Service Advisory Committee members’ biographies

Biography of Cliff Groen

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Kirstin is a seasoned professional of the non-profit world. She has devoted the last six years of her career to Food Banks Canada in progressive levels of responsibility.

Since 2018 Kirstin has been the Chief Network Services Officer for Food Banks Canada She is responsible for shaping and implementing a strategic vision for the network services team and for ensuring that Food Banks Canada’s network services are innovative, engaging, and aligned with the core values of service and collaboration. Prior to this, she spent four years as the Senior Manager of Network Programs.

Kirstin is a bilingual senior program leader with over 15 years of experience managing the design, execution, and evaluation of successful non-profit programing. She spent eight years as the Director of Charity Engagement at CanadaHelps, and has worked for a number of national charitable organizations leading engagement initiatives. Kirstin is passionate about the non-profit sector in Canada and contributing to causes that aim to have a measurable impact against their missions.

Kirstin holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Women’s Studies from York University. She is from Ottawa, Ontario but now calls Toronto home. During her time away from working towards a Canada where no one goes hungry, Kirstin enjoys spending time with her family.

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Floydeen Charles-Fridal is a change agent who, for the last 30 years, has demonstrated her commitment towards improving the lives of others through her work in the community. Through Floydeen’s years of working with non-profit organizations, she has developed social and health services programs, strategic business and operational planning, program implementation, and operations. In her role as Program Director at Rexdale Community Health Centre, Floydeen facilitated a think tank to address the issues of violence in Rexdale (Jamestown). She also successfully secured funding from the City of Toronto for the Centre to develop the Coalition of Rexdale Organizations for the Prevention of Youth Violence (CORO-PYV). The Coalition aimed to address the absence of a coordinated response to youth violence and prevention in Rexdale. Similarly, Floydeen was key in securing funding for the Malvern Community Coalition. Floydeen also developed a community crisis response protocol for Rexdale and Etobicoke communities. She is one of the two first African-Canadians certified by the National Organization of Victims Assistance as a crisis response trainer.

Floydeen became involved in the Black Health Alliance in 2001 and served on its Steering Committee and its Board of Directors from 2005-2009. With the Black Health Alliance, Floydeen led the community-based research study entitled “How Scarborough’s Black Youth Access the Health Care System”. Floydeen was a founding member of the TAIBU Community Health Centre. The Centre is the first of its kind in Canada, focused on becoming a centre of excellence in community health serving Black communities. Floydeen served six years as the first president of the Board of Directors. Floydeen recently served on the Board of Directors at the Ontario Association for Children’s Aid Societies.

After starting in her Executive Director role at Caribbean African Canadian Social Services, Floydeen created Meeting of the Minds. This aimed to engage Black leaders in high level strategic conversations. Meeting of the Minds led the development of the CIPAD (Canadian Institute for People of African Descent).

Floydeen is the recipient of numerous awards: the 2014 Association of Ontario Health Centre’s Joe Leonard Award; the 2015 City of Toronto Public Health Champion Award; 2016 Honouree at the 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women Gala and Book Launch; and the 2018 Harry Jerome Award recipient for Health Sciences. On February 03, 2021, Floydeen received the Community Leadership award from the United Way of Greater Toronto. Leaside High School has also established the Farley Flex & Floydeen Charles-Fridal Scholarship. This award is for students who exemplify a sense of community, empathy, and leadership in raising awareness of equity and diversity.

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Kevin Cunnington is a former senior executive with a strong track record of supporting organizations through the challenges and opportunities of digital technology. Over the last 15 years, he has held senior positions in the professional services. For example, Kevin has extensive experience in investment banking and telecommunications sectors. Kevin's areas of expertise include digital strategy, digital transformation, innovation, technology program guidance, mobile, internet, telecommunications, online help, single sign on, mobile payments, e-payments, customer segmentation and web analytics.

Kevin became the Director General of the International Government Service and Digital Envoy for the United Kingdom (UK) in August 2019 and retired in 2021. In this role, Kevin was responsible for leading the International Government Service (IGS). As such, he promoted the work of UK government services, including the digital sector, across the world.

Prior to this, Kevin was the Director General of the Government Digital Service from 2016 to 2019. He served as the Director General, Business Transformation Group, from 2013 to 2016.

Kevin has led a variety of large scale, and global, digital transformation programs. He spent his early career in programming and IT consultancy. More recently, he was the Global Head of Online for Vodafone Group. As well, he was the Business Transformation Group Director General at the Department for Work and Pensions.

