Pioneers for Change — Skills for Change

AJ Fernandez-Rivera

Managing Director of Accenture Canada - Advocacy Award

Annayah Jean (AJ) Fernandez Rivera is a managing director at Accenture, leading Technology and Operations in both Sales and Delivery for Canada. She plays a key leadership role, bringing innovation and global expertise to Accenture's clients, to help them transform their businesses, increase revenue, and gain competitive advantage.

Muraly Srinarayanathas

Founder of 369Global and CEO of Computek College - Entrepreneurship Award

Muraly Srinarayanathas is a serial entrepreneur and global strategist. He serves as the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of 369 Global, an international group of companies in the education, finance, creative, entertainment, and venture capital sectors. Muraly is considered a specialist in consumer culture and the immigrant market, namely for his unique immigration journey, international experience, and rich data collection from the business entities he leads.

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Muraly Srinarayanathas is a serial entrepreneur and global strategist. He serves as the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of 369 Global, an international group of companies in the education, finance, creative, entertainment, and venture capital sectors. Muraly is considered a specialist in consumer culture and the immigrant market, namely for his unique immigration journey, international experience, and rich data collection from the business entities he leads. Muraly is the son of first-generation immigrant parents. He was born in the United Kingdom but spent much of his life unbounded by borders and lived in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. For over 25 years, he worked closely with immigrants in their local communities and built several successful businesses from the ground up across the globe. Gleaned from his global experience, Muraly recognizes the power of diversity and the need for brands to prioritize both global consumer culture (GCC) and local consumer culture (LCC) principles to connect with diverse audiences. Whether it’s a local woman living in Kolkata, India, or an immigrant woman from Kolkata, India, living in Waterloo, Ontario, Muraly understands how organizations can leverage consumer insights to attract, communicate, and build long-term relationships with local and global audiences, and ultimately scale businesses from the ground up. Muraly is a strong believer in the power of philanthropy and launched his first social purpose business under the guidance of Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He continues to apply a borderless perspective to bring diverse groups of people together around a common goal. Muraly leads powerful initiatives that aim to create a sustainable and equitable future for all. As the Executive Chairman of 369 Global, he globalizes public and private sector leaders from around the world and forms partnerships to support local, national, and international growth. As the Chief Executive Officer of Computek College, a leading career college of 30+ years, Muraly helps train thousands of newcomers and immigrants to become job-ready and life-ready in Canada. Through 369Konnect, an integrated marketing agency, he helps brands attract and meaningfully connect with diverse consumers. Because giving back is a core focus of the group, Muraly also helps protect and improve holistic outcomes for underrepresented global communities through the Srinarayanathas Foundation, a charitable foundation with a hundred-year legacy.

Dr. Eileen de Villa

Chief Medical Officer of the City of Toronto - STEM Innovation Award

Dr. Eileen de Villa is the Medical Officer of Health for the City of Toronto. In this position, she leads Toronto Public Health, the largest local public health agency in Canada, which offers various programs and services to the city's more than 3 million residents.

Paulette Senior

CEO of Canadian Women's Foundation - Impact Changemaker Award

Paulette Senior is President & CEO of the Canadian Women’s Foundation. She has devoted her career to empowering women and girls to overcome barriers and reach their full potential.

Elamin Abdelmahmoud

Author and Host of CBC's Commotion

Elamin Abdelmahmoud is the host of CBC's daily arts, entertainment and pop culture show Commotion. He is an award-winning culture writer who has written for The New York Times, BuzzFeed News, the Globe and Mail and others. Elamin is the author of the No. 1 best-selling memoir Son of Elsewhere, a New York Times notable book and a Globe 100 book. Please don't ask him about his second book yet.

Dr. Mohinder Grover

Skills for Change Alumni Award

Dr. Mohinder Grover is an electrical engineer specializing in Dependability (a collective term for Reliability, Maintainability, Availability and Maintenance Support) and Quality Assurance. In his over 40 years in the nuclear industry, he has worked at Ontario Hydro (OH), Ontario Power Generation (OPG), Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) and Candu Energy.

