Board of Directors

NEW VISIONS TORONTO is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors. Our 2020-2021 Board Members are:

Position

Name

Elected

Status

Term

President

Brian Maslowski

2020

First

Vice President

Doug King

2019

Family member

Second

Treasurer

Sandra Essex

2019

Second

Secretary

Reshma Bhargava

2019

Third

Past President

Fonda Zettler

2019

Term Expires September 2021

Director

Alicia Ali

2019

Family member

Third

Director

Robert Last

2019

First

Director

Robert Kalanda

2019

First

Director

Liam Everett

Appointed 2020

Term expires September 2021

Director

Betty Vavougios

Appointed 2020

Family member

Term expires September 2021

Director

Vacant

To contact the Board of Directors, please Email the President.

Click here for our Membership Form

Introduction to Board of Directors

Brian Maslowski: President

Born and raised in Toronto’s west end, Brian Maslowski initially joined the Canadian Armed Forces after high school, completing half of his degree at Royal Roads Military College, and half at the Royal Military College of Canada - Kingston. It was during his time as a cadet that his deeply-held sense of teamwork, loyalty, and duty was solidified. In 1997, a career shift led Brian to the realm of real estate — a line of work he still finds incredibly rewarding and exciting, over twenty years later, client care is still Brian’s top priority. In addition to being a very active realtor, Brian is also a Staff Sergeant with Toronto Police Service. Brian has a wide variety of policing experience including a few years locally at 51 Division where he managed the Community Response Unit. During his time at 51 Division, Brian ensured New Visions was included as part of its annual open house barbeque. As a result NVT received an incredible amount of community support, with many of the afternoon;s attendees stopping by to learn more, chat with staff, pick up a brochure and enter into a fun raffle. Brian is constantly thinking about innovative ways to support NVT through his real estate ventures or personal weight loss challenges to promote health, to live a more active lifestyle while losing unwanted pounds. Brian excels in his role as a realtor and a member pf Toronto Police Services and in July of 2016 the Governor General of Ontario David Johnston awarded Brian the Police Exemplary Service Medal. Brian has been a strong supporter of New Visions Toronto for many years and since 2018 has taken 30 of the people we support to a Toronto Blue Jays game for the annual "own it" day with the Jays. He is also a regular supporter of our golf tournament.

Doug King: Vice-President

Doug King was born and raised in Toronto. He received a BA majoring in Political Science and Economics at the University of Toronto, Victoria College. He subsequently received his MBA at the University of Toronto, (now the Rotman School of Business.) Doug retired after a 35 year career at TD Bank. During his career he and his family spent three years in New York City, four years in South East Asia, (Hong Kong and Singapore), and eight years in London England, as Senior Vice President, Europe, Middle East and Africa. He served on the Board of Directors of various TD Bank Subsidiaries in each of the USA, Asia and Europe during these years. Doug returned to Canada from England to set up TD Securities and was its first President. Toward the end of his career, Doug set up the Bank’s Office of the Ombudsman and became the Bank’s first Ombudsman.

Doug with his wife Pat have three children, (Andrew, Peter and Edward) and three grandchildren. Peter and Edward have been part of New Visions Toronto for over twelve years, living together at 245 Davisville.

Since retirement, Doug has served on the Boards of Montage Support Services and Harmony Place. He and Pat have been strong advocates for Peter and Edward and have been active fund raisers for New Visions Toronto both directly and through the Annual Golf Tournament. Doug and Pat have traveled to Australia seven times over the last several years to visit Andrew and his wife Annette and their three grandchildren in Sydney. They have recently moved to Brisbane.

Doug is a keen golfer and spends a good deal of his time at their farm south of Collingwood where they grow apples and various crops including wheat, canola, corn and soya beans.

Doug feels that with his experience and being a parent of two people supported by New Visions Toronto he will be able to contribute to the ongoing great work of the Board of Directors of New Visions Toronto.

Sandra Essex: Treasurer

Sandra was first appointed to the Board in February 2017 and stood for election in September 2017 and was elected for her first term. Sandra was again elected as the Treasurer in October 2019 at the start of her second term. Sandra Essex has an Honours Science Degree from the University of Guelph. When Sandra's two children were in high school, she returned to school and studied at Wilfrid Laurier University to complete the educational and examination requirements to become a Chartered Accountant. Sandra articled with Deloitte for five years and in 2002, after completing all entrance requirements, she became a member of the Chartered Professional Accountants ((CPA) of Ontario.

