ASSOCIATES
To apply for ACIC membership as an individual associate, please download, read, and complete the Individual Associate application form and return it to ACIC for consideration by the membership committee by email to membership@acic-caci.org.
Amy Hsiao (PEI)
I have been a dedicated advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion in Engineering, focusing specifically on leadership and the future engineer as a global citizen. I am passionate about facilitating opportunities for those who are under-represented in technical fields, such as Engineering, not only in recruitment but in retention, workplaces and spaces that ensure professional development and equality.
Angela Léger (NB)
Angela Léger is a Regional Field Coordinator for the Joint Learning Program, which is mandated to improve labour relations in the workplace through building awareness of the respective roles of the union and the employer. https://ca.linkedin.com/in/angela-leger-ba243a20
Anne Gillies (NS)
Ms. Anne Gillies (M.A. Education) provided independent evaluation consulting services for monitoring and evaluation of international development programming from 1992 to 2016, specializing in performance assessment of health, education, community/social development and organizational capacity initiatives. She is a Credentialed Evaluator (C.E.) with the Canadian Evaluation Society since 2014. She has participated in and led a wide range of thematic, program and project evaluations using consultative and participatory approaches. Anne has designed and delivered evaluation and results-based management training, as well as provided evaluation coaching, mentoring and capacity building for government partners and community-based organizations both in Canada and overseas. Her field experience includes sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, South Asia, South East Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe/the Balkans. Past international clients include the World Bank Group, Global Affairs Canada (formerly CIDA), the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Population Fund, Ford Foundation, UNAIDS, the Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank and the Commonwealth Secretariat. Anne currently lives full-time in Halifax and has recently completed graduate studies in Gerontology at Mount Saint Vincent University
Arielle Regan (NS)
Arielle Regan is a Business Consultant with IBM, having coordinated many initiatives for them. She is also a mentor for Big Brothers Big Sisters, and has coordinated youth leadership programs with Halifax Recreation. https://ca.linkedin.com/in/arielle-regan
Becca Bishop (NS)
Becca Bishop has been a community development practitioner for over five years with a degree in community development from St. Francis Xavier and formal training from Coady International Insitute. She is an advocate for cross-sector collaboration, transparency, and accountability and takes an asset-based approach to engaging young people as global citizens. Through her work as a Community Developer for HRM, Becca has supported community and public sector organizations to enhance their facilitation, capacity building, and public engagement efforts. Alongside the local community development work she leads, Becca is a consultant for international development projects. Currently, she is leading the youth public engagement activities for CARE Canada’s Sexual andReproductive Health and Rights project, SHE SOARS.
Bobbi Zahra (NS)
I am a public servant who works with Fisheries & Oceans Canada, where she teaches and trains in IT/IM. Outside that role, I have always been active in my community and am presently the President of the Board of Halifax Theatre For Young People, an independent theatre company that commissions and produces work of enduring value for young people and their families. I am a Holocaust scholar, with a great interest in post-Holocaust theology. Although I have a Twitter account, I'm somewhat sporadic in its use, but you will find me by my Twitter handle - @sleehah
Caleigh Wong (NS)
Catherine Ronahan (PEI)
Darlene Doiron (NB)
An educator, a chartered mediator, a sustainable world peace activist, Darlene Doiron specialises in interpersonal workplace and community based conflict. She is best known for her longstanding peace work and dedication to creating a more positive and harmonious province of New Brunswick.
Darlene O'Leary (NS)
Darlene is the Coordinator of Martha Justice Ministry, Sisters of St. Martha, Antigonish and has previously worked as a socio-economic policy analyst for Citizens for Public Justice in Ottawa, ON. She has a Ph.D. in Theology and Ethics and has been a sessional lecturer at two universities. She is also a long-time member of Development and Peace and has been a member of the National Council (or board). Darlene is currently involved in the Antigonish Poverty Reduction Coalition, the Coady Chair for Social Justice Committee, and a number of ecological and social justice networks.
Della Webster (NB)
Retired school administrator who worked in Choibalsan, Mongolia in 2010 for Cuso International. Is a great granny!
