Core Team Alumni
Vartana would like to thank the following former core team members for their energy and commitment:
- Mary Anne Elliott
- Jeff Pentland
- John Thompson
- Chris Thompson
- Prashant Pathak
- Benoît Long
The Vartana team is a small group of people with varied backgrounds and experience who have come together around their shared commitment to creating a financial services institution for the Voluntary Sector.
Aaron Pereira was previously a co-founder of CanadaHelps , Canada 's foremost non-profit e-charity portal, and acted as the organization's executive director until mid 2001. He recently completed a degree in Economics from Queen's University. He has been involved in various charitable causes since elementary school. Among many other things, while living in the Middle East during the Gulf War, he was involved in a GCC project raising money for displaced Kurds. Aaron has been named an Ashoka Fellow, was a 2002 Honourable Mention for the CANARIE I-WAY Award for Community Leadership, a distinguished young alumnus of Appleby College , and a 2001 Volunteer of the Year for the City of Toronto .
Aaron is a director of CanadaHelps and a member of the alumni executive for Appleby College . Previously he was a member of the strategy committee for the board of directors of Queen's University; and was a member of the ethics committee of the US-based e-Philanthropy foundation.
Until January 1, 2003 a partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, and prior to that a partner at Fraser & Beatty (now Fraser, Milner, Casgrain LLP), Alec has extensive experience in the incorporation and regulation of banks and trust companies in Canada . He was responsible for the incorporation of MBNA Canada Bank, Bank of China ( Canada ) and United Overseas Bank ( Canada ), the amalgamation of The Chase Manhattan Bank of Canada and Chemical Bank Canada , the subsequent amalgamation of The Chase Manhattan Bank of Canada and J.P. Morgan Bank Canada , and the continuance of London Trust Company as a federally chartered trust company. Alec has acted for CDIC on various matters, and as counsel to the liquidators of a number of trust companies and of Northland Bank. This regulatory experience and expertise, and Alec's longstanding relationships with OSFI and CDIC, bring strength and credibility to the Core Team in this key area.
Alec is recognized in numerous national and international publications as one of Canada 's best banking lawyers, and has been listed in the annual Lexpert/American Media's Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada each year of its publication, including 2003. Alec is a director of J.P. Morgan Bank Canada, Castrol Canada Inc. and CanadaHelps, and is a former Governor of the Canadian Olympic Foundation, Appleby College and Prologue to the Performing Arts.
