Board members
Adele Imrie
Chair
Adele Imrie brings extensive experience in public/private partnership (P3) infrastructure, commercial real estate and renewable energy investments as a senior finance executive with an entrepreneurial real estate company. Adele also has significant board experience, having served as chair and audit committee chair for several large not-for-profit organizations in the education and health care sectors. Adele is a CPA CA.
Joe Cressy
Vice-Chair
As Senior Vice-President, External Relations, Communications and Real Estate Development, Joe Cressy advances George Brown College’s unique role in serving local communities, promoting regional economic opportunities, and engaging in partnerships that benefit students, industry, and the greater community. He also leads investment in new facilities and infrastructure that enhances learning opportunities, promotes career-oriented education and job creation, and strengthens community and corporate collaboration.
Joe joined the college in 2022, and his portfolio includes Marketing, Communications, Government Relations and the Strategic Partnerships Office, as well as a team dedicated to real estate development projects and initiatives. In previous senior leadership roles and through other experiences in the nonprofit and public sectors, Joe has proven himself as a values-driven and effective leader.
Between 2014 and 2022, Joe served two terms as Toronto City Councillor for Spadina-Fort York, where he championed investments to create a more livable city, including affordable housing and childcare, public transportation, bike lanes, and efforts to combat the city’s overdose crisis. He also served as Chair of the Toronto Board of Health — the largest public health unit in Canada — during the COVID-19 pandemic, working to ensure the city’s response was comprehensive, equitable and effective. He was also a member of the Toronto COVID-19 Strategic Command Team and Immunization Task Force. During his time on council, Joe contributed to other vital city organizations as a member of the City of Toronto's Economic and Community Development Committee, the Waterfront Toronto Board of Directors, and the Art Gallery of Ontario Board of Governors.
And Joe brings a wealth of experience in the nonprofit sector to his role at George Brown. He led literacy programs in fly-in indigenous communities in Northern Ontario with Frontier College, worked on the frontlines of the fight against HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, served as the Director of Campaigns and Community Outreach with the Stephen Lewis Foundation, and led national campaigns for the Ottawa-based Polaris Institute.
Joe earned a Bachelor of Public Affairs and Policy Management from Carleton University.
John Campbell
Director
John F. Campbell was reappointed to the Toronto Community Housing Board as a Director on May 16, 2021 for a two -year term. John served as Toronto City Councillor from 2014 to 2018. During his term of office, he served on the Budget Committee, the Planning and Growth Management Committee and the Board of the TTC. Previously, he was elected as a Toronto District School Board Trustee (2003) and Chair (2008-09) during two terms. As school board chair, he led 22 trustees in setting priorities and policy, and in managing a $2.3 billion budget. For 30 years, John worked in the consumer packaged goods industry, most recently as managing director of his own sales agency. John earned his MBA from the Schulich School of business in 1999.
Marcel Charlebois
Tenant Director
Marcel Charlebois belongs to the Ojibway First Nations and has lived and worked in Toronto for approximately 25 years. He has been involved in many roles within social services, such as developing a community watch program with a focus on domestic violence. He has worked in the addictions field and has experience in working with homeless individuals. He has volunteered with sentencing circles within the Native community and worked with Bereaved Families Ontario with the focus of suicide loss. Marcel is currently volunteering as a Tenant Rep within TCHC.
Debbie Douglas
Director
Debbie is an Executive Director of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants. Through her work in the NGO sector and particularly at the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, Ms. Douglas has highlighted issues of equity and inclusion including race, gender and sexual orientation within the immigration system and promoted the creation of safe, welcoming spaces within the settlement and integration sector. She was also a member of the provinces' Expert Panel on Immigration and Income Security Reform Working Group.
Ubah Farah
Tenant Director
Ubah was re-appointed for a two-year term as a Tenant Director on March 10, 2021. Ubah has more than two decades of experience in organizational development, project management and creative leadership. Her experience encompasses community advocacy, policy analysis, operations management, financial management, facilitation and public speaking. She has a diploma in Community Work from George Brown College and a degree in Social Work from York University. Ubah is a passionate housing worker and a leader in intervention and high-level civic engagement, and she has built strong relationships with Somali-Canadian and Muslim diaspora leaders in order to help members of these communities to better their lives.
Ziva Ferreira
Tenant Director
Ziva Ferreira is passionate about making the vibrant communities of TCHC a better place for our tenants. She is an effective leader with experience working with diverse community stakeholders, managing multiple projects and leading diverse teams. In combination with her professional experience, Ziva’s knowledge of cultural and politically-relevant resources to support marginalized groups in social housing by using an anti-oppressive framework makes her a great addition to the Board.
Paula Fletcher
Director
In December 2018, Councillor Paula Fletcher was appointed to serve a two-year term on Toronto Community Housing Corporation's Board of Directors.
First elected to Toronto city council in 2003, Paula Fletcher represents the newly created Ward 14, Toronto-Danforth. On city-wide issues, Councillor Fletcher has focused on creating a healthy city through her involvement in housing, public health, recreation, environment and community development issues.
As a local Councillor, Paula has worked with the real estate development industry, Toronto Community Housing and with local community organizations to provide a range of housing solutions in Toronto-Danforth, including Toronto Community Housing's first revitalization at Don Mount (now Rivertowne). She helped spearhead the establishment of the Red Door Shelter as part of the Harhay Condo Development on Booth Avenue – a first in Canada, as well as Toronto's first children's hospice, the Philip Aziz Centre, on the Bridgepoint Hospital campus.
