Board of Directors

Midland Area Reading Council Sue is the President of the LLO Board of Directors. She has been on the LLO board for 6 years, serving as Vice-President for two of those years. Sue also served on the former Laubach Literacy Canada (LLC) Board as the Ontario member for two years. Other board involvement includes her area's Police Association and the Minor Hockey Executive. A certified Laubach Tutor, Sue is the Executive Director of the Midland Area Reading Council.

Barrie Literacy Council Gary Porter has broad board experience, in addition to his 4 years on the LLO Board as member-at-large. He has served the Barrie Literacy Council Board for six years, first as Student Representative and is currently Chair of the Barrie Board. Gary has supported LLC as National Student Representative, in addition to working as a member of LLC's Blueprint (strategic planning) Committee for three years. He was also the former Chairman of the national student committee. A student at Barrie Literacy Council since 2000, Gary received both the LLO Arnie Stewart Individual Achievement Award and the Canada Post Award-Ontario in 2003. In 2004, Gary achieved his GED (General Educational Development) accreditation.

Henry is excited to begin his first year on the LLO Board as the Treasurer. A student at the University of Waterloo, he is working towards a Chartered Accounting designation and is passionate about sharing his expertise with the not-for-profit community. Henry has extensive experience in both finance and non-finance roles with numerous organizations across Waterloo Region and Wellington County, including Sustainable Waterloo, Habitat for Humanity, and Scouts Canada. Over the past three summers, he has also worked in various government departments at the federal and provincial level, including Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, as well as the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. Henry brings a unique skill set to the board and looks forward to facing the challenges that will arise in the upcoming year.

North Bay Literacy Council Linda is the Secretary of the LLO Board of Directors. This is her first year and is very excited to put her experience of 23 years of Administrative Assistant to good work. She also serves as Secretary on the North Bay Literacy Council which she has held for two years now. Linda has been with the North Bay Literacy Council for three years.  A certified Laubach Tutor, she has also helped as receptionist and is on the Fund Raising Committee.  She has served as secretary for two years on the International Association of Administrative Professionals which she has been a member of for five years.

Literacy Council of Niagara West This is Rubert's first year as Student Representative on the LLO Board. A literacy student since 2004, Rubert experience includes 10 years on his Co-op board, chairing 12-step meetings, providing e-learning and computer training to tutors and students, and helping community family literacy events in his region. Rubert wants to help and encourage other adult literacy students by giving them tips to cope and becoming a role model.

  Monika has been involved in the literacy field since 1998 when she started at AlphaPlus, a non-profit organization committed to supporting educators and programs that work with adult learners in the Deaf, Aboriginal, Francophone and Anglophone communities. She is responsible for communications, training and marketing initiatives at AlphaPlus, which includes coordination of the AlphaPlus website, managing social media tools, and utilizing other web-based communications and learning technology on an ongoing basis. Recently, Monika coordinated the Web Savvy project which allowed her to further explore emerging technologies and travel to offer face-to-face and online-support training to literacy organizations. In the past she has also coordinated the AlphaPlus bookstore. She has a Business degree in Business Management (Commerce), Digital Publishing Foundation Certificate, and has completed courses in project management, marketing and web tools. Monika also uses her design and technology skills to manage a small freelancing business offering graphic, marketing and web design services.

Tracey was on the Metro Toronto Movement for Literacy (MTML) Board from 1999-2004. She worked on re-structuring of MTML, rewrote the Bylaws and Human Resources policy to reflect the structural changes and was on hiring committees for the Executive Director and project staff. Tracey has worked as a literacy tutor, a practitioner trainer, and an LBS instructor at the Toronto District School Board and at St. Christopher House Adult Literacy program. She has also worked as an online instructor for LBS learners and practitioners at Alpha Plus. She is currently working with the Toronto District School Board on a professional development project for practitioners to enhance in-class learning with new media and e-learning.

Over the past 25 years, Gay has worked in not-for-profit management and fundraising for a variety of causes – The Kidney Foundation, Big Sisters, and the Recycling Council of Ontario. For the past 14 years, she has served as the Executive Director of Literacy Link Niagara, coordinating, planning and facilitating a complex service system of adult upgrading programs, and serving as an advocate for adult education. In addition, she has parlayed a quarter century of non-profit management experience into a consulting firm specializing in strategic planning, outcomes-based evaluation and human resource management.
For the past 10 years she taught three courses in the post-graduate event management program at Niagara College – human resources management, innovation and leadership. Most recently Gay was honoured as a YWCA Woman of Distinction in the category of Training, Education and Development and served as convocation speaker at the 2010 Niagara College convocation, where she was presented with an honourary graduate certificate in Event Management.