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Dr. Sara Diamond is the President Emerita of OCAD University, Canada's university of the imagination. She holds a PhD in Computing, Information Technology and Engineering from the University of East London, a Master's degree in Digital Media theory from the University of the Arts London and an Honours Bachelor of Arts in History and Communications from Simon Fraser University. She is an appointee of the Order of Ontario and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, as well as a recipient of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Digital Pioneer Award from the GRAND Networks of Centres of Excellence. She is also a Senior Fellow at Massey College, University of Toronto. In 2014, Toronto Life described her as one of "Toronto's 50 Most Influential People."

While retaining OCAD University's traditional strengths in art and design, Sara has guided the university in becoming a leader in digital media, design research and curriculum through the Digital Futures Initiative, new research in inclusive design, health and design, and sustainable technologies and design. She also played a leading role in OCAD University's establishment of the unique Indigenous Visual Culture program.

Currently, Sara serves on various boards (Baycrest; ORION, Ontario's high-speed network; Women in Communications and Technology; and i-Canada) and is Chair of the Scotiabank Nuit Blanche Toronto Advisory Committee. She has served the larger university community through her membership on the Standing Advisory Committee on University Research (SACUR); as a current member of the Standing Advisory Committee on International Relations (SACIR) of the Association of Universities and Colleges; as Chair of the Standing Committee on Relationships with other Postsecondary Institutions for the Council of Ontario Universities (COU); and as a member of the COU executive. She was a member of the 2011 to 2012 Council of the Canadian Academies' expert panel on the State of Science and Technology in Canada. Sara also founded the Banff New Media Institute in 1995 to 2005.

Sara is a data visualization, wearable technology and mobile media researcher, artist, designer and scientist. She is founding Chair of the Mobile Experience Innovation Centre 2007 to 2014 and was co-Chair of Mobile HCI (ACM) in 2014. She is co-principal investigator in the Centre for Innovation in Information Visualization and Data-Driven Design, an OCAD U/York University initiative, and theme leader on the ORF-E funded iCity project as well as a member of the BRAIN alliance. She holds funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council and the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council.

Sara continues to write and lecture on the subjects of digital media history and practice, visual analytics, mobility and design strategy for peer-reviewed journals, and acts as a reviewer and evaluator for IEEE and ACM conferences and journals, SSHRC, CFI and the Canada Research Chair programs. Her artwork is held by prestigious collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, NYC and the National Gallery of Canada. Her recent publications include "Euphoria and Dystopia".

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Pina is a catalyst for change and accessibility, and the founder of Aequum Global Access. She passionately works with businesses to achieve diversity, inclusion, and accessibility by developing robust strategic plans that are actionable and outcome driven. Through strategic thinking and influence in organizational change, Pina is a leader, a sought-out consultant and international speaker. She promotes accessibility and inclusion from both an executive and a grassroots perspective. Pina is fluent in English and French, a certified project manager and educated in inclusive design. She delivers a structured and managed approach to put in place and integrate programs that support employees, clients, including top executives.

Pina works with several federal and provincial Inter-Ministerial departments and agencies. She develops accessibility roadmaps and plans, best practices, accessibility measurement frameworks, and strategies. She also recommends and advises on different projects and communities of practice. She works with leaders in small, medium, and large organizations to instill cultural and organizational change by creating a desire for change and building capacity through knowledge and training.

Pina also has over 20 years of experience working in a large global financial institution (Scotiabank). She held several Information Communication Technology (ICT) positions where she pioneered a cross-institutional hub for accessibility and inclusion.

Pina believes that accessibility and inclusion can be achieved and sustained through knowledge and effective integration plans. This includes incubating accessibility at the organizational level from the start of projects, through designs, software development, procurement, and continuous support for employees and clients.

From employment to workplace environments, through client accommodations, built environment, technology and the provision and receipt of services, accessibility is instilled and sustained through organizational culture change. This goes beyond regulations or compliance and with a passion for people, equality, equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility.

Pina has been a member of numerous networks and advisory tables, including: the Canadian Accessibility Network; the G3 ICT International Association of Accessibility Professionals; and the Information Communication Technology Standards and Employment committees related to the Accessibility for Ontarians Disability Act. She was also the co-designer of the Enabling Economic Policies annual conference with the OCAD University Inclusive Design Research Center.

Pina is a certified Project Management Institute member and holds a master’s degree in Design in Inclusive Design (MDes) from OCAD University. Pina also received the Queen Elizabeth II, Diamond Jubilee Medal from the Lieutenant Governor for her work in advancing employment for persons with disabilities.

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Maria Ferranti is the Vice President of Bell's Customer Support and Sales for Residential and Wireless Services, supporting more than 13.5M customers. She leads the Technical Support, Sales, Order Process and Collections teams, responsible for creating and delivering strategies focused on increasing customer satisfaction, first call resolution and sales across the call centre channels.

