Board of Governors
2012-2013
Effective September 1, 2012
David Agnew, BA
David Agnew became President of Seneca College in 2009, bringing senior leadership experience in the public, private and non-profit sectors. During his public service career, President Agnew served as Secretary to the Cabinet and was Principal Secretary to the Premier. In 1995, he led the Public-Private Partnerships Project and was seconded to the University of Toronto where he was a Senior Resident at Massey College. Prior to joining Seneca, President Agnew was the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investment and President and CEO of UNICEF Canada. He is Chair of the Board of Directors of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, member of the federal government’s Science, Technology and Innovation Council, Vice Chair of Colleges Ontario and Chair of the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technolgoy Coordinating Committee. Mr. Agnew serves on numerous boards and committees including the CivicAction Steering Committee, the ontarionewswatch Advisory Board and the Canadian Ditchley Foundation Advisory Board. He was recently a member of the campaign cabinet of the United Way of Toronto. President Agnew holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Fariba Anderson, BSc, MBA, CMC, CGEIT
Fariba Anderson is the Chief Information Officer for the Municipality Assessment Corporation (MPAC). She has held senior positions with Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, Allstream, Bell, Compuware, Rogers and Imperial Oil. Profit Magazine has recognized Ms. Anderson as one of Canada’s Top 100 Women Entrepreneurs. She serves on the National Board of Directors for Canadian Women in Communications and is an advisory board member to the YMCA Leadership Council for Innovation in Education and the Rotman School of Management Vision Board. Ms. Anderson holds an MBA from the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management and a computer science degree from York University. Ms. Anderson joined the Board of Seneca College on September 1, 2011.
Thomas Carrique, MA, CMMIII
Thomas Carrique is the Deputy Chief of York Regional Police. He is currently responsible for Administration Branch. He has previously served as the Officer-in-Charge of Staff Services, the Organized Crime Bureau and the Traffic Bureau. A 22-year veteran of York Regional Police, Deputy Chief Carrique’s diverse policing career includes assignments in uniform patrol, criminal investigations, investigative services, traffic, marine, public order and the Ministry of Community Safety and Corrections’ Criminal Intelligence Service Ontario. He is a graduate of the United States Department of Justice Drug Unit Commander’s Academy and the International Commander’s Program in the UK, and he has a certificate in terrorism studies from the University of St. Andrews and a master’s degree in leadership and training from Royal Roads University. Deputy Chief Carrique joined the Board of Seneca College on September 1, 2010.
Henry Decock, BA, MA, PhD
Dr. Henry Decock is the Associate Vice President, Academic Partnerships at Seneca College. Dr. Decock has worked at Seneca for 25 years. Prior to his current role, he served as Director, Institutional Research and Planning/Strategic Planning from 2001 to 2006. He started at the College in 1987 as a contract faculty member in the School of Liberal Studies. Soon after, he was hired as a full-time professor, and in 1994 he was appointed Chair of the department, a position he held for eight years. Dr. Decock continues to be an active member of numerous internal and external college committees. He holds a PhD in higher education and a master’s degree in sociology. Dr. Decock joined the Board of Seneca College on September 1, 2009 as the Administrative Representative.
Donna Duncan, BA (Hon), MA
Donna Duncan is President and CEO of The Hincks-Dellcrest Centre, a large children’s mental health treatment, research and education centre serving the Greater Toronto Area, and a community affiliate of the University of Toronto’s faculties of medicine and social work. Prior to joining Hincks-Dellcrest, Donna spent more than 20 years working with municipal, provincial, federal and international governments and within the broader public sector. Ms. Duncan’s previous experience includes working as a college professor and serving as the Chief of Staff to the Minister of Training, Colleges & Universities and the Government House Leader. She has served on a variety of not-for-profit boards and has been a front-line volunteer in a number of hospitals. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto and a master’s degree from Wilfrid Laurier University. Ms. Duncan joined the Board of Seneca College on September 1, 2011.
