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Meet the GenNext Cabinet
The GenNext™ Cabinet is a group of volunteers who work with United Way Toronto to engage twenty- and thirty-something Torontonians with the community through giving and volunteering.
The Cabinet helps by planning fundraising events, volunteer activities and opportunities for GenNexters to meet and connect with each other. Cabinet members also provide guidance on how best to encourage young Torontonians to get involved in the community.
Our two GenNext Cabinet Co-Chairs also sit on the United Way Campaign Cabinet and provide guidance for United Way Toronto’s annual fundraising campaign.
You can meet the members of the GenNext Cabinet below. We would also like to invite you to come out to our events to meet them in person!
GenNext Cabinet Members 2012-13
- GenNext Cabinet Co-Chairs
Tim Poon and Danielle Arnold - Community & Agency Engagement Officers
Kejina Robinson, Shatabdi Sarker, and Sydney Blum - Member Agency Representative
Elaine Magil - Leadership Program Officers
Marianne Tai and Farah Qasemi - Ambassador Network Officers
Adam Hagarty and Ashley Lewis - Activities Support Committee
Rebecca Cohen, Larena Dowsett-Cooper and Jennifer Atwell - Members-At-Large
Sarah Stallan, Gary Kalaci, and Aida Shahbazi
Tim Poon, Cabinet Co-Chair
Tim Poon is on the technology planning team at TELUS Communications. In this role, he coordinates TELUS’ national program for new wireless installations.
Tim’s career has led him to opportunities on national and international projects, having worked on activities in Australia, France, and the United Kingdom. Tim has also completed studies at the University of Alberta and the University of Cambridge.
Tim first joined United Way Toronto’s GenNext in 2008, volunteering with the organizing committee for United Way’s Great Neighbourhood Race. He joined the GenNext Cabinet in 2010, focusing on community and agency engagement, and linking our energetic GenNext cohort with the vast array of United Way agencies.
Danielle Arnold, Cabinet Co-Chair
Before joining Toronto’s GenNext Cabinet in 2010, Danielle was involved with several programs at the United Way of Winnipeg, including the Youth Connections Council, Community Investment Committee, and was a founding member of several youth initiatives. Danielle is also currently an Allocation Panel Volunteer with United Way of Toronto.
Danielle is a Director of Planning for Accessories at Sears Canada.
Kejina Robinson, Community & Agency Engagement Officer
Kejina is a Marketing Manager with the Tapscott Group. In this role, she manages all marketing and promotional activities for leading innovation author and speaker, Don Tapscott.
This is Kejina’s second cabinet term and she is excited to continue to work with United Way agencies to create meaningful opportunities that engage the GenNext community.
Kejina holds an Honours Bachelors in Commerce from McMaster University and a Certificate in International Development from the University of British Columbia.
In addition to being a part of the GenNext Cabinet, she also volunteers with several United Way agencies like St. Christopher House and the Working Women’s Center.
Shatabdi Sarker, Community & Agency Engagement Officer
Shatabdi Sarker is part of the Global Wealth Management team at Scotiabank. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from York University and is currently working toward her Chartered Accountant designation.
She has volunteered with various charities including The Toronto Enterprise Fund, Grameen Bank, BRAC and the United Nation. Shatabdi’s involvement with the United Way began in 2008 when she joined Scotiabank. Currently she is a Cabinet member for the Scotiabank GenNext team. This is her first year on the GenNext Cabinet and she is excited to work with the team.
You can read about her volunteer experience with Dubia Design Collective here.
Sydney Blum, Community & Agency Engagement Officer
Sydney manages WoodGreen Community Services’ Homeward Bound Replication Partnership project, a program that works to create opportunities for low-income single mothers to thrive and achieve economic independence. In this role, Sydney is collaborating with the Regional Municipality of Peel and United Way of Peel Region to implement a second Homeward Bound program in Brampton, Ontario.
