Lloyd was raised in Toronto and is currently a resident of Markham. He attended Seneca College at the East Mall in Etobicoke and has been employed in the janitorial and manufacturing fields. Lloyd has been a member of Community Living York South's Quality Assurance committee for the past two years. He describes himself as a good listener, someone who is passionate about helping people and giving everyone a chance.

Mariana is a Senior Systems Analyst with the I&IT Cluster, serving both the Ministry of Children and Youth Services and the Ministry of Community and Social Services. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree form the University of Calgary and has 20 years experience in the IT industry in Hong Kong and Canada.

Mariana has been a resident of Markham for the past 15 years and is the mother of 2 boys, ages 14 and 19. Her eldest son has a developmental disability and participates in Community Living York South's summer camp program. As a parent, Mariana would like to see further changes in the developmental services sector to better support individuals and their families so they can live a full and meaningful life.

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Mazahair has been operating his own family business since 2000 as the owner of a Guardian Drug Store in Scarborough. His Master of Business Administration with concentration in financial management and a Bachelor of Commerce with a major in advanced accounting and auditing was obtained at the University of Poona in Poona, India.

Previously, Mazahair was the head of finance and administration for German Development Cooperation in Dar es salaam Tanzania, handling all of the financial transactions of the developmental projects in Tanzania administered by the office on behalf of the German government. Mazahair also managed project accounting, internal control and personnel management - both local and foreign, and management of statutory obligations, budget control and other miscellaneous administrative affairs of the office management.

Mazahair lives in Richmond Hill with his wife and 4 children - 2 girls and 2 boys. Junaid, the youngest son, was diagnosed with Down syndrome. This changed Mazahair's focus of life and encouraged him to learn more about the challenges facing such children.

Today, Mazahair feels he has learned through various people in the field how to manage individuals who have different challenges and he wants to make a difference. He feels it is his moral obligation to share his knowledge with others who can utilize this 'know how' and make a difference in peoples life styles. He wants to volunteer his time to an organization that helps their local community with different challenges.

Born in Hong Kong, Shirley is a Chinese Canadian who has lived in Toronto ever since her family immigrated to Canada when she was 12. Shirley was brought up to believe that she should give rather than receive; hence she jumped at the first opportunity of being a volunteer.  Shirley was a filing clerk at the North York General Hospital in her teenage years.  She says her volunteering experience only got more exciting after that - from transporting countless oxygen tanks throughout the hospital, selling daffodils to strangers for the Canadian Cancer Society, to delivering fresh biopsy specimens back and forth between operating rooms and histopathology labs. They bring back good memories of all the nice people she met and meaningful events accomplished. Following her challenging dental school years at the University of Toronto, she furthered her training as a post-graduate dental resident at the State University of New York in Buffalo.  After her return to Toronto, in addition to starting a dental career, she also volunteered at free dental clinics in the Unionvilla long-term care facility and a homeless kids' shelter at Yonge Street Mission.

Currently, Shirley divides most of her time between private general dental practice in Unionville and teaching dental students at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Dentistry.  Although she is not a resident, Shirley spends a significant amount of time in York Region - both working as a dentist for the past five years and being a member of the Bridle Trail Baptist Church for the past 15 years in Unionville. In her leisure time, Shirley enjoys arts and crafts, music, nature, cycling, hiking and exercising. She loves spending quality time with friends and family, whether on outings, at home or at church.  She considers herself very blessed to be able to live and work in such a great community.  She wants to give something back to the community.

Alex was born and raised in Hong Kong. After receiving his education in the UK, he worked briefly in Hong Kong then immigrated to Canada in 1974 with his family. He is very proud to be a Canadian Citizen. Alex worked in the IT industry throughout his work life and managed several world-wide system deployment projects with various global firms. Now retired, Alex enjoys building and flying remote control model airplanes and is a member of the Toronto RC Flying Club. Alex is also an active volunteer in his community.

Cristian is married, has a young son and resides in Richmond Hill. He believes in giving back to society and creating a "better world". Being an immigrant to this country, the Canadian society has given Cristian a new life and he wants to respond to that by making his own contribution to helping others live better, more fulfilling lives, and creating sustainable community development. Cristian has an MBA from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario and a Bachelor of Commerce from Ryerson University. He is currently employed with Scotiabank and his areas of expertise lie in education, finance, management, marketing, organizational planning and project management.

A passionate self advocate, Sharron lived with her parents until she began receiving support through Community Living York South as a resident of High Point in 1982. In 1988, Sharron achieved a milestone in independence when she was admitted into the Supported Independent Living Program and moved to an apartment in Richmond Hill. Sharron married her husband Craig in 1997 and shares proud ownership of Jacqueline, their eight year old Jack Russell Terrier. Sharron is an active volunteer with Epilepsy York Region. She participates in regular Self-Advocates Council meetings and attends the Community Options group sessions at the Yonge Street location once a week (this program teaches skills which enhance opportunities for employment). Sharron currently serves on Community Living York South's Quality Assurance Committee. Dedicated to raising awareness of the issues faced by persons with intellectual disabilities, Sharron is proud of "the programs that she has been through to get to this stage in her life". She wants people to know that she would respect all people involved in the Association and would be "honoured to represent them as a Board Member".

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It is Tahir's wish to play a role in the future development of our organization as a volunteer in the capacity of board director. He wishes to promote new growth with sustainable planning that will benefit the stakeholders of Community Living York South for future generations. Tahir has more than 20 years diversified senior management experience in business and organization development while working for large, multi-national and multi-cultural organizations. From his governance perspective, his experience in managing large organizations and developing efficient operations and budgets will play a significant role in future development of Community Living York South. He also serves on the board of three other non-profit organizations.

Currently Tahir is a senior business development executive at Applanix Corporation where he is responsible for airborne & land systems business in Asia/Pacific, Middle East, and Africa. Tahir is a professional engineer in Ontario and holds an MBA from Adelphi University in New York and an International Business Specialization from The Garvin School of International Management (Thunderbird) in Arizona and a Masters in Management Science and a B.Sc. in Engineering from Punjab University in Lahore, Pakistan. He has lived in Richmond Hill since 2001.

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Janet Tsao has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Occupational Health and Safety from Ryerson University. Upon graduation, she joined a team of Health, Safety & Environment Advisors for Hydro One Networks Inc. She also has a young adult brother - Jeff, who has Down Syndrome. Jeff has successfully completed high school. Janet is very proud that Jeff currently spends his working days at Bright Ideas Custom Packaging at Community Living York South.

Janet is certified by the Worker Health & Safety Center and WSIB as a Young Worker Awareness Program Instructor. She has visited over 40 schools across the GTA to promote Health & Safety and worker rights for students. Her interests include human performance/human error, dynamic hazard perception, management of safety, accident reporting and investigation and conducting safety inspections. She is a current member of the Association of Canadian Ergonomics (ACE) and has experience in both presenting and writing technical papers for ACE and Human Factors & Ergonomics Society (HFES) with research, specializing mainly in Human Factors and Cognitive Theory.

Janet enjoys "hanging out" with Jeff and his friends planning outings, a day in the park, a funny movie, a shopping trip, and a fabulous meal in a nice restaurant of their choice. She is passionate in making a difference for individuals with disabilities and actively taking part in their personal development.

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