The University of Waterloo Alumni Council represents UWaterloo’s global alumni and provides an active alumni perspective and voice to enrich the University and enhance alumni engagement. It is made up of 16 alumni volunteers representing all faculties and colleges. Council’s overarching goal is to build stronger and more effective volunteer-driven alumni engagement, specifically for the Grads of the Last Decade (GOLD).
If you are interested in learning more about the Alumni Council, please contact Alison Boyd, Senior Director, Alumni Relations.
Alumni Council Member responsibilities
- Gain and sustain an informed understanding of the strategic priorities of the University and provide alumni-focused insight into the strategy, objectives and actions based on their external perspective and experience at UWaterloo.
- Provide feedback and advice to the Senior Director, Alumni Relations on how to engage with and maximize the impact of alumni in the success of the University.
- Encourage and actively promote
- engagement with the University to the broader alumni community, especially GOLD alumni,
- alumni events, programs and activities across campus,
- the value of staying connected to, and participating in, the alumni network, and
- UWaterloo’s reputation nationally and internationally.
- Reflect the Advancement values and display leadership in supporting the University through gifts of time, talent, testimony and treasure (financial support as you are able).
- Suggest potential general members for the Alumni Council and participate in recruitment and orientation for specific sub-committees, as appropriate.
- Provide advice to build, engage and support UWaterloo’s global community of alumni, Grads of the Last Decade (GOLD) and volunteer-driven alumni engagement activities, including building, enabling, sustaining, and promoting:
- a Global Alumni Volunteer Network strategy;
- a Grads of the Last Decade strategy;
- an integrated network of volunteers engaged in supporting UWaterloo’s goals;
- activities, programs and events that bring enhanced impact to overall alumni engagement, student-alumni connections and engagement, co-operative education, and fundraising;
- value of the alumni network; leadership in key regions to provide additional support to the global alumni volunteer network; and
- new volunteer roles and opportunities regionally or globally with chapters or as alumni ambassadors.
Membership terms
All members older than Grads of the Last Decade (GOLD) serve a three-year term renewable to a maximum of another three-year term (exact length of renewable term will be decided through Alumni Council need and member interest).
All Grads of the Last Decade serve a one-year term renewable to a maximum for up to a three-year term.
Time Commitment
- 2-5 hours per month which includes:
- Three 2-hour virtual or hybrid meetings - (November, February, June)
- One 1-hour meeting late August/early September to plan for year
- Active preparation for, and participation in, all Alumni Council and sub-committee meetings
- Participation in at least two engagement opportunities alumni per year (events, focus groups, calling campaign, mentorship etc.).
Council Members
Diana Vangelisti, MA ’89, BES ’84, MCIP, RPP (Ret.) - Chair
Diana Vangelisti is a Retired Registered Professional Planner following a 30-year career in the field of consulting engineering where her work focused on sustainable communities and healthy environments. As a Vice President, she was responsible for business development, staffing and leadership of a regional office. Diana has served on the Board of Habitat for Humanity Waterloo Region and as a Grant Review Team member for the Ontario Trillium Foundation (Waterloo-Wellington-Dufferin region). After moving to Wasaga Beach over 14 years ago, Diana continued to be engaged in her community. She recently concluded her service as a Director on the Board of the Collingwood General and Marine Hospital. She has also volunteered on the Boards of the YMCA of Simcoe Muskoka and the South Georgian Bay Community Health Centre where for each Board she served as Chair. Through these various volunteer opportunities, Diana has also developed an expertise in non-profit governance practices. She believes that volunteers are the foundation of strong communities. Diana has stayed connected to UW and is active in the ENV Connect Ten Thousand Coffees Program that connects Alumni to students and recent grads.
