Meet our Board of Directors
Sameer Akhtar, Board Chair
Sameer is a lawyer with over 15 years of experience in a range of public and private sector roles, as well as non-profit board and volunteer experience.
He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto (in Computer Science and Economics) and his law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University. He holds a Certified Information Privacy Professional/Canada (CIPP/C) designation.
He speaks Urdu / Hindi and lives in Mississauga with his wife and three kids.
Sameer rejoins the board of CFSPD after having been on the board in the past (2013-2018).
Nauman Khan, Vice Chair
Nauman joined Sheridan College in March 2022 as the Associate Vice President of Government and Community Relations. Nauman has made great strides in building relationships with the external partners and stakeholders throughout the communities Sheridan resides. His key focus is to continue to trailblaze Sheridan’s reputation and meet community needs following the 3 P Model: place, population, and profession. The most recent success of leading the Centre for Healthy Community Roadshow and receiving a 2.5 million planning grant from the City of Brampton in support.
Nauman has most recently served as the Director of Community Relations at Ryerson University, where he has engaged hundreds of individuals and organizations to build positive momentum and public confidence for the Ryerson Medical School project.
Prior to his time at Ryerson, Nauman served as the Senior Manager of Public Affairs for the United Way, Greater Toronto where he enabled the work of colleagues in fundraising and community investment to fight local poverty and address social needs such as housing, workforce development and employment, and education and training pathways for those facing barriers in the labour market.
His work at the United Way followed three years of service at Queen’s Park, where he led strategic communications and media relations for elected officials including the Premier of Ontario, the Minister of Children and Youth Services, the Minister Responsible for Women’s Issues, the Minister of Energy and the Attorney General of Ontario. Nauman also worked for eight years at OMNI Television, serving as a senior correspondent, anchor and news coordinator.
Jose Torres, Treasurer
Jose is the Peel North Particular Council of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (SSVP), a member of the Spirituality Committee of SSVP Greater Toronto Central Council (GTCC), Chair, SSVP National Council Spirituality Committee, and a member of SSVP Saint John of the Cross (Mississauga, ON) Conference. Driven by his other passion, he has since March 2022 written monthly spiritual reflections for use by GTCC 115 conferences and 11 particular councils across the region in their monthly meetings, and since June 2022, contributed short essays and monthly spiritual reflections to the SSVP (National) Canada Newsletter. He also contributed to igNation, a Jesuit blog. He is co-Vice Chair and citizen member of the City of Mississauga Election Campaign Finance Committee.
A Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) with large-corporate financial planning and reporting background (Walmart, Maple Foods, Canada Post, Moneris Solutions head offices, among others), he served as Parish Finance Council member for 10 years aside from being an active parishioner at Saint John of the Cross with the Lector and other ministries for the last 25 years.
His career start included a brief stint at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York City as Senior External Auditor, with assignments in South and North America, and the Caribbean. For three years, he was part-time instructor at Sheridan Institute of Technology Continuing and Professional Studies. He wrote for corporate and professional newsletters, and Canada’s major daily.
An honour student and leadership awardee from grade school through university, he was a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Fellow, and certified and trained in both Six and Lean Sigma.
Devan Lobo, Secretary
Devan is a public policy professional with experience in policy formulation, implementation and analysis at the provincial and municipal level in Ontario. She currently works as a Senior Business Analyst at the Town of Caledon coordinating the Town’s long-term strategic planning, and leading corporate policy development, organizational reviews and service initiatives.
Devan completed her Bachelor of Public Affairs and Policy Management with specialization in Social Policy at the Carleton University as well as a graduate degree from the University of Toronto.
Always striving to make a positive contribution to her community, Devan has volunteered in various capacities with the United Way of Greater Toronto, Public Good Initiative and Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa.
Devan is excited to work with an organization that, like her, values collaboration and community partnerships.
Kelly Montague
Kelly Montague is Vice President, Community Brands Torstar Corporation. Kelly has worked in media for the past 31 years with various roles at both community and daily newspaper brands, including the role of publisher. The bulk of her career has been in sales and marketing, helping to provide print and digital solutions to local business.
Kelly is a graduate of McMaster University with a Bachelor of Arts and an Advertising diploma from Sheridan College. Kelly is a McMaster University Academic Advisor who helps students with career advice and assist with the job search process. She is also the executive sponsor of the Torstar Client and Consumer Employee Resource Group that focuses on inclusivity and diversity.