Colleen Fleming, BA, MBA, C.Dir
Colleen Fleming is the President of C. Fleming & Associates Ltd. She has held the positions of CEO, Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, President and CEO, Career Edge Organization; President, Laura Secord Inc.; Senior Vice President of Nestle Canada Inc.; and Director, Retail of Canada and US Operations, Tabi International. Ms. Fleming holds a bachelor of arts degree from Carleton University, an MBA from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh Business School, a human resource specialist certification from the University of Toronto and a human resources compensation committee certification and a chartered directors designation from the Directors College. She has served as a Director of the Human Resources Professional Association, Bridgepoint Health Foundation, Van Houtte Inc. and Safe Communities. Ms. Fleming joined the Board of Seneca College on September 1, 2010 and is currently serving as Vice Chair.
Syed Zulfiqar H. Gilani, MA, PhD
Dr. Syed Zulfiqar H. Gilani was a visiting scholar and a senior consultant with the University of Toronto. Throughout his career, Dr. Gilani has held senior academic positions at the post-secondary level serving as Director at the Centre for Higher Education Transformation, Rector Foundation University, and Vice Chancellor at the University of Peshawar in Pakistan. He was part of an international team of researchers on higher education as a Fulbright New Century Scholar. Mr. Gilani holds a PhD. in psychology from Rutgers University. A long-time volunteer, he currently serves on the Board of Directors for South Asian Family Support Services. Dr. Gilani joined the Board of Seneca College on September 1, 2008.
Richard Goyder, MBA, MA
Richard Goyder is Vice President, Personal Lending at Royal Bank of Canada. Before joining Royal Bank, he worked as an executive and consultant for a number of large financial institutions in the UK and Canada. Mr. Goyder holds an MA in philosophy, politics and economics from the University of Oxford and an MBA from INSEAD. At the community level, Mr. Goyder serves as a member of the Audit Committee of ACCES (Accessible Community Counselling & Employment Services) and is a mentor with TRIEC (Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council) Mentoring Partnership, which matches mentors with recent immigrants, whose skills and professional backgrounds lie in similar areas to help improve access to employment. Mr. Goyder joined the Board of Seneca College on November 19, 2008 and is currently serving as Vice Chair.
Bill Hogarth, BA, Med, LLD
Bill Hogarth has dedicated his working life to the teaching profession and is deeply committed to the principle of lifelong learning. He is a retired Director of Education for the York Region District School Board. Mr. Hogarth was appointed Director in 1993 after serving as a superintendent of schools in the former North York Board of Education for more than 10 years. He holds a master’s degree in education from the University of Toronto. Mr. Hogarth joined the Board of Seneca College on September 1, 2007 and is currently serving as Board Chair.
Richard S. Lim, B.Comm., FCGA
Richard Lim is a professional accountant with broad experience in general management. In September 2012, Mr. Lim was a recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Award. Mr. Lim is the Executive Vice President of the Education Foundation of the Chinese Professionals Association of Canada and is a member of Certified General Accountants Association’s (CGA) Public Accounting Licensing Review Committee. He retired from TD Meloche Monnex as its Vice President, Affinity Market Group after a 25 year career. Previous experience included Vice President of the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals, Division Comptroller at Reichhold Limited, Treasurer at Crombie Advertising and past member of the Board of Governors at the Michener Institute for Applied Health Sciences. He is a certified general accountant (fellow) and holds a bachelor of commerce degree from Concordia University. Mr. Lim joined the Board of Seneca College on September 1, 2008.
Case Ootes, MBA
Case Ootes served as East York Councillor, Metro Toronto Councillor and Toronto City Councillor from 1988 to 2010. In 1997 Mr. Ootes was appointed as the first Deputy Mayor of the amalgamated City of Toronto, a position he held for six years. During his 22 years as an elected representative, he served on many committees, agencies, boards and commissions including Chair Labour Relations (City of Toronto), Chair Toronto Financial Service Alliance, Toronto Hydro Board, Toronto Police Services Board, GO Transit Board, Toronto Transit Commission, Municipal Property Assessment Corporation Board, Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance Board, Toronto Region Conservation Board, Toronto Business Development Corporation Board, Toronto East General Hospital and President of East York Kiwanis. He recently served as Chair of Mayor Ford’s Transition Team and as Managing Director of the Toronto Community Housing Corporation. Mr. Ootes has also served as Executive in Residence at Seneca College. He graduated from York University with an MBA and prior to his public service career had a distinguished management career with Imperial Oil. Mr. Ootes joined the Board of Seneca College on September 1, 2010.
