Meet our Team

Dorothy helps organizations and institutions use science and technology to solve problems. She is passionate about lending not only her voice but her hands to develop tech-based solutions that create meaningful change in our communities.

Laura brings multi-sector experience with expertise in strategy, partnerships, customer success, marketing, and public relations. She is accountable for all communications and marketing efforts at Code for Canada, while also leading external and internal innovation initiatives to help ensure the organization is continuously meeting the needs of our partners, staff, and the public. She is especially motivated to be working at the intersection of technology and the social good.

Danielle is a people & culture expert. She has successfully helped leaders grow organizations and comply with rapidly changing industry conditions. She helps create and advise creative Human Resource solutions to meet the company’s needs.

Andrew is a tri-sector athlete with a passion for tech and innovation. Before joining Code for Canada, he honed his skills in academia (international relations), government and politics, and in the private sector as a consultant and entrepreneur. In his current role, Andrew helps to grow relationships with government and community partners where civic tech could have the greatest social impact in making Canada more accessible, equitable, and inclusive.

Sanjit has worked in the private and public sector, solving complex challenges through design research, interaction design, and user interface design. Sanjit believes transforming experiences requires the best of our minds, hearts, and hands.

Umair is an engineer with an MSc in Engineering Business Management from the University of Warwick. Before joining Code for Canada, Umair headed operations for the world’s first live cricket highlights platform with 3 million monthly users. Umair enjoys working as part of a collaborative team and is rarely without a smile.

Sarah is a marketing and communications professional who has showcased the work of leading non-profits. With a background in journalism, she loves researching, interviewing and finding the best way to tell stories of impact.

Doug has a background in politics and comes to us from Ottawa, where he worked as a Data and Digital Advisor on Parliament Hill. He has a keen interest in using technology to drive social change and was a regular at Civic Tech Ottawa before joining our Toronto office.

Valerie has worked with public sector and non-profit organizations in creating in creating content for a variety of channels including web content, social media and stakeholder communications materials. She is drawn to building and engaging communities, online and in-person.

Melissa has a bachelor of science in Psychology and has been working as a human resources professional for profit and nonprofit organizations for the past 8 years. She has international experience working in different Latin American countries and now in Canada. Her passion is to understand organizations from a human-experience perspective driving into solutions that aim shared challenges. She considers the growth mindset as a key tool to develop creative transformations personal and professionally.

Russell is a product-minded software developer who has helped companies bring innovative products to market and adopt more agile approaches to development. He’s a vocal advocate for accessibility and inclusive design.

Kay is a facilitator and designer of content, experiences, conversations, and services. For more than a decade, Kay has partnered with social purpose organizations spanning the public, corporate, and non-profit sectors—including Code for Canada in 2020 when she served as a UX Fellow!

Throughout her career, Kay lights up at experiences where she can apply her passions for purpose, people, and processes to guide teams in uncovering opportunities and reimagining possibilities.

Kim has worked in the public, private, and non-profit sectors, scaling community programs, with a focus on accessibility. Kim leverages her experience in marketing, human resources, and UX program management, to bring new services to market while amplifying the voices of under-represented communities.

Anita has extensive experience driving digital transformation and organizational change management initiatives, with a strong focus on delivering "tech for good." 

She is a passionate thought leader and trusted advisor, who leverages a blend of business acumen, servant leadership and agile principles to champion transformation initiatives, managing diverse strategic and technical portfolios across the private, public, and nonprofit sectors.

Usama is an experienced UX designer coming from a freelance background. Usama is passionate about learning users pain points and their goals to design empathetic solutions. He enjoys meeting new people and rock climbing.

Ren is a commercial litigator specializing in intellectual property, defamation and new technologies. He previously served as a Google Policy Fellow and the Assistant Director of International Policy at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Charles has worked at the intersection of design, technology, and city-building, helping organizations such as MaRS Discovery District, Thomson Reuters, and IBI Group to grow and transform. He is currently the CXO at Futurpreneur Canada, and is on the board of Open CIty Network and Waterfront Toronto’s Digital Strategy Advisory Panel.

Hilda is a management consultant and has advised top global organizations on a range of topics from digital transformation to product and service design. She’s excited to help Code for Canada expand and create broader impact for citizens nationally.