Lee Anne Doyle (BES ’81) - Vice Chair
President Lee Anne graduated with a Bachelor of Environmental Studies (Honours Urban & Regional Planning) from the University of Waterloo in 1981. Throughout her 33 year career Lee Anne held various senior management positions in planning, municipal administration, building and by-law enforcement in both upper and lower tier municipalities in southwestern Ontario until her retirement as the first female Executive Director of Building/Chief Building Official at the City of Windsor in September 2014. Her strong leadership skills and professional excellence have been recognized and awarded by numerous organizations. In 1999 she received the ATHENA International Leadership Award by the Windsor Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce for her professional excellence, service to the community, and assistance to women in realizing their full leadership potential. Lee Anne is the 2006 Recipient of the Ontario Professional Planners Institute Members Service Award for her outstanding leadership contributions to the planning profession. Lee Anne's community involvement includes Director,Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors (2020 - 2024), and Director, ATHENA Scholarship Fund Windsor Board of Directors (2016-2024).
Lee Anne’s commitment and passion for the University of Waterloo remains unwavering. She is a School of Urban and Regional Planning (SURP) '81 Class Champion and a key organizer of the 10th, 20th, 30th, and 40th class reunions. She shared her strong leadership skills and professional excellence as the Waterloo School of Planning 2017-2018 Planner-in-Residence. Lee Anne also participates in the Waterloo ENV Connect Ten Thousand Coffees Project mentoring Waterloo ENV students/graduates. Lee Anne's commitment and passion for the University of Waterloo remains strong!
Eric Celentano (BSc ’79)
Eric graduated from HKLS with a BSc in Kinesiology in 1979. Despite being a very new program, it gave him the basis for a long career in several areas of the field.
Eric spent his first 8 years working in the ergonomics/human engineering field with the Canadian Forces and then as a consultant in several automotive manufacturing environments. That was followed by a rewarding 27 year career as a sales specialist and account manager in the respiratory medical equipment business based out of Vancouver and servicing Western Canada.
Eric retired from Cardinal Health Canada in 2015 and spends much of his time now staying active and volunteering as a patient advocate/ambassador for several medical organizations and support groups including Trillium Gift of Life (ONT), Lung Health Foundation, and UHN Lung Transplant Program. The genesis of this was his receiving a successful double lung transplant in December 2018 and a subsequent desire to share his knowledge and experiences from that journey and his related medical career with patients, caregivers and healthcare workers.
Eric is an avid golfer and was notably an Event Host in the Vancouver Athletes Village at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Since returning to Ontario in 2014 Eric has regularly attended Reunion, Black & Gold, AHS and Alumni events on campus and in the Toronto area. Eric lives in Toronto.
Ron McArthur (BASc ’82)
Ron earned his BASc (Chemical Engineering) degree from the University of Waterloo in 1982. The co-op Engineering program was the foundation for many technical and leadership skills used throughout his career.
Ron now provides consulting and coaching services to several firms after many years in Executive leadership roles with pharmaceutical and consumer goods companies. He is associated with various consulting and advisory organizations designed to connect executive teams with experienced individuals who can help mentor a company’s growth to the next level.
Dow Chemical provided several years of petrochemical experience after graduation before Ron moved into the pharmaceutical world through Dow’s wholly owned subsidiary. From there he worked in the US for a few years before accepting an Executive role in a relatively small Canadian pharma company at the time – Apotex. Over the next 15 years, as EVP - Operations, he helped the company grow tenfold to become a leading global player in generic pharmaceuticals. Several innovations in manufacturing technology were built into the world class facilities constructed in the early 2000’s that provided Apotex with an advantage over other generic providers. Ron has more recently held Executive positions in Sanofi Pasteur (a leader in vaccine development and manufacturing) and with KIK Corporation (a leading manufacturer and supplier of private label consumer goods in North America).
This new role on the Alumni Committee gives Ron an opportunity to come full circle and join a team of experienced individuals trying to help the University of Waterloo meet the challenges that today’s world offers.
Matt Manuel (BASc ’93)
Matt graduated from Systems Design Engineering in 1993 and moved to the West Coast, living and working in Victoria, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and now Vancouver. He started as a software engineer making computer games and transitioned early in his career to roles focused on people, program, and product management.
After six years at Microsoft leading a group of Technical Program Managers working on Azure, Matt joined a startup focused on analytics for virtual reality applications. At Cognitive3D he leads the engineering team focused on SDK, cloud platform, and web dashboard development.
Matt's side project is a free online book for Technical Program Managers called the "Book of TPM." It's written to help foster excellence and world class execution in the TPM community.
