Senior management team

Elizabeth Mulholland is the Chief Executive Officer of Prosper Canada, a national charity dedicated to expanding economic opportunity for Canadians living in poverty through program and policy innovation. Elizabeth joined Prosper Canada in 2011, after a 25-year policy career in the public, private and non-profit sectors, including a decade of independent policy consulting, five years as senior social policy advisor in the Office of the Prime Minister, and five years directing United Way of Ontario’s government relations program. Elizabeth holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Geology and French from Wellesley College and successfully completed McGill University’s Graduate Summer Program in Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

Adam began his career in social development at Prosper Canada in 2007. He is responsible for leading the strategic and operational planning, and managing partnership development. Adam studied politics and economics at the University of Toronto. He also completed the Graduate Diploma in Social Innovation at the University of Waterloo and the Performance Measurement for Effective Management of Nonprofit Organizations course at Harvard University.

Marlene is responsible for managing Prosper Canada’s externally funded projects, and implementing service system integration as part of Prosper Canada’s scaling strategy. Marlene earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree after graduating from the Schulich School of Business in Toronto. She later obtained an Ontario Chartered Accountant designation and gained 15 years of audit and finance experience in both the public and private sectors, predominantly in the financial services industry. Marlene joined Prosper Canada in 2015 to better align her passions with her career by employing her skills and talents to enhance the lives of others.

Kavita is responsible for all financial functions including overseeing accounting, audit, reporting, compliance, and investment activities. Additionally, Kavita manages the human resources and administrative functions to ensure the seamless operation of our organization.

Bringing over 15 years of finance experience across diverse industries and consultancy services, Kavita is a seasoned professional with a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) degree and a Certified Management Accountant designation. For Kavita, joining Prosper Canada is a continuation of this new, fulfilling not-for-profit career which allows her to apply her skills to advance the essential work being done.

Gavin is an entrepreneurial thought leader with a breadth of experience building, transforming and leading enterprise technology environments over his 20+ year career. He founded, built and sold a technology company that provided proactive and reactive IT services and solutions to small and medium businesses. Gavin’s versatile and personable demeanor allows him to build strong relationships with colleagues and external vendors and partners alike. This allows him to continually align his team’s initiatives with both internal and external stakeholders to manage expectations.

Galen is responsible for leading strategies, initiatives, and teams to enhance and expand access to quality financial help services for people with low incomes. Galen joined Prosper Canada in 2020 after holding multiple leadership roles in service design and community innovation consulting in the private and voluntary sectors. Galen is passionate about ensuring that all Canadians living on low incomes have access to high quality Financial Empowerment supports that help them access income-boosting benefits and trusted 1-on-1 supports and advice.

Galen holds a Master of Science in Engineering Design and Innovation from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Waterloo.

Aligning mission and vision with action, Donna is a compassionate and collaborative leader who is energized when teammates succeed, and organizational missions are fulfilled.

An authentic, transparent and practical visionary, Donna embraces teamwork to achieve high level relationship building resulting in sustainable long-term partnerships. Donna is adept at using metrics, data and technology to support complex fundraising programs including robust pipeline development, which drives fundraising achievements.

Donna’s early career as a recreation therapist working as a front- line treatment specialist in the mental health and gerontology fields gave her deep insight into the importance of mission- driven organizations serving communities with diverse health and wellness needs. Donna’s 25+ years career, volunteering and working in the non-profit sector, has been largely focused in the areas of health, wellness, and social services with the goal of utilizing philanthropy, via multimillion dollar Campaigns as well as mixed revenue stream fundraising programs, to support solutions that break down barriers to healthier individuals and communities.

Lisa Rae is responsible for advancing policy and advocacy efforts to catalyse “upstream” policy, regulatory, and institutional changes. Lisa has worked in public policy, advocacy, stakeholder engagement, and communications for fifteen years. She has held roles in membership organizations, the postsecondary education and health sectors, and in government. Lisa served as a senior advisor to the Ontario Minister for Advanced Education and Skills Development and served as the Minister’s lead on the co-creation and introduction of legislation recognizing Indigenous Institutes and on the transformation of OSAP. Lisa holds a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of Toronto.

Wendy leads and supports various aspects of Prosper Canada’s strategic and operational branding, communications, and business development efforts. Wendy has held a variety of positions in her career including Director of Marketing, Senior Account Director and held a Marketing Consultation role for many years. Wendy holds a Masters Degree from the University of Western Ontario. Having joined Prosper Canada in 2019, Wendy is committed to elevating Prosper Canada's profile and helping support the building of longer-term, sustainable solutions to poverty in Canada.

Carrie is responsible for leading learning and training strategy and initiatives, including the development and delivery of financial empowerment training and resources for organizations supporting financially vulnerable Canadians. Prior to joining Prosper Canada in 2019, Carrie worked for 10 years in the public and private education sectors teaching learners of all ages and overseeing the training and development of frontline staff and educators. She is a certified teacher (Ontario College of Teachers) and holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Western Ontario.