MEET OUR
Executive Directors
Get to know a bit about the Executive Directors of CBPN
Nancy Wanye
CO-Executive Director
Eunice K. Yeboah
Co-founder & CO-Executive Director
Eunice Kays Yeboah is the Co-Founder of the Toronto Black Policy Conference and Co-Founder & Executive Director of the Canadian Black Policy Network. She is also the Anti-Racism Policy Consultant at the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).
She is very passionate about confronting anti-Black racism and all forms of racism and discrimination; government and public policy, and has spent over 5 years working in varied roles with municipalities and the Province of Ontario. Recognized for outstanding early career success and impactful volunteerism, Eunice was recently selected as part of York University’s Inaugural Top 30 Changemakers Under 30 list and received the inaugural IPAC Toronto Region New Professional Award.
Eunice is an alumna of Seneca College, York University’s Liberal Arts and Professional Studies and University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, and has featured in various campaigns, articles and initiatives at all three schools.
MEET OUR
Executive Committee
PRECIOUS SIDAMBE
DIRECTOR OF POLICY
Precious Sidambe is a policy professional with a wealth of experience in the public sector. She began her career in the education sector, with the Toronto District School Board, where she held various roles in the Governance and Board Services Department and Human Rights Office.
Precious currently works for the Ontario Ministry of Education as a Senior Policy Advisor where she provides policy advice and expertise in the design, development, and implementation of curriculum in the public education system. In her previous role as Policy Advisor at the Treasury Board Secretariat, she led policy analysis to support the development of a career enhancement program to advance the careers of Black women in administrative roles that have experienced occupational segregation and gendered racism.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Socio-Legal Studies from the University of Toronto, and a Master of Public Policy, Administration, and Law from York University.
Precious is most passionate about human rights and strives to incorporate equity and anti-racism principles to her day-to-day work
Email: [email protected]
SEMILORE AJAYI
DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMMING
Semilore Ajayi is an Associate Consultant under Global Public Affairs’ Transportation, Infrastructure, and Communities practice group in Alberta. She supports the team with strategic client-government relations through research, coordination, communications, analysis, and monitoring and reporting on legislative, regulatory, and political developments. She has extensive experience in advocacy and fundraising, working and volunteering as a youth leader and program manager to support black and Indigenous youth in Calgary and across the GTA. Additionally, Semilore is a previous 1834 public policy fellow, graduating from the program’s inaugural year, where she and a team presented policy recommendations on Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program to Prime Minister Trudeau and other Ministers. She is passionate about exploring the relationships between social entrepreneurship, the non-profit, and technology sectors and public policy as tools to support the advancement of underrepresented communities.
Semilore holds an Honors Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and African Studies from the University of Toronto.
Email: [email protected]
PHIL FAANU
DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH
Phil Faanu is a Ph.D. Student at McMaster University, Hamilton, and the maiden Black
Excellence Scholar at the Department of Political Science. Prior to Mac, he received his BA with honours in Political Science from the University of Ghana, an MSc in Globalization from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and an MA in Political Science from the University of Windsor. Phil recently received the CASID_ACEDI Kari Polanyi Levitt Graduate Student Prize at the 2023 CASID_ACEDI Congress/AGM, York University.
Phil is the Co-Chair of the McMaster Political Science Graduate Students Association – MPSGSA, Co-Founder and Partner of the Glazoya Help Foundation in Ghana and former President of the Political Science Students Association, University of Ghana. He is a trained teacher and researcher with over 15 years of combined experience. Phil Faanu has an exceptional record of academic excellence, outstanding leadership experience, and impressive research potential. Phil’s leadership journey is marked by unwavering dedication, resilience, and an innate passion for societal change. He has transformative leadership experiences, humanitarian skills, and a teamwork spirit, which are an asset to any organization.
Email: [email protected]
FADZIE MCCONNELL
CORPORATE SECRETARY
Fadzie currently works at the Regional Municipality of York as a Supervisor in the Provincial Offences Courts and is also a professor at Seneca College. Fadzie sits on York Region’s Anti-Black Racism Advisory Group (ABRAG), is the co-lead for York Region’s Community of Belonging for Black Staff and engaged member of York Region’s Community of Belonging for Staff with Disabilities. Prior to joining York Region, Fadzie was with The Toronto Police Service (TPS) for 17 years within the Court Services branch where she worked in Governance and was a champion for the TPS Race-Based Data Collection Strategy and the TPS Equity Strategy.
