She/Her
With a background comprising finance, management consulting, and law, Tanya (“Toni”) De Mello has spent much of her career focusing on, and researching, equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). She is a human rights lawyer and a certified coach and mediator. She has taught at the University of Toronto and Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). She worked at TMU as the Director of Human Rights and then at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law, which is Canada’s newest law school, as the inaugural Assistant Dean of Students. She is currently the Vice-President, Equity and Community Inclusion. She has worked with over 500 organizations in training, consulting, and supporting them in the EDI journey — with a focus on hiring and retention.
In addition to founding two NGOs, Toni has served in the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and the World Food Programme in Geneva (Switzerland), Senegal (West Africa) and Columbia (South America). Toni holds a dual Bachelor of Economics and Political Science from the University of Waterloo; a double Master in Public Policy and Urban and Regional Planning from Princeton University; and a dual law degree from McGill University. She also completed her doctors at the University of Toronto.