Eyob Goitom Naizghi was appointed to the Executive Director position at MOSAIC in December 2000, bringing with him a wealth of leadership experience from outside and inside the organization. Since his appointment, he was operationally responsible for leading the development and implementation of the Strategic Plan of the organization; achieving strategic, financial, and operating objectives; and for ensuring the organization operates in accordance with the policies established by MOSAIC Board of Directors.

Before he took this strategic leadership role, Eyob was a member of the executive team of MOSAIC for close to 9 years, which gave him great experience not only as an active member of the executive leadership team, but full exposure to the challenges faced by newcomers, the sector, the plethora of funders, foundations, donors, and community partners.

Before joining MOSAIC, Eyob lived a fully engaged professional life in the “International Development” field where he managed large agricultural projects with refugees, identified and articulated community needs into innovative projects, and liaised with government, multilateral and community organizations. As a free-lance consultant he designed, monitored and assessed projects for achieving targeted outcomes.

Eyob earned his M.A. (Urban Geography) from the University of British Columbia with a focus on rural-urban migration processes. His refugee experience was an inspirational and motivational factor in his work at MOSAIC and outside of MOSAIC.

Sherman Chan is the Director of Family and Settlement Services at MOSAIC. A registered social worker, Sherman holds a Master of Science in Applied Social Studies Degree from the United Kingdom. Sherman takes a leadership role with regard to immigration matters in Canada. Currently, he is Executive Member of Canadian Council for Refugees, Member of National Settlement Council, and Co-chair of Corrections Canada Pacific Region Ethnocultural Advisory Committee. He has done a number of collaborative studies with research institutions, and he has been involved in social justice advocacy with community groups. Sherman is the recipient of the City of Vancouver 2006 Cultural Harmony Award.”

Ninu’s academic background is in Economics and Counselling Psychology. She has over 20 years of program development and managing client services at MOSAIC. By delivering training across North America in the area of anti-violence and anti-racism, as well as through participating in international conferences, Ninu has been able to share her knowledge about the various cross-cultural models with which she is familiar.

Ninu has been a researcher and a consultant on projects using community-based action research methodology and she has provided input to women’s groups and community organizations seeking ways of making themselves more welcoming to immigrants and refugees.

Over the years, Ninu has been and continues to be active on the boards of many communities and organizations. She has served as President of the Board of Women’s Research Centre, President of the Board of Battered Women’s Support Services, Co-chair of Ending Relationship Abuse Society of BC, and she has been a member of the South Asian Community Coalition Against Youth Violence.

Before joining MOSAIC, Michael Radano was the Chief Executive Officer of the Society of Translators and Interpreters of British Columbia (STIBC), a society which enables British Columbia’s multi-cultural population to flourish unimpeded by language barriers.

Michael has over 25 years of international experience in engineering, product marketing & sales, business development, IT management, consulting and executive management in both the for-profit and the not-for-profit sectors. His passion is to lead, motivate and support board of directors, peers and staff in achieving challenging strategic goals. Michael is a mentor for new start-ups through the annual New Ventures British Columbia competition and the SFU Mentors In Business program.

Michael is a past volunteer of MOSAIC’s Workplace Connections Mentoring Program. Most recently, he joined the board of AMSSA (The Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Settlement Agencies). Michael has also served on the board of the BC Chapter of the Canadian Society of Association Executives. In addition to his academic background in Engineering, Michael has a degree in business (MBA) from Simon Fraser University and is a Certified Association Executive.

Sue Trevor, a chartered accountant, began her career working for Touche Ross & Co. in Toronto. She has since gone on to work with a variety of companies in several different industries. Sue became involved in non-profit and charitable organizations through volunteering, and soon began to offer her own services to these organizations. For nearly five years, Sue was the founding Executive Director of the Depressive and Manic Depressive Association of Ontario. She also acted as the controller of the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club, a non-profit recreational facility with over 4,000 members. In 2001, after more than five-and-a-half years at the Club, Sue moved to British Columbia.

Sue’s responsibilities at MOSAIC include financial management, human resources, facilities management, information systems and direction of the accounting and operations team.

Susan is passionate about building and supporting strong, healthy communities, and is proud of the integral role MOSAIC plays in the settlement of refugees and other newcomers in Metro Vancouver. She is inspired by the many clients, donors, volunteers and staff at MOSAIC and recognizes the importance of each stakeholder in helping MOSAIC realize its mission of empowering newcomers to fully participate in Canadian society.

Susan’s comprehensive professional background includes cultivating stakeholder and funder relationships, building highly functional teams and managing new programs. She has over 15 years of fund development experience and has worked in both Toronto and Vancouver for various health care and educational organizations.

John Dubé is a registered social worker and registered clinical counsellor. He has been in senior management for over 20 years overseeing such programs as suicide prevention/intervention, counselling and education, health-based case management, immigration services, human resources, finance and accreditation. Over the last seven years John has focused on accreditation, best practices and hearing the voice of clients, and now has returned to directly supporting staff in their work with clients.

John successfully guided MOSAIC’s bid for CARF Accreditation in 2008. Since 1998, John has been active in the field of best practices standards. He has sat on the Council on Accreditation as a peer reviewer since 2007.

Larry Chan began his career in 1990 as a Career Counsellor working with the Severely Employment Disadvantaged. Since then he has managed programs for youth, older workers, multi-barriered clients, and immigrants. Most recently Larry managed the Vancouver Northeast WorkBC Employment Services Centre serving all British Columbians.

Larry attended the University of British Columbia where he earned both, a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and a Diploma of Education in Guidance Counselling. Larry has combined his education with 23 years of experience in the Employment Service field to assist individuals of all backgrounds towards training and or employment.

Nina has been a key player in the growth and development of MOSAIC’s Language Programs. A passionate educator, Nina brings a lifetime of hands-on experience in language teaching, curriculum design, administration, and team building to her position, and understands all roles from the inside out, having been teacher, supervisor and manager at the organization for over 20 years. Nina has helped to initiate and implement various services, programs and processes, including the CLB Assessment Service, MOSAIC Works, Portfolio Based Language Assessment, and MOSAIC Online language programming.

Nina is proud to be part of the team that sustains a high standard of excellence across the Language Programs, and is committed to ensuring that staff, clients, partners and funding stakeholders all benefit from the responsive, progressive and client-centred delivery of MOSAIC programming.

Sara Cameron has a Masters of Social Work (MSW) Degree with a Specialization in Health and Mental Health from the University of Toronto. She has worked in many different areas throughout her career, including frontline child protection with children and high risk infants under two years of age in Ontario, and several different units within the health care system in both Ontario and British Columbia.

More recently Sara has managed two Assisted Living facilities partnered with Fraser Health Authority for young adults with acquired brain disorders, physical disabilities and mental health issues. She was also the Manager of Case Management Services at Covenant House Vancouver working with homeless and at risk youth, where her team consisted of Social Workers and Mental Health Clinicians.

Marc Larrivée has over 15 years of experience working with refugees and immigrants in Canada and the United States. He holds an Master of Social Work degree and is a Registered Social Worker in British Columbia. At MOSAIC, he previously managed the Step Ahead Settlement Enhancement Project that was cited by Citizenship and Immigration Canada as an example of best practice for vulnerable newcomer populations.

Marc has conducted academic research on immigrants and refugees in the US and in Vancouver at the University of British Columbia. For many years he has been an advocate for social justice and has worked with the Canadian Council for Refugees.

Katie Zawaideh brings to her position a vast knowledge of education systems around the world, specifically in the nonprofit field. Through her past experience working in quality assurance, monitoring and evaluation as senior staff with the government of Abu Dhabi, she managed challenging projects with high standard evaluating inspections and different initiatives and programs, developing frameworks and creating tools for measuring impact and managing data. She also worked on drafting policies that govern the work of private schools in the Emirates. Through her work, as an international development consultant, coach and trainer, she managed to raise the quality and standards of work in many organizations, schools and monasteries in different countries while coaching and mentoring staff and senior leaders. She also led organizations through accreditation.

Katie was a board member of YWCA of Jordan, empowering and leading youth programs and representing the organization in different national and international conferences. She continues to fulfill her passion to help others through her voluntary work in different third world countries helping the poor and empowering others, young women and children in particular.

Susan joined MOSAIC in 1995 after obtaining her degree in Business Administration from Simon Fraser University. Over the years she has taken on many positions in the Finance and Administration Department and is currently responsible for the organization wide financial and accounting processes.

She feels privileged to work in a place filled with dedicated staff and volunteers who are passionate in their work in supporting MOSAIC’s immigrants, refugees and newcomers.