Board of Directors
John Digby
President
John Digby has over 35 years in financial services and has become very knowledgeable about retail & business services and the real estate industry. Skilled in analyzing a wide range of business needs he has acquired this expertise through previous responsibilities in branch management, financial planning and commercial account management. John has been with RBC Royal Bank since 1991. John is currently serving as a member of the Board of Directors with the Peel Children’s Aid Foundation. Previous board positions with the Rotary Club of Brampton and Brampton and Caledon Community Foundation
Cliff Silveira
Past President
In 2001, Cliff founded the Mississauga Convention Centre Foundation and chaired the Kathy A. Drury Rainbow Ball from 2002 to 2012. Cliff furthered his commitment to the city with his involvement in various charitable organizations. Above all, Cliff is an enthusiastically proud father of three beautiful children, Zoe, Chase, and Lincoln; and loving husband to Lisa Silveira. Cliff believes that a strong family core is supported by a healthy and prosperous community. Such as the African Proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child,” Cliff believes it takes a united community for a child to prosper.
Ray Lessard
Vice President
Ray Lessard spent over 30 years with BMO Financial Group in Wealth Advisory and Senior Management Roles as a Senior Vice President and Managing Director. He has helped raise funds for Credit Valley Hospital, Juvenile Diabetes, BMO Fountain of Hope, the Baystock Foundation, Legends Row (Mississauga’s Walk of Fame) as a director, Peel Children’s Aid Foundation as Vice President of the Board of Directors, and the Community Foundation of Mississauga where he served as President of the board and created the R. Lessard Family Fund which grants annually to children’s organizations in Mississauga.
Armando Minicucci
Treasurer
Armando joined the Peel Children’s Aid Foundation Board in 2009. He was drawn to the organization by its dedicated team and passionate board. The following description from some of the staff resonated with him, “Peel Children’s Aid Society saves children’s lives, and the Foundation helps give them a life.” Armando is a partner in Grant Thornton’s tax practice and a member of its national business succession and estate planning team.
Nav Shokar
Secretary
Nav Shokar is pleased to be a member of the Peel Children’s Aid Foundation Board. She is currently a director and secretary for the Board. In addition, she also sits on the Fund Development Committee and the Fierce and Fabulous planning committee. Nav Shokar is an associate in the Family Law practice group at Keyser Mason Ball, LLP. Nav advises on all matters related to divorce, child support, custody and access, spousal support and the division of property. She thoroughly enjoys giving back to the community and to children.
Beryl Ford
Director
Beryl Ford has been actively involved with the Peel CAS and the Foundation Board for almost 20 years. Beryl was Chair of the Steering committee for the formation of the Foundation and has been a Board Member since its inception. She is currently the Past President of the Foundation having served as President for the last four years. Beryl was a Public School Board Trustee for 30 years which included five terms as Chair of the school board.
Elaine Moore
Director
For 29 years, Elaine Moore served the Brampton and Peel community, first as a Peel District Public School Board Trustee, followed by both a City and Regional Councillor. Since retiring from politics in 2018, Elaine has continued to make a difference in her community as an active and engaged community volunteer on several Boards of Directors, bringing her experience and expertise to the table.
Kerry Gaetano
Director
Kerry Gaetano is Head, Communications & Corporate Affairs, Strategy & Operations, for BMO Financial Group. In this role, she leads the end-to-end enterprise communications strategy and execution for BMO’s strategic agenda. Kerry provides strategic counsel to the Chief Strategy & Operations Officer, ensuring that internal and external communications needs are identified, aligned to enterprise messaging, and executed successfully. She is also responsible for overseeing corporate and executive communications for large-scale initiatives within BMO Digital, Marketing & Social Impact, Global Procurement and Corporate Real Estate.
Amrinder Kooner
Director
Amrinder Kooner has over 20 years of corporate experience and out of that last ten years in the banking industry, helping Business and Commercial clients. I have graduated in Engineering and completed my Masters in Business Administration from the Schulich School of Business. For more than a decade, I am involved actively with the Canadian South Asians Supporting Independent Living (C-SASIL) and Heart & Stroke Foundation, supporting their events and fundraising initiatives.
Paul Bola
Director
For over 15 years, Paul Bola has been providing high-net-worth clients with personalized and conservative investment management, and financial and estate planning. As his client, you have access to a broad range of resources to fulfill all your financial needs. In Paul’s practice, he has developed a disciplined portfolio management approach. He uses a goal-focused, versus market driven style, and aims on guiding his clients through every stage of their life. Paul’s goal is to make a significant impact in the lives of his clients.
Maqbool Walji
Director
Maqbool Walji is an entrepreneur, a strong advocate for Youth engagement, Mental Health Awareness, Affordable Housing, Crime Prevention Awareness and Public Safety. He is actively involved with the Peel District School Board’s Faith Forward committee, interfaith Council of Peel and food banks. Over the past few years, Maqbool has worked with newcomers and refugee families to help them with settlement in Peel. Maqbool has also been engaged within political and civic engagement and has worked diligently to ensure all voices are heard and all people are at the table when it comes to decisions made about them.
Mandy Dhinsa
Director
As a Senior Manager, Sales with Scotiabank, I lead a team of best-in-class Home Financing Advisors (HFA’s) in the Guelph and Tri-Cities Community. I contribute my 19 years of knowledge and experience in financial services to help deliver the best service for our customers.
As a member of Scotiabank’s Home Financing Solutions team, I’m proud to lead a group of professionals who work closely at every step along our customers’ borrowing process, backed by the competitive, customized solutions of a strong , dependable Canadian Financial Institution.
In addition to my professional experience , I have also volunteered with Punjabi Community Health Center, and working closely with victim services of peel. I have conducted parenting workshops, and intervened as a crisis counsellor. I have also worked closely with Newcomers to Canada,
Maryann Kerr
Peel CAF CEO, Ex-Officio
Maryann Kerr is CEO of Peel Children’s Aid Foundation. Maryann has worked and volunteered in the social impact sector for three decades and helped raise over $110M for small to mid-sized organizations. She has led at the local, provincial, national and international level and is passionate about her family, feminism, and inclusion.
As a governance, leadership and culture specialist, Maryann knows successful organizations create and nurture a psychologically safe climate where everyone understands their role; politics are minimal; engagement is high and turnover low. Environments where employees work alongside the community co-create the roadmap to mission delivery. Compassion and a deep commitment to collaborative and productive workplaces are core to her work.
Prasad Nair
Board Laison, Ex-Officio
With over 25 years of leadership experience in the areas of Child Welfare, Counselling, and Labour Welfare in both for-profit and non-profit sectors. Prasad has a Masters of Social Work and Bachelor of Law Degree from India, and a Masters of Social Work from York University.
Currently, his portfolio also includes Child Welfare Immigration Centre of Excellence (CWICE), Trailblazer Youth Centre, Family Connections and Placement services including Adoption.
Mary Beth Moellenkamp
Peel CAS CEO, Ex-Officio
Mary Beth is the CEO with Peel CAS, and has been with the organization for 20 years. Mary Beth has led a variety of innovative initiatives, including the development of Kinship and Family Finding programs. She was instrumental in developing and leading the Ontario-wide Syrian Refugee Response Project to help ensure timely services and supports for Syrian newcomer families. As a result of that successful program, Mary Beth led Peel CAS to form the Child Welfare Immigration Centre of Excellence. Mary Beth is leading the development of the Agency’s Youth Success strategy.
Mary Beth has a dual role as Director of CWICE, and leads a large multi-disciplinary service team supporting reunification and permanency planning for children and youth in care.