Naki Osutei, MA
Naki Osutei is a Director, Human Resources and Diversity & Inclusion with the Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games. In this role, she contributes to building the staff and volunteer workforce for the Games as well as raising the Games’ standards for diversity and inclusion across governance, communications, procurement and recruitment. Previously, Ms. Osutei was the Vice-President, Strategy at the Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance, a unique coalition of senior business, non-profit, government and community leaders formed to address challenges to the Toronto region’s social and economic future. In her volunteer life, Ms. Osutei is also on the Board of Directors for St. Christopher House. She holds a master’s and bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Guelph and is often called upon to speak on the issues of cross-sectoral collaboration, leadership and diversity. Ms. Osutei joined the Board of Seneca College on September 1, 2011.
Phil Pomeroy
Phil Pomeroy has worked at Seneca for 30 years and has held multiple roles as a support staff employee. In his current position, Mr. Pomeroy works as the Campus Services Co-ordinator with the College Services department. Throughout his career, Mr. Pomeroy has been an active member of the Seneca community serving on a number of different committees, including the College Council, the Administration Performance Review Committee, Centre for Professional Development and the Support and Administration Staff Planning Committee. Outside the college community, Mr. Pomeroy is a member and former Chair of the Recreation, Arts and Culture Advisory Committee for the Town of Ajax and a coach in the Ajax Spartans Minor Baseball Association. Mr. Pomeroy joined the Board of Seneca College on September 1, 2007 as the Support Staff Representative.
Frank Robbins, BComm, BEd, MSc
Frank Robbins is a professor in the School of English and Liberal Studies at Newnham Campus. He has worked at Seneca for ten years, previously serving as Manager of Student Services and as an Assistant to the Chair in the School of Business Management. During his tenure at the College, Mr. Robbins has served on the Planning Committee for the Resolution, Equity and Diversity Centre (REDC) - Diversity Working Group and the Positive Space Campaign Committee. He also co-created and volunteered his time to the Leadership and Enrichment Opportunities (LEO) and SMILE mentoring initiatives. Mr. Robbins holds a master’s degree in economic development and bachelor’s degrees in business and education. Mr. Robbins joined the Board of Seneca College on September 1, 2011 as the Faculty Representative.
Mike Shaver, Honorary BA
Mike Shaver is the Engineer Director for Facebook. Throughout his career, Mr. Shaver has demonstrated a tremendous commitment to helping people understand, build, and benefit from an open source community where software is shared among individuals and organizations. He worked at Netscape Communications and later zerøknowledge, Cluster File Systems and the Oracle Corporation. Beginning his career as a developer, he quickly rose through the ranks and eventually gained Internet fame as a founding member of the Mozilla Organization in 1998. Mr. Shaver is a strong supporter of Seneca through his involvement with applied research projects, participation on the School of Computer Studies Advisory Committee and as a guest lecturer. His expertise has helped Seneca become a world leader in teaching open source software and development. Mr. Shaver received an honorary degree from Seneca in 2008 and sits on the Advisory Board of StopBadware.org. Mr. Shaver joined the Board of Seneca College on September 1, 2010.
Ashif Somani, B.Comm, CA, CFP
Ashif Somani is a Partner with BDO Canada LLP. Mr. Somani has more than 25 years of experience providing audit, management and business advisory services to a wide variety of clients. As a member of BDO’s Quality Assurance team, he is responsible for establishing and monitoring quality standards for the firm’s accounting and auditing practices. Mr. Somani is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. Previously, he served as treasurer and board member of the York Region Children’s Aid Society and was a member of the Practice Inspection Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario. He is a chartered accountant and certified financial planner and holds a bachelor of commerce degree from the University of Toronto. Mr. Somani joined the Board of Seneca College on December 10, 2008 and is currently serving as Vice Chair.
