STAFF
Matthew Mendelsohn, Director |
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Matthew grew up in Montreal and comes from a long line of peddlers. He now peddles evidence-based policy ideas – particularly those designed to strengthen Ontario in Canada and transform how governments deliver public goods. Matthew founded the Mowat Centre at the School of Public Policy & Governance in 2009. It delivers research-driven recommendations on Canada’s most challenging policy problems and serves as Ontario’s independent voice on public policy. From 2004-2009, Matthew served as a Deputy Minister in the Ontario government where he held responsibility for Intergovernmental Affairs, the Democratic Renewal Secretariat, and the Office of International Relations and Protocol. He also served as Associate Secretary to the Cabinet in Cabinet Office. Matthew spent 10 years as a member of the Political Studies Department at Queen’s University and served as the Director of the Canadian Opinion Research Archive. From 1996-1998, Matthew was a senior advisor in the Privy Council Office in Ottawa. Matthew received his B.A. from McGill University and Ph.D. from the l’Université de Montréal, and held a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of British Columbia. He has travelled across Canada several times by motorcycle and believes that Canada is home to some of the world’s great cities. He still misses snowboarding outside Vancouver and the Montreal Expos. An active volunteer for many not-for-profit organizations, Matthew is currently on committees and boards for Civix, the Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance, l’Idée fédérale, Serve! and the United Way of Greater Toronto. Matthew believes that governments will do the right thing most of the time. He lives in downtown Toronto with his wife and two young sons – who always remind him to try to do the right thing as well.
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Sunil Johal, Policy Director |
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Sunil comes to the Mowat Centre after holding a variety of senior policy positions within the Ontario Public Service. Most recently, Sunil was a Director with Ontario’s Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation, where he played an instrumental role in leading the government's efforts to modernize its regulatory environment and forge a more productive relationship with the business community. Prior to that, he spent two years as a Senior Policy Advisor with Cabinet Office, where he provided strategic advice on a range of education and social policy issues to the Premier and Cabinet. Sunil has also held senior management and policy roles in the Ontario Public Service at the Ministries of Finance and Intergovernmental Affairs. He joined the federal Treasury Board Secretariat through the Recruitment of Policy Leaders initiative in 2003, where he advised Cabinet Ministers on marketplace policy issues before being seconded to work on the Gomery Commission. He subsequently served as a Senior Policy Advisor at the Department of Canadian Heritage focusing on social cohesion and youth at risk. Sunil holds an LLM from the London School of Economics, an LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School and an Honours BA from the University of Western Ontario. He has been a lecturer with Ryerson University’s Politics and Public Administration Department since 2009.
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Katherine Chan, Economist |
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Katherine joins the Economics team at the Mowat Centre with a deep interest in economic policy and quantitative research. Katherine’s past work experience includes working as a researcher for the Ministry of Finance, the Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity, and the City of Toronto – where she performed statistical analyses on public policy issues such as productivity, taxation and income security. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Economics for Management Studies from the University of Toronto and has just recently completed her Masters in Public Policy at the University of Toronto’s School of Public Policy and Governance.
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Nevena Dragicevic, Policy Associate |
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Nevena comes to Mowat after a long journey of self-discovery. After obtaining her Bachelor of Commerce degree from Ryerson, Nevena spent two years trying her hand at not-for-profit marketing before deciding to pursue her dreams of becoming a mid-level bureaucrat. Putting her french-immersion education to good use, she enrolled in a bilingual Master's program in Public and International Affairs at York University. Along the way, she worked as a junior editor at Global Brief and focused her research on economic development and multilateral treaty negotiation. After graduating, Nevena achieved her dreams, serving as a policy analyst in the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Employment, where she focused on developing the new Solutions Lab with MaRS, modernizing Ontario's Regulatory Registry and forging better relationships with the small business sector. Nevena also volunteers as a researcher at the Ontario School of Social Enterprise.
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Andrew Galley, Research Associate |
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Andrew Galley’s research interests include Canadian immigration and citizenship, health care policy and personal health narratives, and combining ethnographic and geographic research methods. He has worked with several government and third-sector institutions in Ontario, including the Natural Health Products Directorate of Health Canada, the Maytree Foundation, and the City of Toronto, where he was recently a Toronto Urban Fellow. He holds a doctorate in Anthropology from McMaster University, a Master’s degree in Medical Anthropology from the University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Sciences in Biology and Anthropology, also from the University of Toronto.
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Jennifer Gold, Senior Policy Associate - Transformation |
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Jennifer holds a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. Prior to moving to Canada last year, she worked at the Institute for Government in the UK, where her research focused on public sector transparency and reform. She has also previously worked at the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office and was a Visiting Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in 2009. Jennifer currently leads the Mowat Centre’s government transformation research stream.
