GUELPH – United Way Guelph Wellington Dufferin has announced the appointment of six new members to the board of directors, elected at the annual general meeting on May 27.
“United Way Guelph Wellington Dufferin is championing a shared responsibility for social good. This shared responsibility requires a broad range of skills, talents and perspectives at the board table,” governance committee chair Kelly Henderson said in a press release.
Joining the board areDiane Ballantyne, Robyn Gladstone, Kola Ipaye, Randa MacNaughton, Patricia Tersigni and Michael von Massow.
Diane Ballantyne
Ballantyne is a teacher at Centre Wellington District High School in Fergus, a Wellington County Councillor and an active community organizer who co-founded the CW Community Dinner Project. She possesses a strong equity perspective with a particular interest in systematic racism, feminism and poverty reduction.
Robyn Gladstone
Gladstone is the manager of people and culture at Linamar’s Innovation Hub. She has been involved with United Way for the last five years through Linamar’s corporate campaign and as part of the campaign cabinet, and currently sits on the human resources board committee.
Kola Ipaye
Ipaye is a professional accountant with more than 30 years experience in the property management, manufacturing and construction industries. He has worked with multinational corporations and small and medium size companies and is currently a board member and treasurer at his church in Guelph.
Randa MacNaughton
MacNaughton is currently a partner at GR Leadership, Coaching and Business Consulting and previously held the role of assistant VP of leadership strategy and design at Manulife Financial. Randa is a past volunteer with Brant United Way and was a founding committee member of the Brant Sexual Assault Centre
Patricia Tersigni Campaign Chair
Tersigni has spent the last 20 years with the University of Guelph, now the director of academic programs and policy. She led the University of Guelph United Way campaign in 2015 and 2016 and has continued to be an active volunteer with United Way, the university, and other local organizations. Tersigni joins the board in her current role as 2021 campaign chair.
Michael von Massow
Von Massow is a faculty member at the University of Guelph where he teaches strategy, management and financial analysis. Michael has sat on several boards including the Centre Wellington Minor Hockey Association and the Centre Wellington Food Bank and has a passion for food systems and food security.
“Volunteers have been the backbone of United Way Guelph Wellington Dufferin since the beginning. Their compassion and dedication has helped ensure we were there every day, during times of stability and those of crisis, to be a vital social safety net for tens of thousands of people in our community”, said executive director Glenna Banda.
“We’ve been very fortunate to have had some long-term support which has helped grow and sustain the organization and we’d like to thank the contributions of our outgoing board members including Steve Allen, Jeff DeRuyter, Stuart Holloway, Khalid Khokar, Judy Sorbara and Irene Thompson.”
United Way is the second largest funder of social service programs across the country, second only to government.
Thanks to generous donors and partners, United Way is creating change on key social issues such as food security, mental health and isolation in seniors by investing $2.3 million in critical services to over 90,000 residents across Guelph, Wellington & Dufferin in 2021.
This is in addition to the close to $1.5 million distributed for COVID emergency services in 2020, thanks in part to both local donors and corporate partners, and the Government of Canada.