Aaron is a CPA with many years experience in the automotive remarketing sector. Aaron is passionate about building organizational culture and strategy, and he’s excited to be ushering in the industry’s digital transformation.

Ria is a community builder with a passion for creating inclusive spaces. She’s helped launch and grow several communities, including Women Who Code Toronto. Her work is focused on using technology for good and solving for positive social change.

Jon is a purpose-driven leader and builder with a long track record of creating technology products, programs, teams, partnerships and businesses. In his work, he seeks out mission-driven organizations with a strong entrepreneurial culture and a growth orientation that he can support. In those organizations, he can bring both his strategy and business development skills to bear. Among other things, Jon co-founded two startups. He later built one the world's largest entrepreneurship training programs when he was at MaRS Discovery District by partnering with both private and public sector organizations.

During weekends, there's an excellent chance you will find Jon hiking or cross-country skiing, unless the weather is better suited for staying home and watching soccer and writing about entrepreneurship.

Since 2012 Nick Scott has been leading transformational change in the public sector. Most recently, he worked on a massive Life Experience Service Transformation project in the UAE. Before that, he was the Director of Innovation Services at the Government of Canada’s Digital Academy at the Canada School for Public Service. In this role, Nick led the Digital Accelerator Programme, Digital Experimentation, Digital Products, and Digital Events and Engagement teams.

Formerly, Nick worked at the Government of New Brunswick as Executive Director of Open Government and Innovation. In this role, he led Innovation and Design Services, established an Innovation Team, a collaborative workspace and a public innovation framework, facilitating initiatives addressing a wide array of public policy challenges, including mobility, literacy, second language acquisition, natural resource development, municipal reform, and child protection. Previously in his role as Executive Director of the NB Social Policy Research Network, Nick launched the GovMaker Conference to explore the theory and practice of public innovation and co-founded NouLAB; a public and social innovation lab facilitating collaborative, multi-sector problem-solving.

Nick is a part-time lecturer at the University of New Brunswick, where he teaches Science and Technology Studies, and Leadership for Social Innovation. In the Middle East, Nick has served as a jury member for the Hamdan bin Mohammed Smart Government Award at the Dubai Model Centre between 2017 - 2020

Renee is the founder and CEO of GoodBot, which envisions a healthy, adaptive, and resilient digital society where stakeholders work collaboratively to strengthen the sustainable development, deployment and governance of technology through technology governance tools and research.

Prior to GoodBot, Renee founded and led PeaceGeeks for 10 years, working at the intersection of technology, peace, and security. Renee holds a Bachelor’s (Hons) of Commerce from Dalhousie, an MA in Public and International Affairs (Hons) from the University of Ottawa, and a Certificate in Conflict Resolution from Cornell. She is a fellow of the UN Alliance of Civilizations and a winner of the 2017 Google Impact Award.

Sarah is a seasoned Director with a proven track record of using service design and digital innovation to improve processes and services. With a focus on linking creativity and user needs, Sarah has built successful teams and delivered innovative projects that make a positive impact on society.

As the Director of Service Design for the City of Edmonton, Sarah leads teams focused on Customer Experience, Service Review and Improvement, and Service Delivery and Innovation, working to ensure services are open, efficient, collaborative, progressive and community focused.

Gaby Fisch is a coach, advisor and facilitator specializing in leadership, culture, and organizational development. She brings over 20 years of experience gained through a unique combination of corporate, non-profit and tech start-up experience. 

She spent nine years in HR at CIBC, and almost six years at the MaRS Discovery District before starting her own consultancy, Move Forward. Gaby periodically holds fractional roles at tech start-ups and is an Executive-in-Residence with the Brampton Venture Zone.

Simona Ramkisson is a Toronto-based community facilitator and digital literacy educator with 15 years of experience in the community sector. As the Director of Community Development at the Wikimedia Foundation, she is dedicated to fostering an inclusive environment for contribution to the open knowledge movement and empowering individuals and communities through impactful digital literacy.

Simona focuses on supporting emerging leaders and collaborating with Canadian organizations to develop scalable, community-based digital literacy programs. She has scaled initiatives at the Mozilla Foundation and The dais (formally Brookfield Institute for Innovation+Entrepreneurship) which have driven systemic change in the digital education landscape, promoting safer online environments and uplifting historically underrepresented/alienated groups.