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Bradley Kulay, Administrative Assistant |
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Bradley comes to the Mowat Centre after spending 15 years in the Not-for-Profits Arts & Cultural sector. A graduate of the University of Toronto Arts Management Degree program, he has had the honour of working as an Artistic Programmer for Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre, and for the University of Toronto Scarborough’s Arts & Events Programming Office. Bradley has had a lifelong engagement with the performing arts; acting and directing in amateur theatre and film since the age of 15. Originally from Edmonton, Bradley also spent five years living, working and performing in Edinburgh, Scotland. Working with C Venues, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Bradley became a Senior Manager of Operations, and their inaugural Special Events Programmer & Producer. For over three years he was a percussionist with the Edinburgh School of Samba, and a prolific bedroom DJ. Living in Toronto since 2006, he is proud to call this city his home.
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Elizabeth McIsaac, Executive Lead, Not-for-Profit Policy |
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An accomplished senior level executive leader in the not-for-profit sector, Elizabeth brings significant research and executive experience with her to this position. She has worked in the not-for-profit sector in various capacities since 1995. Most recently she served as the Executive Director of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC), a multi-stakeholder collaboration that identifies and implements solutions leading to meaningful employment for skilled immigrants. Prior to her role at TRIEC, Elizabeth held a variety of positions at The Maytree Foundation, including playing an instrumental role in the development of TRIEC and as Director of Policy. Elizabeth has also served as Executive Director of the Association of International Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, worked in direct service provision to immigrant and refugee communities and held various research and teaching roles.
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Melissa Molson, Policy Liaison |
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Prior to joining the Mowat Centre, Melissa was a policy analyst in the Ontario government at the Ministry of Intergovernmental Affairs, where she worked on the fiscal imbalance file. She has traveled extensively throughout India, China, and Southeast Asia, as well as spending four years living and working in Taiwan. She was born and raised in Toronto and also speaks Mandarin. Melissa studied international relations, politics and history at the University of Toronto.
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Carrie Moody, Not-for-Profit Policy Associate |
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Carrie is passionate about community engagement and active citizenship. She comes to the Mowat Centre with a decade of not-for-profit experience in Ontario, where she worked in community development, front-line service delivery, and in government. Before joining Mowat, Carrie was a voluntarism consultant with the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration’s Voluntary Sector Relations Unit. She completed her Master of Public Policy and Administration at Ryerson University. Carrie is driven to provide impactful research that can help strengthen the relationship between government and the not-for-profit sector, as well as research that enhances accountability structures and horizontal governance. Carrie lives in east end Toronto with her daughter and husband.
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Pam Nowina, Executive Lead, Energy Policy |
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Pamela Nowina has extensive corporate and public sector leadership experience in Ontario’s electricity and natural gas industries. Pam has been involved in Ontario’s energy sector since she graduated from university decades ago. Pam currently sits on the Board of the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) and on the advisory board of Sky Energy Consulting. Pam retired from the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) in March 2010. She held the position of Vice-Chair from 2005 until 2010. At the OEB, Pam adjudicated many of the OEB’s most significant cases. She also had a key role in developing many of the Board’s policies. As Chair of the OEB’s Infrastructure Committee, she was responsible for overseeing policy research and development for transmission and generation regulatory policies. Pam enjoyed serving on the Executive Steering Committee of the Ontario Market Forum, an independent policy initiative sponsored by the Independent Electricity System Operator. She has provided strategic consulting services to executives and boards through Elenchus Research Associates, and earlier as a partner with IBM Business Consulting Services and and as a partner in PricewaterhouseCooper’s Energy Practice where she was responsible for the Energy Strategy Practice for Canada. Pam is an active member of her community and has served as Chair of the Board of Nazareth House, a shelter for women and babies and as a director with St. Elizabeth Healthcare Foundation. Pam currently sits on the board of St. Joseph’s Health Centre. In Pam’s spare time she writes, draws, sails (well, her husband, Richard, sails and she comes along), and tries to keep track of the lives of her daughter, two sons, three step-sons, granddaughter and five grandsons. Pam has a Bachelor of Computer Science degree from the University of Windsor and an MBA from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. She also holds the ICD.D (Rotman) and the A.C.C. (McMaster) designations for corporate directors.
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Matthias Oschinski, Lead Economist |
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Matthias is an economist with a passion for philosophy, which can probably be explained by his German origins. He holds a PhD in economics from Johannes Gutenberg-University in Mainz, Germany, and a Masters degree from Oxford, UK. During his time in academia he focused mainly on global macroeconomics and international development. As a faculty member at Johannes Gutenberg-University and the University of Applied Sciences in Mainz, Germany, he taught courses in macroeconomics, microeconomics, globalization, international trade, and environmental economics. From 2009 to 2010 he participated in a study on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in maritime shipping for the German federal government. Matthias has lived and worked in Germany, the UK, India, and Canada. Prior to joining the Mowat Centre he conducted in-depth research on Canada’s economy at the Ontario Ministry of Finance. Though a proud Bavarian, Matthias stopped wearing Lederhosen at the age of twelve.