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Dr. Mohinder Grover is an electrical engineer specializing in Dependability (a collective term for Reliability, Maintainability, Availability and Maintenance Support) and Quality Assurance. In his over 40 years in the nuclear industry, he has worked at Ontario Hydro (OH), Ontario Power Generation (OPG), Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) and Candu Energy. At OH / OPG, he won several accolades for his technical and volunteer work. He was awarded AECL President’s Distinguished Merit Award in 2008 for demonstrating leadership and technical excellence in Quality Management / Quality Assurance. In 2001, for his exceptional volunteer work, Pickering Nuclear awarded Dr. Grover the Volunteer Service Medal to mark the Year of Volunteers. Dr. Grover has been volunteering for several technical and charitable organizations. He has been a supporter and mentor at Skills for Change for almost 20 years, and has mentored several International Engineering graduates over those years helping them settle in Canada, find a job and / or obtain Professional Engineer License in Ontario. Several of his mentees have remained in contact with him much after the formal mentoring relationship had come to an end. In recognition of his mentor work, Skills for Change has awarded Certificates of Appreciation to Dr. Grover. Dr. Grover says that by helping his mentees to achieve their goals, he drives a lot of joy and satisfaction by being a part of their success. Dr. Grover also mentors for Professional Engineers Ontario, Standards Council of Canada and World Sikh Organization. In addition to Skills for Change, Dr. Grover has been volunteering at several professional and charitable organizations. To name a few, this includes Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Technical Committee 56, United Way, White Ribbon Campaign, Terry Fox Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, Gursikh Sabha Canada (A Sikh place of worship), and Mosaic Interfaith. Dr. Grover has represented Canada on the IEC Technical Committee 56 for over 30 years. In 2012, he was awarded the prestigious 1906 IEC award in recognition of his long standing and distinguished service to IEC in its standardization work. For his many years of volunteer work with different organizations, Dr. Grover has been bestowed with several honours and awards, both by technical and charitable organizations. Some of these honours / awards include: Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers awarded by the Governor General of Canada (2022), invested as a Member and then later on as Officer of the PEO Order of Honour (2017 & 2022), appointed as the Fellow of Engineers Canada (FEC) (2010), Engineering Institute of Canada (FEIC) (2017), and Canadian Nuclear Society (FCNS) (2021), Letters of appreciation given by Terry Fox Foundation for raising funds(~$ 60,000) by participating in Terry Fox Run for 38 consecutive years, Certificate of appreciation by Standards Council of Canada for 30 years of volunteer contribution (2020),), recognition by PEO for 20 years of volunteer service to engineering profession (2019), honour bestowed by the Premier of Ontario (by Order-in-Council) with appointment to Ontario Honours and Awards Advisory Council (2016-2019), Meritorious Service Award for Community Service conferred by Engineers Canada (2013), Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship invested by the Government of Ontario (2010), several Volunteer Services awards given by the Government of Ontario (2011 – 2019), Citizenship Award presented by PEO & Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE) (2009), and several others. Dr. Grover has been a registered professional engineer in Ontario since 1976. He obtained his M.Sc., and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan in 1972 and 1974 respectively.

Rania Llewellyn’s

CEO of Laurentian Bank - Immigrant of the Year Award

Rania Llewellyn is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Laurentian Bank. Her appointment in 2020 was history in the making as she became the first woman to lead a major Canadian chartered bank. Under Rania’s leadership, Laurentian is a very different bank than it was two years ago. She quickly set into motion a new three-year strategic plan centred around the customer and underpinned by a new purpose to change banking for the better by seeing beyond numbers to bring hopes and dreams to life.