A graduate of the Rockwood Leadership Institute’s Transformative Facilitation and Art of Leadership program, she brings a community-centered approach to her work and advocacy. Simona also holds an Hons.BA in Criminology from York University.

Joseph is an early pioneer in leveraging digital platforms to mobilize and influence voters to take meaningful action. With his extensive campaign and public affairs experience, Joseph helps clients build authentic grassroots movements across the globe. His data-driven campaign strategies, real-time content production, digital get-out-the-vote programs create winning outcomes.

Prior to joining Crestview Strategy, Joseph served as a senior political staffer for then Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Baird before serving Prime Minister Stephen Harper as his Director of Strategic Communications. While at the Prime Minister’s Office, Joseph led a team tasked with delivering the government’s message directly to Canadians. Embracing innovative concepts from the private sector, he introduced content marketing to help make the government’s message approachable. Before that, as part of a talented team at Global Affairs Canada, Joseph conceptualized and launched Canada’s direct diplomacy efforts in Iran.

Zaid is an entrepreneur, developer, and UX designer from Waterloo, Ontario. With experience in healthcare, eCommerce, and digital marketing, Zaid joins Code for Canada excited to build great products that are accessible to all the different people that call Canada their home.

An experienced UX designer, Atefe focuses on end users' needs, empathizes with them, and is able to come up with solutions that meet their expectations.

Jesse is a digital designer and researcher, crafting systems that benefit people and enable change. They have worked with start-ups, global brands, and community groups to design impactful products.

Wesley is a UX Designer striving to make a positive impact on the digital world by co-creating with the people who occupy the physical world.

Mo previously worked in the private sector as a software engineer at 407 ETR and SAP helping build and support large scale, fault tolerant systems.

He is eager to bring those skills to the public sector to help with civic digital transformations.

Melissa is a design practitioner with experience in human-centred research and innovation methods. She holds a Master of Design from OCAD University and has worked for 15+ years in both public and private sector organizations.

She’s driven to solve meaningful problems for people and make the services we depend on work better for everybody.

Mireille’s passion for technology and product management blossomed through her experience collaborating with cross-functional teams in Telco, Fintech and IT. This exposure not only nurtured her versatility but also fuelled her enthusiasm to join the civic tech industry.

Her excitement lies in the opportunity to make a positive impact on people's lives through the digitization of government processes and the transformation of government-facing services.

With a user-centric approach at the forefront, she, with her teams, aims to change the way citizens interact with the government, making it more efficient, accessible, and tailored to their needs.

Mark has been programming since childhood and is excited at the chance to use those skills for good instead of profit.

Charlotte [she/her] is a service designer with experience in the social sector, especially co-creating services alongside people with cognitive disabilities.

She believes good services are thoughtful, efficient, inclusive, responsive to change and lead to better outcomes for all stakeholders.

Corrina is a service designer and storyteller, who brings a diverse background in business, research, and ux design to the table. She enjoys collaborating across diverse teams and facilitating the necessary conversations to untangle complex problems.

As a dedicated Quality Assurance Analyst with a passion for ensuring excellence in every aspect of project development, Isaac brings a wealth of expertise to the non-profit sector. Isaac possesses a strong background in quality assurance methodologies and a proven track record of implementing effective testing strategies.

With a focus on delivering reliable and user-friendly solutions, he ensures that our projects meet the highest standards of quality, ultimately contributing to the success of our mission

Lorraine is passionate about helping organizations solve major challenges by tapping in to creative and innovative approaches to change. She has worked with clients ranging from small non-profits to Fortune 500 companies, prioritizing creativity, care, and compassion. She excels in engaging diverse stakeholders through collaborative processes and uses systems thinking to create comprehensive, accessible solutions.

Uneeba strives to deliver meaningful, joyful, and impactful service and product experiences that effectively meet the needs of users and stakeholders alike. She brings a diverse digital perspective, with previous experience leading and managing research, design and strategy across DTC, B2B, public service and community-centric organizations. Combining a background in psychotherapy and a desire to empower a kinder future, Uneeba’s practice is rooted in empathy, human-centred, culturally responsive and trauma-informed frameworks.

