James Tod

Board Member

Pronouns: He / Him / His

James Tod is a land development consultant and principle of his own firm, JTA Development Consultants, which focuses primarily on complex zoning and mixed-use housing projects.

James studied at the University of British Columbia and received his undergraduate in English Literature in 2003, after which, he became involved in Vancouver’s architectural and development industries and has pursued this path ever since.

For over a decade he has fostered an extensive network with key private and public organizations, civic authorities and community advocacy groups. He has also been involved in several successful fundraising campaigns and efforts for non-profit groups and hopes to use his experience to support QMUNITY. He holds the view that meaningful development must solve multiple problems in order to be truly sustainable and hopes to build upon this as part of QMUNITY’s Board, which he joined in 2013.

Tara Kemes

Board Member

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.

Lynn Arychuk

Board Member

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.

In her consulting practice she has built business models, participated in strategic planning, operational analyses, and program evaluation, often working with multi-disciplined teams and a variety of stakeholder groups. She volunteers and is a donor to many non-profits in Vancouver.

Lynn brings a wide lens to the Board, as much of her work has been comparative in nature, with an interest in sharing or benchmarking best practices as a way to improve organizations and society as a whole. Lynn is looking forward to contributing her project management and economic development skills to QMUNITY.

Christopher (Topher) Vollan

Board Member

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.

Massood Baqi

Board Member

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.

Nadia Alteme

Board Member

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.

Sebastien Burghgraeve

Board Member

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.