Meet the team

Tracy brings a wealth of experience in the charitable sector and mentoring field to Mentor Canada.  She has held senior roles at Lionheart Foundation and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Calgary and has provided consultation to mentoring programs and organizations for several years. Leading the Partnership Network at Mentor Canada, Tracy is leveraging her deep sector relationships in building a national network of mentoring organizations and partners across Canada.

A regular contributor to the work of the Alberta Mentoring Partnership and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada, Tracy has a proven track record of developing and implementing innovative mentoring programs, tools, partnerships and collaborations. Tracy holds an MA in Counselling Psychology from Gonzaga University and is a Certified Canadian Counsellor. An avid cook and lover of great food, Tracy enjoys travelling the world.

As Director of Research and Evaluation, Véronique Church-Duplessis conducts research to allow funders and programs to make informed decisions based on new and relevant knowledge. She also supports the development of tools and resources which allow practitioners to make evidence-informed decisions to improve young people’s access to quality mentoring opportunities. 

Motivated by the unknown, Véronique is focused on making research findings accessible and relevant to mentoring practitioners. She is also involved with the Canadian Centre for Youth Mentoring, a group that facilitates and promotes exchange opportunities between academics and practitioners. As a former teacher and program manager, Véronique focused her efforts on helping students develop and refine their critical thinking and communications skills, a skill that is evident in her own ability to make research accessible to all. 

Véronique completed her Ph.D. in History with a focus on the development of modern gender norms from the University of Toronto in 2016 and received her M.A. in History from the Université de Montréal in 2008.

Outside of work, she loves to travel and garden, and is also an avid baseball fan and cat lover.

As Mentor Canada’s Communications Manager, Jessica Sims raises awareness about the importance of mentoring. Mentoring can take on many different forms to meet the unique needs of youth across the country, and Jessica is able to showcase this through her storytelling. 

By sharing relatable and impactful content via Mentor Canada’s social media platforms and website, Jessica keeps mentoring programs and the general public informed and aware of the many facets of mentoring and mentoring research. Her past experiences in marketing and operations, combined with her leadership and organizational skills, allow her to support and propel Mentor Canada’s mission forward. 

Jessica received her B.A. with a major in Management and minor in Finance from Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business.                          

On weekends, Jessica enjoys going for runs in downtown Montreal, taking her dog for walks in new areas, and watching  Sunday football with her parents and grandparents.

Michèle Mantero is responsible for designing, developing, curating, and delivering bilingual training and instructional materials intended for internal and external audiences. 

With over 10 years of experience as a training specialist in the pharmaceutical industry, Michèle brings extensive leadership experience in team development, process improvements, quality assessment, and curriculum design​​.​​ This coupled with her passion for technology has helped Mentor Canada bring their training programs to the next level thanks to the introduction of digital platforms, software applications and other technologies. 

After receiving her Diploma of Technology Studies from Collège Paul-Émile Dufresne, Michèle studied at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) before moving to Alberta in 2010. 

When not onboarding or designing, Michèle enjoys going for brunch, watching True Crime documentaries and taking nature walks with her husband and two dogs.

As the Digital Products Support Lead, Turie Emakpore works directly with users to ensure Mentor Canada’s digital products function as intended by providing guidance on best practices, offering one-on-one troubleshooting support and answering general inquiries. 

Her past experiences in various support and administrative roles, coupled with her resourceful and patient nature, allows her to effectively and accurately identify users’ needs thus allowing her to provide the best possible service to mentoring programs and organizations. 

Turie holds a B.A. (Hons) in Media, Culture and Society from the University of Hull in the United Kingdom, and received an Advanced Diploma in Business Administration (Supply Chain and Operations Management) from George Brown College in Toronto, Ontario. 

During her free time, Turie enjoys making playlists, cycling to the park, reading, indulging in Tiramisu and spending time connecting with her favourite people.

As a Ph.D. student with an interest in youth mentoring, Ben Dantzer brings extensive knowledge to Mentor Canada on what constitutes a quality mentoring program. In fact, the literature review he conducted as an independent researcher helped develop Mentor Canada’s Quality Mentoring System (QMS). 

Before joining Mentor Canada, Ben helped organizations and volunteer mentors across Canada better meet the needs of their communities by improving the quality of their programming. He facilitated several learning opportunities where he introduced “best-practices” to both staff members and mentors to further develop the skills necessary to nurture high-quality mentoring relationships. Ben’s ability to transfer knowledge gathered from academic literature to everyday practice in a respectful and sensitive manner, makes him an important asset to Mentor Canada. 

Ben holds a B.A. in Psychology (Honours Specialization) from Western University (London, ON), a M.A. in Human Development, Learning, and Culture from the University of British Columbia (Specialization in Cross-Age Peer Mentoring), and is also a Ph.D. Candidate in Human Development, Learning, and Culture from the University of British Columbia (Specialization in Youth-Initiated Mentoring).

Outside of work, Ben enjoys playing volleyball, reading, walking his dog, and spending time with his family.

Jordi Jacko is a key member of Mentor Canada’s team. As Manager of Stakeholder and Community Engagement, Jordi collaborates with diverse sets of stakeholders by strengthening relationships with local and national partners, mentoring service providers, and the private and corporate sector. When building these connections, he takes into account the unique context of each community or region when engaging more youth and adults in formal and informal quality mentoring opportunities. 

Jordi also uses his strong listening and storytelling skills to help create lifelong mentorships between mentees and mentors. He brings together the right people, at the right time in their lives. Jordi is able to cultivate these strong connections by creating safe places for communities and organizations to come together and learn from each other, a skill he learned as a former land-based counselor at a mental health and addiction treatment centre in Ontario. 

He credits his elders, traditional teachers, family and friends for teaching him how to listen and connect with others. 

Jordi loves being outside on the water: canoeing when the water is open and skating when frozen.