MEET OUR Directors
Hashmat Rohian
Director
AVP, Architecture, IT Strategy, & Applied Innovation, Cooperators General Limited
DisruptITLabs, Co-Founder
Effective leader with 10 years of rapid advancement in data, analytics, digital and business leadership. Known for harnessing data analytics and digital in support of business strategy and for delivering cross-functional, rapid prototyping capability to push and test new value propositions in the market fast.
Technology enthusiast and lean startup evangelist, building a “never rest, kill complexity and care more” culture that manages existing technical debt and prepares the organization for future disruptions by leveraging emerging business models and digital ecosystems. Lead creation of culture and solutions that deliver business value and strategic benefit. Maintain an extensive network of tech and business experts to consult and enlist as needed. Practitioner and academician with over 5 years teaching and curriculum development experience at top Canadian colleges and universities in IT, data science and agile delivery.
Global thinker and operator with experience working with multinational corporations on large international implementations and onsite across North America, Europe, and Asia. Excel at partnering with stakeholders, using technology and data assets/insights to advance business in tech-dependent environments such as financial services and insurance.
Hashmat holds post-graduate degrees in Computer Science and Financial Engineering and is a certified PMP, ACP, CISSP, CFE, TOGAF EA and Lean Six Sigma practitioner.
Marjan Pouran
Director
Marjan Pouran is member of the Institute of Corporate Directors and is an Ivey business school alumni. She has been on boards for over 10 years across for profit and not for profit corporations in national and international settings. She currently serves on Scrum Alliance and Zcarrier board of directors and is head of Agile transformation for infrastructure technology segment at TD.
Marjan has extensive experience in data driven business management, business agility, organization transformation and technology domains serving in senior leadership positions across versatile sectors from engineering, tech, entertainment, banking and Stock market.
Marjan holds MBA from Western University with software engineering undergraduate. She is a graduate of Rotman and ICD Non-Profit Governance Program and is Certified Agile Leader and member of certified Agile Professional.
Michelle Collier
Secretary
Michelle Collier, CHRL, CHRE is a human resources professional who contributes at both strategic and operational levels, with expertise developing business and HR strategy in diverse customer-focused business sectors including hospitality, transportation and health care. Provides senior level guidance and expert advice on the full range of human resources activities; supports the goals and objectives of organizations by effectively managing and administering HR policies and programs.
Ann Lockhart
Treasurer
Ann Lockhart has an MBA in Sustainability from the Rotman School of Management and an MSc in Communication, Information and Society from the London School of Economics where her dissertation focused on cleantech innovation ecosystem in the UK. Ann spent six years in leadership roles in the non-profit sector where she led fundraising and outreach and program development initiatives, specifically focused around microfinance and youth entrepreneurship. She currently works at Scotiabank.
David Abitoye
Director
David is a seasoned Finance leader with over 17 years experience providing assurance, advisory, financial planning, strategy development and business transformation services. He spent over 12 years at PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) where he managed multiple private and public sector client engagements across Africa and the United Kingdom. He also held several senior Finance and Accounting leadership positions in financial services sector companies, including a position with the Enterprise “Accounting Policy group” at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), where he provided strategic accounting advisory to the banking group’s business segments on corporate transactions and strategic initiatives.
David holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics (Distinction) and has a dual MBA from the SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University and the Smith School of Business at Queens University. He is also a Chartered professional accountant (CPA) and a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
David is currently the Director of Accounting at First Ontario Credit Union.
Glareh Amirjamshidi
Director
Glareh is a Technical Advisor with Canada Post with previous experience as a Senior Engineering in consulting. Glareh completed her BASc and MASc in Iran and her PhD from the University of Toronto in the field of transportation engineering and planning. She possesses over 15 years of academic, research and practical hands-on experience in freight planning, logistics, e-commerce impacts on transportation, and urban freight modelling and optimization.
Her PhD research focused on reducing truck’s GHG emissions through better routing. in 2019, she completed an NSERC postdoctoral fellowship with the DeGroote Business School at McMaster University, during which she worked on several projects for the Smart Freight Centre in Ontario such as: off-peak pilot delivery, impact of e-commerce on first/middle and last mile logistics.
Jordan Demeo
Director
I am a Consumer Goods professional with 10 years of experience in eCommerce, sales and brand management. For my professional career I am currently Vice President of eCommerce at Spinrite International. My experience spans across working cross functionally within organizations to build businesses for today’s digital reality. My previous experience consists of eCommerce and Marketing Roles for global companies such as L’Oreal and Lysol.
Rafiq Dhanji
Director
Rafiq believes that the key to a better future lies in the actions of each individual. From promoting a healthy, active lifestyle to adopting new technologies, Rafiq incorporates sustainability into his daily life and actions. Inspired to educate people on the simplicity of sustainable actions, Rafiq has also given a TEDx Talk on how businesses can incorporate sustainability into their operations without increasing costs. Rafiq lives by the philosophy, “Leave your environment in a better condition than when you found it.”
Edmund Leong
Director
Edmund is a Chartered Professional Accountant acting as a senior partner in a mid sized Toronto CPA firm of 5 partners. As a 1994 CPA and a 1991 UofT – BComm graduate, Edmund has developed the depth of skill and experience in the both assurance and taxation elements at his firm. With a particular niche in the audit of Private Career College sector, Edmund had used his experience to serve as an advisor to the Board of Career Colleges Ontario (CCO) and has lectured at multiple CCO conferences and workshops.
The other major sector that his firm is engaged in is the Condominium audit sector. Edmund leads the firm in the Condominium governance by providing relevant written articles to the sector as well as serving on the Condominium Auditors Roundtable to steer audit and accounting standards. One of the particular articles contributed focused in on EVSE infrastructure in the condominium corporation’s common elements.
Edmund believes in sustainable transportation by actively living a sustainable lifestyle including biking, owning an EV and investing in EV corporations. With a combined interest in biking and sustainable transportation, he also serves as a board member of Bikes without Borders that use bikes and bike-related solutions to empower individuals in marginalized communities though mobility.
Michael MacLennan
Director
Michael brings over 10 years of policy-oriented research and advisory experience with UN agencies, as well as with national and municipal governments from around the world to his work at the nexus of evidence-based research, policy and technology to help organizations explore, test and refine ideas and strategies to help drive positive impact.
Michael previously conducted and led research at the UNDP International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth, served as Editor-in-Chief of the Policy in Focus magazine and is a former Studio Y fellow at the MaRS Discovery District.
Michael holds a BA (Honours) in Political Studies from Queen’s University, an MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science and has also studied Sustainable Development at Sciences Po Paris.
Michael has lived in Brazil, Canada, France, Spain, the UK and Zambia, and, in each place has been enthusiastic about re-thinking why and how people, as well as goods, are moved through urban spaces, with an eye to reducing carbon emissions, while increasing access and wellbeing.
Richard Palmer
Director
Richard Palmer is founder and CEO of Oracle7Star Consulting. As an independent management consultant with over 30 years’ experience, provides advisory services, training and coaching in the strategic and operational aspects of management, transformation and service delivery. Richard specializes in the technology sector where he as an extensive background in planning and managing cross-functional business operations and technology projects. He has managed a broad array of projects in industries including Telecommunications, Transportation, Mass Transit, Logistics, Technology, Public Sector, Energy, Oil & Gas, Financial, Retail and Hospitality.