Classes

Alvin practised law for 17 years before retiring to Oaxaca, Mexico. In 2004, he took an interest in mezcal, a distilled alcoholic beverage made from agave. He currently works part-time in the countryside teaching the production process by visiting small family-owned and -operated distilleries throughout the state’s central valleys.

Norlela pursued her professional qualifications as a chartered accountant with CPA Australia, and is now recognized as a fellow. She has served several large multinational companies in Malaysia and abroad as finance director. She currently sits on the board of Berjaya Corporation and volunteers for 30% Club Malaysia, a global business campaign aiming to foster gender diversity, equity and inclusion at the corporate board and C-suite levels. Having obtained her instructor’s certificate, she also teaches English as a foreign language.

Khurram has over 25 years of experience in accounting and corporate finance. Currently a partner at CQK Chartered Accountants LLP, he sits on the board of directors of several publicly listed companies and charitable organizations. Khurram met his wife Urmila Misir-Qureshi at York University in 1984, and they are parents to daughters Sacha and Saira.

Joanne has worked as a certified financial planner for over 20 years, and recently obtained the Responsible Investment Specialist (RIS) designation. In addition to her work, she has begun a journey to connect to her cultural roots, including an Indigenous vision quest.

Marco was recently named president and CEO of Villa Charities, having joined the Toronto organization as chief financial officer in 2017. He has more than 20 years of senior-level finance and management experience with non-profit, private and TSE-listed companies in the fields of distribution, health care, and academic, financial and IT services. As CFO of Villa Charities, he was responsible for significant achievements, including repurposing underused space in the Columbus Centre, restructuring operations during the COVID-19 period and building high-performing finance and property management teams.

Scott replaces director Lorna Johnson at the Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery. He formerly served as the executive director at the Haida Gwaii Museum in British Columbia, the first curator at The Reach Gallery Museum, and gallery director and curator at the Yukon Arts Centre in Whitehorse. He has experience in volunteer service, professional memberships and service to federal agencies.

In December 2021, Robert accepted a one-year assignment as a senior policy and legislation advisor for HQ Insolvency, Canada Revenue Agency. Previously, he was a senior program advisor to CRA’s national insolvency program.

Jillian recently completed her 10-year tenure as artistic director at the National Arts Centre. In 1995, one year after graduating from York, she founded the Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland, and in 2016, she received an honorary doctorate of letters from York.

Following her graduation from York in 1995, Katherine flew to South Africa and backpacked through 10 countries. Now a social media manager, Katherine spends most of her time wandering the web, but has since published her first travel memoir, released on the 25th anniversary of her journey.

Since graduating, Renato returned to Brazil to work for his family’s business. From 1997 to 2009, he worked in foreign trade for the float glass industry, dealing with American, European and Asian suppliers. He founded a business in the lumber sector in 2010, and credits his education at York as decisive in the success of his career in foreign trade and of the business itself.

In 2021, Carlo published his first illustrated children’s book, Happy Mother’s Day: mamma MIA! It is available online at various outlets, including Amazon and Walmart. He is presently planning more illustrated poems for children, including titles with Father’s Day, Remembrance Day, anti-bullying and say-no-to-drugs themes.

In December 2016, Erwin completed his novel, Weyand and the Vietnam War, about General Frederick Carlton Weyand, who served as the last senior commander-in-chief of the American Armed Forces in Vietnam.

Karen has worked in the animal and environmental protection movement for the past 20 years, in Canada and the U.S. Her book, Confessions of an Animal Rights Terrorist, was released by Lantern Publishing & Media in 2021. She ran for the Animal Protection Party of Canada in the recent federal election.

Sandra is the founding partner and marketing and creative director at ZOO Media Group, a marketing and web development agency launched in 2005 in London, Ont. Since graduating from York, she has developed her skills and talents working with industry leaders like 3M, Imperial Oil and the Walt Disney Company.

Sharon was bestowed with an honorary LLD by the Justice Institute of British Columbia in 2021, in recognition of her contributions to conflict resolution through practice, advocacy and the training and mentoring of mediators across Canada. She previously received recognition for her contributions to conflict resolution in B.C. as the 2011 recipient of the Susanna Jani Award for Excellence in Mediation.

Hans founded strategy and risk consulting firm BathijaTan in 1997. He is the Chair of St. John Ambulance’s Toronto Branch, and was recently co-Chair of Toronto Police Service 14 Division’s Community Police Liaison Committee. He has advised York University on the development of the institutional Framework to Address Anti-Black Racism. He is a board director of the NATO Association of Canada and former board director of the Royal Canadian Military Institute.

