Meet the team.

Hugh Hyndman is a graduate of Computer Science from the University of Toronto. He has worked in the software industry for his whole career, with engineering and management positions in Toronto, London, Singapore, and Mexico. While in Singapore, Hugh created a joint-venture company with Singapore Airlines that delivered software solutions to the ASEAN region.

In 1989, Hugh co-founded and managed Affinity Systems, a Mississauga- and Rochester-based software engineering company specializing in high-performance, low latency, software products. He sold his company to First Derivatives plc in 2015, a publicly-traded Northern Irish company specializing in front-office trading systems. Hugh led First Derivatives into new market verticals focusing on high-tech manufacturing. Hugh recently retired but is still active in developing software.

Hugh has served on the Habitat for Humanity Halton-Mississauga-Dufferin Board for six years, presiding as Board Chair for four. He left the board for two years because of business commitments and re-joined in 2020. He is a member of two subcommittees of the board: Finance & Risk, and Planning & Development.

Hugh’s previous volunteer experience was with the Oakville Literacy Council, Scouts Canada, Acton Soccer Club, and Shred-for-Youth, and he is currently active in supporting the Bruce Trail Conservancy.

He and his wife Jane are long-term residents of Mississauga and Halton, living in Port Credit, Oakville, and now on their farm in Halton Hills. They have two grown sons and an uncountable number of animals.

Jeff Williams is a seasoned senior executive and general manager of large and successful global enterprises.  Over his career, he has led large tech-enabled service businesses to world-class performance levels. He is an experienced leader providing transformative, innovative, and strategic leadership to corporate and high-growth environments. He is a strong market, revenue, profit, and relationship builder. He is a motivational expert and servant leader who takes senior executive teams to new heights. He is a leader who has consistently demonstrated success in all market-facing and operational disciplines in B2B environments.

Jeff is a senior executive at DXC Technology.  DXC runs mission-critical systems with the latest technology innovations to deliver better business outcomes and new levels of performance, competitiveness, and experiences for its customers. DXC is a Fortune 500 company and represented in the S&P 500 Index.

Jeff is President of Alliance-One Services, a DXC Company that is the Insurance vertical market leader in business process services and enterprise technologies. Alliance-One serves 92% of the top Insurance companies in the Americas. Jeff is also President of ESIT, a DXC Company that owns and operates the company’s private and public sector businesses in Canada. Jeff’s primary responsibilities are to drive client satisfaction, to lead financial and operating performance, to grow leadership teams, and to the brand. In this role, Jeff has responsibility for a $1.2 billion dollar P&L, 10,000 colleagues and over 300 clients.

Prior to DXC, Jeff held executive roles at Alight Solutions, a world leader in Human Resource solutions. His roles included EVP – Global Professional Services, President – Alight Canada, EVP – Outsourcing and he also served as the company’s Chief Marketing Officer.  Prior to joining Alight, Jeff held senior executive roles at companies that included ADP and firms acquired by Blackstone, Concentrix, Vodafone, and Rogers.

Jeff is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School, earned his Master of Business Administration from a globally top-ranked program – The Ivey School at Western University – and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration and Political Science from Brock University.  He is currently Vice-Chair of his local Habitat for Humanity affiliate.

Having previously lived in the US and Europe, he and his wife Susan now reside in Oakville, Ontario with their twin teenagers – Kevin and Sabrina.

Robert is a CPA, CA, and holds a Master of Accountancy from the University of Waterloo and an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business. He has over 20 years of industry experience, in a broad range of business activities, in numerous and progressively more senior roles. He has worked in senior financial and strategic positions with emerging technology enterprises, multinational aerospace design, development and manufacturing, high-end audio-video firms and international dealership structures.

Currently, he is a professor in the Faculty of Business at Humber College, as well as a part-time Chief Financial Officer for a number of small and medium-sized clients. Previous to joining Habitat Halton-Mississauga, Robert held the chair position at the St. Julia Elementary School Council over the past eight years.

Robert is a long-time resident of Mississauga and has participated in numerous Habitat for Humanity builds during his time at Honeywell.

Patti has a Master’s degree in Sociology from Western University and an MBA from McMaster University.  Her professional career was in the delivery of computer and telecommunications infrastructure services to the Government of Ontario.  She held several senior management positions responsible for all aspects of delivering IT infrastructure services in support of mission-critical programs to the public.

Now retired, Patti has volunteered with the Mississauga Habitat affiliate since 2009 as a member of the team which established the affiliate’s first physical office and first ReStore. She has been a member of the Board since 2012 and continues into her second term as a member of the merged Halton-Mississauga Board.

A long-time resident of Mississauga, Patti’s other volunteer activities include being an in-school mentor for five years as part of the Peel Big Brother Big Sister’s program.

Jim Spitali is the Senior Vice President of Operations at Sagen (formerly Genworth Canada)  Jim is responsible for developing and executing strategies that optimize operational effectiveness while improving the customer experience. His focus is on driving productivity and operational efficiencies through innovation.

