Society for International Development
Ottawa-Gatineau Chapter

SID Ottawa-Gatineau Executive
2010-2011

President

Dr. William J. Cowie

William Cowie has been a consultant, trainer and lecturer in international development for over 30 years. He began his consulting career in Kenya with the IDRC and since then has worked in many different countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. He has worked on projects as far ranging as deployment for democratic elections in the Ukraine to evaluations of Pan-African development institutions. He has taught courses in global economics at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa, and has designed and developed many different management and professional training courses (including, most recently, a modern foreign policy making training course for the Government of Indonesia).

William has been vice-president of programming at the Society for International Development for 5 years.

Past President

Soraya Hassanali

Soraya Hassanali will occupy the position of past President on the Board of Directors of SID-OG for 2010-11. During her term as President of SID-OG (2007-2010) Soraya worked successfully to strengthen the chapter's governance capacity, financial health, communication and outreach activities, and was credited for her innovation and ability to bring together diverse constituencies. Prior to serving as President, Soraya served on the Board of Directors of SID-OG as a a member-at large (gender equality) from 2004-2007.

Professionally, Soraya works as the Senior Gender Equality Specialist in the Multilateral and Global Programs Branch at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Prior to this, she held a position as a Senior Cabinet Affairs Advisor with Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) and also worked for over five years with Status of Women Canada (SWC) where she held a number of analyst positions (international relations, economic policy, policy research). Prior to joining the federal government Soraya worked with two INGO's in Europe on issues related to Sustainable Development. Soraya holds a M.Sc. in Development Economics and Gender Studies from the London School of Economics, and a B.A from McGill University in Economics and Political Science. Soraya is also a Ph.D candidate (international economic policy and international development) at the Norman Paterson School for International Affairs (NPSIA), Carleton University. Presently, Soraya volunteers in her personal capacity as a co-chair for the program committee of the Women's World Congress to be held in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada in July, 2011.

Vice-President, Membership & Secretary

Vivian Cummins

Vivian Cummins is a librarian with a longstanding interest in international issues. Her travel and work experience in Africa and Asia have given her a particular focus on education in developing countries.

For many years, she was the co-ordinator of the resource centre at The Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University.

Treasurer

Alexandra Semard

Alexandra Semard is a qualified chartered accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). For four years, she worked as a financial auditor at one of the top 10 accountancy practices in the UK. She has extensive experience in financial statements and accounts preparation.

Her areas of interest in development include microfinance, anti-corruption, poverty programs in Latin America and international finance. She holds a Master's Degree in Political Science from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Lille and a Master's Degree in Management from ESCP-EAP in France, completed at EGADE Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico. While studying for her Master's in management, she wrote her final paper on risks in emerging markets focusing on the Mexican banking system.

Members At Large

Dr. Arch Ritter, Programming

Archibald Ritter is a distinguished Research Professor Emeritus in the department of economics and the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University. He holds a B.A. in economics from Queen's University, an M.A. in economics from the University of Western Ontario and a Ph.D. in economics with a minor in Latin American studies from the University of Texas.

He has worked for the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean in Chile and the Department of Energy Mines and Resources in Canada. He has also lived and worked in Kenya and Tanzania. Arch was the initiator on the Canadian side, and the Canadian co-ordinator, of the Master's in economics program offered by the University of Havana to young Cuban professors in the 1990s. His research interests and publications relate to the development issues in East Africa, especially Kenya and Tanzania, and Latin America, specifically Cuba and Chile. He also focuses on the international economy and the international mineral economy. He has published extensively on Cuba's development policies and experience, as well as on Chile and Kenya.

He is currently teaching at Carleton University, working on various research projects, and focusing on a variety of voluntary activities.

Dorothy Rogers, Finance and Event Co-ordination

Dorothy Rogers is a retired university librarian with extensive experience in the use of government information sources. Apart from Canada, she has lived and worked in Sierra Leone and the Outer Hebrides.

She has a M.A. from Yale University, holds a B.L.S. from the University of Toronto and a B.A. from Wellesley.

Hannah Yakobi, Communications

Hannah Yakobi is an award-winning journalist and communications specialist. She has lived and worked in many different countries, including Canada, Russia, Spain and the United Arab Emirates.

Hannah has worked extensively as an arts and culture reporter, a photojournalist and a communications expert for almost a decade. Some of the organizations she has worked for include the National Post, CanWest News Service, OK! Magazine, the Canadian Association of Journalists, the Canadian Cancer Society, the United Way and Estēe Lauder.

Hannah is a highest honours' graduate of the Bachelor of Journalism program at Carleton University (School of Journalism and Communications). She has travelled extensively in Europe and North America and speaks four languages (English, French, Spanish and Russian). She has strong professional and personal interests in issues of international development, culture, languages, international business, diplomacy and foreign affairs.

Trang Nguyen, Program Support

Trang Nguyen is a graduate of the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University. She has a B.A in international relations from the Institute for International Relations in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Before coming to Canada, she spent four years working as a journalist for a popular electronic newspaper in Vietnam.

Trang has a strong interest in foreign policies of the Great Powers and international development issues. Specifically, her research themes include China's rise and Great Powers' policies to manage emerging powers; MNEs and FDI in Asia; FDI and its impact on socio-economic issues in developing countries (i.e. technology transfer, growth and poverty reduction, gender equality); development aid and weaknesses in the disbursement of aid in Asian developing countries.

Lucinda Montizambert, Gender Equality

Lucinda Montizambert currently works as a policy analyst at Status of Women Canada focusing primarily on ensuring that gender dimensions are considered in the development of policies and programs in order to further Canada's domestic and foreign policy priorities and to meet Canada's international obligations. From 2000 to 2006 she managed Status of Women Canada's regional office in Halifax. Prior to that Lucinda worked for several years at Health Canada where she played a lead role in the development of the National Population Health Strategy and carried out an assessment of the community-based funding programs across the Atlantic region.

Lucinda recently fulfilled a long standing desire to complete her M.A. in International Affairs at the Norman Patterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University. She also holds a M.H.Sc. in Health Promotion from University of Toronto and has an extensive volunteer background in community development. Lucinda has a strong interest in the impacts of both domestic and international development policies and programs on the most marginalized populations and is particularly committed to increasing understanding of the importance of gender analysis in the development of equitable and effective policies and programs.

Genevieve Leroux

Geneviève holds a B.A in Sociology/Anthropology at Carleton University. This education, followed by several administrative jobs at Carleton, has given her a good background in administration and information management.

In addition, her current employment as Coordinator of Research and Training at The Norman Paterson School of International Affairs gives her an overview of many international issues, ranging form development to conflict management to international trade and finance.

Peter Christensen, Information Management

Peter Christensen holds a B.A. in Business Administration from University of Southern Denmark. He was born in Denmark but moved to Canada in 2005 and is now living in Ottawa.

Peter has always been interested in the field of international development. He is a passionate traveller and has travelled Europe extensively.

His primary responsibilities are information management and updating and maintaining the SID Ottawa-Gatineau web site.