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Stella Park, Not-for-Profit Project Manager, Research Associate |
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Stella is passionate about community development and loves combining her research, teaching and project management skills to address social issues. At the Mowat Centre, she is designing a survey to research about the human capital renewal strategy in the not-for-profit sector. Before joining the Mowat team, Stella worked in the Toronto Immigrant Employment Data Initiative (TIEDI) project at York University where she provided statistical analysis, report development and knowledge mobilization on immigrant labour market issues to over 800 stakeholders in the not-for-profit, government and educational sectors. Stella's research has been published in the Canadian Review of Social Policy, Canadian Journal on Aging, Toronto Star and Toronto Immigrant Employment Data Initiatives (TIEDI)'s Analytical Reports. Stella completed her MA in Sociology and coursework toward her PhD at the University of Toronto. When not conducting research, Stella enjoys volunteering in her community, kayaking around the Toronto Islands or going camping across Canada.
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Laura Rosen Cohen, Communications Specialist (Media & Events) |
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Laura first started writing professionally after finishing a degree in history and English at the University of Toronto. She studied French in Aix-En-Provence, Hebrew in Jerusalem and more recently and perhaps most exotically, belly dancing at Hart House on campus here at U of T. Her work has been published in The Jerusalem Post, National Post, The Toronto Star and The Globe & Mail among others. She loves the art of the pitch, clear writing and finding ways of mixing business and pleasure that are fiscally responsible (pretty easy) and age appropriate (not so much). Laura lives in Toronto with her husband and three kids, one of whom has special needs. Her writing tends to focus on disability issues in children, politics, history and current affairs. She has no pets because it’s too sad when they die, and no plants because she kills them. Fortunately, she seems to do well with her kids, and they are all thriving! Recently she got back together with the bass guitar after a long, ugly break up, and is currently looking for jamming buddies based in suburban Toronto.
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Jill Shirey, Project Manager |
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Jill brings a decade of international experience in both research and program development work to the Mowat Centre. Most recently, she managed economic growth programs in India, Ghana, and Tanzania for the International Growth Centre at the London School of Economics. She has also worked for the Sri Lanka/India office of the American Center for International Labor Solidarity. Her research includes work on multi-level governance in the Indian microfinance sector as well as a Fulbright Fellowship to Sri Lanka, where she designed and implemented research on the garment industry. Jill holds a MPA in Public and Economic Policy from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Sociology from Bowdoin College.
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Reuven Shlozberg, Policy Associate |
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Reuven is enjoying life outside the ivory tower after too many years completing university degrees at the University of Toronto (Ph.D. in political theory; M.A. in political science) and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (B.A. in political science and communication). He has taught U.S. politics at the University of Toronto and Political Theory at Wilfrid Laurier University. At Mowat he specializes in collaboration in the Great Lakes region, special projects, tongue-in-cheek office humor, and vegetable-heavy lunches. In his spare time Reuven enjoys movies, music, books, soccer, long urban hikes, and fantasy hockey. He speaks English, Hebrew, and Russian. He holds citizenships from North America (Canada) and Asia (Israel), and is going after an EU one for the trifecta.
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Elaine Stam, Senior Digital Communications Specialist |
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Elaine is Mowat's one-stop art department. She creates all of the designs for Mowat's publications, websites and ensures all of Mowat Centre's material is communicating consistent branding. Elaine previously worked at a national media company and has been designing and developing for over 10 years.
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Alice Sweitzer, Research Associate |
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Alice has a BA in International Development from McGill University and will be pursuing a Master's in Urban Policy and Planning in Fall 2013. Prior to joining Mowat, Alice worked at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and interned at the US Consulate in Montreal.
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Serene Tan, Policy Associate |
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Serene was born in Singapore, and grew up in both Singapore and Hong Kong. She credits her experience in these major cities for her resultant research interests in urban geography and globalities. She is fascinated with diasporas and related issues, such as cultural networks and (inter)national identities. Further academic interests include postcolonial theory and social justice. She occasionally teaches courses in Urban Studies, Geography, and interdisciplinary Social Sciences at York University and the University of Toronto. Serene received her Bachelors and Masters (Social Sciences) from the National University of Singapore, and is on the verge of completing her PhD in Geography at York University. She currently resides in the attic of a large house in downtown Toronto with her husband (also a geographer) and their cat (not a geographer).
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Noah Zon, Senior Policy Associate - Intergovernmental |
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Noah joins the Mowat Centre after five years in the Ontario government, where he worked on a wide range of policy files. Most recently, Noah was a Senior Intergovernmental Affairs Specialist with the Ministry of Intergovernmental Affairs in Cabinet Office, working on Canadian intergovernmental relations. Noah returned to Toronto after studying at McGill University in Montreal (BA in political science and international development studies) and the U.K. (Masters degree in global politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science), and now lives in the east end. Noah leads Mowat's intergovernmental research stream. |
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