board of directors

Saquib Vali

Chair

Saquib Vali is a global business leader who breaks new ground and creates success in environments where a playbook has yet to be written.

Saquib is the co-founder of Beyond Frontiers Inc., a firm that enables successful businesses expand beyond their existing geographic strength; this could be products, services and/or concepts.

He is an Executive in Residence at Spyder Works, a Management Consulting firm that has over 25 years developed design-driven strategies to help clients move past “front burner” issues and develop clear, implementable steps into the future.

Rounding out Saquib’s current professional endeavour is his engagement as an Independent Board Director and holds the ICD.D Designation.

Saquib built his experience over a 25+ years executive career with multinational companies; starting with Ogilvy, moving to Pfizer then to P&G. His last assignment was President of Duracell Canada – a Berkshire Hathaway Company.

Mary McLean

Secretary

Mary is an accomplished executive with extensive experience in the Canadian Health Care and Medical Devices industries. A strategic leader with an accomplished track record in corporate and business excellence, change management and employee development, Mary has held a number of senior management positions, including President & General Manager of a multi-national organization. She has extensive experience in human resources, labour management, P&L stewardship and patient and health care advocacy across the spectrum of care. She currently works as an independent consultant in the Medical Devices industry.

Mary holds a Masters of Business Degree from Queen’s University and a non-practicing nursing designation. She is an Oakville resident, a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors and a volunteer with the Kidney Foundation of Canada and has previously served on the Board of Directors for V.O.N. Canada, Halton Branch and as a sitting member of the MEDEC Wound Care Committee.

Narendra Shah

Board Member

Narendra is an accomplished health care executive who has over 30 years of management experience in diverse health care settings in Ontario. He has held several senior leadership positions in a provincial addictions agency; teaching and community hospitals in Toronto and Ottawa; the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care and as the Chief Operating Officer with the Mississauga Halton LHIN for over seven years where he was responsible for planning, funding and accountability of over 80 health care providers with a budget in excess of $1.3 billion.

He is has provided leadership in health care transformation of health care to better integrate care, improve efficiency and effectiveness of the health care system. He is known for his leadership in change management, strategic partnerships, policy development, and has developed innovative solutions to resolve intractable health care system issues, governance and operational excellence.

He was Chair of the Board of Nucleus Independent Living for three years (2017-June 2020). Currently he sits on the Council of the College of Optometrists of Ontario as an appointed public member by the Ontario Cabinet. He has served on several boards including the Wellfort Community Health Services (Brampton), the United Way of Peel Region where he was Chair of its governance committee; Hospital Shared Services Inc. (Ottawa) amongst others.



Narendra received his Master’s degree in Health Management from the University of Toronto where he was the recipient of the Canadian Liquid Air Award for top standing in his graduating class. He is a member of the Canadian College of Health Leaders and holds the Certified Health Executive designation from the College.

Jaspreet Hansra-Kulasingam

Board Member

Jaspreet Hansra-Kulasingam is a seasoned finance executive with extensive experience serving both private and public companies ranging in size and complexity. Jaspreet has 15 years of real estate experience four of which have been spent working in the seniors housing industry.

Jaspreet is a passionate leader and takes a keen interest in developing & mentoring individuals. Currently as CFO of CreateTO, she is responsible for the overall financial & IT management of the company, including finance, accounting, treasury, insurance, procurement, risk management and financial planning.

She has held several senior positions throughout her career and has overseen complex projects, while effectively managing cross functional teams to deliver finance and operational efficiencies. During her time at Deloitte Jaspreet advised and assisted clients to identify and execute initiatives around corporate strategy & vision, designing & optimizing organizational structures, process improvements, controls and technology needs.

Jaspreet is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), Chartered Accountant (CA) and holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and Masters of Accounting degree from the University of Waterloo.

Mark Vytvytskyy

Board Member

Mark is driven by championing organizational transformation, creating integrated and inter-connected teams, and advancing partnerships across different sectors to enable bottom-up and lateral innovation.

In his current role, as Conservation Halton’s Chief Operating Officer, he supports a variety of business functions with the objective of bringing consistency and enabling predictability across all facets of the organization at the enterprise level. His diverse portfolio includes Operations, Flood Forecasting, Information Technology, Infrastructure, Global Information Systems, Project Management Office, Risk and Compliance, Marketing, and Innovation Hub.

For over 10 years, Mark has provided strategic and expert advice on the design and implementation of digital solutions across the Canadian healthcare sector. Mark facilitated multiple re-engineering initiatives related to the enhancement of health information systems and processes. He has also supported multiple transformation initiatives that have impacted

people and processes by ensuring that the results and impacts on the organization are both measurable and long-standing.

As a trusted member of the senior leadership and executive teams, Mark has attributed to his sound judgement, evidence-based recommendations and human-centred approach to decision-making, Mark is an impactful leader with the ability to gain clarity in ambiguous situations, maintain a strong vision, and tactfully lead teams to implement multiple strategic

initiatives in complex environments. In addition to his professional responsibilities, Mark also dedicates his time as a Board member with the Canada Ukraine Chamber of Commerce and the e-health programs for both George Brown College and McMaster University.

Garvin Linley

Board Member

Garvin is an accomplished change leader with broad experience managing organizational transformation in retail, higher education, and various levels of government.

He believes building trust is essential to supporting individuals, teams and organizations through change. “We are all stewards of change, from leadership, right through to front line employees, vendors and ultimately the customer (or consumer) – everyone is linked by the change.”

