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OUR PEOPLE

Provide Professional Services Empower Volunteers Offer Support and Resources and a Shoulder to Lean On

Board of directors

Tina Kakkar

President

Elaina Eifler

Vice President

Agnes Szaflarski

Treasurer

Tim Lipp

Secretary​

Alyson Robb

Past President

Doreen Herdman

Director

Austin Muir

Director

John Mckinley

Director

Marta Ligocki

Director

Craig Loewen

Director

Nina Rehill

Director

Paul Mercer

Director

Asif Rashid

Director

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Board

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Administrative team

Leslie Evans

Executive Director

Lori Winder

Administration Assistant

Annie Zhang

Senior Accountant

Engagement team

Paul Meunier

Director of Education

James Akinola

Member Services Specialist (on break)

Adithi Lucky Reddy

Urban Planner

Mia Leung

Urban Planner

Kayleigh Kernaghan

IT and Data Management Specialist

Adam Schwartz

Community Activator

Xiting Wang

Digital Marketing Coordinator

Tahjani Royal

Database Administrator

Audit Team

Heidi Brauer

Auditor

Nancy Murdoch

Auditor

Michael Ihekuna

Auditor

Anthony Chiu

Auditor

Azra Qureshi

File Coordinator & Audit Technician

Sophia Wu

Intermediate Audit Technician

Fateha Muzaffar

Audit Technician

Willio Laguerre

Audit Technician

Majhar Islam

Audit Technician

Harjot Singh Atwal

Audit Technician

Yuvraj Badhan

Audit Technician

Chris Okwuje

Audit Technician

Hanna Zarubina

Audit Technician

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Leslie Evans

Executive Director

Leslie is a born and raised Calgarian. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology and Management, a Certificate in Human Resource Development and a master’s degree in Management focusing on Voluntary Sector Leadership. Throughout her career, she’s worked for a variety of organizations from social services and community services to capacity building and at the local, provincial and national levels.  Leslie has dedicated her career to the non-profit sector for more than 25 years, and has been our dedicated and fearless leader since 2007. Did you know Leslie brings her three dogs to work with her every day? Charlie is a Shitzu Pomeranian, Winston is a Mini Pinscher Chihuahua and Roo is an Australian Shepherd! 

 

Lori Winder

Administrative Assistant

Lori has a Bachelor of Science in Medical Laboratory Science. After some time in the field of immunohematology, then some time at home with her children, she made the career switch into office administration to lead a more balanced lifestyle. After working for another community focused non-profit organization, she joined our team in 2010. As our Admin Assistant she does it all – keeping our office running smoothly and keeping us all sane! Did you know Lori loves tropical fish and has a 66 gallon tank in her living room full of them?

Annie Zhang

Senior Accountant

Annie has a bachelor’s degree of Management in Accounting. She holds a CPA in Washington State (USA) and a CPA in Canada. Before joining our team, she had worked for several fortune 500 companies, including 5 years at Deloitte as finance head. Now she is responsible for accounting at The Federation.

Outside of work, she likes traveling and baking. She loves spending time with her kids. Did you know that she has been a vegetarian for 7 years?

Paul Meunier

Director of Education

Paul is a born and raised Calgarian and dedicated to working in communities. He’s been involved in grassroots organizing for twenty years, working in community centres and nonprofit spaces throughout our city. Paul has an arts background with degrees in photography and English literature. He’s currently finishing his Ph.D. in creative writing! Every community is a space jam-packed with vibrant, inspiring, and heartfelt stories, and Paul was very proud to work at the Federation for many years, hearing those stories brought to life by passionate leaders in our network. Paul’s excited to join our team once again to launch our education program for the year to come! When he’s not in the office, Paul can be found chasing his pooch around the park.

james akinola

Member Services Specialist

James is a dynamic and experienced professional passionate about education and community development. With a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and a Master of Management degree, he has honed a unique combination of technical and interpersonal skill sets over two decades in the non-profit sector. As our Member Services Specialist, James helps communities build capacity in governance, sustainable social enterprise, volunteer recruitment, and community engagement. In his free time, James pursues his love of music, having released an album and several singles, and even gaining recognition for his exceptional customer service on Global News.

adithi lucky reddy

Urban Planner

Born and raised in India, Adithi Lucky Reddy had recently graduated with a Master’s in Planning from the University of Calgary. Being new to the city, she was fascinated to learn about Calgary and its planning process. With a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and already having worked in Toronto and India as an architect, she learned about design processes in both countries and she wanted to explore the planning aspects of different cities. She believes in hands-on engagement with communities and is interested in exploring tactical urbanism ideas to know more about the needs and wants of the residents.