Sandra brings diverse experience from the not-for-profit sector. Her former positions include, Director of Membership and Administration at the YMCA-YWCA of Guelph, and Director of Advocacy and Management Consultant for Ontario YWCAs for the YWCA of Canada. During her time at the YWCA of Canada, she researched and wrote a brief supporting the YWCA's position on Gun Control. As their delegate she presented and defended the brief to the House of Commons and Senate Standing Committees. She lead strategic planning sessions, recruited CEOs and provided guidance on many operating issues to YWCAs across Ontario. She wrote a number of successful funding proposals including one for a National Play Program for At Risk Refugee Children which assisted refugee children, who had experienced violence, to express their feelings. The Play Program was operated in 8 YWCAs.

After becoming a CPA Sandra became the Chief Financial Officer for the YMCA of Greater Toronto and Interim Director of Finance for New Visions Toronto. At both organizations Sandra created and implemented a program for ensuring effective internal controls. Sandra has 10 years of senior leadership experience in the hospital sector where she has been the Director of Finance at both CAMH and The Scarborough Hospital, and most recently the Director of Finance at Joseph Brant Hospital in Burlington. Sandra is now limiting her work responsibilities and is enjoying travelling with her husband as often as possible.

Sandra's first love is the not for profit sector. She has sat on a number of Boards of Directors including the YWCA of Kitchener-Waterloo and the Edward Johnson Music Foundation.

Sandra loves adventure travel and sees her 4 day hike on the Inca Trail, 10 months after a hip replacement, as one of her biggest physical accomplishments. Sandra loves camping, hiking and manages stress with daily yoga. Her passion is cooking and one day hopes to attend a 5 day program at the Cordon Blue cooking school in Paris, France.

Reshma Bhargava: Secretary

Alicia currently works at IBM as an external communications advisor. In this role she identifies external storytelling opportunities to amplify the work IBM is doing to support economic growth from coast to coast.

Some of Reshma’s recent occupations include Event Planning for the Medical Staff Association in Oshawa, Committee Member, Indo-Canadian Cultural Association of Durham Region, Volunteer Teacher, Neerja Modi School, Jaipur, India, Volunteer Teaching Assistant, Vidya Sagar School, Spastic Society of India, Chennai, India, where she taught math and computer skills to special needs children. She was also a volunteer at the Mother Theresa Orphanage in Chennai, India.

At Queen’s University, where Reshma obtained her BSc.(Hon.) degree, she held leadership positions as Residence Don, Dance Team Coordinator and President of Queen’s Indian Students Association.

And if you think her only interest is anything that seems like work, think again because her Extracurricular Activities include, dancing, singing, scrapbooking, jewellery making, photography and cooking.

Alicia Ali: Director

Alicia currently works at IBM as an external communications advisor. In this role she identifies external storytelling opportunities to amplify the work IBM is doing to support economic growth from coast to coast.

Previously, she was a Press Secretary to former Premier Kathleen Wynne during the 2018 provincial election. She has also served as Press Secretary and Communications Advisor to former Cabinet Minister Michael Coteau, Minister of Children and Youth Services and Minister Responsible for the Anti-Racism Directorate. Prior to that, Alicia was an Associate Consultant at Navigator, Canada's leading high-stakes public strategy and communications firm. In this role, she was responsible for issues management, media planning and working with clients to build communication plans for a wide-range of contentious issues.

Alicia brings a diverse experience from the not-for-profit sector as a former project coordinator with the YWCA. She managed a campaign to end violence against women on post-secondary campuses and co-led the inaugural Leadership Summit for Women in Hamilton.

A graduate of the Clayton H. Riddell Graduate Program in Political Management at Carleton University, she also completed an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at McMaster University where she was actively involved in student government.

Fonda Zettler: Past President

Fonda was elected for her third and final term at the AGM in September 2018. Fonda will continue as Past President of the Board and is looking forward to sharing her knowledge and experience.

Fonda is an innovative Educator and Community Support Consultant with extensive experience working with diverse student groups with exceptional needs and educational levels ranging from kindergarten to post-secondary to achieve impressive results. Fonda has worked as a frontline staff and also at the management level including being a past employee of New Visions Toronto. She has been teaching at the post-secondary level for the past nine years. Fonda’s knowledge base and extensive hands on experience as well as her post graduate education with a concentration in teaching, learning and development allows her to confidently contribute as an expert in the field. Fonda’s love and dedication for her work and others always takes her on new journeys and has her reaching for new goals. Fonda has been an active participant at many of the fundraising activities including Bowlathon, the Valentine’s Dance, the Golf Tournament and Croquet in the City. She is also looking forward to implementing and completing the 2016 – 2019 Strategic Plan for New Visions Toronto.

