Atoosa Adnani 
Teaches: Assessing Volunteer Performance
Atoosa Adnani is the Volunteer Services Coordinator for World Skills Employment Centre, where she is responsible for the overall HR support to an average of 150 volunteers and interns from a diverse range of countries. She has successfully created, planned and implemented an in house volunteer/internship program to provide Internationally trained professionals with meaningful Canadian work experience in a supportive environment which has been running since 2013, with 90% of them obtaining employment during or right after their volunteering.
Jad Atik Teaches: Introduction to Financial Planning; Maximize Charitable Giving
Jad Atik is a Financial Planning consultant specializing for 15 years in assisting companies, families and individuals in understanding and utilizing the financial tools available to us is order to achieve short and long term financial security and stability. Jad has advised numerous clients in both Canada and Lebanon. He lives in Ottawa with his wife and five beautiful children.
Heather Badenoch 
Teaches: Social Media for NPOs; Communications Planning for NPOs; Working with the Media; Crisis Communications
Heather Badenoch believes in the value of not-for-profits to support our most vulnerable people and animals. She provides strategic communications planning and implementation, public relations, social media engagement, and training across Canada.
Heather is a board member with Volunteer Ottawa and the past Vice President and Membership Chair of the Canadian Public Relations Society Ottawa-Gatineau chapter. She is a volunteer with Community Veterinary Outreach, the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre annual Christmas Tree sale, and has been a volunteer foster parent with dog rescues since 1998.
She received the 2014 Outstanding Contribution Award from Volunteer Ottawa and the 2005 City of Ottawa Civic Appreciation Award for Community Activism (Group) along with the HOPE SummerFest planning team.
Born and raised in Ottawa, Heather is a proud alumna of the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University and Merivale High School.
She and her husband, Paul, can often be found walking their rescue dog, Abbey, or taking on yet another house project.
Nancy Barrett, BA, CAE, Acc.Dir Teaches: Board Governance
Nancy has more than 25 years of experience in industry, government and the association sector. Nancy is a Partner with AMCES and is responsible for leading the association management practice. During the past 10 years, Nancy has provided consulting, Executive Director, and association management services to the not-for-profit sector. Through both her consulting and volunteer work, Nancy has been directly involved in:
Nancy is a graduate of the University of Waterloo, a trained facilitator, a Certified Association Executive (CAE) and an Accredited Director (Acc.Dir.)
David Bird Teaches: Uncover Your NPO Website's Secrets with Google Analytics; Google Advertising for NPOs
David Bird is a Marketing Consultant and owner of Birds Eye Marketing, which provides marketing services for a number of clients in the Ottawa area, particularly in Google AdWords and Analytics. His many qualifications include certifications in Google Adwords, Pay-Per-Click advertising, Google Analytics, and Web Metrics. In addition to these qualifications, David has over 20 years of experience in creating and implementing marketing programs. Based on this experience, he knows exactly how important it is to base all of your marketing decisions on measurable data. David's workshops can teach you how to take advantage of free Google Analytics and how to sign up for a free (for Canadian registered charities and non-profits) Google grant, allowing you to place up to $10,000 worth of advertising online, absolutely for free.
Mark Buzan 
Teaches: Board Governance
Mark has close to 2 decades of experience as a Director of Communications, Government Relations, Marketing, and Business Development as well as a consultant to the private sector, government and associations. Ultimately these roles lead towards becoming an Executive Director, President and CEO of two national associations. Throughout his career, he has managed staff of anywhere from 2 to 7 employees and worked within organizations of 2 to up to several thousand.
Directing strategic plan initiatives, strategy and business operation plans, governance policies and annual budgets, he has surpassed organizational goals and optimized organizational effectiveness. He has a solid reputation for the building, management and promotion of member programs to increase the bottom-line improving member services and benefits. Mark is multilingually fluent in French, English and Spanish.
Teaches: Is Social Enterprise your Solution? A Board Orientation
CSED is a not for profit organization that advances businesses and organizations, whose primary objective is to drive systemic social change. We believe in the power of the social enterprise sector, and its ability to make the world a better place.
Paula Coons Teaches: Bookkeeping Basics for NPOs; Improve your Organizational Productivity
Paula Coons, the Director of Operations for Volunteer Ottawa, graduated with honors from Algonquin College in Accounting. Paula has more than twelve years of experience in the Ottawa not-for-profit sector. She manages finances, events, and volunteers and she keeps Volunteer Ottawa’s operations running smoothly. She lives just outside of Ottawa in the beautiful farming community of Winchester. In her spare time, she loves hanging out with her family, camping & working on her cooking blog.