Fadzie has obtained a Master’s degree in Public Policy, Administration and Law (MPPAL), a Graduate Diploma in Justice System Administration, and a BA in International Development Studies from York University. Fadzie is committed to good governance, justice policy, diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging. She promotes empowering and engaging leadership strategies, asserts policy and program development, and drives strategic change management. Fadzie gives back through several volunteer roles and is honoured to work alongside the CBPN Executive Committee and Board of Directors.
Email: [email protected]
MEET OUR
Board of Directors
Get to know a bit about the Board of Directors of CBPN
Hugh Anthony Simmonds
PhD Board MEMBER
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/hughanthonyp
Hugh Anthony is a tri-sector athlete who has held professional and executive roles with multi-sector experiences in public, private and not-for-profit sectors providing advice and expertise in leadership, strategy governance and, learning and development. He brings over two decades of national and international human centric engagements in higher education institutions, equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging, culture and creative industries, leisure and hospitality, international marketing, sustainability and, community and stakeholder engagement. He is a member of the leadership team at The New Humanity Initiative and the Head of Strategy, Culture and Inclusion leading the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging, Culture and Leadership Strategy, and the Chief Storytelling Officer at Assignment & Co., amplifying the power of storytelling for leaders, and he teaches at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University).
In addition to his professional endeavours, Hugh Anthony is values volunteerism and believes ‘service is the rent we pay for living’. He serves on several boards that amplify social impact, diversity and inclusion, economic well-being and sustainability for children, youth and community. He currently serves as a Certified Leadership Education Trainer for Kiwanis International, Director, Toronto Kiwanis Festival, Co-Chair of the Kevin Pollard Memorial Scholarship Fund, President of the Metropolitan Toronto Condominium Corporation (934); Director of the Metropolitan Toronto Condominium Corporation (1081). Previously, he has served on a number of boards including the Clarendon College Alumni Association–Toronto Chapter; University of Technology Board of Governors and Kiwanis International Service Leadership Program – Circle K International.
He is a Distinguished President and the Charter President of the Kiwanis Club of Toronto Caribbean (KCTC) and the Kiwanis Club of Scarborough. Hugh Anthony was nominated in 2015 for the 50+1 Emerging Black Leaders Award in the Greater Toronto Area in recognition of his leadership and commitment to youth and community engagement.
He received his PhD from the University of Waterloo with a focus on leadership, culture and service; with graduate and undergraduate degrees from the University of the West Indies. He pursued several executive education courses in leadership and change, and diversity and inclusion at Harvard University (USA), University of Michigan (USA), Ryerson University (Canada), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) and University of New Orleans (USA). He is a cinephile, coffeephile, oenophile, gastronome, and traveller and he loves the performing arts, even though he has now hung up his professional dancing shoes.
JORDAN SIMMONS
BOARD MEMBER
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordantsimmons/
Jordan is the co-founder and CEO of Nominee, a global social enterprise dedicated to equipping people with the skills they need to change the world.
Over the past 15 years, Jordan has worked across politics, public policy, corporate strategy, and international business development for organizations in Canada, the United States, Sweden, and Estonia. He has been active in policy and advocacy campaigns in B.C., Ontario and Alberta, serving as a senior political advisor to several provincial cabinet ministers and leading national grassroots advocacy campaigns, with a particular focus on justice and human rights.
Jordan currently sits on the board of directors of the Immigrant Services Society of BC, one of the largest immigrant and refugee-serving agencies in Canada, with a national and international reputation in settlement and migrant rights. As a passionate advocate for citizen engagement and youth empowerment, Jordan was appointed to the City Vancouver’s Independent Election Task Force to identify strategies to increase voter turnout in the city’s municipal elections. Based in Vancouver, Jordan is an avid traveller and has visited more than 50 countries across five continents, sparking his passion for global citizenship, cultural identity, and inclusion and belonging.
Derek Lett
Board MEMBER
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-lett-69736a15
Derek Lett is a retired Ontario Public Service executive. His extensive public sector experience includes leadership roles in line ministries, central agencies and legislative oversight agencies of the provincial government.
Among his leadership roles, he was the former Director of Operations, Outreach and Education in Ontario’s Office of the Integrity Commissioner; Director of the Safety Program Development Branch in the Ministry of Transportation; Policy Director with Ontario’s Long-Term Care COVID-19 Commission; Executive Director of Ontario’s Office of the Conflict of Interest Commissioner; and Director of Diversity Programs Design and Delivery in the former Ministry of Government Services.
As Course Director, Mr. Lett teaches public administration in the School of Public Policy and Administration at York University.
