Board of Directors

Shown left to right:, Nancy Mongeon, Denyse Horner, Norah Kennedy, Carissa Burton, Nicole Hambleton, Sheralyn Roman, Rapinder Kaur, Mary Rose

Missing from photo: Trish Keachie, Preeya Rateja

Girls on Boards

Calling all young Canadians aged 18-25 looking to expand their skill-sets and join a governance board in your community!
Apply to be a Young Director today!

Girls on Boards participants will:
– Get matched with a qualified mentor
– Be trained in governance & leadership
– Sit on a governance board
– Join a community of like-minded young female leaders across Canada!

Please click HERE for more information.

FTP is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors comprised of individuals who have a broad range of experience and a commitment to ending violence in our community. Their strategic leadership will help focus efforts that support the agency to meet the changing needs of our community, while simultaneously ensuring that FTP’s mission and values are front and centre.

Interested in joining our Board? Click HERE for more information.

Simran Bhamu

Simran Bhamu is excited to join the Family Transition Place (FTP) Board of Directors. She is a proud Orangeville resident, a young mother, a business consultant and digital marketing expert by profession. She is also a passionate community volunteer who is dedicatedly working with not-for-profit organizations like Community Living Dufferin, Big Brothers & Big Sisters, B Social and Caledon Meals on Wheels, just to name a few. Simran is passionate about causes that promote sustainable development, gender equality, accessibility, diversity and inclusion. She is also a contributing member of some municipal committees. Simran holds a Bachelors Degree in Commerce and is pursuing a Masters Degree in Psychology. She also demonstrated her deep understanding of public policy matters as a council candidate in the 2018 Orangeville municipal election. She actively participates in discussions on local social, economic, and political issues and makes her voice heard over various platforms in Orangeville.

Carissa Burton - Board President

Carissa is excited to be serving the Family Transition Place (FTP) and its stakeholders as a member of the Board. She and her husband are long time Hockley Valley residents, and along with their two children believe it is important be active in supporting their local community. With a professional background of marketing, design, analytics, communications and branding, Cari is looking forward to contributing to the continued success of FTP.

Laura Cameron - Board Treasurer

Laura Cameron is happy to join the Family Transition Place (FTP) Board of Directors in 2020. She has a great appreciation for the work that FTP has done in the community for many years, and looks forward to being part of such a strong and impactful organization. Laura is a long-time resident of Erin, where she has raised her four children. She has worked in the medical device industry for more than 35 years—first as a finance/operations professional, and now leading a diabetes-related business.

Laura has a passion for helping people in many different ways through her professional life and her extended family, and now looks forward to learning from the FTP team and helping wherever she can.

Nicole Hambleton - Past Board President

Nicole is a Registered Dietitian and Program Coordinator for Farm to School programs in Dufferin County. She has degrees in nutrition, psychology and women’s studies. She is passionate about healthy food and supporting local farms and farmers. She is also a volunteer member of Headwaters Food and Farming Alliance’s Education, Access and Literacy group and Ontario Ecoschools. She is a trained Roots of Empathy instructor who has been delivering programs at her local elementary school since 2013. She moved to Dufferin County in 2009 with her family. She was a member of the board from 2014-2020, and is now Ex-Officio.

Denyse Horner

Denyse is very honored to be selected to the FTP Board of Directors and to uphold the vision, mission and values of this very important and much needed organization.

As a former employee of Community Living Dufferin, where she worked for 22 years, Denyse enjoyed supporting people directly and then managing staff teams. She brought to these roles her belief and understanding of dignity and respect for all. These are the same values and reason she was drawn to become involved with FTP.

Denyse has been a resident of Orangeville for 25 years and feels very fortunate to have the opportunities a community such as ours provides. From raising her two children, being a local volunteer and working towards new goals, Denyse knows and appreciates the good fortune many in our community enjoy. She now looks forward to her role with FTP and to be able to give back to her community.

Rapinder Kaur

Rapinder Kaur is a Registered Psychotherapist, Art Therapist, community organizer, facilitator and founder of a private practice called Art as Therapy. Rapinder is fascinated with the idea of how individual empowerment can lead to collective action and positive change. Rapinder feels privileged to be given the opportunity to serve an organization she admires greatly and hopes to bring her knowledge of good governance practices and child welfare along with an anti-oppression and cultural humility lens to her role on FTP’s Board of Directors.

Trish Keachie - Board Vice-President

Trish Keachie worked in the social service world for over 40 years. Her management positions included provincial policy development in the areas of child care and domestic violence and supporting and funding homelessness programs for the City of Toronto. Most recently, Trish was Executive Director of Dufferin Child and Family Services and retired from that in 2013. She is now actively involved in the community on the FTP board and on the Leadership Committee of Headwaters Communities in Action. She lives happily in Mono and has been with the board since 2015.

Tony Maxwell

Tony Maxwell is a writer and communications professional who has been involved with FTP over the years in several capacities, focusing in particular on raising awareness among men and boys that violence against women and girls “is a men’s issue.” As part of MENtors, a group of local men supporting the work of FTP, he has organized fundraising events for FTP, including WALK IN HER SHOES (pink heels) walks, poster campaigns, and spoken to service clubs and churches. Tony has worked in communications in the House of Commons, at Queen’s Park and now in the municipal sector, at the Town of Caledon. He is owner of Headwaters Media, a local communications/marketing company. For many years he has been a minor hockey referee in Caledon and Orangeville. He enjoys fitness, dog-walking, photography and reading.

Preeya Rateja

Preeya works with the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services and has been working with the Ontario government for several years in various roles. Her passion and work experience is focused in areas such as human rights, anti-racism and law enforcement. Her extensive professional experience is “full circle”, in that she has worked in areas of violence against women and children as well as with men/women who offend. Preeya hopes to bring this experience to FTP and also learn from others. She has been living in Orangeville with her family for ten years and feels it is in the fabric of her being, to give back to the community. She equally feels it is important to model this for others and hopes that the passion to do so is infectious to others. Preeya is also a proud serving member of the Canadian Armed Forces.

Sheralyn Roman

Sheralyn Roman has lived, worked and volunteered in the Caledon/Dufferin community for over 20 years and considers it a great honour to join the Board of FTP. She has been a regular contributor to FTP’s Celebrating Women Magazine and can’t wait to share the FTP story with an even broader community. She is the proud owner of small, local communications company called Writing Right For You. Sheralyn has a B.A. and a Bachelor of Education, is a former Teacher and the published author of a children’s book. She writes regularly for the Caledon Citizen and a variety of freelance publications. Sheralyn is married, has two awesome kids, volunteers with a local soccer club and sits on the Board of several other Caledon nonprofit agencies and on the Caledon Library Board.

Mary Rose

Mary is proud to serve as a new Director( 2019) of Family Transition Place. She recalls its inception and early foundation in Orangeville when serving as a Councillor in the Town of Orangeville. She also served as Mayor during her 23 years on Council.

She and her husband Alex have lived in Orangeville for 44 years bringing up 3 children here. She taught at St. Peter Elementary School for 26 years of her 37 year career in education.

Mary is looking forward to working with the other Directors and the amazing staff of FTP.