Outside of work, Adithi enjoys hikes and likes to explore the mountains and lakes.

Mia Leung

Urban Planner

Mia is a recent graduate with a Master of Planning with a bachelor’s in urban studies from the University of Calgary.  Born and raised in Alberta, Calgary is a city she calls her home. Being more involved within her community association, she has learned a lot about Calgary’s planning process and with her education, Mia became passionate at educating and engaging through verbal and visual methods. She believes education is the path for engagement within communities and is interested in how to communicate with residents about their wants and needs. Outside of work, she spends her time baking and drinking coffee! You’ll often find her walking along the Bow River Pathway.

Kayleigh Kernaghan

IT Support

Born and raised in Calgary, Kayleigh has just completed her Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. In her role as a Web Designer she will be helping to add new features to the current website, along with beginning to plan the new website. In her role as IT Support, she will be helping to link databases, set up a new server, and various technical tasks. Growing up, Kayleigh’s hobbies mostly centered around tinkering and figuring out how technology worked. This lead to her being that kid in school who knew how to run the TV/Projector when the teacher didn’t. Did you know that Kayleigh also has a musical side? She took piano lessons for 10 years, joined the school band for 3 years playing trumpet, and can normally be found listening to music regardless of what she is working on.

Adam Schwartz

Community Activator

Adam is a born and raised Calgarian, and a graduate of University of Calgary’s Masters of Planning program. Throughout his academic journey, Adam was always interested in small scale community activation projects, and became a volunteer, leader, and advocate for all things tactical urbanism. Adam is interested in other planning topics such as community development, housing, and active transportation, and has previously worked on active transportation reports for high schools in Calgary. Adam currently lives in the community of Crescent Heights with his wife and cat, and enjoys playing rec league hockey in the winters, and biking Calgary’s amazing pathway network in the summers!

Xiting wang

Digital Marketing Coordinator

Xiting did a bachelor’s degree in Media and Communication Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle and completed his Master’s degree in management at the University of Calgary, he is passionate about digital marketing, social media marketing, and wants to communicate with people and helps with their needs. Xiting will be helping the federation with its digital marketing. 

Tahjani Royal

Database Administrator

Tahjani was born in Kingston, Jamaica and moved to Canada at the age of 12. He graduated from Mount Royal University’s Bachelor of Business Administration program with a double major in Accounting and General Management and a minor in Finance in 2022. He is working at The Federation as a Database Administrator.

Tahjani is passionate about being a good person and seeing positive changes in the world.  In his spare time Tahjani likes to learn about audio engineering, specifically mixing and mastering. 

Heidi Brauer

Auditor

As an experienced CMA with a number of degrees under her belt, Heidi has more than 20 years of non-profit audit experience. She founded our audit program in 1993 after recognizing a need within smaller organizations for professional audit services at affordable prices. She also recognized a knowledge gap in volunteer board members and developed sector specific workshops and one-on-one learning opportunities for understanding financial statements and requirements. She’s been with us as a public practice auditor since 1983! Did you know Heidi lived in Vancouver before moving to Calgary? As much as she liked it there, she loves the Alberta sunshine! Ask Heidi about audit and financial compliance for non-profit organizations and charities.

Nancy Murdoch

Auditor

After finishing her Associate in Financial Management diploma, Nancy worked in accounting in the private sector for a while before going to work for public accounting firms. She has worked in British Columbia, Yellowknife, and High River before landing here in Calgary. She has also worked with Auditwatch Canada as an instructor offering courses all across Canada. As a Chartered Professional Accountant, she’s been with us as a public practice auditor since 2010. Did you know before becoming an accountant Nancy was a zookeeper for 8 years?

Ask Nancy about audit and financial compliance for non-profit organizations and charities.

Michael Ikehuna

Auditor

After earning a Bachelor of Finance degree, Michael became a member of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants in the United Kingdom, and a Masters of Business Administration. He also has his Chartered Professional Accountant designation. Before joining our team as a public practice auditor in 2017, he worked with public accounting firms helping clients solve complex financial, business, and tax issues. Did you know Michael was once chased by a rhino on a safari in Nigeria?!