Helen Szumigaj, Cert. Ad. Ed., Cert. Mgt., Dip. BAD., Dip. BGS
Helen Szumigaj is the Director of Sales, Canada and Eastern USA for Kerry Inc., a global food, ingredient and flavour supplier. She is responsible for the creation of food solutions for private label brands for retail and food service partners. Prior to joining Kerry, Ms. Sumigaj was proprietor of Practical Solutions, a sales and marketing company focusing on providing private label product solutions to the North American Retail and Foodservice marketplace. Prior to starting her own business, Ms. Szumigaj was Vice-President, Retail Sales Canada for Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee. Her strong commitment to volunteerism has twice earned her the Volunteer Service Award from the Ontario Government. She is a member of the Women’s Food Service Forum, Women’s Executive Network as well as a member of Women in Food Manufacting. Ms. Szumigaj holds an honours diploma in business administration from Seneca College, a certificate in adult education from Humber College and a management development certificate from York University. Ms. Szumigaj joined the Board of Seneca College on September 1, 2007 and is the past Chair for the Seneca College Business Advisory Committee.
Tina Tehranchian, BA, MA, CFP, CLU, CHFC
Tina Tehranchian is a branch manager and senior financial planner at Assante Capital Management Ltd. (Member CIPF) in Richmond Hill. With more than 21 years of experience in the field, Ms. Tehranchian is a sought after media expert. In addition to teaching personal financial planning at the post-secondary level, Ms. Tehranchian is also actively involved in her community serving as Director of Mackenzie Health Foundation (formerly York Central Hospital Foundation), Fort York Foundation, and trustee of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. She has also served as a Director of the Markham Board of Trade and JVS of Greater Toronto as well as a trustee of the Encyclopaedia Iranica Foundation and is a founding member and past Chair of the Iranian Canadian Network. Ms. Tehranchian holds a master of arts in communications from the University of Portland. She has also earned a certified financial planner designation as well as the chartered life underwriter and chartered financial consultant designations. Ms. Tehranchian joined the Board of Seneca College on September 1, 2007.
David Tsubouchi, BA, JD, LLD
David Tsubouchi is the Chairman and Founder of Deduce International Markets Inc. as well as a partner with the law firm Fogler Rubinoff LLP. Mr. Tsubouchi was appointed as the Honorary Consul General for Mongolia (Toronto). He brings a wealth of experience from the public sector as an elected official municipally and provincially. He served two terms on Markham Council and as chair of the Town’s Planning Committee. Mr. Tsubouchi has held numerous cabinet positions with the Ontario government, including minister of culture, solicitor general, minister of consumer and commercial relations and minister of community and social services. As former Chair of Ontario’s Management Board of Cabinet, he was responsible for the Ontario Realty Corporation. As well, he was instrumental in the creation of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission. Mr. Tsubouchi has a strong history of advocacy for students and engagement in Seneca activities; specifically as the honorary chair of the College’s Markham Campus Capital Appeal. He joined the Board of Seneca College on September 1, 2010.
Nitish Verma, BA
Nitish Verma is an international student in his fourth semester of the Computer Networking and Technical Support program. Prior to his election as the Student Representative on the Board of Governors, he served as an ambassador with the Seneca Student Federation. Mr. Verma holds a degree in Bachelor of Computer Application from Panjab University in India. Mr. Verma joined the Board of Seneca College on September 1, 2012.
Karen Webb, P.Eng, MBA, ICD.D
Prior to starting her consulting business, KWebb Solutions Inc., Karen Webb served as the Vice President Insurance Shared Services and Certificate Services Operations for Foresters. She also held vice presidencies for Manulife Financial and Rogers as well as several roles at Imperial Oil. Ms. Webb volunteers as the Chair of the MicroSkills Board, a United Way member agency. She holds an MBA from York University, a degree in systems design engineering from the University of Waterloo and certification from the Institute of Corporate Directors from the Rotman School of Business, University of Toronto. Ms. Webb joined the Board of Seneca College on September 1, 2011.