Anthony Azar

Director

Pronouns: He / Him / His

Anthony is a human resources professional who works in the technology consulting sector at a company called Traction on Demand. He is a passionate people manager with a focus in talent acquisition, people analytics and organizational development. Giving back to the not-for-profit sector is a part of his calling and he has served on other LGBTQ boards and as a facilitator at the Vantage Point. He is currently completing his masters online through Queen’s University.

Anthony has grown up on the west coast, and lives with his partner and corgi in Gastown. When not working, studying or volunteering, you will find him outside in the parks and beaches of the city.

Christopher (Topher) Vollan

Co-Chair

Pronouns: He / Him / His

Christopher (Topher) is a transplanted Albertan-Okanaganite who has trekked genetically through the worlds of hospitality, earthquake engineering, real estate development and construction in Western Canada and the hinterlands of California.

His work includes the design, approvals, marketing and construction of market and rental homes as well as office and retail space in the Metro-Vancouver area.

An avid urbanist and admitted agent of change, Topher also volunteers on the board of The Urbanarium, an organization committed to advancing Vancouver’s urban conversation.

Elizabeth Barbeau

Director

Pronouns: She / Her / Hers

Elizabeth acknowledges with gratitude that she is an uninvited guest, living, learning, playing and working on the traditional and unceded territory of the Coast Salish People.

Elizabeth is an educator, administrator, management consultant, and passionate advocate for children, youth and families. She has spent over 35 years as a teacher, coach, and leader in the
non-profit and higher education sectors. She currently works at Douglas College where she is Associate Dean of the Faculty of Applied Community Studies. Her commitment to social justice
is fuelled by her enthusiasm and genuine enjoyment of working with community-focussed organizations.

Elizabeth grew up in Montreal and lived in several parts of Quebec and Ontario before moving to Vancouver in 1991. She lives in East Vancouver with her wife and their three kids.

Nadia Alteme

Secretary

Pronouns: She / Her / Hers

Nadia Alteme was born and raised in Montreal, and later lived in Toronto for 5 years before moving to Vancouver in 2011.

She is a Registered Nurse with Fraser Health Authority, holding advanced certification in Emergency Nursing, and also co-chairing the B.C. Nurses Union  LGBTQ2S+ caucus. Nadia’s passion for advocacy prompted her to join QMUNITY’s board in 2018.

Nadia is naturally intuitive and is skillful at connecting with all kinds of people. She practices yoga, loves the outdoors, attends numerous community events, and frequently participates in workshops focused on healing and the sharing of one’s lived experience.

Lynn Arychuk

Treasurer

Pronouns: She / Her / Hers

Lynn Arychuk is a management consultant with over 20 years experience in project management for an international consulting practice in the fields of economic development, healthcare and executive search among others.

Lynn started her career in the not-for-profit social services sector with a degree in Psychology from the University of Alberta. She joined KPMG in Edmonton and after 5 years relocated to Vancouver in 1997 with her partner, Maureen, and their son.

Massood Baqi

Director

Pronouns: He / Him / His

Massood Baqi is a Portfolio Manager at Vancity, Canada’s largest community credit union. With over 10 years of experience in the financial services industry, Massood has worked in a variety of areas including Retail Banking, Human Resources, and Credit. As well, he has completed work assignments at the United Way of the Lower Mainland and Saint Mary’s University in Nova Scotia. His current work focuses on strategic operations for Vancity’s branch and call-centre network with an emphasis on change management efforts.

Early on in his career, Massood completed a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Simon Fraser University with a concentration in Accounting. He was active in the student association space with a focus on creating career development opportunities for fellow students. His passions now include advocacy for co-operatives as a sustainable business model and supporting diversity and inclusion initiatives in the workplace.

Tara Kemes

Director

Pronouns: She / Her / Hers

Tara Kemes is a human resources professional who has focused on culture, recruiting and talent development within the digital media industry for the last 16 years. From the small Okanagan town of Oliver, Tara moved to Vancouver to attend the University of British Columbia where she completed her Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies.

Tara is a founding member of the grassroots organization Drawn Together Vancouver, which empowers and advances women in the art, technical & business sectors of the digital screen industry, leading to greater diversity and equality in storytelling.

For seven years at the Vancouver Film School, Tara has been instructing courses in the animation programs to prepare students to successfully navigate their entrances into their professional careers. Since 2010, she has been a volunteer knowledge philanthropist with Vantage Point, Transforming Not-for Profit Leadership, facilitating workshops in the realm of human resources.

While not a parent herself, Tara fulfilled a life dream of experiencing pregnancy and childbirth as a surrogate for two caring dads. She believes in the power of community and what we can accomplish through connectivity and drive. This same drive has brought Tara to the QMUNITY Board.

Sebastien Burghgraeve

Co-Chair

Pronouns: He / Him / His

Born and raised in a small town in the North of France, Sebastien moved to Canada looking for a city where the rain will be less intense than his small french town.  He found Vancouver in 2013.

He has been an Associate Production Manager and he is working in Animation and Digital projects since 2015.

Sebastien is a true believer of what Art can bring to the world and how we can change people with it.

That’s why he started to give his free time in diverse organizations in France to help LGBTQ Art find the most Audience possible. His focus was on Movies with the ‘Un Autre Ecran’ organization.  He was creating events to project movies with the directors followed by a debate on their movies. His mission was to dig up some movies from the 70s and 80s but also new international movies that didn’t reach the french borders.

Now that he became a permanent resident of Canada, and soon a Canadian citizen, Sebastien wants to be an active member in the LGBTQ community of Vancouver. He joined the Vancouver Queer Animation, VFX, Games group in 2019 who support Canadian Artist by creating a platform to share ressources and support each other and hope to bring his organization and project development skills to QMUNITY by joining the board in April 2020.

Stephen Menon

Staff Liaison

Pronouns: He / Him / His

Stephen is a seasoned  product professional in the  conversational AI, FinTech and financial services industry. Stephen Is current the SVP of Product and Design at Finn AI where he leads the Product management, Product marketing  and product design functions, Stephen joined Finn AI in Late 2017, as a sole contributor in product and lead building out both the product function and helped in the creation Finn AI’s two core SaaS product offerings.

Previous to Finn AI Stephen spend over  12 years of working experience in various lines of business within banking, Stephen formerly served as VP of Operations at MBNA (acquired by Bank of America) and SVP of Marketing and Product. He later moved to TD Bank as AVP responsible for consumer credit cards, including the launch of Aeroplan.

While at both Bank of America and TD Stephen served on both organizations executive LGBTQ2+ employee affinity groups helping promote a more incline workplace for queer employees.

Born and raised in Nova Scotia, Stephen received his Bachelor of Commerce (honours) from Queens school of business Stephen has been active in LGBTQ2+ organizations across Canada, including being a former board member and treasurer at The 519 in Toronto, creating and organizing human right panel conversations in conjunction with Vancouver pride society from 2017-2019 and also currently sits on the board of Raincity Housing.