Mary Osborne

Burlington Community Development Manager

I truly believe that food has the power to bring people together and ignite conversations. I love that Halton Food for Thought creates the opportunity for students to do that in a healthy and positive way. I am so grateful to join the team, and support the schools and volunteers committed to fuelling the next generation

Joanne Jones

Board Chair

HFFT Member Since: August, 2020

Joanne, Director of the Urology Resource Centre, and Chair of the Hamilton / Burlington Bladder Cancer Canada Walk is also actively involved with the Joseph Brant Foundation assisting on a number of committee events. Joanne has spent a decade in executive recruitment for companies within Consumer-Packaged Goods, Medical Sales, and the Marketing Field. Joanne, a long time long-time resident of Burlington with her husband and three young children is passionate about advocating for the health and safety of children, is Board Vice Chair at Pearson Co-op Preschool, is a member of parent council for Glenview Public School. Joanne joined the Board of Directors of Halton Food for Thought in August 2020.

Prasad Samala

Board Vice Chair

HFFT Member Since: November 2021

Prasad is a strategic technology executive with 20 years of progressive experience in leadership roles delivering a broad range of technology solutions to various industries including Financial Services, Utilities, Healthcare, Information Technology, Manufacturing, Automotive, and Energy industries. Currently, Prasad works at Google and is passionate about how Digital Engineering & Cloud Computing can redefine business models and transform industries. Prior to joining Google, he spent 2 years at DXC Technology and about 7 years as a Partner & Senior Director at CGI in Toronto. Prasad’s previous experiences include providing technology solutions and services to large Health Insurance clients with numerous award-winning deliveries. He also ran strategy consulting practice for a boutique management consulting firm in Toronto, specializing in business consulting for top 5 Canadian banks. His personal passion is to find ways of giving back to the community. In the past, he led initiatives such as STEM for children and Women in Technology. He holds an undergraduate degree in Engineering and an MBA degree from Ivey Business School, Canada. He resides in Oakville with his wife. He joined the Board of Directors of Halton Food for Thought in 2021.

Kevin Hutchinson

Treasurer

HFFT Member Since: August, 2020

Kevin is the Vice President of Investment Finance at Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) where he is responsible for leading all activities supporting the valuation and analysis of OMERS infrastructure and private equity portfolios. Prior to joining OMERS, Kevin was a Partner within the Valuation Services Advisory Group at KPMG LLP in Toronto. In this role, he provided valuation services to both public and private companies for various purposes, including financial reporting, fairness opinions, M&A transactions, and corporate tax planning. Kevin is a Chartered Accountant (CPA, CA), Chartered Business Valuator (CBV), and holds the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) professional designation. He sits on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Business Valuators. Kevin grew up in Barbados and now resides in Oakville with his wife and daughter. He joined the Board of Directors of Halton Food for Thought in August 2020.

Arlette Edmunds

Board Member

HFFT Member Since: August, 2020

Arlette is an accomplished Human Resources Executive with more than 20 years of experience leading the people agenda for large global corporates in the financial industry. She is a passionate business leader with a track record of helping leaders deliver talent mandates that enhance growth and profitability, with a focus on the employee experience and a commitment to long-term, sustainable growth and improvement. Today, Arlette leads the human capital strategy at AGF Investments where she is Chief Human Resources Officer, responsible for setting the strategic people agenda, globally. Before that, Arlette helped build Ontario’s newest (est. 2020) defined benefit pension plan, at the University Pension Plan where she was Chief People Officer. Prior to her time at University Pension Plan, Arlette spent more than seven years at OMERS – another Canadian pension plan – where she led the talent function globally, for all investment entities including Private Equity, Infrastructure, Platform & Ventures Investments and Capital Markets, with offices in Toronto, New York, London, Sydney, and Singapore. Arlette also spent ten years at TD Bank – first leading human resources within the capital markets sales and trading business, then in corporate human resources leading the Employee Experience strategy, globally. Arlette also spent time working at both Merrill Lynch and Deloitte advising on their people strategies. She was also a successful entrepreneur, founding an online retailer before selling it to join OMERS in 2013. Arlette is passionate about giving back. She works closely with Women in Governance, an organization dedicated to supporting women in leadership development and career advancement. She also serves on the Board of Directors at Halton Food for Thought where she is a Director, and a member of the HR/Governance Committee. Before that, she served as Director on the Board of the Oakville Soccer Club, where she also served as the Chair of the Governance Committee.

Annita Pospisil

Board Member

HFFT Member Since: July 2021

Annita has over 24 years of experience in the financial services industry where she has held several leadership roles and was responsible for the financial reporting and planning processes. In her current role at RBC as a Senior Commercial Account Manager, she manages a large portfolio of Commercial banking clients which are comprised of privately held and publicly traded companies across the retail and consumer services industry. Prior to joining RBC, Annita worked at Ernst & Young in the audit and tax groups. Annita is a Chartered Accountant (CPA,CA). Annita lives in Oakville with her husband and two children and is very passionate about giving back to the community. She was a member of the parent council for St. Mary Catholic Elementary School

Chelsea Bristow

Board Member

HFFT Member Since: September 2022

Chelsea is a Registered Nurse with over 15 years of experience in healthcare, patient advocacy, and health promotion. Her nursing experience ranges from specialized transplant and surgical care to executive health management and discharge coordination. Additionally, she spent three years nursing in Leeds, United Kingdom where she was head nurse and sat on the leadership in practice, and health and safety committees. More recently, she joined the pandemic response and administered COVID vaccinations to the Halton community. In her spare time, she is the parent volunteer coordinator for the Healthy Snack Program and sits on parent council at Glenview Public School. As a Burlington resident with her husband and two young children, Chelsea hopes to make a positive contribution to her community.