Ask Michael about audit and financial compliance for non-profit organizations and charities.

Anthony Chiu

Auditor

Anthony graduated from the University of New Brunswick in 2006 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. He commenced his articles with an international accounting firm in British Columbia before qualifying as a chartered accountant in 2011. Before joining our team as a public practice auditor in 2019, Anthony worked for public accounting firms providing audit and assurance, accounting, tax and advisory services for a wide range of private and non-profit organizations. Did you know Anthony is writing his 3rd novel?

Ask Anthony about audit and financial compliance for non-profit organizations and charities.

Azra-Qureshi-e1650406312858-768x768

Azra Qureshi

Audit Technician

Azra moved to Canada in 2012. She has a bachelor’s degree in General Science in Stats, Math and Economics from Pakistan. After moving to Canada, Azra completed a one-year Diploma in payroll and Accounting from Evergreen College. She then worked at an accounting firm for three years. Outside of work, she works with 1000 voices & Trellis (both Non-profit organizations) as a volunteer. Azra joined the Federation on Jan 10, 2022.

Sophia Wu

Intermediate Audit Technician

Sophia joined our team in 2009 with a Diploma of Business Administration (Accounting major) from SAIT. Being an intermediate audit technician means she’s responsible for supporting the audit process by preparing audit files for the auditors and helping coach other staff when necessary.

Fateha Muzzafar

Audit Technician

Fateha immigrated to Calgary from Pakistan in 2003 with Bachelor of Administration in Economics and Math from Pakistan and has course certificates in bookkeeping. She worked as an accounting assistant at a public accounting firm before joining our team in 2017. As an audit technician she supports the audit process by preparing audit files for the auditors.

Willio Laguerre

Audit Technician

Willio was born and raised in Grand-Goave, Haiti, and he moved to Canada in 2011. Willio is in his fourth year of Business Applied Degree (accounting) at the Southern Alberta Institutes of Technology (SAIT). He has two years bookkeeping experience from a non-profit organization. From a supply chain level, Willio used to work for Shaw Communications, Home Depot, and DHL. In his spare time, Willio likes to read and spend time with his family. Willio is glad to join the Federation of Calgary Communities as an Audit Technician.

Majhar Islam

Audit Technician

Majhar was born and brought up in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He moved to Canada in 2022 as a permanent resident. Before moving to Canada, he worked with YKK Bangladesh Pte Ltd as an accountant for 6 years. Majhar did his BBA and MBA from Bangladesh, with a major in Marketing, Finance & Banking. Prior to joining the Federation, he worked with Superior Gas Liquids in Calgary as an AP/AR administrator for 9 months.

 Apart from work, he likes to travel and spend time gardening.

Harjot Singh Atwal

Audit Technician

Harjot was born and raised in Nawanshahr, Punjab, India. He came to Canada as an International student to pursue Business Administration Diploma – Major in Accounting. As an audit technician at The Federation, he will be working on the members’ audits.

His favourite thing about Calgary is its proximity to the mountains.  His hobbies are farming and also playing and watching cricket.

Yuvraj Badhan

Audit Technician

Yuvraj came to Canada in the year 2021. He has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from India. After coming to Canada, he earned an Applied Degree in Business Administration from SAIT. He considers himself fortunate to get some Canadian accounting experience during his study program by working in a boutique accounting firm. He plans to pursue the CPA next year. Do you know Yuvraj has a side hustle? He works as a warehouse clerk on weekends where he tries to keep himself in shape by unloading heavy items from the containers.

Chris Okwuje

Audit Technician

Hanna Zarubina

Audit Technician

Hanna is an accountant from the Ukraine with a Masters degree in Accounting and over 18 years’ experience in the accounting field in the Ukraine. She immigrated to Canada in March 2023 and was working as Accounting Admin Volunteer in a non-profit organization for 5 months before joining our team. Apart from work, Hanna likes to spend time with her family and explore Calgary’s new places. 

Idara Ekanem

Audit Technician

Idara moved to Canada in 2023. She has a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and is an associate chartered accountant in Nigeria. Prior to joining the team, Idara was an internal auditor and control officer for financial institutions, leading departmental and company-wide reviews. In her spare time, she likes volunteering by providing business advisory support to small businesses in her home country. Idara enjoys spending time with her family and friends.