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Leadership

Association Council

    • Association Council

What’s the Association Council?

The UCC Association represents the interests of Old Boys, parents, members of the Board of Governors and the UCC Foundation, faculty and staff, and other community members with demonstrated interest in the College.
 
The UCC Association Council is its own governing body, with 21 elected council members and eight ex-officio council members. Officers include the President, Vice-President(s), Secretary, Executive Director and Managing Director. The Council meets three times per year in addition to its annual general meeting, held in October.

List of 1 frequently asked questions.

  • Our Role

    • Governance-level recommendations to the College on significant priorities and policies regarding external relations, including friendraising, fundraising and communications
    • Advise the Office of Advancement on strategies and priorities, and review annual objectives and reports
    • Represent the views of its members on broader governance issues and serve as the conduit for advocating these positions, on behalf of its membership, to the Board of Governors and Principal
    • Situation-specific advice and assistance in the implementation of friendraising, fundraising and communications programs
    • Fulfils its constitutional responsibilities and appoint three governors of the College (the Association President serves as a Governor)
    • Select the annual recipient of the John D. Stevenson Award for outstanding volunteer service to the College and the Harold A.D. Roberts Circle Awards for volunteerism
    • Identify and cultivate potential volunteers, donors and advocates (may include nominating additional individuals for the Board of Governors, Foundation Board or other groups)

List of 1 frequently asked questions.

  • Our Purpose

    • Serve as a link between UCC and its members
    • Provide programs and services for its members
    • Engage its members in the service of UCC

List of 1 frequently asked questions.

  • Our Members

    • Old Boys
    • Parents
    • Members of the Board of Governors 
    • Members of the Board of Directors of UCC's Foundation 
    • Members of Board of Trustees of the UCC Educational Foundation and UCC Foundation U.K. 
    • UCC's Principal, faculty and staff
    • Others with demonstrated interest in the College's welfare

Meet the Association Council

List of 21 items.

  • Chanakya Sethi ’03

    President
    Chanakya Sethi is partner at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, where his practice focuses on high-stakes litigation matters. He is serving his second term on the Association Council. A proud member of Bremner's House, Chan graduated from UCC in 2003 with the J. Herbert Mason Medal. While a student, he was involved with Convergence, the World Affairs Conference, Ontario Model Parliament, and student government. Chan is a graduate of Princeton, Osgoode Hall, and Yale Law School. He lives in Toronto with his husband, Kevin.
    Read Bio
  • Carita Sheehy

    Vice-President, Parents
    Carita is a dedicated UCC volunteer and has served as the Prep Parents’ Organization, co-president of the Parents’ Organization, and Co-Chair, of UCC’s Blues Booster Club since its inception in 2009. She earned the Harold A. D. Roberts Award for volunteer service in 2018.

    Carita has been a team manager for all three of her boys’ GTHL Hockey and North Toronto Soccer teams for the past 10 years, has sat on the Board of Directors for the North Toronto Soccer Club and is a founding Board member of the North Toronto Sports Foundation. Carita’s professional background is in business management, most recently as Senior Manager, Sales and Business Development with National Bank of Canada.
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  • John Hockin ’89

    Chair, Events and Engagement Committee
    John is a member of Leaving Class of 1989. During his time at the College, John won the Lieutenant Governor Medal in 1987 and 1988 for his accomplishments. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Yale University and an M.B.A. from Stanford University Graduate School of Business (Arjay Miller Scholar). While at Yale, John successfully launched and sold a baseball hat company called J&J Lids.

    John joined KKR in 2015 and leads the firm's public equity investment efforts. Previously, he was co-head of public equities at Golden Gate Capital from 2010-2015. Prior to Golden Gate, he spent fifteen years at J.H. Whitney & Co. where he devoted the first ten years to the private equity side of the business and the last five years to managing the Whitney Green River hedge fund. He started his career in the investment banking group at Morgan Stanley in New York.

    John and his wife Lisa have four daughters – Haley Emily, Annie and Sophie.
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  • Nina Piatek

    Chair, Awards Committee
    Nina is an accomplished banking professional, with experience in audit, governance, risk management, and providing insights into strategy development. In her current role as a Data, Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence Risk Officer, Nina has been a key resource in developing and implementing both a Data Risk framework and AI Risk framework.