Emily Williams (NS)
Emily Williams completed a BA in Human Rights and Criminology at St. Thomas University and will begin her LLM in International Human Rights Law at the National University of Ireland, Galway in September 2021. She is interested in the domestic implementation of international human rights law and how the rights protected in the international human rights regime can be used to improve domestic public policy development. Outside of work and research, Emily is passionate about tea, travel, politics, spending time with family and friends, reading, yoga, dancing and power walking. Find Emily here, LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-williams-she-her-047215155/
F. Elaine MacEachern (NS)
Global Credit Infrastructure Specialist for World Bank Group's Financial Institutions Group ( FIG) Global Practice, currently based in HQ- Washington DC. I work with WBG clients and colleagues in Asia, Africa and Caribbean regions extensively and contribute regularly to the ongoing Financial Inclusion development agenda of ASEAN and APEC Financial Infrastructure working groups, as well as the G20 Joint Action Plan on SME Finance. With over twenty-five years of public and private sector experience in financial sector reforms targeting access to finance issues faced by SMEs and women entrepreneurs. Innovation and cross-collaboration are key to moving the development agenda forward.
Farzana Sohel (NB)
Farzana is currently working full time as a Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) at Fredericton, New Brunswick. Initially, Farzana had started this job as a volunteer. Farzana is also an enlisted cultural broker for Multi-Cultural Association of Fredericton, Fredericton. Farzana would like to volunteer in the field of Autism Intervention Service for changing the lives of autistic children in Bangladesh.
Haruka Aoyama (NS)
As a member of Youth Advisory Council, Haruka is looking forward to exchanging ideas with other youth from different regions of Atlantic Canada. As a group, she wants to develop and empower each other to be a better advocate of social justice and sustainable issues. She was born and raised in Japan for 18 years. She came to Nova Scotia in 2016 and graduated from Dalhousie University's political science and environment, sustainability and society programs. I love hiking, cooking, eating, traveling, and saying hello to dogs walking on the street!
Jahan Beauty Akter (NB)
Jahan works full time as a customer service agent, in addition to working part-time as a volunteer for the Immigrant Women Association. For the past nine years, she has worked as volunteer in different fields. Jahan came to Canada in 2008, and joined multicultural associations to mingle with folks from other cultures. She is also currently enrolled in a diploma course in the New Brunswick Community College.
Jason Kontak (NS)
Turning direction into action starts and ends with creating the conditions for success. Jason has experience with each level of government giving senior leadership the best possible information, ideas and solutions, and implementing their direction in a sustainable, realistic and understood manner. He has served the Premier of Nova Scotia, the Minister of Finance and Deputy Premier of Nova Scotia, and the Chief of Staff of Laurentian University.
Currently, he coordinates senior officials from across Atlantic Canada, Québec and New England to achieve the clean growth, trade and healthcare goals of premiers and governors. When he is not working, you can find him hiking, golfing, skiing and cheering from the stands; learning about different cultures and trying their food; and exchanging stories all around the world. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-kontak-13bbb31b1/
Jean McCardle (PEI)
Jennifer DeCosta (NS)
Jennifer is creating change by engaging deeply in grassroots community development. In 2018 Jennifer founded a network of barter-based folk schools in Nova Scotia called Life.School.House. This platform creates stronger neighbourhoods and reduces social isolation by offering nourishing spaces where neighbours can learn, connect, and thrive. As the first Fellow appointed by Ashoka in Atlantic Canada, Jennifer and her team are now sharing their expertise globally, supporting others to create their own community-led folk schools, scaling their impact horizontally. Jennifer and her husband are raising their sons in this barter-based community and source great joy from introducing them to a sense of true prosperity in Atlantic Canada.
Jennifer Elms (NL)
Jennifer Yolanda Elms is an international gender and education specialist with more than a decade of leadership experience across private, public, and social sectors throughout East Africa, South East Asia, Australasia, Europe, and North America. She is a consultant, coach, and public speaker with a zest for disruptive innovation, systemic transformation, and gender-transformative change. Her talent is empowering individuals, communities, and institutions to create and integrate creative solutions that amplify and sustain scalable impact. Jennifer’s passion is creating lasting and mutually transformative connections to facilitate learning and impact across the sector. She is relentlessly committed to her ultimate vision: to build a more just and equitable world. Jennifer has worked alongside a number of non-profit organizations in the Global South, including the Akola Project, STIR Education, Aga Khan Foundation, Reuters, and Violence Prevention West. She also served as the Gender and Civil Society Strengthening Specialist for Strengthening Education Systems in East Africa (SESEA), a 100-million-dollar project jointly funded by Global Affairs Canada and AKFC. Through her experience, Jennifer has honed unique skills in strategic leadership; results-based project management; feminist Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL); donor and stakeholder relations; organizational development; and creating systemic impact at scale.
