Staff
Alena Ziuleva
Director
Alena is passionate about collaborative community development, which she believes is the most effective and efficient approach to the improvement of the quality of life and poverty reduction. With her wisdom and guidance, she exerts a positive influence far and wide. Alena holds a master’s degree in Social Work from McGill University.
Alexandra Laham
Project Coordinator, Housing Dossier
Communications Coordinator
Alex is committed to working and collaborating with the community to find housing solutions for the West Island. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Environment from McGill University and a master’s in Urban Planning from Université de Montréal.
Kassandra Craven-Fisher
Project Coordinator, Food Security Dossier
Kassandra loves working with people from different backgrounds and learning from their experiences to develop creative solutions to modern problems. She holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from McGill University and is currently using her love for cooking and food studies to pursue her master’s degree in sociology at Université du Québec à Montréal on the declining consumption of meat among young adults in Quebec.
Piotr Boruslawski
Housing Liaison Agent
Piotr has been working in the West Island community sector since 2017 and has wealth of knowledge and expertise in the fields of housing and communications. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Urban Planning from Concordia University.
Nat Pace
Housing Project Coordinator
Nat is passionate about social justice and implementing forward-thinking, community-based solutions to housing issues. They hold a bachelor’s degree in Geography and Cultural Studies from Wilfrid Laurier University and a master’s degree in Urban Planning from McGill University.
Roxana Stoleru
Project Coordinator, Community Health
Roxana Stoleru has been involved in supporting West Island art community for over ten years. She is also an advocate for sustainable living and she is always on the search for new ways to apply it in as many aspects of her life. Roxana has a Business Administration Degree from the Academy of Economic Studies (Bucharest, Romania) and a Master of Science degree in Environmental Assessment from McGill University.
Duncan McLachlan
Project Coordinator, Comité logement Establishment Project
Duncan is passionate about protecting and strengthening tenants’ rights. They are committed to working with the community to develop solutions to respond to the rental crisis. Duncan holds a Master of Laws from McGill University and formerly practised as a lawyer in Aotearoa (New Zealand).
Board of Directors
Isabelle-Anne Bisson, President
Co-founder of TerraHuman Solutions and Baie d’Urfé citizen
Dr. Isabelle-Anne Bisson is an expert in environmental impact and community needs assessment, helping communities and organizations achieve sustainability. Dr. Bisson has over 20 years of experience as a scientific consultant, coordinator and manager of science and conservation projects globally. She has led projects for the United States’ Department of Defense and headed a program in Uganda for a United States Agency for International Development initiative. She completed a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Science at McGill University and a Ph.D. at York University. She went on to conduct post-doctoral research at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and at Princeton University. In 2014, she co-founded and is now solely running TerraHumana Solutions (www.terrahumanasolutions.com), which offers expert services in science and sustainability. Recently, she worked closely with northern Indigenous communities on the environmental challenges they face with ongoing development and she presently works with the Mohawk communities of Kanesatake and Kahnawà:ke in Quebec on various environmental and community projects.
Daria Nardozza, Vice-President
West Island Network
Daria grew up in the West Island of Montreal (Beaconsfield) and currently resides in Vaudreuil-Dorion with her family. In 2005, she graduated with a Bachelor of Religious Education in Counselling and in 2010, she completed her M.A in Global Urban Ministry, studying the social effects of globalization and urbanization and how churches could better meet the needs of changing cities.
Daria began working part-time with the West Island Network in 2017 with a hope to see more unity among West Island churches and greater community impact through church collaboration, both with each other and the community. She has been involved with the TQSOI for a couple of years, specifically with the Poverty Reduction and Food Security Committees.
When not working, she gets to enjoy toddler life with her 4-year-old son, playing soccer and volunteering at his co-op pre-school being some of the best parts. She also enjoys all things food, running and hiking mountains with her husband Matthew.
Mark Walford, Treasurer
Roya Jaffari, Secretary
Françoise Girard, Officer
After an international career of over thirty years in the United Nations system (UNESCO), Françoise has been living in the West Island since 2016. Her experience is mainly based on project development and management as well as fundraising, and also includes communication (media, web…), publications, event organization and translation.
In addition to her participation in the TQSOI, she is a volunteer at the Fritz Garden in Baie d’Urfé (vegetable garden for food banks).
Stephanie Trenholm, Officer
Literacy Unlimited
Stephanie Trenholm is a retired ‘family medicine’ nurse. With many years of volunteer experience in the elementary and secondary public school systems, she has served consecutive terms on school governing boards and on numerous other committees, always advocating for families. She has been a Literacy Unlimited tutor for adults since 2008 and served a six year term on their board directors.
Joining the TQSOI in 2014, she represents Literacy Unlimited, advocating for adults with low literacy and the daily challenges that they face. She has also served on the TQSOI’s Social Development Committee since 2015 and participates in the TQSOI Poverty and Social Exclusion Committee. In all her volunteer work she is guided by her desire to advocate for families and to be a part of the positive change that she wants to see in our community.
Katie Hadley, Officer
Sheila Laursen, Officer
Kathleen Greenfield, Officer
Writer, editor, professor, program coordinator, and volunteer, Kathleen
has occupied frontline and administrative positions in health and social services, academia, and
in the community sector over many years. As Faculty Lecturer at McGill teaching academic and professional
communication since the late 1990s, coupled with her dual roles of Community Relations
Coordinator and Corporate Volunteer Program Coordinator at Volunteer West Island, as well as
through her extensive volunteer involvement in the community, she recognizes the crucial
importance of resource facilitation and advocacy. Throughout her remunerative and non-
remunerative work, she makes knowledge of and accessibility to resources a priority.
Kemba Mitchell, Officer