Miriam Dupuis Teaches: Engaging Staff to Support Volunteers
Miriam Dupuis has been the Coordinator of Volunteers at the Ottawa Mission for the past six years. Prior to that, she was a Family Service Worker with Family and Children’s Services. In addition, she Chairs the board of OAVR, the association of Ottawa Administrators of Volunteer Resources. Her professional qualifications include a Management of Volunteers Certificate and a BSW in Social Work.
Teaches: Discipline & Dismissal of Volunteers
Omaima is a manager of volunteers with over 10 years of varied experience in the Ottawa NPO sector. Before joining the Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Association (OCISO) in 2009, Omaima worked as the Internationally Trained Women Volunteer Coordinator for Volunteer Ottawa and as fundraising coordinator for Chair Can. Omaima’s community involvement also includes three years on the Ottawa Community Services Committee. She is Acting Manager of Community Economic Development, and she performs with Ottawa Storytellers.
Mena Gainpaulsingh Teaches: Dynamic Growth through Strategic Fundraising; Fundraising Strategy for Executives
Mena is a fundraising professional and consultant specializing in fundraising strategy, individual giving, capital campaigns, grant writing, corporate sponsorship and event management. She has worked in the sector for more than 18 years, initially at the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, where she ran a capital campaign to build a new treatment centre for torture survivors.
As a fundraising consultant, Mena has worked for a broad range of organizations, including WaterAid Canada, Starlight Children's Foundation and Virgin Unite. She is the founder and CEO of Purposeful Fundraising, a consultancy firm that supports organizations to strengthen their fundraising capacity and to raise more money. Mena has delivered training internationally on strategy, major gifts international fundraising, relationship development and grant writing at a number of venues, including: City of Ottawa Arts Centres, Volunteer Ottawa, Algonquin College AFP Ottawa, Kingston and Toronto.
At AFP Ottawa, Mena sits on the Board as Vice President of Professional Development and is on the Steering Committee for Prime Ministers Row. She is dedicated to supporting the professional development of fundraisers and enjoys helping charities navigate their way through their various fundraising challenges.
Edwin Greenfield Teaches: Conflict Resolution
Edwin has mediated and negotiated settlements for personal injury cases across Ontario including hundreds of disputes with insurance companies. As a mediator and coach, Edwin’s primary focus is to help people resolve conflicts in the workplace. Since 2009, Edwin has mediated workplace conflicts including disputes between colleagues, managers, employees, and unions. As a Social Worker and mediator Edwin combines his conflict resolution problem solving skills with his understanding of individuals and interpersonal dynamics. For the past 25 years Edwin has worked at March of Dimes Canada in various management roles.
Edwin holds a Social Work Diploma and obtained the designation of Chartered Mediator and Qualified Arbitrator from the ADR Institute of Canada as well as an Executive Certificate in Conflict Management University of Windsor Law School.
Currently serving on the ADR Institute's Mediator Roster on behalf of Community Care Access Centres in Ontario, providing arms-length, neutral complaint facilitation and also a Toronto Roster Mediator with the Ontario Mandatory Mediation Program for the Ministry of the Attorney General.
Teaches: Volunteer Management 101; Volunteer Recognition; Excel 101; Excel 201; MS Word 201
Maria Lahiffe is the Education Coordinator with Volunteer Ottawa. In this role, Maria coordinates all aspects of the VO Education program, including recruiting instructors, developing instructional content, and marketing. Before joining VO in early 2016, Maria worked in a diverse range of roles and organizations, including Outreach Coordinator for Queen’s University , K-12 teacher for a public school board, Senior Chemistry Teacher at a Secondary School in Ghana and Environmental Engineering Consultant in Northern BC. Maria’s varied background in education, business and the voluntary sector provided the perfect foundation for leading workshops geared towards Non-Profit professionals. A proud alumna of both UBC and UOttawa, Maria is a member of both the Ontario College of Teachers and the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers. She currently lives in Ottawa with her husband and her dog.
Rose Anne Leonard Rose Anne Leonard brings an enthusiasm for education and volunteering to her role as a trainer at Volunteer Ottawa. She has facilitated workshops on board governance and volunteer management since 2010. She has designed training programs (both face-to-face and online) at Algonquin College and taught and facilitated groups in train-the-trainer programs. She has been the manager of a volunteer tutoring program for children struggling with Math and has tutored for twenty years with People Words and Change, an adult literacy program. She is certified as an Essential Skills analyst by Bow Valley College, AB. Rose Anne has served on the board of People Words and Change for fifteen years and for five years was a board member of the Vanier Community Association.