Bryan Desousa

Board Member

HFFT Member Since: January 2022

Bryan recently joined the Halton Food for Thought Board of Directors in January 2022. He is currently the Secondary, Vice Principal at Christ the King Catholic Secondary School. He has been working in education system for more than 17 years. Bryan is also the Past Director and Chair of the Halton Catholic Children’s Foundation and is a Committee Member, Support Services at Catholic Principals Council of Ontario. He was a apart of St. Edmund Campion Secondary School in Brampton recipient of the 2017-2018 Premier’s Award for Accepting Schools and a member of the college of audiology and speech pathologists of Ontario (CASLPO). Bryan is passionate about education and healthy active lifestyle. Bryan and his family currently reside in Milton.

Jay Michael Poitras

Board Member

HFFT Member Since: September 2022

Jay Poitras has worked with children and youth since his first job as a summer camp counsellor thirty years ago. Over the last three decades Jay has supported young people in community, residential, clinical and school settings. The bulk of his teaching career was in special education with the Peel District School Board. He has been an administrator with the Halton District School Board since 2015 and is currently the proud principal of Pauline Johnson Public School in Burlington. In both his employment and other volunteer work, Jay is a strong advocate for improving access to healthy food and helping to strengthen communities through food and nutrition programs.

Katherine Aikenhead

Board Member

HFFT Member Since: October, 2022

Katherine has spent over almost two decades immersed in the world of Real Estate and Corporate legal administration. Starting her career working in-house for a development and property management firm in Saskatchewan, Katherine was working with complex corporate structure and drafting intricate leases for a variety of properties including both office, retail and new construction. Moving back to Ontario, Katherine moved into a role downtown Toronto analyzing leases for major landlords and tenants across Canada, offering solutions to maximize profits in their portfolios. When the commute became too much in 2017, she decided to launch her own consulting firm, Jensen Consulting, and offered her expertise as a consultant to help landlords and tenants across North America with drafting and auditing their Commercial Leases. While running her own business Katherine had the time to spend volunteering as the program coordinator for the program at her son’s school. Jensen Consulting’s client portfolio grew to included national brands such as Barburrito, Chopped Leaf, Crock a Doodle, as well as a variety of local tenants and smaller Landlords. When Barburrito asked Katherine to join in house in 2020 it was an opportunity she couldn’t refuse and now sits as Vice President of Legal Affairs for the company overseeing the legal department. Katherine has been involved in several different charities across Halton in various fundraising capacities and looks forward to helping grow the donor base for the program.

Kimberly Bowman

Board Member

HFFT Member Since: October, 2022

Kimberly is a strategy and evaluation specialist with over fifteen years of progressive experience in nonprofits and social enterprises, in Canada and internationally. She has worked as a technical advisor to social impact programs in North America, Asia and Europe, led policy and public engagement for leading Canadian charities and managed applied research projects for a policy institute at Toronto Metropolitan University. She currently works in-house in planning and evaluation for a leading social enterprise. Kimberly holds an undergraduate degree from McGill University and a Master of Science in Social Research Methods from the London School of Economics. Kimberly grew up in Milton and Oakville and now makes her home in Burlington with her school-aged son. She joined the Board of Directors for Food for Thought in 2022.

Daniel P. McKeown

Secretary

HFFT Member Since: September 2022

Born and raised in Burlington, Dan studied English and History at McMaster, obtained his M.A. in 2004 and then went on to law school at Queen’s University. After law school in 2007, Dan articled at the Ottawa Police Service and was called to the Bar in June 2008. Dan then practiced in family law at the Ottawa firm of Augustine Bater Binks LLP. In 2013, Dan returned to his hometown of Burlington and opened a sole law practice where he continued to practice family law. In 2015, Dan became a Member of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada where he sat as an adjudicator for refugee claims. In 2021 he joined the Immigration Division where he now presides over detention reviews and admissibility hearings. Dan is the Chair of Parent Council at Glenview Public School, and in his spare time you might find him coaching or playing hockey around the Burlington rinks.

Nancy Rumple

Executive Director

HFFT Team Member since: January, 2016

I have always been involved in health and wellness both personally and professionally in one way shape or form. I am also passionate about education and empowerment. When the opportunity came about to combine these loves with enhancing the lives of children and youth within our community – there was no question, I knew where I needed to be! The more I learn about Halton Food for Thought’s partnerships within the community and local schools, the more passionate I become about ensuring “no student goes hungry at school”!

Carrie Baillie

Oakville Community Development Manager

HFFT Team Member since: February, 2012

I have always been interested in nutrition and eating healthy so when I heard about all the great things Halton Food For Thought was doing I knew I had to be part of the team! I love being in the programs every week and seeing the difference it makes having food available to all students. There are so many reasons kids are not eating enough healthy food and I am fortunate to be able to help ensure “no student goes hungry at school” as part of my job every day.

Shaz Wall

Burlington Community Development Manager

HFFT Team Member since: August, 2023

My passion for food literacy and student success motivates me to create a brighter future for the incredible students of Burlington. I'm so exited about collaborating with schools and community volunteers to have a positive impact on student success. I look forward to working with school administration and volunteers to create programs that perfectly fit each school's unique needs. I love visiting schools and providing valuable training, keeping them informed about all the exciting programs HFFT has to offer.

Maureen McLaughlin

Halton Hills & Milton Community Development Manager

HFFT Team Member since: May, 2009