Sydney’s past work involved managing the design of a national elder abuse prevalence survey and experience in the corporate social responsibility sector. Sydney has a BA in Sociology from the University of Chicago and a MSc in Ecological Economics from the University of Edinburgh.
Elaine Magil, Member Agency Representative
Elaine Magil has nearly eight years of experience in social services and nonprofit management. She recently worked for the Homeward Bound program at WoodGreen Community Services, a United Way member agency. Elaine now serves as Senior Manager of Financial Literacy Programs at WoodGreen, overseeing the agency’s many initiatives that assist low-income people as they interact with formal financial, credit, and debt systems. Previously, Elaine managed an affordable homeownership program at a United Way member agency in Seattle, Washington. She has provided client service in English, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese. Since 2009, Elaine has brought to the GenNext Cabinet her enthusiasm for the United Way, informed by having experienced firsthand its tremendous impact on an agency’s ability to provide a wide range of crucial frontline services
Marianne Tai, Leadership Program Officer
Marianne Tai is a Client Operations Manager in Eagle Investment Systems, a subsidiary company of the Bank of New York Mellon. Having obtained a Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Toronto, she is also fluent in Malay and three dialects of Chinese.
Her involvement with United Way began with being a super volunteer during CIBC Mellon’s annual United Way fundraising campaign, followed by being a Sponsored Employee with United Way Toronto in 2009, during which time she presented well over 50 speeches. Since then she has become a Leadership Level Donor, a GenNext Leadership Speaker for United Way Toronto, and a volunteer with Pathways to Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Toronto.
Farah Qasemi, Leadership Program Officer
Farah currently works as a Client Services Manager at PwC Canada, focusing on a couple of global priority accounts. Her professional background is primarily in sales and marketing strategy, and the industries she knows well are financial services, non-profit and oil and gas. She is a McGill University alum.
Farah is new to the GenNext Cabinet, but in no way new to United Way; she hails from Montreal, Quebec, where she was involved in multiple Centraide initiatives. Farah became a Leadership donor directly as a result of attending the GenNext One + 1 event last year. This year, she hopes to bring a “fresh pair of eyes” to the Cabinet as a Co-Chair for the Leadership Programme, and is a firm supporter of staying involved in the community-building process beyond the giving stage. Farah speaks three languages, has lived in Europe, Middle East and North America, and loves endurance sports.
Adam Hagarty, Ambassador Network Officer
Adam is a Director within Canadian Banking Operations at RBC, where he runs a services centre supporting both business and personal banking groups with major premises strategy, technology and workplace innovation, and policy and procedure-writing needs. He holds an Masters, Business Administration from the Schulich School of Business, a Professional Engineering License and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification, as well as management experience from General Electric and General Motors.
Prior to joining Toronto’s GenNext Cabinet in 2011, Adam was also one of the originators of GenNext at RBC, which launched in June of 2010, and was a Co-Chair of the RBC GenNext Cabinet in 2011.
Ashley Lewis, Ambassador Network Officer
Ashley is a marketing manager at KPMG International, part of the Global Energy, Natural Resources & Chemicals practice. In this role she manages the execution of a quarterly Chemicals industry magazine, internal communications to a network of over 140 countries and works with a diverse set of stakeholders worldwide. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Wilfrid Laurier University and a Master of Arts from the University of Westminster in London, England, and speaks French and Spanish.
This is Ashley’s second year on the GenNext Cabinet. In 2011, she served as Rouge Liaison, leading an appointed committee of eight volunteers to plan and implement the 9th annual signature GenNext event. Rouge was a great success and raised over 1200 volunteer hours, almost $50,000, and attracted over 500 attendees.
Ashley is also currently a board director at Springtide Resources, a United Way member agency whose mandate is to end violence against women, and one of the founding directors of the GenNext Ambassador cabinet at her workplace.
Rebecca Cohen, Activities Support Officer (Rouge)
Rebecca Marissa Cohen works as an account coordinator on the corporate and financial team at Environics Communications. In this role, she works on monitoring, tracking and executing media campaigns.