Throughout her career, Kelly has been a member of several marketing committees for non-profit and community organizations, most recently with the Halton Learning Foundation. Kelly has extensive experience working with teams, collaborating on projects, and leading teams.
Married to Steve for 28 years, Kelly is the mother of two adult children.
Kamela Shah
Kamela Shah, MBA CHRP is a Human Resources professional with almost 20 years of experience in strategy formulation, analysis, and implementation of new organizational initiatives.
She currently works for Peel Regional Police and is also a member of the Equity Diversity and Inclusion Committee, Health and Safety Committee, and Healthy Living Committee. Kamela holds a Master of Business Administration specializing in Strategic Management and is a Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP). She has volunteered with several charities and non-governmental organizations over the last 18 years.
Kamela is motivated and committed to the CFSPD mission and vision and is passionate about the values it represents to the Region.
Anne White
Anne White is a retired Senior Communications professional with more than 25 years of experience in Ontario government communications.
Prior to that, she worked for six years with Covenant House Toronto where she was instrumental in establishing their Ask, Before You Run program, a runaway prevention initiative. An active member on the Board of the African Canadian Christian Network, a GTA-based agency serving Black youth and their families, Anne has served the organization for more than 10 years.
She is an award-winning graduate of Ryerson (Toronto Metropolitan University) where she obtained a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Radio and Television. Strategic Communications planning, writing, event planning, media relations and teaching are some of her key skills and strengths.
A practicing Roman Catholic, Anne has been a resident of Brampton for more than 30 years.
Belle MacEachern
Belle MacEachern has been a senior-level leader with over 35 years of commercial experience within the healthcare sector. Belle specializes in transformational leadership, building profitable and culturally sound organizations and nurturing the innate strengths in others.
She has been a member of the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Southwest Durham and has acted as a Big Sister for 35 years. She is proud of her Little Sister who has become a wife, mother and professional educator to kindergarten students.
Belle has been a proud member of the Erin Mills-Mississauga Women’s Council led by MP Iqra Khalid for 3 years supporting the many needs in the community, especially the creation of viable resources enabling women to thrive, learn and strengthen their place within our society.
Her post secondary education comes from Toronto Metropolitan University in Business Management (Marketing) and Centennial College in Therapeutic Recreation.
Belle prides herself on the importance of taking a unique thinking and innovative approach to strategy, outreach and problem-solving while adopting a resilient mindset when faced with challenges.
She is honoured to be a member of the Catholic Family Services of Peel-Dufferin as it allows her to channel her efforts into purposeful advocacy and awareness with a high potential for impact and transformation.
Board members support, maintain and develop the organization’s Mission Statement and Strategic Objectives by monitoring the operational progress of the agency. Involved in planning, prioritizing and goal setting, members respond creatively to the ongoing challenge of meeting the increased needs of a growing community. Board members help identify funding priorities and guide the Agency in visioning its future program development. By speaking to politicians, funders and community audiences, Board members advocate to improve the provision and access to social services within our community. Members also provide supervision for the Chief Executive Officer and are expected to take on special assignments including funding presentations.
The Board of Directors assumes the leadership role in fundraising activities and members recognize the need to supplement agency revenues on a continual basis by simultaneously increasing the agency’s organizational capacity to sustain annual fundraising events, explore new revenue generation strategies, increase the current donor base, cultivate donor relations and approach individuals, businesses, schools and service clubs for donations. The future growth of the agency is dependent on our ability to increase our funding capacity.
The Board of Directors meet once a month and on average will spend 12 hours per month in their roles as Board members.
BOARD OPPORTUNITIES
The Board of Directors of Catholic Family Services is committed to a human-centered agenda designed to meet the needs of a rapidly expanding community rich in culture and diversity. Coming from all walks of life and from different backgrounds and experiences, Board members bring their insight, enthusiasm and expertise to ensure that agency standards are maintained by good governance and fiscal responsibility. Members increase their awareness about important social issues and needs facing our community and the role of the provincial government and other funders in meeting those needs. Staff members support Board awareness by providing program presentations and information sessions at regular meetings.
For more information or if you are interested in joining our Board of Directors, please complete the Board of Directors Membership Application and send it to: Opportunities@cfspd.com
Board Opportunities