Item - 2019.NP2.1

The Nominating Panel – Property Standards Committee recommends that:  

1. City Council appoint the following candidates to the Property Standards Committee, who will serve as public members for a term of office ending on May 15, 2023, and until successors are appointed:

Etobicoke York Panel

William Dalton

Steven Lewis

North York Panel

Elio Iaboni

Shirley Nguyen

Scarborough Panel

Kiarash Kiai

Monica Purdy

Toronto and East York Panel

Robert Hedley

Marie Abraham

2. City Council appoint the following candidate to the Property Standards Committee, who will serve as a public member for a term of office ending on March 30, 2021, and until a successor is appointed:

Toronto and East York Panel

Laura Herbert

3. City Council direct that Confidential Attachments 1, 2 and 3 to the report (April 17, 2019) from the City Clerk remain confidential in their entirety as they relate to personal matters about identifiable individuals being considered for appointment to the Property Standards Committee.

Candidates' biographies:

Marie Abraham

Marie Abraham was born in Calgary to East Indian immigrants and first came to Toronto to attend university. She has worked as a lawyer in Toronto for approximately 22 years. Twenty of those years were devoted to criminal law, but she now practices more generally in an arm's-length provincial government agency. She wishes to be useful to her city by providing a balanced perspective with the open-mindedness to investigate other ideas that are not hers.

William Dalton

William Dalton has a Master's degree in urban and regional planning from Queen's University and an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree from York University. He has over 15 years of progressive work experience in the land development industry throughout the Greater Toronto Area where he has acquired extensive knowledge of Ontario planning regulations, including the Ontario Building Code. William currently serves as the Director and Treasurer of his condominium board and has volunteered with the United Way.

Robert Hedley

Robert Hedley has a doctorate in leadership and organizational studies from Michigan State University and is a Master Coach and Certified Training and Development Professional. His passion for working with high-performing people has guided his career as a teacher and educator, speaker, author, professional coach, college administrator, and business owner and executive. Robert's volunteer experiences include two Boards of Directors (Sport Ontario and the Canadian Society for Training and Development) and the Governance and Human Resources Committees within both of these boards.

Laura Herbert

Laura Herbert has lived in Toronto since 1999. She is an active member of a successful housing cooperative in the downtown core and is very much interested in municipal and community issues. Laura graduated from Ryerson University with a Bachelor of Architectural Sciences, and her career path in the design and construction industry has allowed her to combine her love of building and design with her penchant for codes, standards, and laws. She would like to share the knowledge she has gained to improve the experience of living and working in the city with other citizens.

Elio Iaboni

Elio Iaboni was born and raised in Toronto. He is a Civil Engineer with a Bachelors of Applied Science degree from the University of Waterloo. He is a results driven professional with a proven record of success providing dynamic leadership and innovative problem solving in diverse and challenging roles in construction and contract management. Personal strengths include keen analytical skills, strategy development, detailed planning of complex projects, thriving in a fast paced and positive adversarial environment with unyielding dedication and passion to an organization’s success and vision fulfillment.

Kiarash Kiai

Kiarash Kiai received his master’s degree in architecture in 1997 in Iran. He became a partner of an architecture firm in 2001. The firm won the second prize of the Grand Architect of the Year in 2001 under his supervision. Kiarash moved to Canada with his family, his wife and two children, in 2010. After moving to Canada, he did a couple of design and design-build projects. He studied Urban Design program at the University of Toronto and started working for a planning firm after graduation.

Steven Lewis

Steven Lewis is a Barrister, Solicitor, and Notary Public working for a large international private employer. He has clerked with the Superior Court of Justice and is also a Certified Accessibility Professional with the International Association of Accessibility Professionals. He has a passion for improving his community and is an active volunteer on Boards and executive committees of many legal and equity seeking organizations.  

Shirley Nguyen

Shirley Nguyen is an experienced mediator, facilitator, sole-practitioner, and business owner and operator, who is well-versed in multiculturalism and its issues.  She holds a B.Sc. in Applied Computational and Mathematics Science and has completed certificates in Dispute Resolution, Paralegal, and Immigration Law. Her insatiable appetite for new challenges and volunteering for multiple causes often lead her to learning different and creative ways of solving problems.

Monica Purdy

Monica Purdy has a deep sense of obligation to public service, specifically in healthcare, social justice and adjudication. She assisted parties through the dispute resolution process and in finding interest based solutions to complex issues. Monica has worked, both as an adjudicator and a mediator, with the Social Benefits Tribunal and, more recently, the License Appeals Tribunal. 

The Nominating Panel – Property Standards Committee will conduct interviews and recommend nine candidates to City Council for appointment to the Property Standards Committee.