Jane Wightman

Jane Wightman is a Special Advisor to a group of ten independent schools which are owned and operated by Dr. Francis Pang in China. Previous to this assignment, Jane was Head of School at St. Mildred's- Lightbourn School, a Girls School in Oakville servicing Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12.  She is a strong believer in supporting women at all levels.  She is an Athena Award nominee.

Vice Presidents

James Sweetlove

Jim Sweetlove is a Partner at Ross & McBride LLP, practising in the Estates Group. Jim has been practising law in Hamilton since 1972 and is a resident of Burlington.

Jim volunteers his time because he believes Halton Women’s Place is a vital resource for our community that provides essential care and support for vulnerable women and children with respect and compassion. He finds it inspiring to participate, in some small way, in the work of this organization. Everything that the board members can do to assist in the mission of HWP makes our community a better place for everyone, not just those directly helped by HWP.

Jim also serves, or has served, on the Boards of a number of other community organizations, including, the Burlington Community Foundation, Burlington Public Library, Conservation Halton and Burlington Museums.   

Tina Triano

Tina Triano is C.E.O. of the Oakville Hospital Foundation, and has more than 20 years of hospital fundraising experience in Niagara, Peel and Halton Regions.

 Tina joined the Board because she believes that even though society has come a long way in reducing the marginalization of women, we are not there yet. Until abuse is eliminated in Halton, she believes we need to ensure a safe place for the women and children who need us. Tina believes it is her duty and privilege to support Halton Women’s Place with all the resources at her disposal. She shares with her fellow Board members the desire to end violence toward women, and in the meantime ensure those who are abused have our organization to turn to when in crisis.

Heather Urie

Heather Urie is a Chartered Accountant and a Senior Manager of Assurance and Advisory at Deloitte and Touche LLP. 

Heather finds it very rewarding to be involved with HWP.  Halton Women’s Place not only provides a safe shelter to abused women and their dependent children but strives to effect social change and end violence against woman through public education and advocacy.  Heather enjoys working with the dedicated staff, management, donors, volunteers and Board members that are committed to creating better communities.

Corporate Secretary 

Directors

Jo-Anne Pusateri

Jo-Anne Pusateri is Director, Vendor Relations and Buying for Carlson Marketing Ltd. She is a graduate of McMaster University and the Schulich School of Business.

Jo-Anne joined the Board because she was looking to leverage her professional experience to make a difference in her community. Halton Women’s Place was her choice because of the calibre of the organization and the valuable work they do. Since joining the Board, Jo-Anne has learned a great deal about the needs of Women and Children in our community and is committed to supporting our fundraising and development efforts so we can continue to provide support to help Women and Children live a violence free life.  

Jo-Anne has also served on the Board of other organizations, including, St. Raphael’s Pastoral Council, the Incentive Marketing Association, and the Distress Centre of Oakville.

  Dave Bedini

Dave Bedini is a building contractor and the owner of Bedini Construction in Burlington.

As an active and dedicated volunteer involved in many community groups, the opportunity to serve on the Halton Women’s Place Board is one he especially embraced. Abuse has no boundaries, cuts across all levels of our society and the struggle to eliminate it deserves our total and unwavering commitment. To that end, he is privileged to be able to contribute in whatever ways he can to achieve this goal.

A lifelong resident of Burlington, Dave also serves on several Boards and Committees including the Carpenter Hospice and the Special Olympics Hometown Games. He has also been involved with the Burlington International Games (BIG), the Burlington Oldtimers Hockey Club, Burlington Sport Alliance and the Burlington Youth Soccer Club.

Gianni Leonetti

Gianni Leonetti is a seasoned financial services professional and entrepreneur. He is the owner of Leonetti Wealth Management, and Assistant Director of Planning for taggartGALT Consulting Corporation. Gianni is a Business Administration graduate from Sheridan College, and is currently pursuing his Chartered Life Underwriter CLU designation.