Cody is a Service Designer who believes that exceptional service is the cornerstone of public trust in civic institutions. With a diverse background that includes serving in the United States Army and designing outstanding services at TELUS, Cody brings a wealth of unique experiences and perspectives to his work.

Eugene Chen has spent over a decade in senior leadership roles on technology development, collaborating with diverse teams to architect and develop complex, data-heavy systems and interactive visualizations. His public work has been shared, highlighted, and cited in media outlets like the New York Times and CBC. 

He is the Chair of the Canadian Open Data Society, a member of Canada's Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Open Government, and has multiple publications on AI in games as part of his MSc in Computer Science from late 2023.

Daniel is a biomedical engineer and data analytics consultant. He has worked with the Government of Manitoba to design a digital tool to assess healthcare needs in remote communities.

Raluca is a seasoned UX designer. She has worked in digital innovation for over 12 years with clients in a wide range of sectors including finance, education and healthcare.

Christine has a unique background in digital product management, development, and finance. An advocate for lifelong learning, she volunteers at tech community workshops and has taught product management courses.

Originally from France and having lived in London and Singapore, Sophie moved to Toronto four years ago. She has a background in finance but her passion for helping people and a desire to be creative led her to UX Design.

Santiago is a software engineer and machine-learning enthusiast who believes in the power of technology to change people’s lives. He has worked for startups and well-established companies in both Canada and Europe.

Jennifer is a committed design researcher with an MSc in human-computer interaction. She has run user research studies for clients ranging from American Express to the United Nations, where she worked on a tool to help UN analysts query social media data.

Andee is a UX designer and consultant with a focus on social innovation and participatory design. She blends her design practice with a strong social conscience and has worked on challenges ranging from blockchain applications to housing and reconciliation.

Fatima is a software engineer and civic hacker who’s worked inside and outside of government. Her adventures in civic tech have taken her from the U.S. to Canada, and she’s worked for clients like Microsoft, the City of Boston and Digital Echidna.

Andrew is a startup founder, technical product marketer, and freelance developer. He believes great products flow from environments that allow people to share, explore, and be transformed by new perspectives and beliefs.

Pallavi is a User Experience Designer dedicated to inclusive and equitable design. She has worked with start-ups, social innovation hubs and community-run arts organizations to build accessible and empowering products.

Evan has worked with Fortune 500 companies, research labs, startups, and non-profits to help them build everything from real-time spam detection systems to interactive data visualization tools.

Siobhan has delivered digital products for companies and non-profits across Canada’s broadcasting, music, and technology sectors. With a background in communications, she brings an interdisciplinary lens to her product work.

Joey is a “sales-guru turned designer” with a background in patient and client care. Through her design practice, she has crafted product solutions for small businesses, start-ups, and non-profit organizations.

Caley comes from Code.org where she built open source software tools to increase access to computer science education worldwide. She is an active participant in communities that work to make the software field more inclusive and diverse.

Andrea has 20 years of experience in digital services. She’s been a senior designer at LexisNexis, and has led innovation teams at major companies.

Mike is a software and web developer with a background in entertainment and broadcast production. He believes the best digital products are ones that not only meet people’s needs, but also help improve their quality of life.

Ayisha built innovative digital products at Postmedia, one of Canada’s largest media companies. She’s also a regular contributor to Pakathon, a civic hackathon focused on building solutions to help residents in Pakistan.

Sabrina is an interdisciplinary designer who has worked with municipalities like Vancouver and Dublin to reimagine public and social services.

Russell is a product-minded software developer who has helped companies bring innovative products to market and adopt more agile approaches to development. He’s a vocal advocate for accessibility and inclusive design.

Lequanne is the founder of digital publica, a tech consultancy which creates digital skills programming and experiences for communities. She is also an advisor on the Government of Ontario’s Data Strategy.

Roan uses design to build a more compassionate and inclusive world. They have worked with health initiatives, governments and participatory democracy organizations to co-create services that help people connect with communities.

Ivan is a software engineer and project manager with experience in the private and public sectors, having worked for the Government of Manitoba and the U.S. Department of Justice in Ukraine.

Glennys is a partnership manager, researcher and strategic communicator working at the intersection of digital technology and impact — both here in Canada and abroad.

