Board of Directors
Alan Booth
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Alan Booth is an Associate Partner in Deloitte Canada with responsibility for learning and leadership development activity in Canada and the Americas. Alan is one of four partners guiding use of the Deloitte University brand and programming across Deloitte globally. At Deloitte, Alan was instrumental in introducing Progress Place and setting up Deloitte as an active transitional employment programme sponsor.
Alan brings over 30 years’ experience in Talent Management to the board, having begun his career in Labour and Employment Law roles in the Bank of Nova and progressing through various HR roles to the Director level. He joined Arthur Andersen in 1999 and led the HR dimensions of Andersen Canada’s integration into Deloitte in 2002. Alan was admitted as an Associate Partner in Deloitte in 2006. He holds a B.A. in English from the University of Toronto and an M.B.A. from the Schulich School of Business, York University. |
Bryan Meerai
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Bryan Meerai has been a member of the Clubhouse for about a year having participated in Clerical and most recently the Café Unit where he loves to cook and bake. He is a member of the Young Adults Program and presented at the Clubhouse Canada Conference in Cape Breton in May 2018. He presented a plenary on Health and Wellness and did workshop on Young Adults. Byran is a tour guide and has been involved in the the Progress Place podcast, RTNT with a new interest in the inLive Broadcast.
Bryan is currently in his second year of college, registered in the Social Service Worker program at George Brown. He is looking forward to participatingh on the Progress Place Board of Directors where he hopes to deepen his knowledge of the organization. |
Carrie Shaw
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Carrie Shaw is the current Chair of the Board of Directors of Progress Place. Carrie joined the board of Progress Place in 2011 and has been an enthusiastic supporter of Progress Place ever since.
Carrie brings marketing and product development skills to the table, with twenty years of experience. Carrie's resume includes positions at Microsoft, Rogers, and several high tech startups in Toronto. She is currently the Vice President of Marketing at Quandl, a Toronto startup that aims to democratize data distribution and delivery. Carrie lives in the city with her husband, daughter, and golden retriever. |
Criss Habal-Brosek
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Criss Habal-Brosek is the Executive Director of Progress Place, a community based non-profit mental health and addiction recovery centre based on the Clubhouse model and psychosocial rehabilitation principles.
Criss has acted as a leader and service provider in the field of mental health and addiction with years of experience and knowledge working in administration, change management, program and community development and evaluation. As a faculty member of Clubhouse International, formerly the International Center for Clubhouse Development, since 1995 to present, Criss has conducted Accreditation consultations across Canada, U.S.A. and Europe. She has worked with mental health stakeholders across Canada to develop Clubhouse Canada, a Coalition of Clubhouses across the country and worked with cross-sectoral stakeholders to develop a Senior Mental Health Day Program in St. James Town, the densest area in North America and a Health Access Hub in the Weston Mount Dennis community, which is designated a high priority neighbourhood in Toronto. |
Dave Hillar
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Dave Hillar is the Marketing Director at Tucows, a publicly-traded Canadian technology company with operations around the globe. He brings a depth of business knowledge and experience with him, having worked in marketing for over 16 years with companies including Visa, McDonald’s, Rogers and Interac. In addition, he has acted as member of the Board of Directors with East York Meals on Wheels.
Born and raised in Toronto, David completed a Bachelor of Commerce at U of T’s Rotman School of Management and currently lives in the Danforth community with his wife and young daughter. He joined Progress Place's Board of Directors in 2019. |
David Mills
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David Mills joined the Progress Place Board of Directors in 2018.
David is proud to represent the fourth generation of Mills to practice at the firm Mills & Mills LLP since its founding in 1884. He is a great-grandson of Alexander Mills, K.C., one of the founders of the firm, grandson of Ralph S. Mills, Q.C., and a son of J. Paul Mills, Q.C. David served his articles with Mills & Mills LLP, joined the firm following his call to the Bar and became a Partner in 2006. David's practice is focused on estate and business law. |
David Whyte
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David Whyte has enjoyed a 30+ year career at CIBC, 12 of these as an executive; leading teams and delivering strategic solutions in the Financial Services industry to improve customer and employee experience. He is passionate about the opportunity to help talented future leaders with their career paths. Dave has a strong foundation in technology and financial services and uses this knowledge to empower his teams to deliver results.