When Gianni was asked to attend Halton Women’s Place Annual Gala in 2009, he was touched at how truly amazing this organization really is. When an opening to sit on the Board came to his attention he jumped at the opportunity to be a part of such a great cause. He feels it is a privilege to work with his fellow board members and looks forward to continuing to support the organization for many more years.

Gianni lives with his wife and son in Oakville.

 Julie Wedzinga

Julie Wedzinga is an Environmental Engineer with US Steel.  She has a Bachelor's Degree in Engineering Management from McMaster University.

On her first tour through the shelter, she remembers being surprised by the atmosphere.  Julie was overwhelmed by the awesome sense of positive energy.  It reaffirmed for her that Halton Women’s Place provides vital services for women and their children trying to make their lives better.  As a board member, she is honoured to play a small part in improving all those lives.

Julie is a Chapter Executive of the Hamilton Burlington Chapter of the Professional Engineers of Ontario. 

 Cecilia Taylor -Clare

Cecilia has a Masters degree in Social Work from Wilfrid Laurier University,  and an undergraduate degree in Political Studies.
 
Cecilia has worked in the child welfare and professional training fields for over 30 years, including time with two province-wide organizations which gave her the opportunity to provide training and consultation services across Ontario and across Canada.
Cecilia has served in a number of appointed roles including Vice-Chair of the Ontario Child and Family Services Review Board, the Custody Review Boad, and as a member of the Ontario Licence Appeal Tribunal and has sat as a Director on other not-for-profit agency boards.
 
As a long-time Burlington resident Cecilia is pleased to be able to make a personal contribution in support of the critical services provided by Halton Women's Place.

Caroline Hogwood

Caroline is a recently retired executive with over 25 years’ experience leading and managing various functions such as HR, IT, Finance and Operations for large Canadian organizations – most recently, Canadian Tire Corporation.   Caroline holds a B.Sc. from McMaster University and an MBA from the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto

 Born, raised and currently residing in Oakville, Caroline values the opportunity to contribute directly to her community and holds dear the fundamental right for safe living conditions for women and their children.  Historically, Caroline has committed her time to various women’s and girls’ initiatives, including serving as a Big Sister in Oakville, and working with the YWCA Toronto to launch retraining efforts for women re-entering the workforce. Caroline looks forward to supporting and contributing to the ongoing work of the committed team at Halton Women’s Place.  Caroline also currently serves on the Board of Governors; St. Mildred’s Lightbourn School and is a Director for the Oakville PC Riding Association. 

Sue Britton

Sue Britton is Vice President, Strategic Partnerships at Pareto Corporation. Based in Canada, Sue is responsible for developing partnerships to enable product innovation, new clients and markets for Pareto.

 Sue joined the Executive Team at Pareto in January, 2006 and has held numerous key roles in the company over the past 5 years. Prior to taking on her current role in 2010, Sue led the Aeroplan partnership that launched in 2006, and ran the Incentives and Direct Marketing divisions of Pareto as General Manager in charge of sales and operations.

Most recently, in 2010, Sue led the establishment of a partnership with Xerox Global Services which resulted in the execution of a long-term contract with a large Canadian retailer valued at $10 Million annually, for the provision of retail marketing execution services.

 Prior to joining Pareto, Sue was SVP & General Manager of ADP where she started a new business for ADP servicing the Canadian investment industry. In 2004, Sue spearheaded the change in regulations to enable the launch of Smart Prospectus, an award winning patented solution that quickly became a $40 Million Canadian division of ADP.

 Early in her career, Sue gained valuable training and experience working large, best-in-class organizations such as Xerox and The Four Seasons. Sue holds a B.Comm from Ryerson University. Outside of Pareto, Sue spends most of her personal time with her husband and three teenage boys. Sue is also an avid fitness enthusiast, and enjoys gardening with a passion.

Diane Beaulieu