Maryse Lepage Teaches: Executive Seminar in Change Management
Maryse Lepage is a change consultant who anchors her practice with a Prosci certification and change models favoring leadership and engagement. She is a leadership and executive coach certified with New Ventures West/Convivium and an Associate Certified Coach with the International Coach Federation. She is also a certified Integral Facilitator which provides her with a deeper understanding of group dynamics.
Maryse’s background spans over 25 years of professional experience, most of them with MD Financial Management, a subsidiary of the Canadian Medical Association. While at MD her priorities focused on change management for strategic projects, development programs for teams and high potential leaders, and leadership coaching. Previous mandates included project management for business transformation, the management of administrative services, IT services and regional operations. She now owns ThinkBeChange Integral Consulting Solutions, coaching leaders to implement change well and faster while having a positive impact on people, organizations and communities. Current clients include Ottawa University, Sherpa Business Group and Shopify.
Maryse is engaged in the community through her volunteer work on the Board of Directors for the Elizabeth Fry Society of Ottawa.
Marley Lewington Teaches: Fill your Social Media Toolbox
Marley Lewington, Creative Director of Initial PR, works with clients and partners to develop creative assets to further their mission and achieve goals. This often means creating digital strategies to curate your online presence. She also has extensive experience working with non-profits and small businesses within the Ottawa community.
Bryant McNamara Teaches: Fill your Social Media Toolbox
Bryant McNamara, Initial PR president, spent his early career with Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, and has since moved on to work with Initial Public Relations full-time. Bryant's understanding of the crucial role that non-profits play in society was sparked through his work with the John Howard Society of Canada and the Friends of the Ottawa Public Library Association.
Jenny Mitchell Teaches: Steps to Sponsorship Sales Success; Case for Support - Inspire your Donors
Jenny Mitchell’s company Chavender, empowers and educates fundraisers to raise more money for their organizations. Jenny is passionate about bringing her knowledge of “Fundraising Fundamentals” to organizations all across North America through Fundraising Mastermind online courses. She lives in Ottawa, Ontario with her two ringette-playing daughters, and her hockey-loving husband.
Claudia Newman Teaches: Workplace Ethics
Claudia Newman provides training and consulting services to public and private sectors in the areas of professional and workplace ethics. Within a risk management framework, her particular expertise is twofold: helping organizations and individual professionals broaden their understanding of professional ethics & boundaries; and broadening their understanding of the role of cultures of ethical excellence in mitigating ethics risks.
With a graduate degree from Carleton University, Claudia has extensive experience in the field of professional regulation. Currently, she is a public appointee to the Board of the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Acupuncturists of Ontario (CTMPAO) and to the Board of the College of Veterinarians of Ontario (CVO). Claudia is Chair of CTMPAO’s Complaints and Registration Committees. And is a member of CVO’s Executive Committee. Claudia has served in various capacities on the VO Board since 2010.
Teaches: Project Management 101
NPO PM Training.org is a local non-profit which exists to improve the capacity of local charities and NPOs to deliver on their mandates by managing their initiatives more effectively.
The NPO PM Training.org's leaders are:
Paul Astell is a certified Project Management Professional who has been working as a Project Manager in high-tech for over 12 years. Paul specializes in advanced R&D projects which are unique and have different requirements - not unlike the projects in the non-profit sector. Currently Paul is working at the Communications Research Centre.
Cliff Thornton is a certified Project Management Professional who has been in the high-tech industry for over 22 years. Cliff has worked in various inspiring roles over his 18 years at Cognos / IBM and now as an independent consultant. His roles have included: Customer Support, Software QA/QC, Release Management, Program Coordinator / Operations Management notably covering all areas (hardware, software, procurement, legal, process document, etc.) of deploying an entire lab to handle 300 users, Agile Methodology implementation and has helped organize and provide numerous NPO PM training workshops.
Karen Wilson is a certified Project Management Professional who has been working as a project manager for over 10 years. Karen has been involved in a diverse range of projects types including Hi-tech, IT, and small business. Karen brings a widely ranging background and high energy to projects of all types and sizes. She enjoys sharing her drive and ability to get things done!
Dawn Bailey is a PMP certified project manager with 20 years of experience managing global projects covering a broad range of activities. Her passion is solving problems through diligent analysis of issues and finding creative ways (and people) to solve them. Dawn is currently at IBM where her team is responsible for division wide infrastructure, tooling and projects - including Defect Management, Accessibility, Education, Capital Planning and Resource Management. Dawn is active on the NPO PM Training.org board of directors and is also an avid volunteer and community member for her local school and region.
