Allison Pond

Allison Pond, President & CEO  Allison has dedicated her career to workforce development, establishing highly effective employment services that link jobseekers to employers across the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, and Canada. As our President & CEO, she champions accessible employment services made possible through community collaboration and broad public and private sector partnerships. Through her leadership over the past two decades, ACCES Employment has attracted support from all three levels of government and corporate sponsors to become a $35-million organization. She has focused the organization on supporting internationally trained workers so that they have full and equitable access to employment in […]

Yara Damasceno

Yara Damesceno, Chief Operations Officer  Yara Damesceno is a seasoned Chief Operating Officer with a proven track record in building and managing high-performance teams and ensuring the effective oversight of essential central service departments.   With an extensive background in human resources, she has specialized in conflict resolution, change management and fostering an inclusive, respectful culture. Guided by a commitment to authentic leadership, Yara champions a people-centered approach, empowering teams to reach organizational goals through collaborative, transparent, and solution-focused practices.  She joined ACCES Employment in 2002 and has held progressive roles until being named COO in 2016. Today, she has oversight over […]

Anita Carroll

Anita Carroll, Senior Vice President Corporate & Stakeholder Engagement  Anita is a proven relationship builder with a strong track record of leading innovative initiatives in corporate social responsibility, diversity, learning and development, employee engagement and corporate community giving.   At ACCES Employment, she is responsible for corporate and stakeholder engagement, leading the team that manages sponsor and donor relations. To advance our role as a leader in employment services for newcomers, Anita’s focus is on creative corporate partnerships and donor engagement that will grow and diversify funding needed to support our expansion.   A George Brown College graduate with a degree in […]

Gordon Lee Chan

Gordon Lee Chan, Senior Vice President Information Systems   Gordon is a leader in information technology, with progressive experience throughout his career in building, integrating and developing organizations so that they can expand their business value and provide modern, reliable service.   He has held roles from a broad spectrum of industries and organizations including the YMCA, Dundee Wealth Management, Universal Music Canada, Universal Studios and Compaq Canada.  He joined ACCES Employment in 2021 as Senior Vice President Information Systems and has since helped lead the adoption of technology to support effective delivery of our services both in-person and online.  Gord takes a […]

Julia Rim Shepard

Julia Rim Shepard, Senior Vice President Marketing & Public Affairs  Julia is a seasoned executive with more than 20 years of brand building, marketing and strategy experience in high visibility, national and global organizations including Future Skills Centre at Toronto Metropolitan University, World Vision and Corus Entertainment.  She joined ACCES Employment in 2023, leading reputation management, government relations, marketing, strategic communications, and brand. She is raising awareness of ACCES as a leader in employment dedicated to building a fully inclusive labour force that reflects Canada’s diversity, skills and experience. By raising our profile and promoting client success stories she’s achieving our […]

Manjeet Dhiman

Manjeet Dhiman, Senior Vice President Services & Strategic Initiatives   Manjeet has been a leader in the non-profit, charitable sector for more than 25 years. At ACCES Employment, she has been a key contributor to our growth and to the development of employment and training services for jobseekers from diverse backgrounds. For over two decades, she has led services and strategic initiatives for newcomers, marginalized youth, women, and other equity deserving groups facing barriers to labour market integration. Manjeet provides leadership in collaborative service delivery, program development, community engagement, and marketing and communications. She leads our Equity Diversity and Inclusion Council, which […]

Sue Sadler

Sue Sadler, Senior Vice President Services & Program Innovation  Sue is a leader in workforce development program delivery who has dedicated her career to easing the plight of marginalized jobseekers and combatting systemic racism in hiring practices. She works with employers, industry, colleges, universities and sector councils to establish programming designed to integrate internationally educated professionals and other marginalized jobseekers into the Canadian workplace.   Sue has had progressive roles in program development at ACCES Employment since joining in 2007, and is now responsible for the design and oversight of specialized programming that helps refugees, newcomers to Canada, and other disadvantaged jobseekers […]

Aimee Holmes

Aimee Holmes, Vice President, Data Strategy & Digital Solutions  Aimee connects our business objectives to technology, allowing us to maximize our investment in technical platforms, make data-driven decisions and measure the impact of our work.   She worked in the newcomer settlement sector before joining ACCES Employment in 2012, where she held progressively responsible roles before joining the leadership team in January 2024.  She supports our success through improved access to reliable data and by ensuring that staff have the tools and training they need to perform their work in a hybrid delivery model. High quality data allows us to report on […]

Dan Wilson

Dan Wilson, Vice President Operations   Dan has more than 30 years of experience in the charitable and public sector spanning the areas of policy, strategy and evaluation. Throughout his career, he has been a champion of equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives at the grassroots and institutional level, advancing EDI through education, policy and culture.  At the Ontario Trillium Foundation, he provided research, executive advice, insight and problem-solving to the CEO as Chief of Staff. He joined ACCES Employment in 2021 as Vice President Operations, where he leads administration and procurement, provides governance and board support and is responsible for risk management.  […]

Jennifer Hall

Jennifer Hall, Vice President Human Resources  Jennifer is a proven human resources leader, leveraging more than two decades of experience  to build and maintain a workplace that leads by example in preparing people for job success.   ACCES Employment believes that supporting our clients and employers in building desirable workplaces must start with our own organization. As a result, Jennifer is focused on creating a supportive and inclusive environment and investing in our diverse workforce so that they have the skills needed to succeed.  Since she joined ACCES in 2020, Jennifer has led the HR team to create programs and practices that […]

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