Naomi Campbell

Naomi Campbell

Naomi Campbell was born in London, England and discovered as a fashion model at age 15. Throughout her career, she's fronted the covers of over 1000 magazines, been featured in campaigns for celebrated houses including Burberry, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Marc Jacobs, and Louis Vuitton, and walked iconic shows for Chanel, Azzedine Alaia, Christian Dior, and Versace. Beyond her work in the fashion & entertainment industries, Campbell has used her celebrity for an array of fundraising and non-profit initiatives across the globe. Environmentalism, as well as Human Rights and Global Health, as it specifically pertains to women and children, have been critical sectors of Campbell’s work. She has also formed her own non-profit, Fashion For Relief, a charitable organization founded in 2005 that has raised funds for various environmental and humanitarian causes. It holds events in association with the London-based non-profit organization CARE. Today, Campbell is undoubtedly solidifying her place as a cultural innovator- using her incredible platform and success for positive change across industries around the world.

Luminary

Dr. Graça Machel

Dr. Graça Machel

Graça Machel is an African stateswoman whose decades long professional and public life is rooted in Mozambique’s struggle for self-rule and international advocacy for women and children’s rights. She is a former freedom fighter in Mozambique’s FRELIMO movement and that country’s first Minister of Education.

In the years following her tenure in government, Machel produced a ground-breaking UNICEF report “The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children” that changed the way the United Nations and member states respond in conflict zones. Since then, she has worked tirelessly in support of global health, child welfare, and women’s rights and empowerment.

Machel works through several regional and international development bodies to accelerate social transformation. Machel is a founding member and Deputy Chair of The Elders, and played a key role in establishing Girls Not Brides. She is a member of the UN Secretary-General’s Sustainable Development Goals Advocacy Group.

Machel lends her expertise to a number of organizations in a governance role. She serves as Board Chair of the Africa Child Policy Forum, Board Chair of the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes, Board Chair of United People Global as well as Executive Chair of the Mandela Institute for Development Studies. Machel is a Board Member of the South African Future Trust (SAFT), Mo Ibrahim Foundation, the Kofi Annan Foundation, and Education Above All. She is Board Chair Emeritus for the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH) and is a UNICEF Young People's Agenda Global Advisory Board Member.

She is Chairperson of Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Trust and a Trustee of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. She also sits on the Jack Ma Netpreneur Advisory Board. Additionally, she is the Chancellor of the African Leadership University.

Machel has created three non-governmental organizations in her own right. She founded and serves as President of the Foundation for Community Development and the Zizile Institute for Child Development. She founded the Graça Machel Trust in 2010 where she focuses on advocating for women’s economic and social empowerment, food security and nutrition, education for all, as well as good governance.

Among numerous awards, Machel has received the United Nations’ Nansen Refugee Award in recognition of her long-standing humanitarian work. In 1997, she was made an honorary Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. She is a member of the Ambassador David M. Walters International Paediatric Hall of Fame. In 2018, she was awarded the World Health Organization’s highest honour, the WHO Gold Medal, for her enormous contributions to the health and wellbeing of women, children and adolescents. She was also acknowledged by Women Deliver with their 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award and she was named one of Africa’s 50 Most Powerful Women by Forbes in 2020. Leiden University bestowed upon her an Honorary Doctoral Degree for her extensive work to advance children’s rights in 2021.

Graça Machel has dedicated her life to improving the fate of women and children, inspiring hope, and building a more just and equitable world for us all.

*photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla FORBES AFRICA

Luminary

CAMH: The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

CAMH: The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

CAMH is Canada’s largest mental health teaching hospital and a global leader in mental health research. We set the standards for care, research, education and driving social change. We leverage these strengths to amplify impact and improve outcomes for people living with mental illness in our community, across Canada and around the world. Now more than ever, the world needs CAMH to lead the way for mental health.

Even before the onset of COVID-19, we were in the midst of a global mental health crisis. According to the World Health Organization, around 450 million people currently struggle with mental illness, making it the leading cause of disability worldwide. Research shows the pandemic has made mental health even more precarious—and that COVID-19 continues to have disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations, including BIPOC communities. CAMH and other organizations must bring an intersectional lens to our work, with every strategy grounded in the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion. We are committed to increasing race-based data collection, studying the impact of racism—specifically anti-Black racism—on health, working toward health equity at CAMH, and advocating for barrier-free mental health supports. In fall 2019, we launched Fair & Just CAMH Steering Committee, under the guidance and support from the Office of Health Equity. Through rigourous consultation with key community leaders working with Black populations across the city, they are developing a Fair and Just strategy: Dismantling Anti-Black Racism, the first of its kind at CAMH. The work of the CAMH Horizontal Violence, Anti-Racism, Anti-Oppression Working Group, including the Anti-Racism Sub-Committee, will help shape this work.