In his spare time he loves adventure motorcycling, bicycling, kayaking, hobby programming, and hanging out at the cottage. He volunteers his time with the University of Waterloo, Backcountry Discovery Routes, and as an advisor to RawHyde Off-road, an motorcycle training and tour company.
Michelle Hung (BMath ’08)
Michelle Hung is an author and founder of The Sassy Investor. An advocate for financial literacy, she is on a mission to spread the word on the on the importance of financial independence and how to achieve it. Realizing the lack of resources out there for those that would like to learn how to invest, she built this business to make it easy for people to understand finance and most importantly, how to execute.
She spent seven years working in investment banking and venture capital in Toronto. Through her experience in advising companies in capital raising, mergers & acquisitions, and initial public offerings, she has a rich understanding of capital markets and how it all ties in with the average investor.
She graduated from the University of Waterloo in 2008 with a Bachelor's of Mathematics, with a specialization in Finance, and obtained the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 2014.
She is currently a Senior Wealth Advisor at TriDelta Private Wealth where she helps Canadians build meaningful, unbiased financial plans to help them reach their financial goals.
In her spare time, you will find her at a hot yoga class or playing soccer. She hates cilantro, loves raisins, and enjoys pineapple on her pizza.
Anne-Marie Marais (BES ’95)
Anne-Marie graduated in 1995 from the Faculty of Environment with a Planning degree from the School of Planning.
As the Faculty of Environment’s first official class champion, Anne-Marie (BES ’95) has made a name for herself as an entrepreneur, avid volunteer, and loyal Waterloo ambassador. She has organized her class’ 10 and 20-year class reunions, along with currently planning her 30-year reunion. She has also led a successful peer-to-peer fundraising campaign to raise nearly $25,000 for the Planning Class of 1995 entrance scholarship, and holds the role of Leadership Advisor for the Waterloo Toronto Alumni Chapter, the university’s largest chapter, after previously holding the role of co-leader of the Chapter.
Anne-Marie traces her love of the School of Planning to her very first days as an undergrad — crediting her experiences, both in and out of the classroom, for helping to shape the person she is today.
A dedicated volunteer she is a Welcome Team member at Toronto Pearson Airport. She has volunteered for Futurpreneur Canada, the Girl Guides of Canada, the Toronto Pan/Parapan American Games, and Ovarian Cancer Canada. She mentors Waterloo students through ENVConnect and has spoken at faculty events. If that were not enough, she bravely participates in an annual dip in Lake Ontario on January 1st to raise funds for Boost Child and Youth Advocacy Centre.
In 2021 Anne-Marie was awarded the Friend of the Faculty Impact Award by the Faculty of Environment.
Professionally, Anne-Marie runs her own digital media company, Long Legs Media, providing marketing and content creation expertise specializing in digital, social media, and ongoing marketing strategy and execution. Her work ranges from large corporate clients to supporting similar entrepreneurial businesses like her own.
Outside of work and volunteering, Anne-Marie is on a personal quest to step foot in every province and territory. Only Nunavut remains on her list.
Ayan Dutta (BMath ’13)
Ayan is a career changer, empathetic leader, and passionate about maximizing his impact on the world.
Although Ayan started as a consulting actuary, his desire to have a greater impact motivated him to change careers and stay true to his vision. He landed in software sales, where he led the Go-to-Market strategy team, and developed playbooks to grow revenue from $200m to $1bn+.
It was a huge change: from mathematical modeling to developing relationships with the C-suite and deliver their technology goals. Analytical rigor, data and storytelling has contributed to his success, and makes him a well-rounded leader and mentor. Currently, he is following his heart to the next stage of his personal growth, and becoming a startup founder.
White at UWaterloo, he hosted the first Asian Urban music show on Waterloo Radio, was a Maths Orientation Leader, and went to Australia on exchange. He graduated with distinction, with a B.Mathematics in Actuarial Science & Finance.
Along the way, he has lived in Sydney, Austin, New York, Toronto and San Francisco. He is very excited to bring a diverse perspective - multiple careers, cultures and cities - to help position Waterloo as a power player on the global arena. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, and enjoys breadmaking, basketball and exploring the west coast.
