FST’s Board of Directors is a diverse group of professionals who serve voluntarily and live or work in the GTA. New Board members are elected annually at FST’s Annual General Meeting.
The Board of Directors is accountable to internal and external stakeholders and its primary responsibilities include:
- Meeting its responsibilities under the Ontario Corporations Act and other legislation that governs Family Service Toronto.
- Providing strategic guidance to the organization, ensuring that the vision, mission, values and strategic plans are current and respond to the needs of clients and staff.
- Ensuring accountability for resources and results.
- Providing oversight of enterprise-wide risk management.
- Supporting the Executive Director and review their performance regularly.
All Board activities are governed by FST’s by-laws and governance policies. FST is accredited by the Council on Accreditation and is compliant with standards of best practice in governance.
Executive Officers
Olympia Baldrich, President
Olympia is an executive with experience in multiple industries in Europe and North America. She has over 20 years of progressive experience in corporate leadership, she is currently the Vice President Real Estate Secured Lending at TD. Prior to joining TD, Olympia developed corporate strategies and delivered business transformation at Deloitte Consulting. Olympia has a Masters in Aeronautical Engineering from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London U.K.
Amrutha Rao, Vice-President
Amrutha Rao is as a Senior Policy Advisor with the provincial government’s Ministry of Health and works to craft evidence-based policies that prioritize health equity for indigenous communities and other vulnerable populations. With a keen eye on addressing the intricate social determinants of health, Amrutha contributes a wealth of knowledge in public policy, strategic planning, program development and process improvement. Amrutha is deeply committed to bridging gaps for access to care and support services, particularly for survivors of domestic violence, individuals with developmental disabilities and people with mental health challenges.
Amrutha holds an MBA from the University of Toronto and draws upon a decade of diverse experience in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. Currently, she chairs the Performance and Quality Improvement (PQI) Committee and serves as the Vice President on the board of directors.
Sophia Saeed, Treasurer
Sophia is currently the Vice President of Investor Relations at Scotiabank, and has 20+ years of experience in finance and accounting. Prior to joining Scotiabank, Sophia spent over a decade executing mergers and acquisitions, both as an advisor and in corporate development. Sophia is a CPA, CA, and holds a BA from the University of Toronto and an MBA from the Ivey Business School at Western University.
Chris Brillinger, Secretary
Chris joined Family Service Toronto as Executive Director in August 2019. He studied urban planning at Toronto Metropolitan University and worked for several NGOs including Neighbourhood Information Post, Homes First, and Junction Information Post before joining Metropolitan Toronto in 1988. Chris worked for the City of Toronto for 31 years in several roles and served as Executive Director of the Social Development, Finance and Administration division for nine years before leaving the City in 2019 when he returned to the NGO sector in his leadership role at FST. In July 2024, he was appointed by Toronto City Council to the Toronto Police Service Board. Chris is a long-time resident of Downtown East Toronto.
Directors
George Armstrong
George has more than 20 years of experience working within the criminal justice system and has worked closely with a wide range of disadvantaged communities. George has held a variety of corporate positions in government including internal investigations, strategic policy work and several leadership roles where he managed human rights and employee wellness units. George has been recognized with awards for humanitarian service and leadership of critical incident management. George holds a Master of Education degree from the University of Toronto where he specialized in Adult Education and Community Development and completed a collaborative program in Indigenous health.
Sarah Blackstock
Sarah Blackstock has over two decades of experience in the non-profit and public sectors, leading public policy and program development, civic engagement and advocacy initiatives to advance social justice, equity and inclusion. Currently, Sarah is Project Director, Communication and Collaboration, at the City of Toronto’s Housing Secretariat. Sarah holds a Master’s degree in international politics.
Giuliana Carbone
Giuliana Carbone is a retired Certified Public Accountant with 37 years of experience in municipal government. She began her public service career as a Director in the former city of North York Public Health Department, before joining the amalgamated City of Toronto’s Finance Department, first as a Director and then as Treasurer. She ended her public service career in July 2021 as Deputy City Manager of Community and Social Services.