Jim PealowTeaches: Board Governance
Jim Pealow is considered one of Canada's top experts in not-for-profit leadership and management. He has developed and taught not-for-profit management courses leading to certification for 20 years to over 2,000 individuals. He has also developed and delivered many workshops and been a speaker at national and international conferences.
He is the author or co-author of 12 publications focused on not-for-profit leadership and management, First Nations finance, and First Nations health management. In addition he has written over 40 magazine articles and consulted with over 200 not-for-profits on a variety of topics including governance, strategy, policy and operations.
Jim is currently the Managing Partner with AMCES, which manages not-for-profits and provides consulting services. He is volunteering his time with Volunteer Ottawa as part of his plan to give back to community. He has served as the Chair/President of a number of organizations over the years. One of his first ever Board Director roles was with Volunteer Regina many years ago.
Teaches: Executive Seminar on Turning your Strategic Plan into Operational Objectives, Preparing for your Annual Audit; How to Read Financial Statements
Procope Consulting provides business advisory services to not-for-profit organizations. We use our accounting, finance and business knowledge to help with strategic, tactical and operational aspects of your organization. We aspire to be a place where people from various backgrounds and experience can mix to apply altruism to systemic challenges. Our mission is to provide this type of environment for our clients, employees and contractors as we strive to find solutions together for the good of the organization as a whole. YOUR organization. Procope's leaders are:
Brad Brookman, CPA, CA, CFE Brad’s knowledge and experience are based in accounting and extend to finance, controls, corporate governance, forensic investigation and more. Combining his diverse background with his strong strategic capabilities, Brad has a proven track record of aiding companies in attaining their goals, and when something goes wrong, he excels at resolving issues to get organizations back on track quickly. He is passionate about helping not-for-profit organizations transform corporate and departmental strategic objectives into focused action and realized operational excellence.
Michelle Nadeau, CPA, CMA Michelle is fully bilingual and has a wide range of consulting experience, from audit and governance to operation optimization and project management. She has extensive experience with government and not-for-profit organizations. Most recently, she focused on assisting her clients with performance evaluation and reporting, project management and change management. Michelle has exemplary skills in risk management, quantitative, qualitative and comparative analysis, stakeholder engagement and communication. She is passionate about optimizing outcomes for not-for-profit organizations and helping them reach their goals.
Lola Dubé-Quibell Teaches: Creating a Volunteer Handbook 101, Writing a Volunteer Handbook 201
Lola has over 30 years of industry experience which includes a long association with Volunteer Ottawa and many of Volunteer Ottawa’s members and related associations. She is currently Ottawa Public Health’s Coordinator of Volunteer Resources; a role she has held for the past 17 years. Earlier in her career, Lola spent over a decade in sales and marketing at Canada Post. She has been a past Co-Chair of the Ontario Public Health Volunteer Resources Management Network (VRMN) and the Ottawa Administrators of Volunteer Resources (OAVR), as well as a Board Director at Centre Soleil and the Civic Institute of Professional Personnel. Lola has a Masters from Laurentian University and obtained a Certificate in Volunteer Administration from Algonquin College.
Cédric St-AmourTeaches: Volunteer Management: Orientation and Training
Cédric St-Amour is the volunteer coordinator for Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation, which manages three museums in the Ottawa area: Science and Technology Museum, Agriculture and Food Museum, and Aviation and Space Museum.
Benjamin M Schlussel Teaches: Presentation Skills, Executive Seminar in Delegation
Mr. Schlussel has an international reputation as a thought leader and a highly sought after consultant and facilitator. He is the founder and Principal Consultant of BMS Associates, a management consulting, education and training enterprise.
Now retired, he continues to stay active and share his knowledge and experience by volunteering for several not for profit organizations in the Ottawa. They include the Diabetes Association of Canada, the Ottawa Chapter of APICS and Volunteer Ottawa.
Ben is a consummate professional with extensive experience in manufacturing, engineering, and supply chain management. He has worked with clients the fields of electronics, precision machining, heavy metal fabrication, machine tools, aerospace/defense, transportation equipment, auto parts, food products, pharmaceuticals and not for profit service industries.
Mr. Schlussel is proud to have received the Toyota Best Idea Award presented at the SAPICS conference in Durban, South Africa.