David joined the Progress Place board of Directors in 2019. Outside of his career, Dave enjoys golf, hockey, fly fishing, snowboarding and most importantly sharing time with family and friends. |
Debra Wolfe
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Debra Wolfe is a former lawyer, having practiced employment law at a large Bay Street firm, and then became a Human Resources professional. In her later role, she dealt with a wide variety of topics including policy, performance management, people change management, employee investigations, human rights issues as well as terminations. For the last decade Debra has been raising her three children and volunteering in various capacities, including fundraising for Out of The Cold, and with United Jewish Appeal.
Debra is the daughter of Progress Place’s former Executive Director and grew up watching the Clubhouse Model and seeing first hand the positive impact that Progress Place makes in the lives of its Members. |
Howard Huang
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Howard Huang is a reputable leader in Progress Place’s community having joined its membership in 2011. In a few short years, Howard’s natural inquisitiveness and his interest of the Clubhouse philosophy had led him to actively participate in the accreditation process of Progress Place in 2013. That year Progress Place received the maximum accreditation status. Later that year he attended the 17th International Clubhouse Seminar in St. Louis and presented on Young Adults.
Howard continues his involvement by being part of the Young Adult and Technology Committees and is an active member. Leading into his involvement and advocacy of mental health awareness, Howard volunteered at Talk To Youth Lately, a mental health social circus program. As an audio technician as well as a performer, Howard supported the program in reaching out to at-risk youth by way of comedy and circus acts, informing them about mental health, anti-stigma and recovery. Due to his commitment, dedication and keen interest in Progress Place, Howard was nominated to the Progress Place Board of Directors in 2015 and currently serves on the Resource and Development Committee. In his leisure time, Howard enjoys reading novels and immersing himself in the fine arts. |
Judith Winter
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Judith Winter has been a member of Progress Place for about five years. She has participated on all three units and is currently on the Cafe Unit, where she enjoys preparing meals for the clubhouse and getting involved in Health and Wellness program. She has been a tour guide for the past three years and has given approximately a hundred tours.
She is a member of the Excellence in Quality Improvement Team, and presented at the Clubhouse Canada Conference in Cape Breton in May 2018 on the meaning of the Work-Ordered Day. She is currently working at Sagrario Pilates Studio, where she is responsible for cleaning the studio, answering the phone, accepting payments and taking care of clients. Judith is looking forward to participating on the Board of Directors where she hopes to deepen her knowledge of the organization and take part in steering the Clubhouse forward. |
Justin Scaini
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Justin Scaini is the Associate Director of Capitalize for Kids; a Toronto based not for profit helping to solve the toughest challenges in children’s brain and mental health. Prior to his role with Capitalize for Kids, he was a Management Consultant at Accenture within the Financial Services practice. His work spanned across multiple functions such as product and innovation strategy, org structure design, and business case development.
In 2013, Justin founded the Jack Summit, Canada's student led mental health innovation summit. Through this initiative, Justin has spoken on a national and international scale to inspire young people to be agents of change in the field of youth mental health, and educate doctors, policy makers and researchers on the importance of collaborating with youth leaders in this space. Justin received a Bachelor of Science Honours degree from Queen's University with a major in Life Sciences and minor in Economics. Outside of work, Justin loves photography and enjoys spending his free time travelling, and playing soccer and golf. |
Sam Berton
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Sam Berton is Senior Labour Relations Consultant at the Ontario Public Service. He is responsible for all Employee Relations and Labour Relations functions for the Ontario Clean Water Agency. His areas of responsibility include Employee Relations Committees and resolving employment relationship disputes.
Sam’s 20 years in Human Resources includes experience in all aspects of Human Resources in private and public sectors, as well as higher education and municipality. Sam has a Bachelor degree in Commerce and an Advanced Diploma in Human Resources Development, and holds the Certified Human Resources Leader designation. Sam is delighted to be involved in the recovery oriented mental health practice of Progress Place in providing opportunities for members to live a meaningful, satisfying and purposeful life. |
Sheena Melwani
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Sheena Melwani is a product manager at the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation at University Health Network. She specializes in determining how to meet the needs of people living with chronic illness through technical solutions. She has been involved with a number of non-for-profit organizations including AIESEC International and The Tony Blair Faith Foundation.
Sheena holds a Masters in Health Informatics from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Arts & Science from McGill University where she studied everything from religion to evolutionary biology to understand the ethics of "being human". She is passionate about improving healthcare through community health and has lived and worked in variety of global health settings including East Africa, South East Asia and Western Europe. She is pleased to be contributing to health in her hometown through her work with Progress Place. |