Jim has more than 17 years of experience in the financial services sector. Prior to joining Genworth Canada in 2015, Jim held various positions in Retail Banking, Wealth Management, and Sales Strategy with CIBC and Meridian Credit Union. Jim has a Bachelor’s of Business Administration from Brock University and an MBA from Dalhousie University.  He has served as a Board Director with Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Niagara.

Jim and his wife Megan have lived in Burlington for over 9 years and currently reside in Oakville with their daughters Mila and Sienna.

Public Board Director for the College of Occupational Therapists of Ontario.  Habitat built volunteer since 2011 assisting with site builds and on-site safety.  Currently sitting on the following:

• MOL’s (Ministry of Labour) prevention council which advises the Minister of Labour.
• Board of directors for the IHSA (Infrastructure Health and safety association.)
• Chair of the OHBA (Ontario Home Builders Association) health and safety committee. (BOD)
• Section 21 committee representing management for low-rise residential.
• Member of the Construction Legislative Review Committee (CLRC).
• Member of the CHSAP (Construction Health and Safety Action Plan). Communications Task Group.
• Member of Rescon (Residential Construction Council of Ontario) safety committee.
• Member of the Conestoga College Occupational Health, Safety and Wellness Program Advisory Committee.

Former teacher in South America with IBEU (Instituto Brasil-Estados Unidos) and CELEP.  Received award for safety professional of the year from the CSSE (Canadian Society of Safety Engineering).  Attended the Mayville state College & University of Regina in the faculty of education.

Lynn Fergusson, a founding Partner at Social Impact Advisors, helps non-profit and social purpose organizations across Canada focus on their results and achieve a meaningful social impact.  She is a strategy coach/facilitator in the McConnell Foundation’s “Innoweave” program, helping non-profits and cross-sector collectives improve their impact.  In addition, Lynn teaches Strategic Philanthropy & Leadership at the DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, where she has also taught Corporate Social Responsibility & Sustainability in the MBA program. Her background includes various leadership roles at GE, including on the National Executive and leading the employee volunteer organization in Canada.

Lynn holds a Bachelor of Arts in Honours Business Administration from Ivey, an MBA from Schulich and a Certificate in Adult Training & Development from OISE (University of Toronto).  She was a proud member of the Habitat for Humanity Halton board from 2008-2014 and is delighted to return to the expanded Habitat affiliate.

Social Impact Advisors is a Certified B Corp, meeting higher standards of transparency, accountability and performance, using the power of business to solve social and environmental problems and offering a positive vision of a better way to do business. Social Impact Advisors is among B The Change’s 2018 Best For The World Honorees.

Mike has been a Habitat volunteer since 2003 and has served as a Board Director on various committees and task forces since 2009.

After receiving an Honours Bus Admin (finance) degree from Wilfrid Laurier University he pursued follow-up studies in corporate finance at Harvard Business School. He is also certified in Not for Profit Board Essentials at The Institute of Corporate Directors Rotman School of Management. He has a professional background in corporate lending and investment banking. His 25-year career with TD Bank included executive leadership positions in several operating units in the U.S and Head Office Toronto. He has owned and operated a commercial finance company and has acted as a corporate financial consultant for many years.

Mike has served as a Board Director on several National Health Charities including Diabetes Canada and The National Diabetes Trust as Chair of the Audit Committee, as well as Vice-Chair of The Diabetes National Advocacy Council.

In 2014 Mike was recognized among 65,000 volunteers at Diabetes Canada as National Volunteer of the year. He also serves on the Board of CannTx Life Sciences Inc. He and his wife Jan are avid travellers and reside in Burlington.

 

Ameeta is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CA) with over 20 years of extensive regulatory, compliance, audit, risk management and international work experience. She has provided strategic advice, leadership and operational advisory support throughout her career. At PriceWaterhouseCoopers, she specialized in the audit of investment companies, after which she joined the Bermuda Monetary Authority, operationalized a compliance monitoring regime, risk assessment programs, managed a $100M fixed income portfolio and conducted investigations and enforcement work. She later joined Fidelity Investments International where she developed its local regulatory regime.

Ameeta is currently the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer of Social Venture Connexion (SVX) where she has been for more than 5 years. Ameeta oversees compliance with corporate policies, relevant laws and regulations, as well as governance and financial operations for SVX. She is responsible for the development, implementation and maintenance of compliance policies, operational procedures and internal control processes as well as all financial matters including preparation of financial budgets and forecasts.

She also holds a degree in Finance and Economics from the University of Western Ontario and the CSC, PDO, EMPC and CCO. Ameeta is on the Board of both the Verge Breakthrough Fund and the Oakville Community Foundation, and she Chairs the Program Related Investments Committee of the OCF.

SVX is a financial services firm that designs strategies, manages products, and raises capital for impact ventures, funds, organizations and investors. SVX works with ventures and funds across sectors by preparing them for investor due diligence, providing advice for their capital raising strategy, providing access to the SVX platform to manage their investments, and connecting them to investors.