Jordan currently works as a certified tennis instructor, and recently began teaching children on the autism spectrum through Proset Autism’s inclusive tennis program, focusing on improving students’ balance, gross motor skills and social interaction with others.

Duane is a Toronto rap artist that has been profiled on CBC, CityNews and Global and in the Toronto Star, and has guest co-hosted Entertainment Tonight Canada Live. In 2003, he set a Guinness World Record when he freestyled for nearly nine hours. In February 2021, he capped the 90-show virtual Black Canadian 365 tour; more recently, he released his book, On This Grind, which details life lessons learned from the music business.

A Glendon grad, Mona is a Canadian novelist and short-story writer. Her debut book, 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, won the Amazon.ca First Novel Award and was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2016. Her short fiction and non-fiction writing has been published in magazines including McSweeney’s, The Walrus, Joyland, Post Road, St. Petersburg Review, and Maisonneuve.

A celebrated set and costume designer, Gillian recently won Canada’s prestigious $100,000 Siminovitch Prize. Since graduating from York, she has created sets and costumes for the National Arts Centre, the Shaw Festival, Soulpepper, the Canadian Opera Company and more. She has received four Dora Mavor Moore Awards and been nominated for an additional four. The Siminovitch Prize is a celebration of Canadian theatre and represents the highest level of peer recognition in the profession.

In 2021, Rosario was elected as a member of the board of directors of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC).

Since the pandemic hit in March 2020, Monica and her daughter have built a small business creating buttons, magnets, keychains and other items that include timely slogans and images with subject matter related to COVID-19, local businesses, and popular shows and movies, among other topics.

Jessica specialized in playwriting and new play dramaturgy while at York. Following graduation, she completed a two-year post-grad program in fashion business at George Brown College, later taking a job in the fashion wholesale industry while volunteering at an apparel and footwear trade show. Today, she’s a senior account executive for Mavi Jeans, where she runs the Turkish company’s satellite office in Toronto. She resides in the city’s Downsview Park area with her fiancé and mini goldendoodle puppy, Oscar.

In 2021, Canisia won the prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize from Yale University, worth $165,000. The same year, she took home Canada’s $65,000 Griffin Poetry Prize as well. Raised in Saint Lucia, she currently teaches writing at OCAD University, as well as poetry at the University of Toronto.

Temo is a journalist currently working as a television host and executive producer with Fibe TV1. She recently executive produced and hosted a long-form journalism television series entitled Our Stories, which is currently streaming on Bell Media’s Fibe TV1.

After working for five years in the corporate sector, Lisa recently became an information management analyst at the University of Toronto. She is looking forward to leveraging her technology experience to assist staff and faculty in managing and improving their information practices and processes.

In 2020, in partnership with the Museum of Dufferin, Alethia established a not-for-profit organization, the Dufferin County Canadian Black Association Awards, in addition to the first Black History Month event in Dufferin County. That same year, she also chaired the Town of Shelburne’s Anti-Black Racism, Anti-Racism & Discrimination Task Force, providing the town and school board with a list of over 30 recommendations to make the community more inclusive. She’s been honoured with an RBC Global Citizen Award and the Town of Shelburne’s Community Excellence Award.

Victoria was recently named to the 2021 Top 20 Women in Cybersecurity in Canada by IT World Canada. She founded CyberToronto, a community-focused annual cybersecurity conference in the Greater Toronto Area that offers educational and training opportunities for information security professionals.

After pursuing landscape architecture at the University of Guelph, Eveleen then received her master’s degree in environmental design from York in 1994. She was a passionate explorer, travelling from Russia to Easter Island, from the south of France to the Canadian Arctic, and many countries and continents in between. She died peacefully at her home in Toronto on August 31, 2021.

Elizabeth graduated from women’s studies and psychology in 1983, then moved on to become the assistant to the Dean of Graduate Studies at York, retiring in 2001. Donations in Elizabeth’s name may be made to the Canadian Cancer Society and Alzheimer’s Society. A devoted mother and grandmother, she died on August 21, 2021.

Kevin received his PhD in psychology from the Centre for Vision Research at York. Kevin’s career continued in the technology industry, most recently at Facebook Reality Labs as the lead research scientist of the Applied Perception Sciences team, focusing on vision research involving augmented reality and virtual reality. He passed away on August 25, 2021, in Sammamish, Wash., at 45 years old, and is survived by his wife and children.