Last modified on June 1, 2010.
Case competition winners will be selected by a panel of judges representing professionals from different industries in the Toronto region.
Steve Ayer
Senior Research Associate, Imagine Canada
Steven Ayer is a Senior Research Associate at Imagine Canada. He is a co-author of the report Corporate Community Investment Practices, Motivations and Challenges: Findings from the Canada Survey of Business Contributions to Community, believed to the most comprehensive study of corporate contributions to non-profit and charitable organizations ever conducted in North America. Steve is also an author of the 2007 Highlights report for the Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering, and Participating, the largest study of individual giving and volunteering behavior in Canada. He has also written reports on fundraising costs for charities in Canada. Previously, Steve was a Research Manager and Research Associate at the Institute for Sport Marketing, where he managed an array of research and consulting projects related to marketing and sponsorship.
Steve holds an MBA from Laurentian University and is a recipient of the Social Science and Humanities Research Council’s Canada Graduate Scholarship. In his spare time, Steve is an enthusiastic volunteer and an equally enthusiastic mediocre athlete.
Dave Findlay
Director, Information and Communication Technology, Toronto Region Research Alliance
Dave Findlay is the Director, ICT for the Toronto Region Research Alliance, where he develops strategies to increase R&D investment in the Toronto Region ICT sector. Most recently, Dave served as the CEO of Beyond One Eighty Limited, an emerging IT company that develops touch-table mapping technology for the Canadian Forces. Prior to this, Dave served as a technical project manager for the IT division of Waterloo-based Conestoga-Rovers and Associates. There he founded and developed a geomatics business line, securing new clients and creating spin-off revenue for other verticals. Dave has consulted for a wide range of companies and currently volunteers to help select not-for-profits effectively use information technologies.
Jennifer Frees
Philanthropic Consultant, Opus Philanthropic Strategies Inc.
Jennifer is an innovative professional with diverse fundraising, event, marketing, and public relations experience in both agency and non-profit sectors. She has developed and managed award-winning large-scale national events, projects and campaigns for blue chip organizations, as well as strategic fundraising and awareness programming for charitable initiatives.
Jennifer spearheads the implementation of a variety of client programming, including:
- Creative fundraising strategy
- Special events for fundraising, awareness and promotion, cultivation and stewardship of donors
- Fundraising campaigns (including major gifts, direct mail, online and community giving)
- Sponsorship acquisition via private philanthropists, corporations and foundations
- Branding and communications strategy (including media relations)
- Operations review, staff and management training
- Digital infrastructure development for campaign implementation
Jennifer splits her time between Toronto’s Liberty Village and Opus’ head office in Dundas, Ontario. She is an avid international traveler and joint Canadian-European citizen who speaks multiple languages fluently. Jennifer is a graduate of The University of Western Ontario.
Dr. Zayna Khayat
Principal, Boston Consulting Group
Dr. Zayna Khayat is currently on maternity leave from her role as a Principal with the Toronto office of The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a global management consulting firm that helps clients across all industries solve strategic and management issues across a range of business topics. Since joining BCG in 2001, Zayna has helped for-profit and not-for-profit clients in a variety of sectors including telecom, financial services, aviation, and health care solve diverse business issues including strategy and organizational re-design. Zayna is a core member of BCG’s Health Care practice where her clients include biopharmaceutical companies, health insurers, medical device companies, etc.. She is also a core member of BCG’s Organization Practice where she has expertise in organizational re-design. At BCG, Dr. Khayat is actively involved with the firm’s Women’s Initiative and Community Investment Committee.
Prior to joining BCG, Zayna earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Toronto / Hospital for Sick Children where she was a scholar of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, studying how insulin and exercise regulate blood glucose in the muscle, and why/where this process breaks down during disease states such as diabetes.
Dr. Khayat is a founding member of the Toronto Volunteer Bridge, a volunteer networking agency serving young professionals in the GTA. She also maintains involvement with various initiatives of the Toronto City Summit Alliance including the TRRA (Toronto Region Research Alliance) and Career Bridge.
Zayna speaks fluently in English, French and Arabic, and resides in Toronto with her husband and 3 children.
Darren Lafreniere
Lecturer, Richard Ivey School of Business
Darren Lafreniere is the Director of the Ivey Consulting Project* and a Lecturer at the Richard Ivey School of Business. He is also the owner of Final Round Prep, a company that provides professional recruiting support to students who wish to pursue careers in the Management Consulting industry.
Prior to his current role, Darren gained a wealth of experience in both the entrepreneurial and corporate environments; as the owner/ operator of an auto parts company, he marketed and sold high performance aftermarket parts to customers across North America, and as a Management Consultant, he worked with A.T. Kearney consulting clients across 7 major industries on various strategic issues including logistics optimization, organizational restructuring and operational cost reduction.
Darren has an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business and a BA from the University of Manitoba.
* The Ivey Consulting Project is a mandatory part of the MBA and HBA program where student groups partner with a company to consult on a problem or opportunity of strategic significance to its business.
