Anthony Odoardi: Chair
Anthony Odoardi, Deputy Chief, Peel Regional Police (PRP), began his career in 1995 with the Halton Regional Police where he worked in all aspects of Operations and Administration. At the rank of Superintendent, Anthony led a number of strategic and innovative police initiatives, including the Public Safety Broadband Network (PSBN). Anthony also provided oversight for special projects including enhancing police response and services for sexual assault survivors and implementation of electronic notes integration for front line officers. In 2015, Anthony served as a Security Commander for the Pan AM Games and currently sits on the Board of Directors for RADIUS Child and Youth Services.
In June 2020, Anthony was hired as Deputy Chief with Peel Regional Police, and is responsible for Innovation and Technology Command. Anthony hit the ground running by initiating PRP’s Digital Officer Transformation Program with a vision of becoming one of North America’s most progressive and innovative police services—through improving the tools and supports available for over 3000 PRP members. Anthony implemented PRP’s first ever I.T. Strategic Roadmap and Frontline Mobile Strategy. Anthony also serves as the Managing Director of the PSBN Innovation Alliance (PIA). The PIA aims to provide a reliable, cost effective and cyber-secure data communication network to all first responders and critical infrastructure partners in Ontario and across Canada. More recently, Deputy Chief Odoardi was named as Chair of the Ontario Association Chiefs of Police Interagency Advisory Panel for Next Generation-911. Deputy Chief Odoardi also current serves as the Executive Sponsor of the PRP / OHRC Human Rights project aimed at identifying and eliminating system discrimination in policing.
Michael Ras: Vice-Chair
Michael Ras is Senior Vice President, Counsel Public Affairs and focusses on government relations and strategic communication engagements across Canada. He is Chair of the Justices of the Peace Appointments Advisory Committee advising the Ontario Attorney General on judicial officer appointments. In addition, Michael is a Board member of CareerEdge, a social enterprise giving recent graduates and new Canadians their first career opportunities through paid internships.
Christina Fox: Treasurer
Christina Fox is a partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Toronto, specializing in providing service to asset management, pension and financial services clients. She has more than 17 years of professional experience, 5 of which were in the United States. She is a licensed CPA both in Canada and the U.S. and services global and North American clients. Christina is the leader of PwC Toronto’s Pension practice Centre of Excellence servicing pension and asset management clients across Canada. She is the Treasurer and a member of the Board of the Children’s Bridge Adoption Consultants, in addition to her role with Radius. She was the formerly the Chair of the Board of the Adoption Counsel of Ontario and is a proud adoptive parent. Christina is a mother of an energetic second grader and three furry babies too. She and her husband David share a view that community involvement is an important part of being a meaningful contributor to the health and welfare of our current and future society.
Carolyn McCarney: Secretary
Carolyn McCarney is lead counsel at McCarney Law, a boutique law firm offering legal research, writing, and litigation support services. Carolyn acquired her Bachelor of Arts with Honours from McGill University, her Juris Doctor and a Certificate in International Human Rights Law from Queen’s University, and a Certificate in Construction Law from OsGoode Hall Law School. Called to the Bar in 2011, Carolyn has appeared before various levels of Courts and Tribunals in civil litigation, commercial litigation, criminal defence, construction lien, and family law matters. Carolyn has additionally published in several academic journals and has provided editorial or research assistance for numerous other publications.
Jennifer Charlebois: Member-at-Large
Jennifer Charlebois is a communications and media professional with experience in a wide range of capacities, from marketing and publicity, media relations, and journalism, to corporate, strategic and crisis communications. She has been a Radius Board Member-At-Large since 2018, and she sits on the Governance Committee. Jennifer is currently the Senior Communications Manager at SiriusXM Canada.
April Cotton: Member-at-Large
April Cotton, CPA, CA is the President at Breakwater Investments Inc., a single-family office located in Southwestern Ontario. April has extensive experience in accounting and taxation, estate planning, succession planning and philanthropy. She draws on her experience working as a senior manager in taxation at Deloitte LLP where she focused on delivering highly effective tax strategies for private companies.
April is actively involved and committed to her community and has served in key leadership roles on a variety of boards and advisory committees including the McKeil Family Foundation, Pathstone Mental Health, and Alzheimer’s Society Niagara Foundation.
Claudia McKoy: Member-at-Large
Claudia McKoy is the founder and Principal of UpSurgence, a strategic engagement firm. She is expert at connecting diverse stakeholders to work collaboratively to achieve community goals.
Throughout 2021, Claudia designed and carried out engagement strategies as well as co-design sessions involving hundreds of community stakeholders for the City of Mississauga as a part of its Black Community Engagement campaign. The report included recommendations that promoted the full inclusion of Black communities into the City’s social, political and economic landscapes. The report also included five key recommendations aimed to transform the existence of reactionary-adversarial relationships between Peel’s Black communities and law enforcement into proactive collaborations. In 2022, her 62-page report and its over 60 equity recommendations were accepted and passed unanimously by the City’s Council.
Currently, Claudia is working with the Peel Regional Police to develop the community relationships needed to carry out its CSWB (Community Safe and Well-Being) Strategy in Malton to both prevent crime and partner with local organizations to address incident calls that do not require police presence. She is also the facilitator for Toronto Police Services’ Race Based Data Collection and Use of Force Town Halls. In addition, she is currently crafting Toronto Police Services’ Anti-Black Racism report as a part of its Equity initiatives.
She sits on The Economic Developers Council of Ontario’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. Claudia is also the chair of UpSurgence Initiatives, the non-profit arm of UpSurgence, dedicated to connecting marginalized communities to Canada’s growing tech economy.
Charles Payette: Member-at-Large
Charles Payette serves an Executive Director at Peel Regional Police Service. He is an experienced government relations specialist with extensive expertise in police governance, organizational transformation and strategic management.
Previously, he worked at PwC Canada as the National Senior Manager in the policing sector, where he led large projects with police services across Canada. His experience spans all aspects of the public sector and focuses on community safety innovation and transformation. Charles also served as the Chair of the LGBTQ2S Community Consultative Committee with the Toronto Police Service and subsequently on the Missing and Missed implementation team. Before joining PwC, Charles served as the Senior Advisor to the Solicitor General of Ontario. He supported the review of the Ontario Police Service Act and the provincial Guns and Gangs strategy. For several years, Charles worked with organizations to address emerging issues faced by public safety agencies.
Prakash Patel: Member-at-Large
Prakash Patel is the CFO & EVP of Corporate Development at ThoughtWire Inc., a HealthTech start-up. He is an influential member of the executive team with a mandate to provide strategic business and financial leadership for the organization. Prakash has over two decades of experience in finance, capital markets and treasury across various industries including healthcare, wealth management, private equity, mining and banking. He is Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certified, and a CPA.
Along with vast work experiences, Prakash is involved in the community in various capacities. In addition to being a Radius board member, he is also a board member and media spokesperson for BAPS Charities. He is an active coach of a U13 rep basketball team, a junior achievement mentor and Real Estate broker.