CAMH has led work in the Caribbean for a number of years. Past projects include: a collaboration with the Inter-American Drug Control Commission focused on building capacity of national authorities to monitor and analyze the impact of illicit drugs in the Americas; a partnership with the Pan American Health Organization, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua (UNAN-León), and National Institute of Mental Health in Panama to enable leaders transition to integrate mental health into primary care in their countries. While these projects ended in 2016; and a project with the University of the West Indies, providing basic and advanced addiction training to 55 health professionals from four Caribbean countries. Our ongoing work includes a youth mental health program that has already been implemented in several countries in Central America, with an eye toward expansion in English-speaking Caribbean countries (Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica). CAMH has reached out to collaborators at the University of the West Indies to explore the possibility of expansion and implementation in these countries, as well as seeking possible funding opportunities.

Chancellor

Mr. Denham Jolly

Mr. Denham Jolly

Mr. B. Denham Jolly is an award-winning businessman, philanthropist, entrepreneur, publisher/author and a human rights activist who is highly respected for his business acumen and community affairs.

Jolly was born in Green Island, Jamaica and attended Cornwall College. In Canada studied at the University of Guelph, Dalhousie and graduated from McGill in science, 1960. Jolly returned to Jamaica and did Nutrition Research for the Government. He returned to Canada in 1962 and worked as an Air Pollution Researcher for Metro Toronto and subsequently transferred to teaching science.

Jolly founded a senior care business and successfully operated his business, Tyndall Nursing Homes, in Ontario and Texas, as President & CEO for over 40 years.

1982, Jolly founded the Black Business Professional Association (BBPA) and the Harry Jerome Awards and bought/published the community newspaper, Contrast.

2001, Jolly was the Founder and President & CEO of Canada’s first Black-owned radio station, FLOW 93.5, Toronto.

Jolly is named in the Who's Who of Ontario, Canada’s Who’s Who and the International Who's Who of Professionals and is acknowledged as a prominent African Canadian in How the Blacks Created Canada.

Jolly has also served as a Director of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) among his many credits. He has been recognized with an astounding list of distinguished awards including the: Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal; Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal; Canada's 125th Confederation Medal.

Mr. Jolly’s community affairs include: Jamaican Canadian Association (JCA), Black Action Defense Committee (BADC), Committee for Due Process, Daphne Dacosta Cancer Association, Jane and Finch Concerned Citizens, Harriett Tubman Games, the YMCA and Caribana.

Jolly won the highly-esteemed 2017 Toronto Book Award for his memoir “In the Black: My Life” tracing his personal and professional struggle for a place in a country where Black Canadians face systemic discrimination.

August 2019, Jolly paid off the JCA Centre’s mortgage with a $312,000 donation.

November 2019, the City of Toronto named a street in his honour, “Jolly Way”.

November 2020, the Governor General of Canada appointed Mr. Jolly to The Order of Canada, for his outstanding service to the nation.

Today Jolly continues his work as a Philanthropist and Activist. Most recently Jolly started a Breakfast Program at Cornwall College, his Alma mater in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Jolly currently sponsors a Boys Under 12 Soccer Team from Regent Park in Toronto, Canada. He currently sponsors Industry Cove Basic School, Hanover a school founded by his Mother.

G. Raymond Chang

Dr. Kevin Fenton

Dr. Kevin Fenton

Kevin has worked in a variety of public health roles across government and academia in the UK and internationally.

He became London’s PHE Regional Director of Public Health and NHS in April 2020. He is the statutory public health advisor to the Mayor of London. He provides leadership across London for health, prevention of ill health, health protection and reduction of health inequalities.

In November 2020, Kevin was named by Powerlist as the second most influential black person in Britain for his work leading the fight against coronavirus and his public health leadership on tackling inequalities.

In Spring 2020, he oversaw the national PHE review of disparities in risks and outcomes of COVID-19 which included an epidemiological investigation, rapid review of the published literature, and an extensive stakeholder engagement with BAME communities, professionals, faith and system leaders. The review led to seven key recommendations which have shaped a more equitable COVID-19 pandemic response, nationally and locally.