    Nina is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Masters in Risk Management and Business Performance Leadership and a B.A., specializing in Economics, Accounting, and Finance from Wilfrid Laurier University.

    Nina is an active UCC parent and community member, serving in various roles in the Upper and Prep School, and is parent to current student, Pavan ’26.
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  • Kanwaljeet Biln

    Originally from Edmonton, Kanwaljeet Biln began her career on campus in Special Events and Development while working towards her BA at the University of Alberta in 2002. Upon moving to Toronto in 2006, she took a personal interest in homelessness and chose to shift focus to philanthropy and housing — first with Good Shepherd Ministries and then Fife House.  After a decade-long break staying home to raise children, Kanwaljeet joined The Bishop Strachan School’s Development Office in 2022 as Manager of Special Events and Stewardship. 
     
    The transition back to work was made easier with her daughter currently attending BSS and her son, Julien Madhany ‘30, only blocks away at UCC. Kanwaljeet took on the role of President, Prep Parents Organization in the 2022–23 academic year after serving as VP the year prior and volunteering in other capacities since joining the Prep Community when Julien was in SK.
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  • Anthony Chan ’97

    Anthony Chan, a proud member of Martland’s House, graduated from UCC in the Class of 1997. He earned his MBA from the Wharton School of Business and received his Bachelor’s degree (double major in economics and government), magna cum laude with distinction in all subjects, from Cornell University, where he was the recipient of the Kasdan Montessori Peace Prize.

    Anthony began his career at Bain & Company and has held former positions at Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation. He is currently Chief Executive Officer of Portico International Holdings Limited.

    Anthony is a past Chapter Chair of the Beijing Chapter of the Young Presidents Organization and sits on UCC’s Asia Advisory Council. In his free time, Anthony enjoys tennis, cooking, chess and playing with his two young sons.
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  • Sunir Chandaria ’98

    Sunir Chandaria serves as President of Chandaria Family Holdings, Inc., the Family Office of his branch of the Chandaria Family.  He has been charged with managing a portfolio of public and private investments, including early capital behind Mill Street Brewery, Element Financial, and ROAR Organic.  Sunir retains oversight of the family’s direct interests in technology, agriculture, medical supplies, mining, and real estate, as well as investments in venture, growth, and hedge funds with diverse expertise.  Prior to his role in the Family Office, Sunir served as President of LePage’s, a family portfolio company that is a leader in office supplies distribution to major retailers in North America and around the globe.
     
    Sunir graduated with a BA (Hons) in Economics and Management from Oxford University, where he subsequently sat on and concluded his term on the inaugural Foundation Board of St Peter’s College and has served as Chair of the East African Advisory Council of the Rhodes Trust.  He is a Member of Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) where he served for two years as Chair of YPO, Canada and was the Founding Chair of the Young Fellowship of the Duke Edinburgh’s International Award for Young People.  Sunir is a Member of the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD) and has enjoyed experience on the Boards of private and public sector organizations, including the Ontario Lottery & Gaming (OLG) Corporation.  He additionally enjoys the privilege of serving as the Hon. Consul of Kenya in Toronto, Canada.
     
    As a proud member of McHugh’s House, Sunir graduated from UCC in the Class of 1998, the first year to complete the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma at UCC.  He lives in Toronto with his wife, Charissa, and their three young children.
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  • Chris Cruz ’02

    Chris was elected to Association Council in 2021. Chris is a member of the Leaving Class of 2002 where he served on the Board of Stewards representing Wedd's House as Head of House. During his time at the College Chris was an active member of Little Theater, co-founded the Improvisational Theater Club, and was a counsellor at multiple UCC Summer Camps. 
     
    Chris is an investment professional at Searchlight Capital Partners where he seeks to partner with entrepreneurs and management teams in transformational change phases of the company lifecycle with a focus on the Financial Technology industry.
     
    Chris graduated from the University of Western Ontario with an HBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business. He is actively involved with Junior Achievement (an organization focused on youth financial literacy and career readiness education) and diversity focused organizations such as INROADS, Girls Who Invest, and HimForHer.
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  • Sevion DaCosta ’17

    Sevion DaCosta was elected to the Association Council in 2021 and has sat on the Events and Engagement committee since 2020. He graduated from Claremont McKenna College with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics, Economics (PPE), with a Legal Studies Sequence, and was Robert Day Scholar during his time there. 
     