Her priority is to nurture safe and successful communities for tenants living in Toronto Community Housing. Alongside tenants she fought to stop the sell-off of mixed housing in TCH communities and for community safety initiatives related to guns and gangs.
Councillor Fletcher is also on the Board of CreateTO, the City of Toronto's Real Estate Corporation, to work to address the City's current housing affordability crisis through expanding affordable housing options.
Nick Macrae
Director
Nick is the Senior Vice President, Head of Investments at Woodbourne Capital Management where he is responsible for the firm's investment activities and is a member of the senior leadership team. Prior to Woodbourne, Nick was the Co-Head of Global Real Estate (Acting) and Senior Portfolio Manager, Real Estate at the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP), a major Canadian pension plan with +$100 billion in net assets and a +$16 billion global real estate portfolio. Prior to HOOPP, Nick worked at Brookfield Financial within Brookfield Asset Management and Avison Young. Nick has earned degrees from the University of Toronto and Queen's University, and sits on several non-profit boards of directors and committees.
Naram Mansour
Director
Naram Mansour was appointed to the Board on March 10, 2021 for a two-year term. He is the Founder and President of Carlyle Communities, an active city builder with developments representing a gross build out value of $1.3 billion comprised of more than 2,000 residential units and 150,000 square feet of commercial space. Naram is also a sessional lecturer at the Schulich School of Business, where he lectures on the topic of real estate development. He earned Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Business Administration degrees from the Schulich School of Business, York University.
Jamaal Myers
Director
Jamaal Myers was elected as the councillor for Ward 23, Scarborough North on October 24, 2022.
Jamaal was born and raised in Scarborough and regularly takes the TTC to get around his community. Having grown up in Toronto Community Housing, from a young age he understood education as a key to upward mobility and the importance of properly funded public services.
With the love and support of his family, access to strong public schools, loans, scholarships and summer jobs, including three summers cleaning trains at the TTC, he earned degrees from the University of Western Ontario, the London School of Economics and New York University School of Law.
After graduating from NYU, he worked in New York City as a corporate lawyer at two global law firms before returning to Scarborough in 2018. For over a year, he volunteered as a community organizer and worked with residents and community groups to improve access to health care, transit, affordable housing and good jobs.
Prior to being elected, Jamaal served as a senior lawyer at the Toronto-Dominion Bank where he worked on challenging Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) matters including preparing for a changing climate, protecting human rights and corporate governance. He also served as Vice Chair of TAIBU Community Health Center, a director with the Scarborough Business Association and a member of the Community Police Liaison Committee for 42 Division.
Jamaal is focused on improving the quality of life, safety and affordability of neighbourhoods for residents in his beloved community of Scarborough North.
Brian F.C. Smith
Director
Brian F. C. Smith was the President and Chief Executive Officer of WoodGreen Community Services from 1978 to 2014. He served as a member of the Mayor's Task Force on Toronto Community Housing Corporation, on the Ontario Expert Advisory Panel on Homelessness and on the Consumer Council of Canada's Residential Intensification Panel Report. Brian has a Bachelor of Arts from Bishop's University, a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from Trinity College, a Master of Business Administration from Western University and a Non-profit Certificate from the Institute of Corporate Directors. He has also received Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association's Sybil Frenette Outstanding Leadership Award, the Canadian Urban Institute City Leadership Award and is a Past President of Home Ownership Alternatives and International Federation of Settlements.
Anthony Perruzza
Director
Anthony Perruzza immigrated to Canada at age nine. His mother did factory shift work, and his father was a carpenter. Humber River-Black Creek is his lifelong home and where he’s raising his family.
An experienced representative, Councillor Perruzza was a Trustee in the Metro Toronto Separate School Board (1985-88), a North York Councillor (1988-90), and a Member of Provincial Parliament (1990-95). He served as the Toronto City Councillor of Ward 8 from 2006 until 2018, when he was elected to serve the new mega-Ward 7.
Re-elected as City Councillor for Ward 7 in 2022, Anthony Perruzza has dedicated his life to serving Humber River-Black Creek. His extensive involvement in the community includes being a member of Toronto’s Etobicoke & York Community Council, the Infrastructure & Environment Committee, the Exhibition Place Board of Governors, and an Executive Member of the Toronto & Region Conservation Authority.
After decades of leadership, Anthony Perruzza brings invaluable experience and grassroots knowledge to the Councillor’s office. He is a strong and reliable voice for affordability, accessible services, equity, and the environment.
Anthony has worked hard to enhance playgrounds and rebuild roads and sewers. He supported the subway extension to Vaughan to connect people across the city and get them where they needed to go. Through his work as the Poverty Reduction Advocate, Anthony always advocated for more local jobs and opportunities for youth. He has also fought for more seniors to receive property tax and utility bill rebates. Anthony has helped repair and upgrade rental housing for years and organized park cleanups, tree plantings, and toy drives for families. Through Anthony’s dedication, the Yorkwoods Library and Theatre are being renovated, a new community centre is well on its way for Weston and Sheppard, and he’s advancing the Jane-Finch Community Hub and Centre for the Arts