Rosemarie Gresham is a UX designer with experience delivering products for local cultural organizations, start ups, and global companies.

Adam comes to software development via a graduate degree in philosophy, and has worked with multiple companies to build highly accessible and frictionless front-end products.

Jude is a UX designer and the founder of Loo, an app that helps users locate accessible public toilets in their city. He has worked with innovation labs and entrepreneurial fellowships across Canada.

Jared is a product manager whose strength is delivering complex digital initiatives. He also has experience as a business analyst with the governments of Ontario and Canada.

David is an accomplished freelance developer who specializes in learning new technical tools on the fly, and delivering solutions centered around a client’s workflow.

Alexandre is a web developer and agile coach who looks forward to helping Transport Canada make the most of their decision to embrace agile practices.

Keith came to product management during his time with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, where his team worked to prevent cyber crime and fraud.

Kay’s expertise in design come from a decade of creating human-centred work for clients in government, non-profits, and the education sector.

Noor is a software developer who prizes data-driven decision making. He believes in using empathy to help his clients create valuable products for users.

Jasper is a product manager who specializes in leading public agencies through digital transformation. He has worked with all levels of government in Canada and the United States.

Ramis is a UX designer and entrepreneur. He specializes in working with stakeholders and product teams to create thoughtful interfaces, both digital and off-screen.

Seyi is a Product Manager with a design background. He is an entrepreneur and founder of several media and tech startups.

Rola is a UX designer with experience working on cross-functional teams to improve accessibility and establish UX best practices.

Zola has worked as a web developer at Lighthouse Labs, where he was also a mentor. He is keen to use data to improve life for Canadians.

Ian is a full-stack developer with experience working on agile software teams. He’s passionate about web accessibility and has created courses on the topic for Learning Lions, a non-profit that provides IT skills to youth in Kenya. As a fellow at the CER, he’s looking forward to using his skills to help more — and more diverse — voices be included in the national energy conversation.

Gillian has worked in design and UX across startups, enterprise firms and agencies. She loves mentoring new designers and also volunteers with UnitedWomxn, a platform that amplifies the voices of youth and womxn in the Greater Toronto Area. As a fellow at the CER, she’s excited to use her design experience to make a positive impact for Canadians, and to help modernize existing processes within government.

Malik has been a product manager and consultant for a number of digital companies and startups, and is also the co-founder of Dextra Innovations, a not-for-profit that develops prostheses for refugees. He’s excited to work at the scale of government, and wants to help the CER connect with stakeholders, so they can make better decisions about energy projects and the environment.

Sidra Mahmood is a self-taught UX/UI designer and web developer. She spent the previous three years leading product design for the City of Toronto’s open data portal, and also helped co-create the city’s Open Data Master Plan. Some of her previous clients include Planned Parenthood, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, and The Hospital for Sick Children. As a fellow at ESDC, she’s looking forward to using data-driven design practices to improve usability for residents and public servants.

Dena is a product manager with a background in e-learning; she’s worked for a variety of digital teaching and coaching companies, and was the founder of the BrightMinds Online School. She’s excited to join ESDC at a moment when the COVID-19 pandemic is increasing demand for their services and creating new challenges and opportunities for virtual benefit delivery. She’s a regular contributor to Product South, and uses her volunteer time to organize food and clothing drives in her community.

Regan is a full-stack developer who’s coded everything from consumer-facing apps to the systems that power autonomous farming technology. He’s always looking for opportunities to use his skills for good; he worked with Data for Good Regina on a project in support of the United Way and helped teach coding at ComIT, a charity that helps people find careers in digital. As a fellow at ESDC, he says he’s hoping to “help realize the idea of the government being a leader in the tech space.”

Farwa specializes in creating digital solutions and digital spaces for marginalized communities. She uses anti-racist and anti-oppressive practices in her work, and has helped launch products for non-profits and independent media companies. She is excited to join ESDC and build seamless services that benefit a vast number of Canadians. When she’s not steering digital product development, you can find Farwa volunteering with Sanchari.Can, a community group encouraging women of colour to explore the outdoors.

