Since the sudden passing in 2018 of our long-standing Executive Director, Trudy Beaulne, there was a shift in the operational mode of the Board, from the governance to the working board. The Board Directors take on specific portfolios and work actively throughout the year in the domains of strategic relations development, finance, fundraising and grants, policies, human resources, etc. The Board Executive meets weekly since the Summer of 2021 to support the Executive Director and staff throughout the pandemic.
Brad Ullner - Chair
Brad discovered an outlet for his academic background in Political Science through the policy perspective employed at the Social Development Centre: policy discussions (at all levels of government) ought to include the people most affected by the policy. Brad has worked with community groups and agencies related to disability and human rights. He has been active in both the Disabilities and Human Rights Group and the Poverty Free K-W Action Group and in many related initiatives since June 2004.
Heather Bigelow - Vice Chair
Heather has a background in retail cooperatives, having previously been staff and a board member of local co-ops. She works for a local non-profit organization providing support for risk management and data analysis. Heather believes that SDCWR's approach to advocacy and grassroots support is unique and vital to the success of Waterloo Region.
Meagan Snyder - Secretary
coming soon...
Nathan Pike - Treasurer
Nathan is Vice President and General Manager of a small distribution firm in Kitchener and has extensive experience in global trade and international finance. Nathan has been a member of the Social Development Centre Board since June 2005. Since joining the Board Nathan has a better understanding of the need for continued innovation, collaboration and investment in the non-profit sector. He believes there is substantial value in the services provided by organizations such as the Social Development Centre. .
Barbara Spronk - Past Chair
Barbara came to SDCWR as a volunteer in 2011, having retired from her career in open and distance learning, as an Anthropology professor at Athabasca University, and as a consultant on innovative education projects in some of the world’s most impoverished countries. Grateful for the opportunity to work with grassroots organizations in her new community, she is continually drawn to and supportive of SDC’s work as a community catalyst, connector and communicator, and as advocate for the vital role of lived and living expertise at decision-making tables. Working at the Board level of this organization is a privilege that she both appreciates and treasures.
Laura Hamilton, Director
coming soon.
Loralie Broderick - Director
Laura has worked in community and workforce development for the federal and provincial governments for over forty years. Laura helped to establish A Better Tent City and continues to support ABTC operations as a founding director. She is a founding member of both Union Sustainable Development Co-op and the Community Kitchen Co-operative of Kitchener Waterloo. In 2013 Laura, along with three friends formed Divest Waterloo, a grassroots organization committed to climate justice that works in solidarity with local and national Indigenous land defenders to create awareness and action on climate change. Over the last twenty years, Laura has been an active member of Kitchener Food Not Bombs, a collective that recovers and publically shares food that would otherwise be discarded as a way of protesting war and poverty.
Leah Yuong - Director
As Manager, Leah drove regional systems change through facilitating collaborative action. She applies skills such as strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, facilitation, monitoring and evaluation, project management, and more.
Charles Nichols - Director
Charles Nichols began his relationship with SDC in 2001, and has volunteered off an on ever since. He ctedits Trudy Beaune (longstanding ED of then Social Planning Council KW) as an early mentor. Over the years he has served on various committees, and currently sits on the DHR and the Love Expertise Working Group. Charles coordinated Homelessness Awareness Week for ten years ending in 2018. Despite being legally blind and coping with various mental health challenges, Charles earned two bachlor's degrees.
(passed away in April 2024)
Gary Allen - Director
coming soon...