Rebecca holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science and psychology from the University of Western Ontario and a Certificate in public relations from Ryerson University.
Rebecca’s involvement with the United Way began in 2010, when she began volunteering with the UWT Speaker’s Bureau. This is Rebecca’s second year on the GenNext cabinet, and she is excited to enter a new role as part of the Activities Support Committee. Outside of United Way, Rebecca also volunteers with Big Brothers Big Sisters, both as a Young Leader and a big sister.
Larena Dowsett-Cooper, Activities Support Officer
Larena works in the administration department at Bellwood Health Services, which is a private addiction treatment hospital. She is responsible for coordinating executive projects, and has recently taken on the role of Accreditation coordinator.
Larena has completed her Honours BA in Psychology and Sociology at Queen's University, and is currently taking courses in Non-Profit management at Ryerson University.
Larena has been an active volunteer with United Way for the last two years, and is now excited to be an official member of the Activities Support Committee on the cabinet.
Jennifer Atwell, Activities Support Officer
Jennifer Atwell is a Program Coordinator with Junior Achievement of Central Ontario. Prior to her role with Junior Achievement, Jennifer was the Program Coordinator for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Toronto’s Big Bunch group mentoring program.
A CIBC Youthvision Scholarship recipient, Jennifer completed her Honors Bachelor of Arts in Specialization in Psychology at the University of Western Ontario.
A former ‘Little Sister’ herself who is still close to her ‘Big’ of 13 years, Jennifer believes in the great potential that mentorship holds. Jennifer shares this value with the community as a speaker on United Way’s Speakers Bureau. Jennifer anticipates a great, engaging first year on the 2012 GenNext Cabinet as an Activity Support Officer — and to training for the Rat Race in June.
Sarah Stallan, Member-At-Large
Sarah Stallan is a Project Coordinator at Chubb Insurance Company of Canada. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Bishop’s University and is currently working toward her Project Management Professional (PMP) designation.
Sarah’s involvement with the United Way began in 2006, when she first joined the Rouge planning committee. She continued working on Rouge for three years, culminating as the event’s Co-Chair in 2009. As a veteran, in her fourth year on Cabinet Sarah is excited to work in a new capacity as a Member at Large.
Gary Kalaci, Member-At-Large
Gary Kalaci is the CEO and founder of Alexa Translations, a translations company that provides services in over 100 languages. Gary is also a lawyer, as well as a sessional professor of the MBA course, Dynamics of Business Negotiations.
He graduated from the University of Windsor with a combined Law and Masters, Business Administration degree after having previously completed a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry.
Gary is highly involved in the community and has previously sat on the Board of Directors of United Way Windsor and was the Chair of the GenNext Committee of United Way Windsor. He was also the Vice President of the Board of Directors of the AIDS Committee of Windsor, a past board member of University of Windsor Board of Governors and is currently the President of the Golden Future South Africa Project Board of Advisors. In 2009, Gary became the first-ever recipient of the Thérèse Casgrain Volunteer Award in the youth category presented by the federal government for outstanding contributions to his community.
Aida Shahbazi, Member-At-Large
Aida Shahbazi is a lawyer at McCarthy Tétrault LLP, with a general corporate and securities practice that includes corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions and structured finance. She represents public and private companies, financial institutions and investment funds.
In addition to sitting on the GenNext Cabinet, Aida is a GenNext Ambassador, a Leadership Donor, and Associate Co-Chair of the annual McCarthy Tétrault United Way Campaign, where she increased the participation rate of her peers by 30% over a two-year period through the use of creative fundraising campaigns. Aida is excited to work as part of the GenNext Cabinet, with a particular focus on engaging young lawyers to become lifetime donors and supporters by promoting opportunities for them to give, volunteer and network.
Aida obtained a law degree at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, and a bachelor of commerce from the Odette School of Business, University of Windsor. She also studied international business and economics at the Institut de Formation Internationale in France.