    At UCC, Sevion was a member of Jackson's house, Head Steward, Lang Scholar, and co-founded the Mock Trial club. 
     
    Sevion currently works at BlackRock as an iShares Business Strategist.
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  • Ellen Fang

    Ellen Fang is a General Partner at Archangel Network of Funds, an angel stage investment fund focusing on investing in innovations and disruptive technologies developed in Canada. Prior to this, Ellen worked at L.E.K. Consulting and Deloitte, helping corporate and private equity clients develop strategies and evaluating deals.
     
    Ellen is a dedicated UCC volunteer and had served both upper and prep school libraries, TUBS, and as a House Rep at upper school. She had also been fully involved in facilitating communications between the school and Chinese families, helping them integrate into the community and become more engaged in campus life.
     
    Ellen holds a bachelor's degree in Material Sciences and an MBA from China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) with an exchange program at London Business School. She and her husband Frank have two sons, Simon ’19 and Ziming ’30.
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  • Ravi Jain ’99

    Toronto-based stage director Ravi Jain is a multi-award-winning artist known for making politically bold and accessible theatrical experiences in both small indie productions and large theatres. As the founding artistic director of Why Not Theatre, Ravi has established himself as an artistic leader for his inventive productions, international producing/collaborations and innovative producing models which are aimed to better support emerging artists to make money from their art. 
     
    As a director Ravi work has been critically acclaimed for its innovation and accessibility. Select credits include A Brimful of Asha, Nicolas Billon’s Fault Lines which won the Governor General’s Award for Drama, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, The 39 Steps, Animal Farm, Alanna Mitchell’s Sea Sick (co-directed with Franco Boni, Theatre Centre), Lisa Codrington’s The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God and Sarena Parmar’s The Orchard After Chekhov (Shaw Festival), We are Proud to Present…(Theatre Centre), Salt-Water Moon (Factory Theatre), Prince Hamlet (Why Not Theatre), Like Mother Like Daughter (Complicite/Why Not Theatre).  He co-created What you won't do for Love starring renowned environmentalists David Suzuki and Tara Cullis, the play has been published and premiered at the Luminato Festival and has been turned into a feature film. In 2021 he directed his adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet called R + J for the Stratford Festival. In 2023 he is co- adaptating The Mahabharata with Why Not Theatre and the Shaw Festival. 

    Ravi was shortlisted for the 2016 and 2019 and 2022 Siminovitch Prize and recently awarded the Metcalf Foundation Johannas Prize 2022.  He also won the 2012 Pauline McGibbon Award for Emerging Director and the 2016 Canada Council John Hirsch Prize for direction. He is a graduate of the two-year program at École Jacques Lecoq and was selected to be on the roster of Clowns for Cirque du Soleil.   
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  • Christie Love Thomas

    Christie Love Thomas is the Vice President, Strategy and Board Member at Jona Capital. Christie co-manages non-real estate asset allocation, an actively traded equity portfolio, external portfolio managers as well as a portfolio of private equity investments. 
     
    Christie holds an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business, and a BA (Hons,) from Huron University College.
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  • Ali Merali ’02

    Ali was elected to Council in 2021. He played an active role in organizing alumni in support of maintaining and strengthening UCC’s Boarding Program when it was under strategic review. Ali is currently the Head of Strategic Initiatives at Tricon Residential, where he manages the Company's strategic initiatives and operational priorities. Prior to his current role, Ali served as the Chief of Staff and Head of Special Projects for COVID-19 Response Efforts at UofT’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health and supported Ontario’s Science Advisory Table. Prior to working on pandemic response efforts in Ontario, Ali served in various strategy and operational leadership roles at Via Transportation, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and on President Obama’s Campaigns and in the Obama Administrations. Ali holds a BSc from Cornell University and an MPP from Harvard University.
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  • Ira Nishisato ’87

    Ira was elected to Association Council in 2022 and is a proud member of the Leaving Class of 1987. During his time at the College, Ira served as Head of Martland’s, Secretary to the Board of Stewards, and Chairman of the World Affairs Conference in 1985 and 1986. At graduation, he won the Class of ’62 Trophy for outstanding contributions to extracurricular activities. He has served on the Events and Engagement Committee and as a Common Ties mentor for many years.

