Valiquette Foundation - Board of Governors and Team
Our board of governors and our team
Board of Governors
Jay Valiquette
Founder & Director
Jay has over 30 years of experience teaching, coaching, and mentoring children and youth. He is passionate about education both within and outside of the school structure. He has developed numerous programmes to foster academic success and personal growth, including academic programmes, camps, youth success programmes, seminars, and community outreach initiatives. Jay’s innovative approach empowers individuals and promotes positive change, making his extensive experience and dedication vital pillars of strength for our organization, driving its mission forward and impacting countless lives in need.
George Kiorpelidis Jr
Chair
George brings his passion for helping business and organizations reach their full potential. By leveraging the best professionals and the latest information we connect businesses large and small to the financial and consulting services they need to empower their growth.
Training and developing tomorrow’s leaders today ensures your organization’s culture will thrive attracting and retaining top employees. Having worked with and learned about business from some of the best names in the corporate tech sector like: Nortel, NEC and Future Electronics, George’s experience working in the tech sector and as an entrepreneur have proven invaluable to his career as a business coach.
Stephen Pollock
Treasurer
Stephen is an accountant with over 35 years experience in the corporate sector.
David Bounic
Sworn into the Quebec Bar Association in December 1997, David works in both litigation and negotiation. He emphasizes clear communication (especially in difficult situations) as well as practical and reasonable solutions.
Ilan Sarid
Passionate about charities and have structured programs using Life Insurance as a tool allowing you to donate, to set up family foundations or endowment funds without being out-of-pocket.
I will gladly meet with your family accountants and lawyers to provide details and answer to any questions.
Specialties: Charitable giving in a tax efficient manner using life insurance tools.
Margaret Thouez
Margaret Thouez, a global executive with a demonstrated proficiency in rebranding and restructuring strategies for businesses, brings her expertise to ecommerce, retail, and non-profit sectors. With a focus on optimizing processes, enhancing organizational structures, and developing effective forecasting strategies, Margaret drives success through strong strategy, and teamwork.
Passionate about sustainability, she is frequently recruited to serve on leadership boards of environmental initiatives and contributes to meaningful causes through charitable endeavors. Honored as a top female business leader by Footwear News, Margaret’s dedication to environmental stewardship, team work, has been evident in her collaborations with One Tree Planted and other impactful organizations.
Elysia Bryan-Baynes
Elysia Bryan-Baynes is the Director of the Bishop’s University Forum. She spent eighteen years as a journalist and new anchor in Quebec. In 2022 she was named a CBC Black Changemaker for her contributions to the Montreal and Black community.
Elysia hosted the community affairs show Focus Montreal, interviewing a range of political, artistic and business leaders for Global Television Montreal. For two years in 2010-2012, she covered provincial politics at the Quebec National Assembly. In 2013 she became the first Black woman to hold a permanent television news Anchor position in the Quebec market. In 2019, Elysia won the Gala Dynastie award for “best English-speaking television journalist”.
Elysia sits on the board of the Fraser Hickson Institute for literacy and is a community representative for the Royal West Academy High School governing board. She also fills her days mentoring young journalists as part of the Canadian Association of Black Journalists’ mentoring programme. Elysia works for Corus Entertainment’s continuing learning program “Corus U” teaching diversity and inclusion to media employees across Canada.
Advisors to the Board
Sheri Elefant
Her children are the greatest achievement of her life. Originally from New York, Sheri began her professional life in advertising, working on product launches and media negotiations in a dynamic industry with millions of dollars in revenue. Her decision to leave Madison Avenue was not a difficult one since the greatest and most demanding opportunity of her life awaited her: raising children.
She began her career in the nonprofit field as co-founder of the Trevor Williams Kids Foundation. She then co-founded a non-profit 21st century sustainability learning space called Genvironment. Sheri also serves on the advisory board of Clickto, an education technology startup born out of the need to solve problems related to remote learning. Creating social value, placing young people — our future agents of change — at the center of conversations on social issues and giving scope to everything she does are close to her heart.
Jack Fattal
Jack works with corporate & securities law firms as well as real estate development and investment firms.
His legal expertise and fluency in four languages has allowed him to gain international experience.
Our Team
Hellen
Head of Operations
Helen joined the Valiquette team in 2019 and since then she has helped us in the administrative tasks of the academy. Her attention to detail and creation of efficient systems ensure that every aspect of our operations are optimized.
Frank
Head of Summer Camp
Frank has been part of Valiquette for the better part of the last decade, previously a student and now working in a management capacity.
Lisa
Specialized Administrative Support
Lisa has a wide variety of work experience, ranging from non-profit, hospitality, government, aquatics, banking sector, and tourism. Her problem-solving and organizational skills allow us to quickly and successfully navigate through situations.
Sharon
Head of Administration
Sharon has a business management and human resource background. She has over 14 years experience in office management and service facilitation.
Adriana
Head of Academics
Adriana has a Bachelor of Education, is fluent in English, French, and Spanish and is dedicated to inspiring and empowering her students.
Cécile
French Teacher
Cécile has two Bachelor’s degrees, in History and Political Science from La Sorbonne University in Paris and a Master’s in Publishing at Paris 10 University. She also works at “Persévérance Scolaire” at Carrefour Jeunesse Emploi in Côte-des-Neiges.