In 2014, Jennifer was selected as one of 20 Aga Khan Foundation Canada’s International Fellows and, in 2016, she also published a book about her travels. She earned a Master of Human Rights and Democratization from the University of Sydney (Australia). She also holds a Bachelor of Arts (Joint Majors in Psychology and English Literature) from the Memorial University of Newfoundland.
When not working, Jennifer enjoys long walks and can be found playing basketball, drinking tea, writing, or telling cheesy jokes. www.elmsconsultingco.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jyelms/
Jennifer K. Fox (PEI)
Jennifer King (NS)
Jennifer is a sustainable development professional with technical and programmatic expertise in market systems and private sector development, women’s economic empowerment, marketing and communications, and gender lens private equity investment in various regions including South Asia, Nicaragua, Africa, and Canada. Jennifer currently leads MEDA's Market Systems technical portfolio.
Jesse Lalonde (NS)
John Dale (NB)
John is completing a BA in International Relations at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick along with minors in Political Science, French Studies and Music. He has a research interest in the cross-cultural knowledge mobilization of rural and urban development strategies. https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-c-dale/
Jonathan Ferguson (NB)
From Kjipuktuk/Halifax NS, Jonathan Ferguson recently graduated from Mount Allison University with a degree in International Relations and a Minor in Environmental Studies. His passion for environmental advocacy led him to attend international fora such as the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development and the Arctic Circle Assembly, as well as becoming the recipient of the ECHO Foundation Internship in 2019. He later served as President of the Mount Allison Students’ Union during the first year of the COVID-19 Pandemic when Mount Allison became one of a small number of universities in Canada to re-open to a majority of in-person classes early in the pandemic, in the autumn of 2020.
After five years in New Brunswick, Jonathan moved to Ottawa for a year, where he is currently completing the Parliamentary Internship Programme, with plans to return to Halifax in the near future.
Joy Hecht (NL)
Joshua MacFadyen (PEI)
Josh is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Geospatial Humanities at the University of Prince Edward Island. His research focuses on food and energy transitions in Canada, and he teaches in the university's program in Applied Communication, Leadership, and Culture. His most recent book Flax Americana: A History of the Fibre and Oil that Covered a Continent was a finalist for the Governor General's History Award. He also co-edited a book in 2016 called Time and a Place: An Environmental History of Prince Edward Island.
Keith Forsyth (NS)
Keith Forsyth was a public Chartered Accountant for many years in Nova Scotia. Since then he has become a nomad traveling the world. He has spent over five years as an international volunteer in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Carribbean as well as spending over three years in the Canadian North.
Kevin Deveaux (NS)
Kevin Deveaux is a Canadian lawyer who was elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly in 1998 for the constituency of Cole Harbour-Eastern Passage. He was re-elected in 1999, 2003 and 2006. During his time as an MP, he was the Deputy Speaker for the House from 1999-2003 and the Official Opposition House Leader from 2003-2007.
In March, 2007, Kevin resigned his seat in the House of Assembly to work full time as a Senior Parliamentary Technical Adviser with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Hanoi, Vietnam. In August, 2008, he was appointed to the post of global Parliamentary Development Policy Adviser in New York with UNDP’s Democratic Governance Group, where he was in charge of the Global Programme for Parliamentary Support (GPPS) and provided guidance to more than 60 UNDP Country Offices working with national parliaments and political parties.
In August 2012 he completed his work with UNDP and returned to Canada to practice law and to provide consulting services to parliaments. He has worked with the World Bank, the EU, DFID, FCO, UN Women, International IDEA and UNDP in the past years.
Kevin O’Shea (NL)
Kevin O'Shea is the Executive Director of the Public Legal Information Association of NL (PLIAN). Currently living in St. John's, NL, Kevin was called to the bar as a member of the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador in 2011.