    Ira is a Partner with Borden Ladner Gervais LLP with a practice in complex commercial litigation and international disputes, with expertise in commercial fraud, investigations, cybersecurity and information technology litigation, and international arbitration and litigation.
     
    Ira obtained a BA (Political Science and French, High Distinction) from Trinity College, University of Toronto, a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Toronto (Dean’s Key), and a Diploma in International Law from the University of Cambridge.
     
    Ira and his wife Samantha are proud parents to Lincoln ’27.
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  • Max Rosenfeld ’99

    Max entered the Prep School in Year 7 and graduated from McHugh's in 1999, succeeding his father (1953) and grandfather (1921). Max went on to earn a BSc in Biological Sciences from the University of Calgary. After his undergrad he started his professional career working in successive roles for a global provider of business intelligence. His interest in real estate led him to a private real estate firm where he was responsible for asset management of a 1.2 million square foot portfolio. In 2012, Max returned to school to earn a Master of Business Administration from the Ivey Business School, Western University. After graduating in 2013 Max joined Crestpoint, a private equity real estate investment and asset management firm where he is currently the Vice President of Acquisitions & Asset Management. Since joining Crestpoint, Max has been integral to the growth of the firm which has grown its assets under management to $5 billion from $250 million and is consistently one of Canada's top performing real estate investment firms.
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  • Rodger Wright ’70

    Rodger Wright ’70 has happily spent his whole life in school. After his undergraduate days at the University of Toronto, he began his career in education at UCC from the mid 70's to the mid 80's where he was the Head of the PE Department and Seaton's Senior Housemaster. He finished his career back at UCC from 2016 to 2021 in the Advancement Department dealing with strategic planning, major gift philanthropy and rebooting a legacy giving program. In the intervening 33 years, some say his "walk in the wilderness", Rodger headed two other independent schools — Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario and Collingwood School in West Vancouver.  

    Rodger and his wife Louise have two grown children and six grandchildren — his new full-time job! He is very much looking forward to re-engaging with the UCC community and giving back to the school that launched him.  
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  • John Yip ’91

    John Yip is President and CEO of Kensington Health, a not-for-profit, community-based residential and ambulatory health services provider. John’s role is to ensure the best-quality patient, resident and community care, while providing overall strategic direction. John has over 20 years of healthcare industry, leading system and organizational strategy and change. Prior to joining Kensington Health, John was the Vice-President of Corporate Services at Health Quality Ontario and a management consultant with the national health care practices at CGI, KPMG and PwC before founding his own boutique healthcare consulting firm.

    John holds an MBA in Health Services Management from McMaster University, and a B.Sc. and B.A. from Dalhousie University. John sits on the Centre for Effective Practice Board of Directors and is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors. John is a member of Leaving Class 1991, and is parent to current student Jackson ’26.
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  • Evan Young ’96

  • Bruno Castonguay ’98

    Bruno Castonguay ’98 is managing partner at EgR Inc., where he collaborates with over 200 colleagues, including four UCC Old Boys, from his office in Montreal. He earned his bachelor's degree in finance from McGill University. Bruno is a proud member of the Young Presidents' Organization and collaborates with the Jean-Eudes Foundation in Montreal.
     
    He was part of the Varsity Hockey team that won the triple crown championship in 1998 and is the father of Etienne ’25 and Alexandre. Bruno has coached his sons throughout their hockey and baseball careers.
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  • Anu Dhir

    Anu Dhir has over 20 years’ experience in the resources sector, where she has spent majority of her career developing mines in Africa and in various emerging markets. These days she serves on a number of globally listed company boards where she is focused on advancing mining projects.

    Anu is a dedicated UCC volunteer and currently serves as an executive on the PPO. She is the Parent Engagement Co-Chair, an inaugural role at UCC which carries a two-year term.

    Anu is a graduate of the General Management Program (GMP) at Harvard Business School, she has a law degree (Juris Doctor) from Quinnipiac University and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) from the University of Toronto.

    Anu resides in Toronto with her two children including current student Bodhi ’35 and current Toronto French School (TFS) student Aariya ’26.
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  • Matthew Casey ’83

Ex-Officio

List of 9 items.