Esi Codjoe
Esi is a lawyer with Turnpenney Milne LLP, providing legal advice to employers and employees, in non-unionized and unionized workplaces. An experienced adjudicator and mediator, Esi served as Vice Chair at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and has extensive training and coaching experience in equity diversity and inclusion. She has spent her career advocating for individuals on issues around sexual violence, disability and age discrimination. Esi has taught employment law and labour relations at George Brown College and Ryerson University. Committed to volunteerism, Esi has been a Board member of the Ontario Bar Association, Canadian Association of Black Lawyers and CultureLink.
Kathryn Edgett-Emirzian
Kathryn Edgett-Emirzian (she/they) has been working in human rights and equity for 15 years. She has a degree in human rights from St. Thomas University and a post-graduate certificate in peace and conflict studies from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Kathryn has direct experience working in the provincial and federal human rights legislative contexts, conducting investigations and mediations. Her experience includes investigations, training, and resource development on human rights, harassment, employment equity, workplace assessments, and EDI.
Patrick Gordon, Ex-Officio
Gordon is a Partner, Commercial Real Estate Lawyer, at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP. Patrick’s practice encompasses a wide range of commercial real estate matters, including purchase and sale transactions; leasing and financings; developing and managing commercial and residential real property. He also provides real estate advice in connection with a variety of domestic and international mergers and acquisitions transactions. Patrick regularly acts for a broad range of domestic and international clients, including institutional investors, pension funds, landlords and tenants.
Aaron Hewitt
Aaron Hewitt is the Senior Administrator for the Strategy department of Rainbow Railroad, working to advocate for and engage with key stakeholders around the issues of LGBTQ+ forced displacement around the world. Aaron is formerly a front line healthcare worker with decades of experience working with community members and non-profit organizations on key issues. Aaron also serves on the Board of Management at the 519 and is excited about the connection and allyship of these two amazing organizations.
Aaron is currently completing a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Administration with a Project Management certification from Toronto Metropolitan University. Aaron is deeply committed to Equity and Justice work and seeks to provide his lived experience as a Black, queer man to the spaces he works and lives in.
Sharon McMillan
Sharon is a Chartered Professional Accountant with 35+ years of experience as a Senior Financial leader with large multi-national Corporations, leading teams in financial reporting, analysis, budgets, strategic plans and organizational realignment, recently retired.
Sharon has been navigating Ontario and Toronto’s Developmental Services Sector as a client and parent advocate for over 30 years. Through her years of involvement, advocacy, and accessing services from a consumer perspective, she knows well the opportunities, challenges and barriers to integration and service access for those with developmental disabilities and their families. She has also served on Boards/Finance Committees in the sector.
She has been a resident of Toronto for 40 years, and prior to that, has lived and travelled in Canada’s north and Arctic. Sharon holds a B Comm from York University.
Janet O’Grady
Janet is retired from a 30+-year career with the Ontario public service as a human resource professional and leader. She held senior management positions in a range of ministries leading the development of human resource strategies, policies and operational solutions to support organizational effectiveness. She championed initiatives relating to respect, workplace safety, inclusion, workforce mental health and human resource management excellence to enable public servants to thrive in their working environment. She holds an Honours BA (Psychology) from Carleton University and MBA from the University of Toronto.
Bonita Rubin
Bonita is a Manager of Strategic Projects at the University Health Network. As a clinician, she brings diverse experience working with interprofessional teams, leaders, and patients/families across hospital in both acute and rehab, primary care and government sectors in progressively more senior roles. Her expertise includes team management, large-scale system integrations, quality and risk management, strategic planning, and change management. Bonita is motivated to optimize the value in health and social spending to provide a more coordinated and accessible approach to address the growing complex health and wellness needs of the population and improve patient/family-centered experience and outcomes that are both measurable and sustainable. Bonita is a Registered Pharmacist from the University of Toronto (UofT), holds an MHA from the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at UofT, and is a Certified Health Executive from the Canadian College of Health Leaders.
Adam Wheeler
Adam Wheeler is a lawyer, social worker, and leader in the mental health and housing sectors. He has litigated cases before all levels of court in Ontario and at the Supreme Court of Canada. He has also acted as counsel on complex multi-party negotiations and policy development initiatives. Adam’s non-profit governance experience includes serving as the Chair of the Board of the Gerstein Crisis Centre, Vice-Chair of the Board of Madison Community Services, and as a member of CAMH’s Constituency Council. He is currently an advisor to Ontario’s Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence and an adjudicator on the City of Toronto’s new Multi-Tenant House Licensing Tribunal.