Maria launched a number of impactful programs including: a new quality service model, enhanced agent scorecards and a performance enhancement process. As a driver of change, Maria is known for unpacking complex processes and creating innovative solutions to improve the Customer Experience.

In addition to operational metrics, hiring the right people in a customer service role is an important element that Maria strongly believes in, leading her to implement an innovative recruitment process for new Agents. Not only was this initiative a key contributor to the 59% reduction in agent attrition at Bell, it also delivered an accelerated learning curve for new Agents by better matching the Agent's profile to the role's requirements.

Maria joined Virgin Mobile Canada in 2004, as the Senior Manager of Customer Service. It was a challenging start-up environment requiring creative solutions to build policies and processes for every step in the customer lifecycle to ensure a successful wireless launch. A number of key lessons were instilled from Richard Branson's business; in particular, his customer and employee philosophy was heavily leveraged to design the service philosophy at Virgin Mobile Canada. The delivery of this service philosophy led the customer service teams to win the Canadian J.D. Power Award for 5 consecutive years.

In 2008, Maria was promoted to become the Director of Customer Service, and grew her team to more than 700 agents to support the launch of new services. In 2010, post Bell's acquisition of Virgin Mobile Canada, Maria's scope was significantly expanded to include Bell's Wireless Customer Service Teams and subsequently Bell's Residential Services Teams.

Since the start of her career over 20 years ago, Maria has demonstrated an equal passion for both customers and team members allowing her to consistently deliver excellent results. This success has propelled her career from a start-up to now running one of the largest service organizations in Canada.

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Siddharth is a seasoned digital business executive with over two decades of experience leading eCommerce and technology enabled businesses. He is currently the Vice President of eCommerce & Digital Marketing at Walmart Canada where he is responsible for devising and implementing growth strategies for Walmart's digital and omni-channel businesses. He previously held leadership roles in product management and marketing at startups as well as large enterprises such as Sam's Club, Dell and Microsoft with experience working in Canada, India, Japan, Australia, Denmark and the US.

Siddharth is passionate about how organizations can adapt to better serve customers through digital innovation and what it takes to enable this transformation with speed and scale. He is a proponent of lean and agile methodologies for developing and improving programs and processes which deliver sustainable growth and positive customer experience outcomes. He has extensive experience in leveraging customer research, analytics, data science and mobile technologies for developing digital products and services. He has also led a number of organizational initiatives around digital privacy, accessibility and customer experience.

Siddharth has a keen interest in the development and adoption of digital technologies in the public domain to improve access to products and services, reduce information asymmetry, increase competition, and drive equitable economic growth and social outcomes. He is also a frequent guest speaker for graduate courses in business and marketing at reputed universities in Canada and India.

Siddharth is an Electronics Engineer and has a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

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Shingai Manjengwa is the Director of Professional Development/Technical Education at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Toronto. In this role, she translates advanced AI research into educational programming to drive AI adoption and innovation in industry. Shingai serves on the advisory council for "Accelerating the adoption of AI in healthcare". This program empowers front-line healthcare workers with AI skills by the Michener Institute of Education at UHN and the Vector Institute. Shingai also serves on the board of the Canada Institute on Governance.

A data scientist by profession, Shingai is also the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Fireside Analytics Inc., a data science education solutions company. Fireside Analytics develops programs that teach digital and AI literacy, data science, data privacy, and computer programming. Shingai developed Canada’s first inspected data science curriculum for high school students that uses case studies to teach data management, data analysis and computer programming skills. Data science courses by Fireside Analytics have over 500,000 registered learners on platforms like IBM’s CognitiveClass.ai and Coursera.

Shingai’s book, "The Computer and the Cancelled Music Lessons" teaches data science to kids from ages 5 to 12. She holds a Master's degree in Business Analytics from New York University's Stern School of Business. Shingai is the 2020 recipient of the Public Policy Forum, "Emerging Leader" award.

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Hilda Snowball is the Chairperson of the Kativik Regional Government (KRG), the administrative body that governs the Nunavik region – the Quebec territory north of the 55th parallel.

She grew up in the Nunavik’s eastern most community of Kangiqsualujjuaq, and studied “Educators in Native and Inuit Childcare Services” at CEGEP de St-Felicien. In addition to her degree, she completed a fellowship, in policy, at The Gordon Foundation.

Hilda is extremely active in her community and across the region, in all phases of planning, organizing, and implementing economic development. With that passion in mind, combined with a strategic vision, Hilda ran for Mayor of Kangiqsualujjuaq in November 2012 and was reelected in 2015. During her 2 terms, she led many capital development, infrastructure, and social programs in her community that continue to have a positive impact on the people and the community.

After her two terms as mayor, Hilda was elected as the Vice-Chairperson of the KRG. She was elected Chairperson in March 2022, and uses her position to advocate for enhanced economic, social, and capital service delivery for the people and the region.

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Bob Stark is a former Deputy Minister and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for ServiceOntario and Ministry of Government Services. He joined the Ontario Public Service (OPS) in June 2006 as CEO of ServiceOntario after a successful career in the private sector.

Bob has retired from the OPS and is currently a Strategy Consultant and an advocate for Persons with Disabilities. He is the Chair of the Board of Directors for BALANCE for Blind Adults; Chair of the Enterprise Risk Assurance Committee for the City of Toronto; and Vice-chair and Board Director of the Mohawk Medbuy Corporation.

In his early career days, Bob pursued work in IT at Imperial Oil, Manulife Financial and Scotiabank. In the second half of his career, he focused on direct services to the public, managing the credit card and electronic banking operations at Scotiabank. While at Scotiabank, Bob launched debit point of sale, telephone banking and internet banking amongst many other service innovations. From there, his career moved to the telecommunications industry as he headed up the centralization and integration of Rogers contact centres, introducing telephone sales, bundled products and single billing statements. He then went on to run an interactive advertising agency.

In 2008, Bob was appointed Deputy Minister of ServiceOntario. As Deputy Minister, he led innovative changes at ServiceOntario through the migration and provision of fast and friendly government services, and through the continuous modernization of the government’s in person, contact centres, online and kiosk service channels. He was dedicated to developing a modern government customer service culture - making it easier for citizens and businesses to access government services across all service channels. Under Bob’s leadership, ServiceOntario won a number of awards for its services and solutions, and has become recognized internationally as a leading, innovative public service provider.

In 2010, Bob won the Heintzman Award in recognition of his significant contribution to the promotion of, and commitment to, citizen-centred service delivery in Canada and internationally.

Bob is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Toronto.

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Ruth Williams, a status Indian from the High Bar Indian Band and a registered member of TL’ETINQOX Government, has significant experience in financial, risk management, program management and human resource management. Over her 40 plus year career, she has been a leader in social and economic development for First Nations peoples in British Columbia.

Currently, Ruth is the Business Advisor and Project Manager of the Pathways to Technology Project with the All Nations Trust Company (ANTCO). ANTCO, a company she helped found and manage in her role as the company's former President and Chief Executive Officer, originated in 1984 to provide financial services to Aboriginal entrepreneurs. The company is Aboriginal owned. Over the years, ANTCO has expanded its business services to meet the financial needs of the Aboriginal community. Through ANTCO, she has overseen the management of agreements with a value of up to $75 million.

The project that Ruth currently oversees, Pathways to Technology, is an initiative to bring affordable and reliable high-speed Internet to all 203 First Nations in British Columbia. This project received a $40.5 million unconditional grant from the Province of British Columbia and Health Canada, plus $28 million in grants from Indigenous Services Canada.

Currently, Ruth sits on a number of Boards. She is the representative for British Columbia on the National Indigenous Economic Development Board (NIEDB), an advisory board that includes First Nations, Inuit, and Métis business and community leaders from all regions of Canada. The NIEDB advises the federal government on ways to help increase the economic participation of Indigenous men and women in the Canadian economy. She also sits on the Kamloops Native Housing Society board as President; First Nations Market Housing Fund as Vice-Chair; and Lower Nicola Band Development Corporation as Vice-Chair.

Ruth has been a member of the First Citizens Fund Advisory Board and the British Columbia First Nations Economic Advisory committee. She was Vice President of the Western Aboriginal Economic Development Board, as well as a member of the National Executive team.

She has been a founding and active member of 8 non-profit organizations that are working to improve the quality of life for Aboriginal persons in the B.C. interior. These organizations include the Round Lake Treatment Centre, the Aboriginal Health Advisory Council, Little Hands of Friendship Day Care Society; Aboriginal Education Advisory Council to School District in Kamloops, B.C., region; Board member on the Thompson River University and the Central Interior Ministry of Child and Family Services Advisory Board.

She has also been a member of dozens of other organizations over the years and has often assumed a leadership role, particularly with respect to her involvement in housing issues. She participated as a member of the Province of British Columbia's committee for the development of the 10-year action plan for Indigenous housing and was part of the Aboriginal Housing Committee of B.C.

Ruth has an Honorary Doctorate of Law from Thompson Rivers University. She was inducted into the Aboriginal Business Hall of Fame in 2011. In 2013, she was presented the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal by former Minister of Citizens' Services and Open Government of the Province of British Columbia, in recognition of her exceptional achievements and distinguished service to her fellow citizens. With the local government, she received the City of Kamloops Distinguished service award in 2012.

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