Garvin goes all-out to make the connection between an organization – its people – its product or service – and their customer a part of his DNA. Through that process the foundation of trust is established and an open transfer of knowledge and information launches us down the path of change … together.

Much like his beliefs to supporting change, Nucleus’s Mission, Vison and Values are constant and enduring. These small set of guiding principles are their connection and speak to who they are as stewards of change.

Iveta Amova

Treasurer

Iveta is a Chartered Professional Accountant with 19+ years progressive executive experience. As a senior finance professional, Iveta has holds BA degrees in Business Administration and in Applied Economics from the American University in Bulgaria (a campus of the University of Main), a Chartered Professional Accountant designation in Ontario, multiple diplomas from the McMaster Institute for Leadership Development, a Lean and Six Sigma Greenbelt for healthcare, and an executive MBA from the Rotman School of Management.

Iveta is presently employed as the Director Corporate Finance and Reporting at William Osler Health System. Prior to that Iveta was the Director of Finance at St. Joseph’s Health Centre in Toronto, and a Manager of Integrated Analytics, Decision Support at Hamilton Health Sciences. Giving back to the community holds a special purpose for Iveta, especially during these dynamic times of change in the health and social services sectors.

Nisha Walibhai

Board Member

Nisha Walibhai is a healthcare leader with strategy development and quality leadership experiences in provincial settings, community hospitals, academic settings, and home health environment. Nisha is currently leading the system leadership portfolio at Critical Care Services Ontario, with a particular focus on improving patient and family experiences, and advancing quality and safety. Prior to CCSO she led the quality and performance improvement portfolio in a community hospital with a particular focus on the cross-organizational partnerships to improve care flow and quality. 

Nisha is a compassionate improvement leader who believes in improving and sustaining quality and performance through respectful engagement and humanistic partnerships at the individual, team, and cross-organizational levels. Nisha lives with her partner and two daughters in north Burlington. Nisha holds a BScN degree from McMaster University, MHSc-HA degree from the University of Toronto, and a one-year SQIL certificate from Harvard Medical School. 

Russ Harrington

Vice-Chair

A collaborative senior executive with extensive public and private sectors experience, strategically leading corporate functions including finance, risk management, communications, human resources, information systems, legal, government relations, privacy and facilities management.

Currently, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants, a federal regulator that serves to protect the public interest by overseeing licensed immigration and citizenship consultants and international student advisors. Responsible for the day-to-day operational leadership of the Council’s operations of the organization, and leading finance and all corporate services.

Previously, the COO at the College of Early Childhood Educators a provincial regulator of more than 57,000 registrants. In this role, he was responsible for the redesign and implementation of corporate services, including strategic communications and stakeholder relations, IT transformation and financial sustainability. Additionally, the founding CFO & COO of HealthForceOntario, a provincial government agency mandated to provide health workforce solutions. This role involved leading an interprofessional care/education (IPC/E) initiative to support the provincial IPC/E Steering Committee and providing full corporate services for the establishment of five separate and independent new health regulatory colleges by leveraging the agency’s infrastructure to support them to proclamation.

Private sector experience includes executive level responsibilities at several for profit companies, and an active role on the Executive Committee of the Canadian Gift and Tableware Association, including Vice-Chair and Chair-Elect of the Board of Directors, and Chair of the Trade Show Committee.



Currently, Russ also is on the Board of the Rekai Centres, a NFP charitable corporation owning and operating two Long-Term Care Homes in downtown Toronto. He is a member of the Outreach and Partnership Committee.

Guy Belliveau

Board Member

Guy is an accomplished lawyer and corporate executive with more than 25 years of broad legal and business experience with publicly traded, multinational corporations and with a leading law firm. He obtained his Law degree and his Bachelor of Business Administration from the Université de Moncton and is a member of the Law Society of Ontario and the Law Society of New Brunswick. He is fluently bilingual in English and French.

After a successful career with a leading law firm in Atlantic Canada, Guy worked in the Aerospace industry in Montreal and Toronto and more recently for the leading wholesale distributor to the plumbing, HVAC/R, waterworks and industrial markets in Canada.

Guy understands the importance of giving back to the community in which he lives and believes in the mission, vision and values of Nucleus Independent Living.

Yves Bélanger

Board Member

Yves has rejoined the Board of Nucleus in 2019 after a 2-year hiatus. He has been involved in several Strategic Planning cycles in a 15-year span on the Board and has helped with the implementation of the current Governance structure. Yves deeply believes in the Mission of the organization and the impact it has on the community it is servicing.

Yves is a senior executive at Wolseley Canada, where he leads the transformation of its Supply Chain and is responsible for managing critical relationships between operations, supply chain, sourcing, vendors and customers. With a focus on industry leading competitive advantage, he leverages company processes to ensure relevant products are available to our customers anywhere and at any time, leads a talented supply chain team and maximizes technology for the best possible sourcing from supplier, to shelf, to customers.

Yves has accumulated nearly 30 years of retail, wholesale and manufacturing industry experience in progressive executive roles focused on supply chain management. Before joining Wolseley, Yves held executive positions with Weston Foods, West Monroe Partners, SERCA Foodservice and Loblaw Companies.

He holds a B. Eng. & M. Eng from Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal and is a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO). He is Fellow of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) and a Member of the Council of Industrial and System Engineers.

we believe that people can live well at home with appropriate support in their community