Robert Last: Director

As a licensed real estate professional, Robert has over 30 years experience in commercial real estate management and operations and has been the Executive Vice President at Canpro Investments Ltd., the captive real estate management arm of The Azrieli Foundation, since 2015. Prior to joining Canpro, Robert has enjoyed progressive positions with industry leaders SNC-Lavalin, Bentall Kennedy and Brookfield Properties.

With approximately 10 years of board experience with Bellwoods Centre for Community Living and witnessing political organizational shifts such as the creation of LIHNs, Robert understands the importance of community involvement for agencies like New Visions Toronto. Robert would like to get more involved with New Visions Toronto as he has a positive history with the agency. He has participated in NVT golf tournaments over the years and was a great supporter of this year’s tournament bringing in both a high number of golfers and sponsors.

Robert believes education and exposure within the larger community will assist in driving fundraising revenue and with his background, experience and desire to help, feels he will be an asset to the agency to reach a larger audience.

Robert looks forward to the opportunity of working with the other directors and staff of New Visions Toronto as a member of the Board of Directors.

Liam Everett: Director

Liam has an MBA, Specialization in Entrepreneurship he also has a BA, Criminology.

Liam has developed a number of skills during his working careers all of which will be beneficial in his role as a Director on the Board of New Visions Toronto.They include the following Financial Modeling, Financial Forecasting, Data Analysis, Analytics, Treasury Management, Relationship Management, Leadership, Strategy, Process Development, Communication, Cross-Functional Engagement.Liam’s current job he is responsible for building the annual revenue forecast for the DBRS Morningstar group of companies – Canada, US, and Europe. Earlier in his career Liam was the Senior Associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers led teams of up to 15 Associates through audit engagements for a variety of companies in a range of sectors including mining, forestry, food services- with a market capitalization range Liam has also prepared financial models and financial statements for non-profit organizations and private companies.  While Liam does not have a history with New Visions Toronto he quickly became interested and impressed with New Visions Toronto from the feedback he was receiving from his friend Brian Maslowski.  Liam felt the time was right for him to offer his skills to what he saw as a very worthwhile agency He is looking forward to getting more involved with developing a successful fundraising model and being an effective member of the Board of Directors

Betty Vavougios: Director

Betty has been working as an Assistant Crown Attorney in since 1999. Before that, she was doing criminal defence work. In her legal work, Betty has taken an interest in vulnerable populations. Betty was responsible for starting the Indigenous court in Scarborough 8 years ago. She has led the domestic violence court for Scarborough. Betty has dealt with the ever growing number of self-represented accused, which include individuals with special needs and other mental health issues. This spring, Betty was elected as Vice President of the Ontario Crown Attorneys’ Association and has been seconded there for the year. Betty has a Bachelor of Arts, a Bachelor of Law and a Masters of Law with a specialty in Alternative Dispute Resolution.

In addition to her interest in New Visions Toronto she also volunteers in the Greek Community in various organizations, including the Hellenic Hope Centre for Adults with Special Needs. Betty has been on the board for the Hellenic Hope Centre for two years now and is now the interim President.

Betty’s interest in New Visions Toronto is the result of the very close bond she has with her cousin who has been living at New Visions since May of 2020 after his mother passed away from COVID-19. Before moving to New Visions Toronto on a permanent basis Betty’s cousin had been regular participant of the respite program for about two years. Betty is now his court appointed legal guardian and she is very involved in his life. Betty considers him a gift to herself and to her family. He continues to teach her about compassion, empathy and unconditional love and Betty’s teenage children now have the privilege of learning that from him as well.

Betty looks forward to being on the Board of Directors for New Visions Toronto.

Robert Kalanda: Director

Rob was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, where he practices as a civil litigator since being called to the Bar in Ontario in 2012. Rob holds a Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies and a Juris Doctor from Western University.

Rob’s legal experience is varied, including litigation, corporate, commercial, and intellectual property work. Rob’s not-for-profit support during his education includes working with Western’s university legal services clinic and briefly assisting a local London, Ontario not-for-profit with grant applications and related duties. As a lawyer, Rob has helped set up a number of not-for-profit corporations, and assisted not-for-profits with seeking judicial intervention when the need arose.

Rob’s personal interests are equally varied, from music and the outdoors to video games and television. Rob is excited about the opportunity to work with the other directors and staff of New Visions Toronto as a member of the Board of Directors.