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Board of Directors

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Executive Committee

Richard Maksymetz

Richard Maksymetz

Chair of the Board

  • Principal at ALAR Strategy Group​

  • Former Chief of Staff to the Minister of Finance (Canada)​

  • Biggest Canadian fan of the University of Memphis Tigers

Muneeb Yusuf

Muneeb Yusuf

Vice-Chair

  • General Counse of League Inc.​

  • Formerly general counsel of Algoma Steel and Dundee Agriculture and attorney at Stikeman Elliott LLP​

  • Sits on a number of non-profit and public boards

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Michael Klosevych

Michael Klosevych

Secretary-Treasurer, Past Chair

  • Chartered Professional Accountant

  • Graduate of the University of Ottawa, McGill University and York University.

  • Served as UNA-Canada’s Secretary-Treasurer for ten years (2007 – 2017)

  • 20 years of professional Public and Private Sector work experience, most recently as a Senior Analyst with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans

  • 15+ years of volunteer experience on condo and daycare boards

Directors

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Vittoria Varalli

Past Chair of the Board

  • Senior VP Business Development, Open Farm Pet

  • Former VP Marketing, Sobeys Inc.​

  • Former Management Consultant at The Boston Consulting Group​

  • Former Corporate Attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom​

  • 8+ years of volunteer experience on the boards of Camp Quality and the Pink Pearl Foundation

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Sen. Hassan Yussuff

Director-at-Large

  • Appointed to the Senate of Canada in 2021 (Independent Senators Group)

  • Former two-term President of the Canadian Labour Congress (2014-2021)

  • Prominent international activist, including two terms as President of the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas

  • Served on numerous task forces and organizations, including the Government of Canada’s Sustainable Development Advisory Council

  • Member of the Council on Canada-US Relations

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Abdelkarim Awwad

Director-at-Large

  • Director of Marketing & Communication at Brian Jessel BMW

  • Board member of the German Canadian Business Association (BC)

  • President of the Canadian Academy of Protocol & Events management

  • Former head of the disaster management unit (Qatari Red Crescent)

  • Former advisor and consultant to several international organizations and embassies in the Middle East

Jason Drysdale

Jason Drysdale

Director-at-Large

  • Executive Vice President, Retail and Commercial Risk, Royal Bank of Canada​

  • 22 years of experience in financial services​​

  • Bachelor of Engineering, Masters in Business Administration, and Chartered Financial Analyst 

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Regional Directors

Sameer Esmail

Sameer Esmail

Regional Director, British Columbia

  • President of the Board of the Vancouver branch of UNA-Canada

  • Analyst, Air Services at InterVISTAS Consulting

  • Bachelor of Arts in International Relations & Master of Management from UBC

  • Greater Vancouver Board of Trade Leaders of Tomorrow, 2023-2024

  • Canada-Asia Young Professionals Fellow with the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada, 2023-2024

  • Canada’s Head Delegate to the G20 Youth Summit, 2022

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Elsa Jutras Vigneault

Regional Director, Quebec

  • Head of the programming committee and secretary, United Nations Association in Canada - Greater Montreal branch 

  • LL.B., University of Montreal, 2024

  • Student at the École du Barreau du Québec, 2024-2025

  • President, Lawyers without Borders University of Montreal committee, 2022-2023

Mehreen Kapadia

Mehreen Kapadia

Regional Director, Prairies

  • Community Liaison - NPower Canada

  • Former  Project Coordinator with the Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association

  • Former CIDA Intern in India (in conjunction with the Shastri- Indo-Canadian Institute, University of Calgary and Tarun Bharat Singh)

  • B.A International Development

  • Member of the Calgary Branch

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Anne Pearson

Anne Pearson

Regional Director, Ontario

  • Former professor of Religious Studies, McMaster University

  • author of academic and non-academic books and articles

  • 30+ years experience with community organizations and boards

  • recipient of Hamilton World Citizenship and Order of Hamilton awards

  • President of UNA-Canada Hamilton Branch

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​President

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Aki Temisevä

​President & CEO

  • 20+ years experience as a C-level senior marketing executive and CEO across the nonprofit and private sectors

  • Has led change at Procter & Gamble, World Vision, Children Believe, Right to Play and others

  • Global Citizen, born in Finland, with experience across all continents and home now in Canada

  • Results-based people leader, dedicated to crafting actionable solutions which build bridges and improve everyone's lives

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