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Rania Llewellyn is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Laurentian Bank. Her appointment in 2020 was history in the making as she became the first woman to lead a major Canadian chartered bank. Under Rania’s leadership, Laurentian is a very different bank than it was two years ago. She quickly set into motion a new three-year strategic plan centred around the customer and underpinned by a new purpose to change banking for the better by seeing beyond numbers to bring hopes and dreams to life. Having immigrated from the Middle East in her teenage years, it’s precisely these hopes and dreams of other new Canadians that Rania shares, and yet she keenly understands the many barriers they face. The challenges and opportunities she has experienced, both as an immigrant and a woman in a male-dominated industry, has inspired her to build the bank she always wanted to work for – one with a culture that views equality, diversity and inclusion as strengths and where everyone feels like they belong and has the chance to thrive. Her relentless focus on improving the customer experience and driving growth and shareholder value has earned her wide recognition and awards, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s Business Leader of the Year Award in 2023, being named on Maclean’s 2022 The Power List, and being included as one of the Top 25 Women of Influence in 2021. Rania’s career in banking spans more than 27 years. Prior to joining Laurentian, she held various leadership roles at Scotiabank, where she began her career as a part-time teller. She holds Bachelor of Commerce and MBA degrees from Saint Mary’s University where she focused on Finance, Marketing and International Business. In 2022, Ontario Tech University awarded her with an Honorary Doctor of Laws, and she received an Honorary Doctor of Commerce from Saint Mary’s in 2014. Rania Llewellyn est présidente et chef de la direction de la Banque Laurentienne. Sa nomination en 2020 constitue un événement historique, alors qu’elle devient la première femme au Canda à diriger l’une des plus grandes banques à charte de l’annexe. Grâce au leadership de Rania, la Banque Laurentienne est une banque très différente aujourd’hui de ce qu’elle était il y a deux ans. Elle met rapidement en œuvre un nouveau plan stratégique triennal axé sur le client et reposant sur une nouvelle raison d’être : changer l’expérience bancaire pour le mieux en voyant au-delà des chiffres pour donner vie aux espoirs et aux rêves. Ayant immigré au Canada depuis le Moyen-Orient à l’adolescence, Rania partage ces espoirs et ces rêves portés par tout nouvel arrivant au pays, tout en comprenant bien les nombreux obstacles auxquels il peut faire face. Les défis et les occasions qu’elle a rencontrés, à la fois comme immigrante et comme femme dans une industrie majoritairement dominée par des hommes, l’amènent à vouloir bâtir la banque pour laquelle elle a toujours voulu travailler - une banque dont la culture fait de l’équité, de la diversité et de l’inclusion des atouts, où tout le monde a sa place et peut s’épanouir. L’attention acharnée qu’elle porte à améliorer l’expérience client, à générer de la croissance et à créer de la valeur pour les actionnaires lui a valu plusieurs prix et reconnaissances de l’industrie. Elle a notamment été nommée chef d’entreprise de l’année par la Chambre de commerce du Canada en 2023, a figuré sur la liste des personnalités influentes du magazine Maclean’s en 2022 et a été incluse dans le classement des 25 femmes d’influence de l’organisation Women of influence en 2021. La carrière de Rania dans le secteur bancaire s’étend sur plus de 27 ans. Avant de se joindre à la Banque Laurentienne, elle a occupé divers postes de direction à la Banque Scotia, où elle a débuté sa carrière comme caissière à temps partiel. Elle détient un baccalauréat en commerce et un MBA de l’Université Saint Mary’s, où elle s’est spécialisée en finance, en marketing et en commerce international. En 2022, l’Université Ontario Tech lui a décerné un doctorat honorifique en droit, et elle a également obtenu un doctorat honorifique en commerce de l’Université Saint Mary’s en 2014.

This Year's Recepients Are..

AJ Fernandez-Rivera

Muraly Srinarayanathas

Dr. Eileen de Villa

Paulette Senior

Elamin Abdelmahmoud

Dr. Mohinder Grover

Rania Llewellyn’s

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