Board of Directors
Chair Persons
_edited_edited_edited_edited_edited.jpg)
Vittoria Varalli
Chair of the Board
-
Current VP Sustainability and Chief of Staff, 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
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
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
Sameer Esmail
Regional Director British Columbia
-
Co-President of the Board of Directors of the Vancouver Branch of UNA-Canada
-
Junior Analyst on the Open Government team at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
-
Bachelor of Arts in International Relations & Master of Management at the University of British Columbia.
-
President of the UBC Student Alumni Council
-
Canada’s Head Delegate to the Y20 Summit in 2022
Thomas Morin-Cabana
Regional Director, Quebec
-
Staff Officer, Canadian Joint Operations Command Headquarters (CJOC HQ)
-
President, United Nations Association in Canada – Quebec City Branch
-
Founder & National President, The Crown Society of Canada
-
Coordinator of the Strategic Communications team, National Office of the Chancellor of the Order of St. John – Priory of Canada
-
President - Quebec & National Board member, The Duke of Edinburgh International Award – Canada
-
Founder, Mission Commander and mountaineer, #Infinite Potential project – The Ascension of Kilimanjaro
-
BMASc - Military and Strategic Studies Royal Military College of Canada
-
MBA – Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
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
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
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
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
Richard Maksymetz
Director-at-Large
-
Principal at ALAR Strategy Group
-
Former Chief of Staff to the Minister of Finance (Canada)
-
Biggest Canadian fan of the University of Memphis Tigers
President
Jaime Webbe
President & CEO
-
Former Global Director of Biodiversity and Climate Change at Alinea International
-
Former Chief Operating Officer at UBC's Canadian International Resources and Development Institute
-
18 years experience in international development across 3 UN Agencies
-
International postings in Denmark, Kenya, Morocco, and the US
-
Over 50 invited speaker appearances at UN events
-
Member of the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management and the Ocean Wise Conservation Committee