Speakers
 |
Hudson Taylor, a three-time NCAA All-American wrestler at the University of Maryland is currently a wrestling coach at Columbia University and is the founder and executive director of Athlete Ally. Athlete Ally is a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging athletes, coaches, parents, fans and other members of the sports community to respect all individuals involved in sports, regardless of perceived or actual sexual-orientation or gender identity or expression. Taylor’s exceptional collegiate wrestling career, marked by his is ranking among the top five pinners in NCAA wrestling history, propelled him to found Athlete Ally. During his final season as an NCAA All-American and team wrestling captain at The University of Maryland, Hudson decided that his closest-held values as a leader and student-athlete required that he stand up and say something about the homophobia and transphobia he witnessed in locker rooms and on playing fields across the nation. |
 |
Derrick An is one of four panelists for the SCRUM 6: Volunteering and Career Building session and is the former volunteer coordinator for OutSport Toronto. He is also an active volunteer, entrepreneur and community sports athlete with a background in volunteer management, non-profit administration and physical and health education. Professionally, Derrick is a Special Assistant with the Ontario government and co-founder and managing partner of his own brand and graphic design agency. For Derrick, volunteering benefits both the volunteer and the community. It creates professional opportunities and it is an essential tool for career building and personal growth. He has firsthand appreciation of the impact volunteering can have on local and global communities as well as the volunteer. He has worked to develop stronger volunteer programs in organizations such as OutSport Toronto, Me To We, Free The Children and Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. Derrick currently volunteers with TOM* Magazine as an operations specialist and Endeavour Volunteer Consulting Network as a volunteer consultant. Derrick is a former Triggerfish Water Polo, Toronto Gay Football League and Gay Ball Society Dodgeball player. He currently plays dodgeball with Downtown Dodgeball, a gay-owned gender inclusive league operating in downtown Toronto. |
 |
A #OneTeam Ambassador with the COC, Rosie was the team captain of the first Canadian Rhythmic Gymnastics team to qualify for an Olympic Games: London 2012, a 2011 Pan American 3-time medalist, and the first openly “out” competing rhythmic gymnast in the world. Rosie is the current undergraduate representative with the Athletics and Recreation Committee at UTSC. She has been advocating for LGBTQ inclusion in sport ever since her retirement from competition in 2012. |
 |
A new addition to The 519 team, Kristina Flynn has a background in the Sport and Public Relation industries and a passion for social good. In her new role as Senior Consultant, Project Administration, she is responsible for managing the Sport & Recreation project including: site procurement, contract management, communications & branding, stakeholder relations and systems planning. As a former Varsity basketball player for the University of Guelph, Kristina evolved from an athlete who loves sport for the competition, to someone who loves and values sport as a business and agent of social change in communities. She formerly worked as Manager, Community & Player Engagement for Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd., managing the development and growth of new and existing community and corporate responsibility programs as well as team and personal charitable initiatives of the Raptors and Toronto FC. During her time with MLSE she also managed Brian Burke’s personal LGBT initiatives, organized the company’s first employee-driven pride march, assisted with the organization’s You Can Play partnership and initiated the Raptors “Proud To Play” platform. In her spare time she volunteers for Egale Canada as co-chair of their gala committee. |
 |
Christine Hsu is a recent University of Toronto graduate with a degree in Physical & Health Education and a degree in Education from the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education. She was very involved throughout her university career both as a varsity athlete, playing Women's Lacrosse, and a student leader. She was the Vice President of Equity for Physical & Health Education Undergraduate Association for two academic years, LGBTOUT Athletics Director, and an executive and session facilitator for Lead with Pride Leadership symposium for LGBTQ students. She has had extensive experience working in putting together leadership programming for FKPE, specializing in equity and inclusivity in sports and recreation. To complete her equity leadership portfolio during her years of studies, she was involved with mental health awareness and education initiatives to help eliminate stigma on mental health illnesses amongst the student population. |
 |
Japneet Kaur is currently a Manager of Strategic Initiatives at BMO Wealth Management where she has held a variety of positions for the past three years. Prior to joining BMO, Japneet completed both her Master of Financial Economics and Bachelor of Commerce at University of Toronto. She has been an active member of the LGBTQ community for many years, including as President of Out On Bay Street, Team Lead (VIP & Protocol) PrideHouseTO, and collective member Notso Amazon Softball League. Currently, Japneet sits on the Advisory Board for the LGBT Giving Network and is an active participant in various LGBTQ sports leagues in Toronto. |
 |
Yanick Landry, OUTSPORT TORONTO's Director of Membership and Member Services, is the current president of the long-running Toronto Gay Ski and Snowboarding Club, and of the newly formed Toronto Gay Sailing Club. Under his direction, both organizations joined OUTSPORT TORONTO , which afforded him greater insights into the needs of the LGBTQ Sport’s Community. While “coming out” late to the sport world, Yanick has been a longtime activist of LGBTQ rights, a founder and first director of the McGill Gay and Lesbian Legal Information Clinic, a first in North America, while a second year law student, convincing the faculty to grant graduating students credits for volunteer hours. He acquired his LL.B and BCL from McGill University where he joined the diving team, before studying for a Masters in Copyrights and Intellectual Property at Université Paris XI. While his childhood memories of organized sports remain of the bullying type, he took to individual sports: swimming, windsurfing, biking, rollerblading and x-country running in the summer; downhill and x-country skiing in the winter. He also added snowboarding to his winter activities and has recently become an avid fly-fisher in the summer to spend more time with his Dad. Balancing his career as a talent agent and partner at Newton Landry Management - one of Canada’s foremost talent agencies - with his family life with husband of twenty years Tommy and their adopted greyhound daughters Muddy and Stella, Yanick has previously dedicated his volunteer hours as president of the Talent Agents and Managers Association of Canada (TAMAC) and Greyhounds in Need of Adoption (GiNA), of which he is currently vice-president. |