Mike La Fleur (BA ’03)
Michael La Fleur graduated from the University of Waterloo in 2003 with a Honours Bachelor of Economics (co-op) with a finance specialization. As a second generation UW alumni, Michael grew up very familiar with the university including its great reputation for its co-op program. During his time at UW, he was active in the community and proud resident of Village 2. The connections and friendships made at UW have been lifelong.
Post completing his MBA, Michael has worked in Toronto, London and New York is currently employed at TD Securities as a Managing Director, Global Head of Debt Private Placements in which he and his team cover global issuers and investors for multi-million to billion dollar debt transactions.
He also holds a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management. Michael currently resides on the Upper West Side of New York City with his wife and two young children. Michael is excited to give back to the University of Waterloo alumni community.
Nike Dattani (BSC ’09)
Nike Dattani completed his undergraduate studies at University of Waterloo, followed by a PhD at Oxford University (UK) and scientific research work at Kyoto University (Japan), Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (Germany), Harvard University / Smithsonian Institution (USA), and Jilin University (China), in addition to plenty of experience in Canada as a Banting Fellow at McMaster University and a scientific researcher at the National Research Council, University of Western Ontario, HPQC Labs, and University of Waterloo. He has also taught classes at Concordia University (Canada), Universidad de las Ciencias Informáticas (Cuba), and University of Helsinki (Finland), as well as some of the previously listed institutions.
As a UW undergrad student, Dattani was a member of several labs in the departments of Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Applied Math, Philosophy, Systems Design Engineering and the Institute for Quantum Computing. Although he is now more known for his work in high-performance and quantum computing, his first research project at UW was in experimental biophysics in which he built an experiment (automated using LabVIEW) to detect the crystallization of unsaturated fatty acids subjected to physical forces, and later he worked at IQC in experimental quantum optics on the three-slit experiment (a generalization of Thomas Young's double-slit experiment, which was used in the first experimental test of Born's rule). Also as an undergrad, Dattani was a lead trumpet player in the UW Stage Band for multiple terms, and a teaching assistant for PHYS 111, 112, 115, 125, 121, 122, CHEM 120L and CHEM 123L.
Dattani has volunteered throughout his life. At UW he helped with orientation of new students in both the Science and Math faculties, as well as helping new students move their refrigerators into UW residences. He was also a volunteer for Student Life 101, Science Society, Ask Me booths, and various clubs. He was on the executive committee of the UW English Society in which he helped organize a trip for students to see a Shakespearean play in Stratford. His volunteering continued at Oxford where he gave over 100 tours of his college, served as President of the Oxford Canadian Society and of the Oxford Linguistics Society, a committee member for the Hertford College MCR and the Clarendon Council, and an ambassador for his academic departments. During this time he played trumpet in his college orchestra, sang in various choirs, competed with the Oxford powerlifting team and Oxford ballroom and Latin dancing team, taught for three different departments, and participated in countless other activities. After Oxford, Dattani started many not-for-profit organizations including the Association of Not-for-Profit Research Institutes, the Association of Political Candidates, and the Matter Modeling Stack Exchange.
Alexander Rink (BASc ’91)
Alex is a seasoned entrepreneur, tech executive, strategic advisor, and angel investor with over 20 years of experience helping early-stage and net-positive businesses achieve their growth potential and impact goals.
A co-founder at CDR.fyi, Alex and his colleagues are on a mission to accelerate global carbon dioxide removal efforts through transparency and trust. He leads founder CEO Peer Groups and advises and invests in startups with a net positive impact, particularly those with data-driven and climate-friendly B2B SaaS, Data, and AI/ML solutions.
Alex holds the Global Competent Boards Designation (GCB.D) and has completed all three levels of the Innovation Governance Program, where he serves on the Alumni Council and as an Ambassador. He is honoured to serve on the Alumni Council of the University of Waterloo, reflecting his commitment to higher education.
Alex has a B.A.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo and an MBA from INSEAD. He speaks four languages and enjoys pickleball, hiking, cycling, and playing games with his wife and four children.