Ben has conducted hundreds of workshops internationally, for APICS, the American Management Association (AMA) and a variety of businesses, educational institutions, and professional organizations. He is the author of the AMA’s course on Supply Chain Management.
Teaches: Increase your Online Influence
SHIFTER Magazine is an online magazine for creators and aspiring influencers. Founded in Ottawa in August 2013, SHIFTER inspires people to create and to impact the world around them by providing relevant cultural commentary, interviews, profiles, and how-to’s. Through their years of experience in marketing, branding and content creation, including building an Instagram audience of 80,000 in just six months, the SHIFTER team is now positioned to help individuals and organizations build their own media communications platform to influence the world around them. SHIFTER is the project of Joe Mabrahtu and Kevin Bourne.
Joe Mebrahtu is co-founder and business development director of SHIFTER Magazine. Prior to SHIFTER he spent eight years in fundraising and promotions in the arts and festivals sectors and with organizations like the Ottawa International Jazz Festival and the National Arts Centre. He also spent eight years as a community development and outreach pastor at a local church. Some say he could have a bright future as a standup comedian. Over the years he has gained valuable experience in marketing, community-building, community engagement and partnership development.
Kevin Bourne is co-founder and editor of SHIFTER Magazine. Prior to SHIFTER he worked as a communications and policy advisor on Parliament Hill. With five years of experience in television, film, and production and almost ten years of experience in writing and graphic design, Kevin is the “chief content creator and all around media guy” on the SHIFTER team. He’s also passionate about city-building, managing SHIFTER’s spinoff brand Future of Ottawa.
Paula Speevak Teaches: Volunteer Screening
Paula Speevak Sladowski is the Executive Director of Volunteer Canada. She joined Volunteer Canada as the Director of Applied Research and Public Policy in 2010, after serving as the Managing Director of Carleton University’s Centre for Voluntary Sector Research and Development. Most recently, she served as principal investigator for the pan-Canadian study on volunteerism, Bridging the Gap: Enriching the Volunteer Experience to Build a Better Future for our Communities (2010).
Since 2006, she has taught undergraduate courses in Governance in the Voluntary Sector and Community Service-Learning, at the University of Ottawa, and a graduate course in Non-Profit Management, in the School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University. She has also collaborated on a number of research studies on topics related to the Social Sector.
Prior to her focus on applied research, Paula enjoyed a 24-year career as a practitioner and senior manager in the non-profit and voluntary sector in both institutional and community-based settings, in Montreal, Ottawa, and on pan-Canadian initiatives and holds a Master of Management Degree from McGill University in the McGill-McConnell Program for National Voluntary Sector Leaders.
Rachel Stoparczyk, CVA Teaches: Supervision and Monitoring of Volunteers
Rachel Stoparczyk, CVA, is the Coordinator, Volunteer Services at The Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre. Rachel has 14 years’ experience leading diverse teams of volunteers, including previous roles with Volunteer Ottawa, VSO Canada and the Ottawa Children’s Treatment Centre. She chaired the Canadian Journal of Volunteer Resources Management, and was a board member with Ottawa Administrators of Volunteer Resources and Distress Centre of Ottawa and Region. In addition to achieving the Certified in Volunteer Administration designation, Rachel received a certificate in Volunteer Resources Management from Algonquin College. She is a lifelong volunteer who currently enjoys her one-to-one match through the Ottawa Carleton Association for Persons with Developmental Disabilities. Rachel looks forward to sharing and learning with you.
Teaches: Board Governance
Claudia, the corporate secretary on the Volunteer Ottawa Board of Directors, is an occupational therapist in private practice in Ottawa. She has diverse governance experience with not-for-profit organizations as a senior executive as well as through volunteer roles with a number of community agencies. In addition to joining the VO Board in 2014, Claudia currently serves as the project lead for several initiatives of the World Federation of Occupational Therapists.
Claudia holds a Master’s of Science degree in Epidemiology and Doctorate in Rehabilitation Science from Queen’s University. She teaches in the Masters of Rehabilitation Science Program with the University of British Columbia and holds appointments as a Clinical Assistant Professor with both McMaster University and the University of British Columbia.
Osamu Wakabayashi Teaches: Web Design: WordPress for Non-Profits; Speed up your WordPress Site
The Designer and Speaker at Zen Ideas, Osamu Wakabayashi has over 15 years of experience as a marketing and communication manager in both private and public sectors. In addition to his design talent and passion for creating graphic design, enriching brand development, Osamu focuses his expertise in delivering seminars/workshops to the business community and assisting them in developing WordPress websites, presentation and marketing strategies.
