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
Secretary
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.
Edouard Dong Vo-Quang
Eddy was born and (for the most part) raised in Montreal and now lives in NDG with his family. He is Assistant General Counsel at Power Corporation of Canada. Prior to joining Power Corporation, he was General Counsel for a Montreal-based public company, and before that
worked in private practice for large law firms in Boston and Montreal. He is co-Chair of the board of Boscoville, a non-profit that specializes in the development of innovative programs for front-line interveners working with at-risk youth. He is passionate about anything cycling, and spends too much of his free time riding or repairing bikes of all kinds.
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.
Quynh 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