Staff
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Tracey SandilandsExecutive Director .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) |
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Ryan LesterSponsorship & Grants
Fundraising Director .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) |
| Tracey Sandilands holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and comes from a corporate background in marketing and communications in South Africa. She spent five years as a board member of first Cape Town Pride Festival and then Joburg Pride, and a year as Media and Events manager with the Triangle Project, a queer service organization in the Western Cape. Now in her role of Executive Director of Pride Toronto, she brings to the organization an increased focus on queer human rights both locally and abroad. | Following undergraduate study, Ryan Lester received a Professional Certification in Not-For-Profit Management from the University of Western Ontario and brings over five years of fundraising experience in the Not-For-Profit sector at the local, regional and provincial levels. He recently attained his CFRE designation (Certified Fundraising Executive), an achievement with international recognition in his field. In his new role as Fundraising Director, he is responsible for all main sources of revenue for the festival and brings a fresh new strategy to achieve this goal. | ||
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Ben Freeman
Acting Operations Director |
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Mary Zondanos
Arts & Entertainment Program Manager .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) |
| Ben Freeman has been working on special events for more than a decade, specializing in community based festivals and concerts around Ontario. Some of the most notable are the Mix 99.9 Birthday Beachfest, 95.3 Country Canada Day Jam, The Y108 Rockfest and the Beaches International Jazz Festival, to name but a few. Ben has worked in all aspects of events, including sponsorship, marketing, advertising and logistics and has been successful on all fronts. Ben holds an Honors BA degree in Criminology with a concentration in Law and a minor in Psychology. He has also attained the professional designation of "Certified Meeting Planner", which has international recognition. | Mary Zondanos began her love affair with art in high school. She had a riot girl band that played in the GTA. In between screaming on the mic and learning to play guitar from watching Kurt Cobain she organized shows around town, recorded demos on her four track and disappeared in the schools music department for almost four years. When she emerged, she went to College at Fanshawe for Producing and Engineering. After that she landed jobs as a Tour Manager, Talent and Production Coordinator for the Irie Music Festival and The Toronto Urban Music Festival, Assistant Production Coordinator at Toronto’s lovely Harbourfront Centre and was the Festival Crew Manager and Indie Music Market Manager for the North By Northeast Music and Film Festival and Conference for about 9 years. She also produced the first ever Urban Music Directory in Canada, which is now published annually by WORD Magazine and spent four years working at NOW Magazine as the Senior Entertainment Editor’s assistant. | ||
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Emily Gibson
Volunteer Program Manager |
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Ajay JoshiFinance Manager |
| Emily Gibson has an Honours BA from McGill University in Women's Studies. Her experience is primarily in administration and academic research. She also worked at an NGO health clinic in Bhopal, India where she worked with other international volunteers and interns to develop teaching tools on health issues for local women. |
Ajay is a Professional Accountant. He holds a CGA from Canada and an MBA in Financial Management from India. He worked for years in the Corporate Industrial sector, and has been working for not-for-profit organizations in Canada since 2003. Ajay is responsible for the accounting and financial management of Pride Toronto. Ajay is married with two daughters. | ||
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Michael Ain
Marketing & Communitcations Manager |
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| Michael Ain has worked intimately with Toronto's GLBT community for over 10 years. Since his high school days facilitating a weekly LGBT Youth Group at 519 Community Centre, to more recently, Director of Sales & Marketing with Priape Stores (Canada's leading LGBT Retailer) , Michael brings a long list of professional relationships with GLBT events, media, venues and community groups across Canada, U.S. and overseas. These include; Montreal's Black & Blue Festival, Divers Cité, and Fierté Montréal Pride; Whistler's WinterPride Ski Week; Calgary's Outlooks Magazine and Gay Calgary & Edmonton Magazine, Australia's DNA Magazien, and AllGayCruises.com.au; Puetro Vallarta's Latin Fever Party, and Toronto's GayGuideToronto.com, 103.9 ProudFM, Xtra! and People with AIDS foundation's Bike Rally: Friends for Life. Michael Ain has a B.A. in Psychology, and completed several courses in Marketing/Communications from B.C.I.T. in British Columbia. | |||
