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our board of directors.

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officers

Chair – William (Bill) Richardson

Bill is a lawyer exclusively engaged in civil litigation, specializing in intellectual property, commercial disputes and medical malpractice with McCarthy Tetrault in Toronto.  He is a member of the International Commission of Jurists and the Dalhousie Law Alumni Association. Bill is a member of the Fund Development Committee and has been with the Board since 1999.

Vice Chair – Bindu Dhaliwal

Bindu is a lawyer with the Bank of Montreal. She has been active in a number of non-profit organizations including The Students Commission and Girls Action Foundation. Her work has focused on the issues of youth engagement, community mobilization, racism and gender. Bindu joined the board in 2003 and is the current chair of the Resource Development Committee as well as overseeing recruitment of new Board members.

Past Chair – Robert Barnard

Robert is President of D-Code, a marketing research firm specializing in the Gen-X population. Robert applies his strong marketing expertise as the driving force behind the Young Professionals Committee and all of our event based fundraising. Robert joined the board in 2000 and is vice-chair of the Board and co-chair of the Fund Development Committee.

Chief Financial Officer – Stephen Yuzpe

Mr. Yuzpe has over 10 years of financial administration management experience with public and private corporations. Over his career, Mr. Yuzpe has developed specific expertise in financial and internal reporting, strategic development and business planning, corporate governance, investor relations, regulatory compliance, treasury, financings and restructurings. Mr. Yuzpe holds a Bachelor of Science, Engineering (Mechanical) degree from the Queen’s University along with the Professional Engineering designation (P. Eng.), an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business in London Ontario and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder.

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Ted Matthews

Ted is a brand coach and managing partner with Instinct Brand Equity Coaches Inc. He challenges and supports senior executives to understand and maximize the power of their brand. He was owner and President of Promanad, for 28 years during which time he built and rebuilt the Toronto- based, marketing communications company. Ted is the former chairman of The Young President’s Organization in Ontario, now a member of the senior group, WPO. Ted joined the board in 2003, and is working to clarify and build the Street Kids International brand.

Paul Pathak

Paul is a partner of Chitiz Pathak LLP. He practices principally in the areas of corporate, securities, mergers, acquisitions and commercial law. Paul has developed particular expertise in advising issuers and investors in connection with public and private financings and securities law compliance. As a result of his extensive experience in the aforementioned areas, Paul has developed strong relationships within the investment community as well as an excellent familiarity with the securities regulatory landscape. Paul was called to the Ontario Bar in 1994, having completed his LL.B. at Osgoode Hall Law School. He has sat on the boards of several private and public companies listed on both the Canadian and American stock exchanges. Paul joined the board in October 2005.

Warren Coughlin

Warren Coughlin is a business coach with ActionCOACH who works exclusively with entrepreneurs to help them build their businesses and find satisfaction in their lives. He has been recognized as one of the top 10 coaches internationally among the 1000+ coaches in ActionCOACH and has been named Canadian Coach of the Year and Top Performing Coach in Canada. Warren serves on the Global Training Team responsible for training new coaches. He is also a recovering lawyer, serial entrepreneur, college professor, actor and theatre director. It was, in part, to help build an expanded entrepreneurial training program for street youth that brought Warren to Street Kids International when he joined the board in spring 2007.

David Wolfenden

David Wolfenden is the Executive Director of Outward Bound Canada. Prior to joining Outward Bound, David was the Director of Operations for DMB, a real estate development company, located in Arizona. David’s career has also included Senior Consultancy and Practice Management for RSM McGladrey’s Organizational Effectiveness and Family Business Groups. His work focused on organizational design and performance coaching to family owned, and closely held companies, as well as to a range of Fortune 500 and not-for-project businesses throughout North America. David has a Master’s in Behavioral Science. He is currently on the Leadership Advisory board for the Banff Centre and a faculty member in the Canadian Film Centre Interactive Media Program.

David S. Grant

David Grant is Executive Chairman and Founder of Affinity Express, an international digitizing, document creation, and multi-media services company which evolved from one of the world’s largest embroidery firms. David has an undergrad in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters from MIT in Management. After fifteen years of building a family business in embroidery to a leading position globally operating in four countries, David decided to evolve the company from its core competencies in mass customization of apparel wear, into the full range of digital services for print related companies. He has been involved with Street Kids International since the early 1990s as a board member and co-chairman. He was VP of the MIT Club of Canada, and Chair of the New York Chapter of the Young Presidents Organization.

Rochelle Mathias  - audit committee chair

Rochelle Mathias, currently resides in Toronto, ON and splits her time between raising her two sons and directing the strategic development of PPP Corp., a print finishing company founded by her and two partners. Prior Rochelle was founder, President and CEO of bigtree.com, a San Francisco based e-commerce office products retailer.As President, Rochelle directed the creation of Parchment Presentation Products (now known as PPP Corp.) and later its partnership with Domtar Specialty Fine Paper to start Domtar Retail Papers. Rochelle joined Street Kids International’s audit committee in 2006.

