Board of Directors

Director At-Large
Margie is the CEO of the Appraisal Institute of Housing - Ontario, a member association for designated professional appraisers who annually appraise more than $754 billion worth of real estate.
Margie’s expertise is in governance, strategic leadership, and business transformation. As the ED of Birch Housing, a community housing non-profit, she led the transformation from legacy government agreements towards a sustainable business model for today’s environment.
Margie has also worked for ONPHA as the Deputy Executive Director and served on the Toronto Mayor’s Task Force on Toronto Community housing. She has undertaken housing policy, research and best practices work at the City of Toronto, the Province of Ontario and CMHC. In 2021, she won the ONPHA Sybil Frenette Award for Outstanding Leadership. She is also a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Housing Canada.

CHF Canada - Western Canada Region
Yuri is the Communications Director of the Co-operative Housing Federation of BC. In this role, he is responsible for developing and implementing communications strategies and plans to engage members, partners, media, and stakeholders.
Throughout his career, Yuri has engaged in various public policy areas such as housing, urban planning, and community engagement with a focus on policy analysis, advocacy, and communications. He has worked and collaborated with academic, government, non-profit, and private sector organizations in British Columbia, Ontario, ant Arizona.
He brings over a decade of co-operative housing sector experience to Rooftops Canada. Before joining the staff of CHF BC, Yuri served there as an elected board director rom 2012 to 2018 and again from 2019 to 2021. He currently resides in the First Avenue Athletes Village Housing Co-operative in Vancouver.
Yuri holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of British Columbia, focusing on international relations, and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Victoria.

CHRA
Karen has been involved in housing policy and planning work since 1989. From 2006 to 2021, she was the Chief Research Officer for BC Housing where she managed research and performance planning activities that supported its public accountability plans, technical building research, and housing sector transformation. An urban planner by training, she started her planning career at Terra Housing Consultants, developing non-profit social housing projects. Karen's planning experience includes policy and development work on the City of Vancouver’s False Creek and Coal Harbour waterfront redevelopment sites, as well as planning initiatives in the Downtown Eastside.

Director at Large
Aly is a lawyer by profession with wide-ranging experiences in the public sector. He currently serves in the executive cadre with the Ontario Public Service with the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services. He has a long history in the not-for-profit sector having previously served on the Boards of organizations such as Habitat for Humanity Greater Toronto Area, Legal Aid Ontario and an international humanitarian relief organization. Aly is a certified adjudicator and has also worked in Indigenous law, administrative law and international justice sector development assistance. In 2010, he received the Lincoln Alexander Award from the Law Society of Ontario in recognition of his longstanding commitment to the public and the pursuit of community service for Ontarians.

CHF Canada - East
Jaclyn was born and currently lives in Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia) with her two young children. She has over 10 years’ experience in governance support with a background specializing in property, financial and contact management. She worked in the Co-op Housing sector for over three years and is currently the Program Manager of Co-operative and Planning Services (Atlantic) with CHF Canada. Through her employment she has been supporting initiatives that help foster the understanding, awareness and learning of co-operative housing development and growth. This work includes alternative governance models that enhance scale and sustainability among members and the sector. She is a supporter of continual learning though workshops, formal education and shared experiences and holds a Bachelors of Business Degree from Mount Saint Vincent University and a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute.

Helen Harris has more than ten years of experience in social and housing policy and program delivery. She holds a deep understanding of community housing having focused her career in various frontline, policy and leadership roles in this sector. She is currently Principal of Housing Policy and Research with SHS Consulting where she manages interdisciplinary project teams on a diverse range of housing and policy
research projects. Prior to holding this role, Helen spent over five years working at the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association (ONPHA) where she led organizational priorities and provided strategic direction through major sectoral shifts. Before this, Helen worked in a variety of frontline community housing roles with the YWCA Toronto and the Bruce County Housing Corporation.
Helen holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy and Administration from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University), a Master of Social Work from the University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Wilfird Laurier University. Helen has also completed her Chartered Housing Professional Designation through the Chartered Institute of Housing Canada.

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