|
Greg Larocque is a founder of and current President of GLISA North America and sits on the Board of GLISA International as a representative from International Frontrunners sport federation. He has attended several global LGBTQ events, including the Montreal and Copenhagen World Outgames and the Sydney, Chicago and Cleveland/Akron Gay Games. He was the GLISA "lead" on the One World Event Working Group and is presently on the One World Event 2022 Site Selection Committee. He has a private practice as an administrative tribunal and also works as an arbitrator/mediator for government workplace conflicts. |
|
 |
Catherine Meade is the Director, Multi-Sport Games for the City of Toronto. In this role, she leads the Parks, Forestry and Recreation Division’s 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games Branch and has ultimate oversight over the 2012 Ontario Summer Games. She earned a B.P.E. degree from McMaster University; an M.A. degree focused on sport administration and management from the University of Alberta; and an LL.B. degree, cum laude, from the University of Ottawa. Catherine has a long history of involvement in the LGBT movement. She was the President of Womonspace, a lesbian social and recreational organisation in Edmonton in the early 1990’s. She attended the 1990, 1994, 1998 and 2002 Gay Games. As well, she led city teams preparing for each of those Gay Games and was a member of Toronto’s Bid Team to host the 2002 Gay Games. In 2004, Catherine became a founding board member and Co-President of the Gay & Lesbian International Sport Organization (GLISA). As such, she oversaw the delivery of the 2006 World Outgames in Montreal, the 2005 North American Outgames in Calgary and the 2008 Asia-Pacific Outgames in Melbourne. In addition, Catherine served on the Site Selection Committee for the 2009 World Outgames in Copenhagen. Catherine also has an extensive volunteer background in mainstream sport, the highlights of which include working with the 1993 World University Games, the 1994 Commonwealth Games, the 1996 Olympic Games and the 1999 and 2011 Canada Winter Games. Through the years, Catherine has served on the boards of the National Association of Women & Law, the Metropolitan Community Church Toronto, the Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project, and numerous other community organisations such as women’s shelters and the Black Educators’ Association. Before commencing her law degree, Catherine worked as a human rights/equity professional for eight years with organisations such as: the Canadian Human Rights Commission, Acadia University and the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society. |
 |
Darin Sameshima has always had a passion for medicine and healthcare, which led him into the field at an early age. Darin has been on staff at what is now Trillium Health Partners for the past 18 years, with experience ranging from clinical to enabling services and currently holds the position of Senior Consultant in Organisational Development across the Mississauga Hospital, Credit Valley Hospital and Queensway Health Centre. In his current role, Darin works with leaders across the organisation to elevate performance against the organisational strategic goals and objectives, and to gain traction on metrics that ultimately enhance the way care is delivered. Darin holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Toronto, a Masters Certificate in Healthcare Leadership from Cornell University, and is a Certified Health Executive with the Canadian College of Health Leaders. Darin is new to the LGBT sports arena and was parachuted into the scene joining the Toronto Gay Ski and Snowboarding Club in January 2015. Darin describes the experience as “profound,” and as a result he participated in every event hosted by the club. The inviting, inclusive nature of the club has prompted Darin to become more broadly involved, with the hopes of replicating this experience for others across the LGBT sports spectrum. As the skiing season closes, Darin is excited to take on his new role as Director of Racing and Regattas for the Toronto Gay Sailing Club. From a sports perspective, while being independent in nature and due to the feeling of exclusion from team sports, Darin gravitated towards sports in which he could excel as an individual. Darin started both skiing and sailing at an early age, competing at various levels in Canada and the United States. Darin is a Level II ski instructor and spent his teenage years teaching on the weekends. In the summer Darin taught sailing and continued to evolve his racing skillset on the J-24 and Melges 24 circuit. Complementing his in-hospital work, Darin is the Principal of Shark Island Health, an independent Toronto-based healthcare consulting firm. In his downtime and driven by his love of dogs, Darin is also the owner of a private dog training company, Off the Leash – Dog Training Academy, of which his furry companion Cooper is a graduate. |
 |
Over the last 13 years, Ty Smith of TS Consulting has worked with varying organizations and groups including shelters, AIDS service organizations, environmental groups, school programs and social service organizations to develop and implement community forums, partnerships, programs, resources, polices and community-based research focused on women, youth, newcomers and LGBTTQQ2S communities. Additionally, Ty has shared his community insights as a member of the Community One Rainbow Grants Allocation Committee for the last nine years. He has a degree in Sociology and Sexual Diversity Studies from the University of Torontoand a Public Relations Diploma from Humber College. Ty looks forward to further enhancing his community contributions as a Community One Co-Chair. |
 |
As a relative newcomer to Toronto, Roger Tseng looked towards sports as a means to make new friends and stay active. Participating in LGBT sports, the Toronto Triggerfish in particular, continues to be a rewarding experience in and out of the pool. In this spirit, he hopes to make a difference for the LGBT sporting community by advocating for participation, by increasing its presence throughout various communities in Toronto, and and by achieving greater recognition of the benefits that the LBGT sporting community can bring. Roger received his Bachelor of Social Sciences and his Master of Arts from the University of Ottawa. He currently works at a leading provider of Human Resources Outsourcing services. Prior to his engagement with OUTSPORT TORONTO, he was active in the Model UN community and spent the previous seven years on the organising team of the world's largest university-level Model UN conference, based in New York. |