Katherine Choi, Director, Project Management

Digital Cement, Marketing

Katherine always had a keen interested in the non-profit sector and charity work within her community. In the past, she was actively involved in volunteering for various causes such as United Way campaigns to name one. More recently, she spent five months in Ghana, Africa as a management consultant to a local development organization. Throughout her volunteering experience, she was impressed by people’s willingness to volunteering their time and expertise for a good cause. She joined Endeavour because the idea of bringing together like-minded individuals and helping them to bring value to 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 Director of Project Management, Katherine is the key point of contact for Endeavour consulting teams. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing the progress and completion of consulting engagements in Endeavour’s six-month project cycles, including monitoring project performance through progress reports, team debriefs, team-client meetings and review sessions, and continuously documenting and refining Endeavour’s project management life cycle and methodology.

Katherine currently works at Digital Cement. 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 and later as a Search Engine Optimization Analyst in e-Business, developing valuable project management skills. 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.

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.

Kendy Lau, Acting Director, Marketing

Deloitte Consulting, Corporate Strategy

Kendy is experienced in community initiatives of different scales, and has a breadth of experience in both marketing and consulting. She was previously involved in the Community Consulting Project with Ivey Connects, which she played a key role in establishing the organizations’ profile in the local community. Kendy has also sat on the executive board of AIESEC, the world’s largest student run non-profit organization. By developing communication strategies and approaching companies to establish partnerships, she has established close links with stakeholders in the non-profit sector. Kendy hopes to use her breadth of resource and experience to help Endeavour establish strategic marketing plans, and enable volunteer consultants and non-profit organizations to contribute to the betterment of the society and environment.

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.

Wasib Muhammad, Director, Knowledge Management

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 Director of Knowledge Management, Wasib is responsible for implementation and management of knowledge sharing and retention within Endeavour. He is interested in exploring deployment of platforms and tools, aimed at providing seamless user experience within the knowledge management context.

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.

Tatjana Ljaskevic, Director, Volunteer Recruitment

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 Recruitment Director, 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.

Andrew D’Souza, Director, Business Development

General Electric, Project Management

Andrew joined Endeavour as a Consultant on the Food for the Poor, Canada project. Andrew found this consulting exercise to be a great way to use the skills and techniques learnt in the business world, to help non-profits achieve their goals. Andrew also volunteers with The Mentoring Partnership (TRIEC) providing new immigrants with career development assistance and with the Junior Achievement Program that provides youth with financial literacy education.

As Director of Business Development, Andrew is responsible for planning and driving growth for Endeavour across Canada.

Andrew currently works in project management at General Electric, where he is responsible for a portfolio of software systems, services, and consulting projects. Prior to that, Andrew worked in system design/application engineering. Andrew has managed projects in the areas of: Consulting (Sales/Marketing), International Business Expansion, Process Improvement (Lean/Six Sigma) and Business Operations.

Andrew holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical Engineering) degree from Ryerson University.

Lucy Dai, Director, Business Intelligence

Maple Leaf Foods, Finance

Lucy first joined Endeavour in Fall 2009 as consultant. In early 2010, she joined the Executive Team to assume the newly created role of Director of Business Intelligence. She hopes to bring her analytical and strategic thinking skills to further contribute to the growth of Endeavour. Lucy is also actively involved with the SBCT (Sauder Business School Club of Toronto), working on the volunteering board to create and develop professional development initiatives for Sauder members and alumni here in Toronto.

As Director of Business Intelligence, Lucy is responsible for the development and management of a volunteer and client database. She will utilize the findings and insights from the database to support executive decision-making for the strategic and sustainable growth of Endeavour.

Lucy currently works in finance at Maple Leaf Foods, supporting the commercial development side of the business. In her role, she is mainly engaged in helping her marketing team to drive business performance by analyzing product category profitability, forecasting new products initiative performance and regulating pricing discipline.

Lucy holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University of British Columbia.

Nihar Bhagat, Director, Professional Development

Bank of Montreal, Financial Strategy Group

Nihar joined Endeavour in Spring 2009 as a volunteer consultant to help Epilepsy Halton Peel develop a five-year strategic plan, and completed his second project in Winter 2010 to help Ecologos Institute create a marketing plan for a new initiative. These projects gave Nihar great insight into the non-profit sector and the skill sets that Endeavour’s volunteer consultants need. In his role as Director of Professional Development, Nihar hopes to combine his corporate experience with his previous consulting engagements to continuously improve the development of Endeavour volunteers.

As Director of Professional Development, Nihar is responsible for working with the Executive Team to build Endeavour’s professional development program. This includes developing and implementing orientation and training programs that achieve the development needs and goals of both volunteers and clients.

Nihar currently works for the Bank of Montreal in the Financial Strategy Group. In this role, he supports the strategic performance/M&A and Capital Management and Funding mandates of the bank. He mainly assists in ad-hoc projects, conducts research and benchmarking on competitors and supports senior management in key initiatives.

Nihar hold a Bachelor of Arts degree (Honours in Economics) from York University

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.