Peter Guay
Chair
Peter Guay is an active member of the Montreal community. In addition to his long-term involvement with The Depot, he served on the board of the Loyola High School Foundation, was a founding member of the Montreal Heart Institute Foundation’s Emerging Leaders Committee and was President of the Montreal branch of the Canadian International Council. Peter has 20 years of experience as a Portfolio Manager and Financial Planner at PWL Capital. He enjoys helping clients make better financial decisions, so they can leave more for their family and have a bigger impact in their community.
Susan Kessler
Vice-Chair
Susie Kessler has been actively involved with The Depot for the past 10 years, as a volunteer in numerous roles as well as a board member for the past 6 years. She is an NDG native who was a Senior Marketing Executive at a Fortune 500 Cosmetics company for 34 years, and has lived and worked in numerous international locations including Canada, South Africa, China, Poland, the Philippines and New York City. Having been an early retiree, she enjoys being a grandmother along with nurturing a life-long passion for travel, cooking and for good food.
Carolyn Della Rosa
Treasurer
Carolyn is a CPA who has worked in the field of professional services for over 17 years in Ontario and Quebec, specializing in the field of Canadian corporate tax compliance and cross-border advisory work. Carolyn is a CPA and a partner in the Business Tax service line at Deloitte LLP.Carolyn is a strong supporter of community engagement and has volunteered at various organizations throughout NDG, where she lives with her family. Carolyn enjoys spending time hiking, biking and taking in the great outdoors.
Audrey Bernasconi
Secrétaire
Audrey Bernasconi is a corporate lawyer in the Montreal business law group of Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP, one of Canada’s largest and most prominent law firms. Her practice covers all aspects of corporate and commercial law, with a focus on corporate governance. Audrey joined The Depot’s Governance Committee in 2023 and contributed to the comprehensive review of the Depot’s governance framework.
Adelle Blackett
Adelle Blackett grew up in LaSalle. After working in Geneva for the United Nations’ specialized agency, the International Labour Organization, where she met her life partner, she returned to Montreal to become a professor at McGill University’s Faculty of Law. She is currently the Canada Research Chair in Transnational Labour Law, and her life work has focused on social justice for historically marginalized communities. She publishes and travels widely, has enjoyed teaching a generation of law students, and believes in the importance of community service. She was the chief architect of an international treaty on domestic workers’ rights, led a deeply participatory labour law reform in Haiti, chaired a committee of the Barreau du Québec, served as a Québec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commissioner, was the principal drafter of the Scarborough Charter on Anti-Black Racism and Black Inclusion in Canadian Higher Education, and chaired the federal Employment Equity Act Review Task Force. She is proud of her two community-minded university-aged children, and is increasingly making time for her love of swimming.
Diana Tabatabai
Diana Tabatabai was born in Tehran and worked as a chemist before moving with her husband, Jamshid, to Toronto in 1976. Not following the crowd, they moved to Montreal, and she worked as a consultant while pursuing her PhD at McGill. After graduation she taught graduate courses and worked full time as a research associate at McGill Faculty of Education. Her passion is to find ways that will empower and engage learners, ie, in inquiry-driven situations. She and three other McGill professors published a book about inquiry instruction using basic concepts that can be applied to many learning situations. She accidentally stumbled upon the Depot and loved how people treat each other while engaged in a worthy cause so she started volunteering in the kitchen in 2022.
Lenny Pinkas
Lenny Pinkas is an NDG native who has been a volunteer at The Depot since the beginning of 2024. As a volunteer he loves connecting with participants at the Marché and Resto. Lenny recently retired after an eclectic career that included roles as a management consultant, business strategist, small business owner, and professional recording artist with a well-known Montreal band. An avid cyclist, Lenny can always be found traversing the bike paths and roads in and around Montreal. He also enjoys travelling with his spouse and has many trips planned for their retirement.
Melissa Margles
Melissa has a B.A. from Concordia University and a teaching degree from McGill University, specializing in Jewish Studies. She has sat as a member of various boards and organizations including the Comfy Cozy Fund, JPPS-Bialik, Mount Sinai Hospital, Camp Ramah in Canada. She has participated in numerous community fundraising and awareness activities such as the JGH Breast Cancer Walk (a six time walker), the inaugural Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer, Old Brewery Mission, Chez Doris and Melissa was the driving force and key organizer of the CSL Grocery Project during the Covid-19 Pandemic and as such, in 2020, Melissa was a recipient of one of Cote Saint-Luc’s Volunteer of the Year awards for her efforts.
Philippe Arnold
Philippe Arnold grew up in Vancouver and moved to Montreal in 2001 to pursue studies in philosophy and law. Philippe works as Vice President Human Resources for Securitas Aviation, where he strives to maintain harmonious working relationships and improve employee working conditions. When he’s not at work, he enjoys spending time with his family, in nature and in the kitchen.
Quyn Vu
Quynh Vu is a Chartered Accountant and Director of Finance at PWL Capital. She began her accounting career as an external auditor at Richter and has been in contact with a wide variety of industries, including not-for-profit organizations. Drawing on her expertise in finance and her previous career as a journalist, she brings a unique blend of attention to detail and commitment to ensuring transparency and accountability in financial matters. She is passionate about issues of food security, racial inequality, financial literacy and community development. Quynh lives in NDG with her partner and their two daughters.
Ronald Rudin
Ronald Rudin has come to know NDG well, living here for over forty years, running through its streets for most of that time, and volunteering at the Depot in the kitchen since June 2022. He was a long-time professor of Canadian History at Concordia University, publishing eight books and producing eight documentary films. In his retirement, he continues to do research that touches on the lives of people who often experienced food insecurity.
Trudy Wong