He is a trained mediator, a former member of City of Toronto’s Committee of Adjustment (North York Panel) and Past Chair of the Board of Directors of Trust 15, a not-for-profit organization serving at-risk youth in Rexdale, Toronto.
Mr. Lett holds a specialized Honours B.A. in Public Policy and Administration from York University, a Masters in Public Administration from Queen’s University, a Certificate in Change Management from Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto and a Certificate in Alternative Dispute Resolution from the Faculty of Law, University of Windsor.
DANIELLE DOWDY
BOARD MEMBER
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielledowdy/
Danielle is an award-winning, law enforcement professional with profound experience in the areas of policy development, strategic planning, community engagement. Professionally, she was a civilian member of the Toronto Police Service for 13 years in many roles, all centred on working with communities on innovative programs. Her proudest accomplishment has been architecting the Youth in Policing Initiative – a youth employment program – and building a model that has been replicated across the province in over 22 police services in Ontario. For the past 4 years, she has served as a Senior Advisor, Strategic Policy & Stakeholder Relations within the Office of the Toronto Police Services Board. Over her career, she highlights having served as Senior Strategic Initiatives Lead to Honourable Chief Justice Michael Tulloch on the Independent Police Oversight Review and the Independent Street Checks Review.
Passionate about community service, Danielle has spent over 20 years working across communities. She has extensive leadership experience in driving social change. She has partnered and collaborated with government agencies, community-based organizations, academics, and youth groups in designing programs that address challenges faced by marginalized communities and build community capacity.
Danielle’s contributions have not gone unnoticed and she has been awarded with several distinctions. She has been recognized as a 100 Accomplished Canadian Black Women Honouree, a Jamaican Canadian Association Women’s Committee Volunteer Award recipient and a Brampton Board of Trade “Top 40 Under 40” award recipient. In May 2022, she was recognized by the City of Brampton as its Citizen of the Year. According to the criteria, “this award recognizes local residents who build communities and show what can be achieved with passion and determination”.
JOHN THOMAS
Board MEMBER
John is a character, a thinker, a professional with a passion for advancing social justice causes, working with Canadian public policy instruments, and broadening his knowledge by learning and enjoying various cultural experiences. He is guided by his values of empathy, integrity, transparency, and respect and his vision of doing everything to achieve the advancement of people, especially Black, Indigenous, and other People of Colour.
Over the past 5 years, John has served in executive leadership positions as Chief Administrative Officer in Local Government both in Yukon and British Columbia. He also has experience in operations, management, and labour union movement. Educationally, John graduated with a Bachelors in Justice Studies and a Master of Business Administration with a specialization in Hospitality and Tourism Management.
He loves traveling, dancing, and authentic experiences and looks forward to supporting the mission of and working with the Board at CBPN.
Lerato Chondoma
BOARD MEMBER
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lerato-chondoma-b9b1764/
Lerato hails from the Batuang Clan of ba ha Moletsane from Lesotho in Southern Africa and lives as an uninvited guest on the unceded and occupied territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people. She is currently the inaugural Associate Director for the Indigenous Research Support Initiative at the University of British Columbia and plays a strategic role in providing support to Indigenous communities, researchers and other partners working on partnership collaborations. Lerato works to understand how policy, systems and procedures can enable mutuality in community-university collaborations and address issues of racism, justice and equity on individual and system-wide levels. Her praxis focuses on decoloniality, intersectional equity, anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism. Lerato is also very interested in exploring new approaches to recognize and centre different knowledge systems, how these are evaluated in our public institutions and how they are reflected in policy considerations.
Lerato’s governance and committee experience is wide-spanning and includes serving on several non-profit and Indigenous boards connected to and outside of the University of British Columbia.
In supporting Black and African Diaspora communities in Vancouver, Lerato has served as Chair of the Blackness Committee on the UBC Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force. She formed part of the part of the organizing group for the inaugural Forum of the Scarborough Charter on Anti-Black Racism and Black Inclusion in Canadian Higher Education and specifically co-organized a community symposium hosted by the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University to address various aspects of the theme “Making Community: Towards Black Flourishing”.
Outside of academia, Lerato served as Vice-Chair for the Racial and Ethno-Cultural Equity Advisory Committee that advises Vancouver City Council on enhancing access and inclusion for Vancouver’s diverse cultural communities and as a director on a non-profit board that supports employment of people with barriers to employment in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside.
Prior to moving to Vancouver, Lerato practiced as a candidate attorney and legal consultant in South Africa, specializing in Labour Law and Employment Equity. She has a B. Com and an LL.B from Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa and an MBA from the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver.