Generous Futures: Women of Colour Challenging

Pamela Sugiman is a Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Toronto Metropolitan University in Toronto, Canada. She holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Toronto. Sugiman is a member of the Board of Directors of the Atkinson Foundation and Pathways to Education Canada. 

She is a recipient of the Errol Aspevig Award for Outstanding Academic Leadership (Toronto Metropolitan University), Outstanding Contribution Award (Canadian Sociological Association), Marion Dewar Prize in Canadian Women’s History and has been named the Lansdowne Lecturer and Distinguished Women Scholar, University of Victoria, as well as the W.L. Morton Lecturer, Trent University.  

Anju Virmani has been an adviser, entrepreneur and consultant in the information technology industry for more than 30 years in Canada and the United States, and has served as a senior advisor to many technology start-ups. She is currently Chief Information Officer at Cargojet, Canada’s leading supplier of time-sensitive air cargo services. She also serves on the Ontario Health Board, and the Board of CentrePort Canada, North America’s largest inland port in Winnipeg.  Anju has also served on the Boards of the Toronto Transit Commission and Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network. Her other appointments include the Advisory Council for National Security, the Cross-Cultural Roundtable on National Security and the Schulich School of Business Advisory Committee.  Anju is also a talented artist, venture capital investor, and passionate advocate for women, particularly in STEM fields and board leadership. She is a philanthropist and community builder who currently supports a generous scholarship program for women in STEM at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Donette Chin-Loy Chang is a well-respected communications strategist and philanthropist. Her career in  communications and media, spans four decades. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Arts degree in  Journalism, Toronto Metropolitan University and studied for the Masters in Communication and Culture, Toronto Metropolitan University  University. She was bestowed honorary degrees from Toronto Metropolitan University and the University of the West  Indies.  

In the early 2000s she was partner in La Grassa Chin-Loy Communications, Toronto. 1984 she was a consultant with Ruder Finn & Rotman, a leading USA public relations firm, and worked  on the Jamaica file, providing counsel to the Prime Minister, ministers of government, crown corporations  and media. She also headed the Jamaica Government’s radio service in the late 1980s. And in 1990 she  founded and was CEO of Donette Chin-Loy and Associates, a leading public relations firm with a roster  of international clients.  

In the late 1970s and 80s Ms. Chin-Loy Chang was a reporter/producer for CBC Radio – local and  international services. 

She has written for several publications including Maclean’s Magazine, Canada, and helmed the first tour  for Caribbean journalists to Washington D.C., invited by the OAS, IDB and World Bank.  

She has mentored and trained journalists throughout the Caribbean including Haiti and was a visiting  lecturer at the University of the West Indies faculty of Mass Communications.

Building on her track record of sparking transformation for institutions and individuals, Naki joined TD in 2017 to help develop the TD Ready Commitment, the bank's global corporate citizenship platform. Today as Associate Vice President, Social Impact (Canada) for the Global Corporate Citizenship department at TD Bank, she continues her transformation efforts by bringing The Ready Commitment to life through innovative approaches to corporate philanthropy, and employee and business engagement. A long-time advocate for equality and equity, Naki has worked with organizations like CivicAction and the TORONTO2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games and CIBC to create leadership, career development and executive talent programs that have directly impacted the lives of more than 2500 people. She is an avid volunteer currently serving as a member of the Board of Governors of University of Guelph and is a member of the United Way's Community Impact Committee. She has previously served on the Boards of Seneca College, West Neighbourhood House, was the Co-Director, Coaching and Curation for TEDxToronto and is an alumna of BMW Foundation’s Responsible Leaders Forum. At TD she co-chairs the Black Employee Network and is a member of the Black Executive Steering Committee. In 2020, Naki was named to WXN's Top 100 Canada's Most Powerful Women.