  • Blake Hutcheson ’80

    Chair, Board of Governors
    Blake is the President and Chief Pension Officer at the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System. His mandate includes leading OMERS pension business, strategy, communications and public affairs, legal affairs, technology and operations, in addition to asset liability management. Prior to that he was President and CEO of Oxford Properties Group, responsible for overseeing the global business, consisting of approximately $60 billion of assets.

    Blake was appointed to the Board by the Association Council in 2016 and was appointed as Chair in January 2021. He has had many senior volunteer roles at UCC including Trustee on the Foundation Board and Co-Chair of the Think Ahead Boarding Cabinet. He also served on the Think Ahead Campaign Cabinet.

    He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Western University, a Graduate Diploma in International Relations and Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics and a Master’s in Real Estate Development from Columbia University.

    Blake and his wife Susan have two children, Trevor ’17 and Camille.
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  • Mary-Lea Ruscetta

    President, Parents' Organization 
  • Brendan Dellandrea ’01

    Principal's Delegate; VP of Advancement
  • Mark Ferley ’96

    Faculty Rep
    Mark is a UCC faculty member and is a Primary Form Adviser for Year 3 at the Prep. He was the faculty representative on the College’s HR committee and served on the Principal’s Innovation Committee and the Information Technology Advisory Group.

    Mark is passionate about UCC, understands the effects of changing learning environments on students and has always been leaning into the future of education by collaboratively creating dynamic learning environments at the Prep.

    Mark is married to Katie MacKenzie-Ferley and has two boys, Tatum ’29 and Tristan, who serve as the primary motivator for continually improving the College and his practice.
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  • J.P. Mackay ’02

    Past-President
    J.P. was elected to Association Council in 2016 and appointed President in 2021. He is past Chair of the Awards Committee and Governance and Nominating Committee. J.P. also serves as Chair of the Barbara A. Barrow Scholarship Foundation and is a member of the Lang Scholar Program Advisory Board.

    Professionally, J.P. is Senior Vice President, National Operations at Allied Properties Real Estate Investment Trust.

    J.P. holds a BA from the University of British Columbia and an MBA from the Ivey Business School.
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  • Leanne Gardner

    Manager, Community Relations
  • Sam McKinney

    Principal
  • Kate Viner

    President, Prep Parents' Organization
  • Kristina Schreiber

    Executive Director, Community Relations

Association Appointed Board of Governors

List of 3 items.

  • David Morgenstern ’90

    David was appointed to the Board by the Association Council in 2021.
     
    David is an active UCC parent and community member and currently serves on the Association Council as Chair, Events and Engagement Committee. His involvement with the College includes the Think Ahead Campaign (Boarding Cabinet), the Principal Search Committee, Founders Dinner co-chair and Annual Fund representative.
     
    Professionally, David is a Senior Managing Director at Accenture leading Accenture Canada’s Consumer and Industrial sectors. He is a member of Accenture’s Global Leadership Council, Accenture Canada’s Executive Committee and Inclusion and Diversity Council. He also serves on the INSEAD NAA Board of Directors.
     
    David received his BA from McGill University and his MBA from INSEAD. He has been based in Toronto since 2004 after a decade working abroad in Asia and Europe.
     
    David and his wife Caroline have two sons William ’23 and Matthew ’26.
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  • Dr. Ifedayo Kuye ’05

    Dr. Kuye 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, where he leads initiatives to improve the health care system’s population health and value-based care strategy.

    Ifedayo received his undergraduate degree in Economics at Harvard College. He also received his MD degree from Harvard Medical School and an MBA from Harvard Business School (Baker Scholar).

    He completed his residency in internal medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital where he served as a clinical fellow at Harvard Medical School.
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  • Richard Willoughby ’80

    Richard Willoughby ’80 is a senior corporate partner with Torys LLP. He has a wealth of experience in domestic, cross-border and international mergers and acquisitions, giving practical and strategic counsel to some of Canada’s largest institutional investors, businesses and family enterprises. Richard is Chair of the UCC Campaign Cabinet, and has served the College as Chair of the Plan 200 committee (2020 to 2021), Chair of the UCC Foundation Board of Trustees (2014–2020) and was previously a Trustee of the UCC Foundations in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. In 2022 he received the John D. Stevenson Award for his UCC service. He is the parent of two Old Boys, Robert ’11 and Andrew ’15.
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