Leo Cheverie (PEI)
Leo Cheverie is a longtime social justice, environment, labour and global justice activist from PEI. He is committed to working with others to work on economic equality and human rights as well as strengthening community. He is a past WUSC Alumni Award winner and CUPE PEI created "The Leo Cheverie Activist Award" in recognition of his contributions to CUPE and labour movement. Currently active with WUSC and Breaking The Silence Guatemala Maritimes Solidarity Network as well as serving on some ACIC Committees as well as involvement with Fight for Affordable Housing and Trade Justice PEI closer to home. The climate crisis and work towards a more equitable world keeps him active as well as being rejuvenated by the vibrant music and cultural scene in the Maritimes. Leo works as a library technician at Robertson Library, UPEI and is proud to be from PEI's Easternmost tip, East Point.
Lila Berryman (NS)
Lindsey Edney (NB)
Originally from Bathurst, NB, Lindsey moved to Fredericton in 2007 to pursue university studies at St. Thomas University. While there, Lindsey was able to travel to various Latin American countries as a volunteer. She fell in love with the idea of community, solidarity and acceptance. After years of traveling, Lindsey started to work for the provincial government in the department of Intergovernmental Affairs. Now, Lindsey has returned to her hometown to serve the vulnerable population in her position with the department of Social Development.
Louise Webb (NL)
Mary Rigby (NS)
Monica Boquin (NS)
My name is Monica my pronouns are she/her. I am a fourth-year international student from Honduras at St.Thomas University Honouring in Human Rights and doing a major in Criminology. I am passionate about volunteer work and lending a hand to the community. During my free time, you can catch me reading or working on my small jewelry business
Pete Day (NS)
Dalhousie graduate with a BA in International Development studies.
Prem Marisa (NS)
Prem Kumar Marisa is an active development practitioner and scholar-practitioner who worked as Executive Secretary in one of the NGOs in Andhra Pradesh State of India for more than 35 years. Under his leadership, he concentrated to construct the democratic power relations of 18,000 resource poor families through their self-help community groups and encouraged them to involve in different socio-economic development programmes while using adult education as a tool. Very recently, he successfully completed his Research Master of Arts degree programme at Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax and before that he graduated in Master of Arts – Sociology from India. He has also completed a Masters of Education from St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, a Diploma on Development Leadership, three Certificate courses from Coady International Institute, and 12 different Certificate courses from various parts of the world such as Australia, London, Switzerland. As an NGO leader, he supported a number of young NGOs in India through networking and collaboration. He received wider experience working with the grassroots community and linking the national and international resource agencies such as Canadian International Development Agency through Canadian NGOs, World Bank, UNICEF, etc., Right now he is concentrating on analyzing the intersectional and eco-sectional issues relating to the women through critical feminist theory.
Rosie Li (PEI)
We all have dreams, we all have hope, but this is not enough, we must act, we must have the courage to act. I am Rosie. I am confident I have strong logical thinking ability and analytical abilities. I believe my story still has a long way to go.
Sandra Juarez Reyes (NB)
Sandra Juarez, was born in Mexico City and moved to Canada when she was 15 years old. She lived in Edmonton for 8 years and studied International Business at the U of A. Now, she lives in the Greater Moncton area, and is about to finish my Master's in Global Affairs program, and I am really enjoying the beauty of Atlantic Canada. Her favourite hobbies are travelling, learning new languages and going to the movies.
Sarah Weston (NS)
Sarah Weston, BSc, MREM - Sarah has over 15 years of experience in natural resource management, social equity, public education and engagement in Nova Scotia and internationally. She has a demonstrated passion and expertise for working with mixed-stakeholder groups through facilitation, community engagement, and capacity-building, and has managed projects for organizations such as the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the World Bank. Her post-secondary education includes international development theory and practice, political ecology in a development context, political science, and social justice in connection with natural resource equity.