Elizabeth H. Mulholland
Independent Public Policy Consultant
Elizabeth Mulholland has been an independent public policy consultant since 2002, specializing in social development, R&D policy in relation to economic development and sport for development. Prior to this, Ms. Mulholland was the Vice-President, Public Policy at WilliamsResearch International, leading an applied research and analysis practise focused on health, social and urban policy. Before joining WilliamsResearch, Ms. Mulholland served as the Senior Advisor on Social Development in the Office of the Prime Minister, providing strategic direction on national social and health policy issues. In addition to her experience at the federal level, Ms. Mulholland directed United Ways of Ontario’s government relations program for four years and served as a senior policy advisor to the Task Force on the Future of the Greater Toronto Area.
Kaushik Seethapathy
Senior Consultant, Deloitte
Kaush Seethapathy is a Senior Consultant at Deloitte, focusing on technology strategy work for financial services and healthcare companies across Canada. Keen to apply his consulting skills to social problems in his home-town, Kaush founded and currently serves as the National Chair for Deloitte’s prominent non-profit consulting initiative called ACT (“Advising the Community Together”). Over the past few years, Kaush and his team have worked closely with dozens of non-profits in Toronto.
Kaush has also spent considerable time volunteering overseas. He credits his time in Africa with nurturing his career ambitions in global health. He is quick to recount lessons from his days shadowing the CEO of a large not-for-profit hospital, and helping evaluate business ventures at a leading international development organization.
When not in meetings or airports, Kaush loves to play sports, sip wine and share laughs with people from different cultures. A graduate of Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Kaush’s next move will see him pursue an MBA at the Kellogg School of Management.
Justin Dupas
Board Director, Windfall
Justin Dupas is a real estate consultant to the nonprofit and charitable sector, and partner of Colliers International’s Not for Profit Advisory Group. As a founding partner of a specialized business line within a larger billion dollar corporation, Justin focuses and has developed an expertise in business development and marketing techniques to grow the team’s client base and reputation within the nonprofit sector in Canada. Justin works at the strategic operational level within the nonprofit sector with senior management of client organizations and Boards on a daily basis, and as such, he has developed a depth of experience relating to the sector, business models and planning processes for successful strategies in business as well as social service. He also sits on the board for Windfall.
Helen Harakas
Executive Director, Windfall
Helen Harakas is currently the Executive Director of Windfall. She joined the organization six years ago and has overseen the growth in the distribution of items from $4 million worth in 2004 to over $28 million this past year. She began her career at 23 when she started her own small business and successfully ran it for five years. Receiving two offers she could not refuse, she sold the business and began teaching at the community college. Immediately prior to Windfall, Helen worked at a community agency for high-risk teenagers as a Programs Director and later as Development Director. She holds a Bachelor’s in Psychology, an Early Childhood Education Diploma and a Master’s in Adult Education and Administration.
Cindy Roemer
Fundraising Manager, Windfall
Cindy Roemer has been Fundraising Manager at Windfall for nearly two years. Prior to working at Windfall she worked in Development for a Toronto Hospital Foundation for 6 years. Cindy holds a B.A. of Economics and Sociology from the University of Waterloo.
Cindy has overseen the expansion of Windfall’s Wedding Boutique and started the FAB400 monthly giving program. She works with Windfall’s Corporate and Individual donors. Cindy is also a Fashion Stylist and runs Windfall’s newest Employment program, Suitable Impressions, where she teaches clients who are unemployed how to make the best first impression for a job interview. Cindy teaches clients how to dress appropriately for an interview and selects 4-6 work outfits for them to take home.
Guests
Michael Bales
Consultant, ZS Associates
Mike is a consultant with ZS Associates. He holds an MBA from the Rotman School of Management as well as a BS in both Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry. Mike has worked on engagements ranging from the sales organization re-design following a merger of two pharma companies, to developing the marketing strategy for a portfolio of devices used in interventional cardiology, to customer segmentation and forecasting in support of brand planning.
Prior to joining ZS Mike worked in a product development capacity with a couple of biotechnology start-up companies. He has also worked with a business incubator supporting entrepreneurs with sales and marketing strategy and business plan development.
Judith Lau
Associate, ZS Associates
Judith earned her Bachelor of Applied Science in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto, and joined ZS Associates as an Associate in 2009. Since then, she has served clients across Canada, the U.S. and Europe, primarily in marketing services, including forecasting, market research and marketing strategy. In the past, Judith has worked in integration engineering for a large European energy company, and in global marketing operations in telecommunications. She has also participated in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
Steve McClelland
Consultant, Boston Consulting Group
Steve completed an MBA at the Richard Ivey School of Business, a Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Calgary, and is a CFA Charterholder. He joined as a summer consultant in 2009 and returned to a full-time position in 2009. During his summer with BCG, Steve worked for a Canadian retailer helping to develop a strategy that would address the needs of the various Canadian customer segments more effectively. He has prior experience at The Bank of Nova Scotia leading a customer analytics team within international credit cards, and at Air Canada and Aeroplan, where he started a CRM team and an internal consulting team. Outside of work, Steve is very passionate about golf, maintaining a handicap of 3, and when he’s not on the links, he is looking to travel somewhere exotic or sample some spicy foreign food.