Neil is a software and UX developer with extensive experience working on internal digital projects for the federal government, including most recently at Statistics Canada. He says the fellowship is “an amazing opportunity to develop a product that will be delivered directly to Canadians.” He’s been a regular participant at Random Hacks of Kindness in Ottawa, and is particularly passionate about building digital services that are fully accessible and easy to use for everyone.

Thomas is a UX designer and composer, with experience working on independent documentaries and inside design agencies. He says he’s thrilled to be a Code for Canada fellow at ESDC because “the subject matter is fascinating and the stakes are high.” He believes it’s possible for residents to receive support from government “in a quick, simple way” and is looking forward to helping his government partners realize that vision.

A UX designer and HR professional, Christina has honed her product design skills in both the private and public sectors. She was a talent management consultant at WSIB and a product designer at tilr, an algorithmic hiring startup. As a fellow, she’s eager to learn more about the experience of outgoing Canadian Forces’ members, and excited to create a solution that meets their diverse needs.

Julie McClement is a UX Designer with experience on various civic tech projects.

Maddy has worked for established tech giants to small startups, and across engineering, product, and marketing teams. When building technology products, she strives to foster empathy for both users and peers.

Peter spent the past five years at RBC in an assortment of data-related roles before joining Code for Canada as a Civic Data Engineer on the MOVE project. He's passionate about urban planning, transportation issues, cycling, and improving cities through data-driven decisions.

Leon is a Toronto-based developer and has worked on web projects with clients like the University of Toronto, The Globe and Mail, Sustainability Solutions Group and Influitive.

Selenga is an experienced front end developer with a focus on coding and programming. She lives in Vancouver, BC and enjoys using her skills to contribute to the exciting technological advances. Outside of the work, she enjoys doing yoga and hiking with her dog Rocket , who stares at her for another walk

Kanakamma manages QA test deliverables and artifacts. She is also responsible for QA test planning, and performing end-to-end QA testing of applications.

Alex is a full-stack developer with extensive experience working with users to improve web applications to a desired working state to build on user adoption. He's passionate about working with new development technologies, being given unique development problems to solve, and backcountry camping to clear his head.

A computer scientist and entrepreneur, Heshan has led product strategy for services ranging from search engines to machine vision tools and real-time transportation management. He’s been the CTO at a number of startups, and is the founder of Hyfer Technologies, a successful software development firm based in Toronto. As a former member of the Canadian Forces and Royal Canadian Navy, he says the chance to build products that help his fellow veterans is “an absolute honour.”

Korhan is a software engineer and full-stack developer with extensive experience in the digital gaming industry. He’s an avid hackathon participant, and enjoys any opportunity to use his technical skills to make a positive impact in people’s lives. He’s excited to join the team at CAF TG and build something that helps veterans successfully re-integrate into Canadian society.

Nikki has a background in front-end development and UX/UI Design. His methodology is to challenge ideas and turns intangible thoughts into visual realities. In addition, He strives to create unique designs with the user's experience always in mind.

Craig is fluent in all modern programming languages and looks for environments to bring ideas to screen.

After graduating from the Ivey Business School, Jeremy entered the tech industry where he is passionate about driving change. He believes in working collaboratively to execute a successful product vision.

Nis is a product and experience designer who has maintained a 15+ year career focusing on tech-for-good initiatives in both the public and private sectors. A few of his prior projects include a state-wide online curriculum platform for schools, a digitally enhanced physical activity platform for community playgrounds, and a tablet-based learn-to-read initiative for children.

Teslim is a product manager with a strong business analysis and project management background. He works closely with cross-functional teams on product design, and quality assurance on product and process improvements.

Saba is an ex-teacher/graphic designer who has found her new career path in the UX world.

Alrick brings more than 20 years of experience in the public and private sectors leading strategic change initiatives across the domains of people, process and technology.

Alrick is educated in both business and public administration, as well as, being certified in PROSCI Change Management (ADKAR) and is a Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt. Alrick also carries certifications in organizational design and digital transformation

Dwayne has been designing and developing software since 1981. From legacy business applications to modern multi-platform technologies, he is passionate about building and improving processes to make systems work like they should. He is excited to be sharing his experiences with Code for Canada.

As a Product Manager, Annie has learned to situate herself and her work in the intersection of design, technology and business. She thrives on solving problems and bridging business goals through data analytics, empathy and business strategy.