Dedicated volunteers join UCC Board of Governors and Association Council

11/9/2021

Upper Canada College welcomes several community members to key volunteer leadership roles this fall.

Alumni J.P. Mackay ’02 and Dr. Ifedayo Kuye ’05 are the newest members of UCC’s Board of Governors. Mackay, who was recently named president of the UCC Association Council, joins the Board as an ex officio member, and Dr. Kuye is an Association Council–appointed Board member at large.

Joining the UCC Association Council as council members are Ellen Fang, the parent of a UCC alumnus and a current student, as well as alumni Christopher Cruz ’02, Sevion DaCosta ’17 and Ali Merali ’02. Returning for a second term on the Association Council is Chanakya Sethi ’03. The Council is the leadership body of the UCC Association, working in partnership with the College on a wide range of initiatives that engage the parent and alumni community in support of the College’s vision, mission and values. The Board of Governors establishes and directs policy for the College and oversees its financial affairs.

"I'm delighted that these incredibly dedicated volunteers have stepped up to offer their expertise and enthusiasm to help the College move forward with its bold strategic plan as we approach our 200th anniversary in 2029," says Principal Sam McKinney.

Meet the newest members of the Board of Governors:

Dr. Ifedayo Kuye ’05 is an assistant professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He is also the associate medical director of value-based care in the Johns Hopkins Office of Population Health. He received his undergraduate degree in economics at Harvard College, his MD degree from Harvard Medical School, and an MBA from Harvard Business School (as a Baker Scholar). Dr. Kuye has volunteered as a mentor in the UCC alumni community and has contributed to conversations in support of the College’s pluralism strategy development.

J.P. Mackay ’02 is senior vice president, national operations, at Allied Properties Real Estate Investment Trust. He was elected to the UCC Association Council in 2016. He also serves as chair of UCC’s Barbara A. Barrow Scholarship Foundation and is a member of the Lang Scholar Program Advisory Board. Mackay holds a BA from the University of British Columbia and an MBA from the Ivey Business School.

Meet the newly elected (or re-elected) members of the Association Council:

Christopher Cruz ’02 is an investment professional at Searchlight Capital Partners. He also volunteers with Junior Achievement and diversity-focused organizations such as INROADS, Girls Who Invest, and HimForHer. Cruz received an HBA from Western University’s Richard Ivey School of Business. Cruz has volunteered in numerous roles at UCC, notably as a volunteer to fellow alumni and Lang Scholars.

Sevion DaCosta ’17 works at BlackRock as an iShares business strategist. He has served on UCC’s Events and Engagement committee since 2020. The head steward in his last year at UCC, DaCosta went on to Claremont McKenna College, where he earned a BA in philosophy, politics and economics (PPE), with a legal studies sequence, and was a Robert Day Scholar.

Ellen Fang is a general partner at Archangel Network of Funds, an angel-stage investment fund. Over the years, she has held several UCC volunteer positions at both the Prep and the Upper School. Fang completed a bachelor’s degree in material sciences and an MBA from China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) and an exchange program at London Business School.

Ali Merali ’02 is chief of staff and head of special projects for COVID-19 response efforts at UofT’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health and supports Ontario’s Science Advisory Table. As a volunteer, he played an active role in organizing alumni in support of maintaining and strengthening UCC’s Boarding Program when it was under strategic review. He holds a BSc from Cornell University and an MPP from Harvard University.

Chanakya Sethi ’03 (re-elected) is based in Brooklyn, N.Y. and is an attorney at Wilkinson Stekloff LLP. He graduated from UCC in 2003 with the J. Herbert Mason Medal. He is a graduate of Princeton, Osgoode Hall, and Yale Law School. A long-standing contributor to the UCC community, Sethi has served on fundraising and reunion committees, as his class president and, previously, on the Association Council from 2012–15.

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