Saurabh Dinesh Kulkarni (NS)
Saurabh is a passionate higher education and social media marketing professional with a strong academic backing of a BA (Honours) in Political Science with Minor in International Relations and Sociology from Mount Allison University. His efforts focus on making Atlantic Canada a post-secondary education magnet which attracts the best talents from around the world. He has had extensive experience in team leadership, comprehensive research, human resource management and administration. He has previously interned at an esteemed accounting firm, worked towards publishing a new multilingual magazine at the university and is a campus ambassador for his alma mater. He enjoys debating, trivia, political research, volunteering, poetry writing and learning new languages. www.linkedin.com/in/sawkulkarni
Shelagh Savage (NS)
Currently a lecturer with the International Development Studies department at Dalhousie University, Shelagh Savage teaches a course on Development in Practice. Prior to that she was Associate Director of Partnerships at the Coady Institute (2009 - 20019) where she focused on how important collaboration is in ensuring social change. Working for many years in international cooperation, she has been privileged to learn with – and from – amazing mentors in communities, institutions and organizations around the world. Shelagh currently serves on a number of boards and advisory committees (including ACIC and Royal Roads University) and worked for many years n the CIDA/DFATD/GAC environment – including co-chairing the first year of the GAC CSO Policy Advisory Group (CPAG).
Suraj Baral (NS)
Suraj Baral is a passionate development practitioner with an expertise in energy, livelihood and climate change adaptation. Having worked for rural communities in Nepal for several years, he is a dedicated change agent aiming to contribute in achieving Sustainable Development Goals across the globe by implementing local based integrated approach and solutions identified through community involvement from the start, and partnership and collaboration of broader stakeholders at all levels. https://holisticthinkingsite.wordpress.com
Susan Hartley (PEI)
Teresa Lush (NS)
I consider myself a global citizen and have been fortunate enough to have traveled the world. I believe that we are all interconnected and that support for one another, no matter the geography, is imperative for us to move forward as a species. I am involved, and would like to be more involved, in furthering international development.
I have volunteered in Guatemala for the past seven years...on my own. This has primarily been with Casa Guatemala, a jungle-based orphanage and school on the Rio Dulce. I have also become involved with Ahicam, a home for adolescents and babies in Poptun. More recently, a startup school in Punta Brava, Guatemala.
Umme Mim Mohsin (NS)
As a proactive development practitioner, gender and humanitarian champion, Mim hopes to bridge local humanitarian work with global initiatives, “Think global, act local” being her motto. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts Degree in World Religions and Culture from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
As a Program Associate at CARE Bangladesh, Mim supported the Humanitarian and Resilience program to formulate project proposals for institutional and independent donors, prepare internal and donor reports, communication materials, oversee emergency responses, and manage network/cluster stakeholders. As an internationally certified gender analyst, she was part of several disaster related Rapid Gender Analyses. She has also volunteered in international (Oxfam in Bangladesh) and national development organizations (Leaping Boundaries, BD clean, etc.) supporting humanitarian aid programs, education for girls, and environmental awareness in rural areas of Bangladesh. Her current research interests include gender and development, gendered post-disaster impact, climate change adaptation and resilience, disaster and development.
Valeri Pilgrim (NL)
Valeri Pilgrim is the Manager, Aboriginal Resource Offive at the Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) in St. John’s. She has been associated with the Aboriginal Resource Office of MUN since January 2011. She was first hired by Memorial University as the Aboriginal Liaison Officer with the Aboriginal Resource Office for three and a half years. In June, 2014 she took the position of International Student Advisor with the Internationalization Office (IO) where she remained until November, 2018. When the opportunity came up Valeri returned to the Aboriginal Resource Office as Manager in November, 2018. She considers her experiences working with Indigenous and international students extremely valuable, and has always felt enlightened and humbled by students from a variety of cultural backgrounds.
In the 1990’s Valeri studied her undergraduate degree in anthropology & sociology at UNB, Fredericton and later completed a Master of Philosophy degree at the University of Oslo in Norway where she lived for two and a half years with her then 7 year old daughter, Kirsten. She self identifies as a Kablunângajuk which is essentially a mix between Inuk (singular for Inuit) and European settler in Labrador. She feels blessed to have grown up in the Inuit community of Nain in Nunatsiavut (Northern Labrador) and is a beneficiary of the Nunatsiavut Government. Last but not least, Valeri is the proud mother of 2 children, Dominic 12 & Kirsten, 24.
Ying Hui Lee (PEI)
Ying Zhang (NL)
Ying is a licensed Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC) with over 22 years of work experience in a variety of educational and business environments, including career counseling and immigration advising for international students, alumni and their spouses; teaching at post-secondary levels; and managing and developing international programs for a prestigious Canadian University.