Ganendra Nikhil

Ganendra Nikhil is a Principal in the Toronto office of McKinsey & Company. Ganendra serves North American and international retailers and other consumer-facing companies on a range of issues, including merchandising and marketing, pricing, strategy, transformation management, and organization effectiveness. Ganendra is a leader in McKinsey’s North American Retail Practice and one of the Firm’s experts on retail pricing. He has also held leadership roles in Recruiting and External Relations for the Toronto office. Ganendra joined the Firm in 2003. Ganendra has a BASc in Engineering Science and a MASc in Biomedical Engineering, both from the University of Toronto. Before joining McKinsey, he worked for a start-up, which provided logistics services to retailers and consumer goods companies, and a large US financial services company.

Noella M. Milne

Noella Milne is a partner practising in the law firm of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, and is the Toronto Regional Leader for the Real Estate Practice Group. Noella practises in the Commercial Real Estate area with an emphasis on asset and share acquisitions and dispositions, mixed-use developments, joint ventures, 'public-private' transactions, financings, ground leasing, land development and other commercial real estate matters. Noella was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 1988. She received her B.A. with a major in Law at Carleton University and received her law degree from the University of Toronto Law School in 1986. Noella has three children. Noella is Past Chair of the Children’s Aid Foundation. Besides sitting on several Not-For-Profit Boards, Noella is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Panel at the University of Toronto Law School, an Honourary Life Director of the Canadian Club, a recipient of the Children’s Aid Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award and a 2010 recipient of the YWCA Women of Distinction Award.

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UK board of directors

Wendy Bailey

Wendy has over twenty years’ experience of the world of marketing and sponsorship and is a prime exponent of the role of sponsorship in corporate responsibility. She is acknowledged as a leading consultant, running her own business based in London, with experience of implementing sponsorships throughout the U.K., in all the principle cities of mainland Europe, and in Tokyo, Tel Aviv, New York and Washington. Wendy has an extensive understanding of international corporations and her sponsorship expertise includes arts and culture, sports, education, business, environmental and community sponsorships. Wendy is a Trustee of the Steel Charitable Trust and founded and ran for twelve years the Virtuosi Society, a grant-giving trust in Scotland.

Jonathan Cheshire

Jonathan is the CEO of Wheatsheaf Trust, a charity running a range of innovative projects to support marginalised people into training and work. He has previously set up Portsmouth Foyer, a housing and employment project for young people, and was Director of Ocean Youth Club, then Europe’s largest sail training organisation. Jonathan has founded a number of other charities for homeless people in London, and has been appointed to various government committees on homelessness, rehabilitation of offenders, and marine safety. He is currently a Trustee of the Association of Sea Training Organisations and a Governor of Southampton Solent University.

Honorary Treasurer – Emma Cooper

Emma is the Head of Finance of Independent Age, a charity with over 140 years' experience of supporting older people at home. Emma has previously worked as a manager at Mazars, an international business advisory and accountancy group, in their Centre of Excellence for the provision of services to charities. She is a Chartered Accountant and has a Honours degree in Biochemistry.

Stephanie Kaye - company secretary

Stephanie is currently a stay-at-home mother, having previously worked for the Canadian High Commission in the UK and run an independent management consultancy, Cognitive Management Ltd. Stephanie has been very active with the Canadian community in the UK since her arrival in London in 2000, having served as President of Network Canada and as a trustee of the Maple Leaf Trust. She holds an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Manitoba.

Sophie Livingstone

Sophie is Deputy CEO of the Private Equity Foundation, a leading venture philanthropy fund which works with carefully selected charities to empower young people to reach their full potential. Prior to joining the Foundation, Sophie worked at leading youth homelessness agency, a regeneration charity, ITV and a Member of Parliament. A former Chair of School Governors, she has appeared on a variety of national TV, radio and in print in both a professional and a personal capacity. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Richard Street - UK chair

After a career in Business and the Foreign Office, Richard has established and supported youth business programmes in 25 countries helping 100,000 young entrepreneurs. He is a global authority on youth entrepreneurship and employability and an adviser to International Organizations and Governments on the development of youth employment. He is also a Trustee of Care International UK and the City & Islington College of Further Education.

Emma Warson

Emma Warson is a portfolio manager and partner of Perry Partners LLP. Emma was part of the JP Morgan equity research team prior to joining Perry Capital in 2001. She is now running the firm's London Office. Perry Capital specializes in investing in value opportunities found in the public and private securities markets. Emma has an MA from Oxford University in Economics & Management.