Prior to starting as London’s Regional Director he held a joint position as Strategic Director of Place and Wellbeing and Director of Public Health at London Borough of Southwark, and Senior Advisor, Public Health England. In this role he led the council’s planning, regeneration, community engagement and public health portfolios driving inclusive regeneration, digital public health, asset-based community development and promoting health in all policies - working in partnership with NHS.

Professor Fenton was previously PHE’s National Director for Health and Wellbeing leading national prevention programmes including screening for cancer, NHS Health Checks, obesity, mental health, e-cigarettes and tobacco harm reduction, HIV, sexual and reproductive health. He also established and led PHE's Health Equity programme focused on addressing the social determinants of health and promoting place-based approaches to health improvement.

Between 2005-2012, Professor Fenton was the Director of the National Centre for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP), Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He also served as chief of CDC’s National Syphilis Elimination Effort and has worked in research, epidemiology, and the prevention of HIV and other STDs since 1995. Previously he was the director of the HIV and STI Department at the United Kingdom’s Health Protection Agency.

Vice Chancellor

Mrs. Pamela Coke-Hamilton

Mrs. Pamela Coke-Hamilton

Pamela Coke-Hamilton has served as Executive Director of the International Trade Centre since 1 October 2020. She joined ITC from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), where she was Director of the Division on International Trade and Commodities.

Ms. Coke-Hamilton has a breadth of experience and expertise in trade-related capacity-building and sustainable development. She served with the Jamaican Government, the Caribbean Forum in trade negotiations, and multilateral institutions, including the Organization of American States and InterAmerican Development Bank. She previously served as Executive Director of the Caribbean Export Development Agency, strengthening the private sector and micro, small and medium enterprises through investment promotion.

She has a deep understanding of the challenges faced by vulnerable economies such as the small island developing States and least developed countries. Ms. Coke-Hamilton has worked extensively with the private sector across African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and academia to build trade-related institutional strength within member States. She also established the Women Empowered through Export (WeXport) platform to address the disadvantages that women-owned firms experience in accessing markets.

Ms. Coke-Hamilton holds a Juris Doctor in Law from the Georgetown University School of Law in Washington, DC, and a BSc in International Relations and Economics from the University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica.

Vice Chancellor

Mrs. Wendy Beckles

Mrs. Wendy Beckles

Wendy attended Queen’s College in Barbados and is a graduate of Harvard University and the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. She holds the Certified General Accounting designation (CGA), Chartered Professional Accounting designation (CPA) and Certified Healthcare Administrator designation. With a professional career which spans North America, Europe and the Caribbean, Wendy has held executive roles in healthcare, oil and gas, audit, financial services and international business. As President and CEO of Shepherd Village, one of the largest Seniors’ communities in Southern Ontario, Wendy provides innovative executive leadership to her team of 500 as they serve 900 seniors across an integrated healthcare campus. Wendy’s early implementation of COVID-19 pandemic preparedness protocols, successfully positioned Shepherd Village to avoid active outbreaks during wave one. She was recognized in June 2020 by the Scarborough-Agincourt community for her exemplary leadership of frontline workers and the most vulnerable in the community during the pandemic. Wendy was subsequently invited to serve on Ontario’s Provincial Recovery and Planning Table to advise the Ministry of Health on implementation and oversight of COVID protocols throughout the pandemic. In response to increased gun violence in Toronto, Wendy co-founded The Canadian Multicultural LEAD Organization for Mentoring & Training. And in 2011, Wendy was recognized by the Toronto Police Service for her positive contributions to the community and dedication to youth. Wendy was recognized by Planet Africa in 2012 for her contribution to the Crossover Mentorship Program and for impacting the lives of youth and others in leadership. In 2019, Wendy was recognized with the Harry Jerome Award for Leadership by the Black Business & Professional Association. More recently, in March 2020, Wendy was selected as one of 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women. This award recognizes Wendy’s personal support and involvement in the advancement of black women and girls, in addition to her demonstrated leadership, role modelling and volunteer activities. In December 2020, Wendy was recognized as a WXN Top100 “Canada’s Most Powerful Women” for her excellence in leadership and inspiring the advancement of the next generation of female leaders. Wendy recognizes that authentic leadership is consistently being your best self. That whether you are enjoying success or working through challenges, life is about creating value for others, not just for yourself. Wendy and her husband Mark have three adult children William, Ashley and Warren. Wendy’s family provides her unwavering encouragement to be her best self.
Vice Chancellor
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