STC Toronto chapter’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held successfully via Zoom on June 28th, 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
The president and vice president of the STC Toronto chapter Joyce Lam and Shonna Eden co-chaired the meeting.
Looking back on 2019-2020
At the beginning of the meeting, Shonna presented the 2019 meeting minutes and looked back on events and activities held last year. The treasurer Vanitha Krishnamurthy then reviewed the chapter’s finances. Joyce followed by presenting the retrospection and outlook of 2019-2020. The focus of the council’s work was staying relevant, providing value for members by boosting the new job bank, increasing marketing effort and event attendance through strengthened online presence. Fostering the next generation of leadership for the chapter was also a top priority. Joyce also touched upon the challenges and opportunities presented by COVID-19.
Electing community council and executive council
After the retrospection, attending members elected the the new community council and Executive council.
The 2020-2021 community council
| Communication Manager | Natalya Lohnes |
| Communications Coordinator | Kahkashan Kazmi |
| Membership Manager | Tika Thapa |
| Program Manager | Phoebe Yu |
| Education Manager | Tania Samsonova |
| Publicity Manager | Vacant |
| Webmaster | Egnis Hoxha |
| Blog Manager | Peihong Zhu |
| Content Writer | Craig Dodman |
| Site Manager | Manali Pandit |
| Job Bank Manger | Anant Seshardri |
| Job Bank Coordinators | Kahkashan Kazmi, Michael Fowler |
The 2020-2021 executive council
| President | Joyce Lam |
| Vice President | Shonna Eden |
| Treasurer | Vanitha Krishnamurthy |
| Community Director | Mona Albano |
Presenting 2020-2021 action plan
Following the election, Shonna presented the action plan for 2020-2021, which includes:
- Blend social and networking events with workshops and talks
- Increase web presence of events
- Complete the Job Bank renovation
- Build partnership with recruitment agencies and colleges
- Hold job fairs and career development workshops
Awards
After the formal agenda concluded, Joyce announced the various chapter awards given out at the end of 2019. Joyce also congratulated the Community Director Mona Albano and Treasurer Vanitha Krishnamurthy for receiving this year’s Community Service Awards from the STC head office.
Keynote speech
For the grand finale of this year’s AGM, the renowned Canadian English expert and the former Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Oxford Dictionary Katherine Barber gave the key-note speech on the history of the English language titled Why is the English Language so Weird? Filled with stories and fun facts, the talk garnered rave reviews from the attendees in the form of chat messages.
If you want to know more about Kathrine Barber’s work, please visit her blog: https://katherinebarber.blogspot.com/.
STC Ontario 