Board of Directors
Nina Saini
President
Nina Saini has been a secondary teacher with the York Region District School board for the past 20 years. She is proud to have spent that time working with diverse young adults to foster their self-awareness, self-respect and confidence by fostering autonomy thereby improving their intrinsic motivation. She has enjoyed her many experiences outside of teaching as well that have included community partnership projects, integration of technology into teaching and learning, coordination and development of board-wide events, conducting seminars and workshops for educators and large and small scale technology integration projects.
Nina would like to apply her experience in leadership, mentoring and team dynamics to her new role on the STAO Board. She is excited about the direction that STAO is moving into the future of education in Ontario and feels privileged to be a part of that driving force.
Lise Gravelle
Past President
Lise Gravelle has been a high school science teacher with the Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario since 2005. During her career, she had the opportunity to work with her colleagues as an educational coach for two years and is currently teaching at ESP Barrhaven in the Ottawa area. She decided to join APSO in 2018 to support the organization in its efforts towards bilingualism and wishes to promote the involvement of francophone science teachers within their subject association.
Lise advocates the experimental approach by exploration in science, integrates eco-responsible options in laboratory activities and favors an interdisciplinary approach S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) within her classroom. Always eager to try a new creative approach to teaching, she thrives on professional development opportunities.
She treasures her little family which consists of her son Adrien, her husband André and her beloved pooch, Kiki. When she is actually taking some time to rest, she takes leisurely walks, paints watercolours and meets with friends at a local coffee shop.
Jim Rahaman
Treasurer
Jim is a CPA, CA with two decades of professional and corporate experience spanning audit, consulting and financial management. Jim has worked in a wide variety of sectors, including University finance, which, along with his outreach work with CPA Ontario in financial literacy, brought him to STAO.
He brings non-profit experience from a scientific research institute and is a current board director with a classical music charity focused on performance, scholarship and education. Jim’s current role oversees mass transit revenues, managing financial controls and loss prevention. He has Physics, Engineering and MBA degrees and is Lean Six Sigma and Prince2 Project Management Practitioner certified – all of which he finds useful daily!
Joseph Bishay
Secretary
Joseph Bishay has been teaching science one way or another for over 16 years, across the elementary, secondary, and post- secondary panels, in both the public and private school systems. After conducting research at The Hospital for Sick Children in the programs of Cancer & Blood Research and Developmental Biology, he began his teaching career as an instructor in the Health Sciences department at George Brown College.
Concurrently, he was the head instructor for the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) at Kaplan International. He currently serves as a professor in the department of Biological Sciences and Applied Chemistry at Seneca College where he teaches microbiology, and also as faculty at Tyndale University, where he teaches first and second year biology courses.
As well, Joseph has had the opportunity to lecture at the Royal Ontario Museum on the topics of natural science and natural history. Alongside science, Joseph has extensive experience in information technology, including running his own I.T. consulting company, working as director of I.T. at a private elementary school, and serving as Information Officer in an education technology firm supporting over 1500 students. Joseph has been on the STAO/APSO Board of Directors since 2016 where he serves as Secretary as well as sitting on a number of committees and taskforces.
Dr. Ralph Chou
Board Member
Dr. Ralph Chou received his BSc in Astronomy from the University of Toronto before attending the University of Waterloo where he received the degrees of Doctor of Optometry and Master of Science. He is a Professor Emeritus of Optometry at the University of Waterloo and an acknowledged world expert on solar eclipse eye safety and eye safety standards. He is Chair of the Canadian Standards Association’s Technical Committee on Eye and Face Protection, and is Canada’s head of delegation to ISO technical committees on eye protection and ophthalmic optics. He was lead writer of the 2015 ISO standard for solar eclipse filters. An active amateur astronomer for over 50 years, Dr. Chou is currently President of the Toronto Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. He has been Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Optometry since 2012. A member of STAO since 1983, he was a member and Chair of the Safety Committee before becoming President in 2015–2016 and currently serves as a member of the Board, Chair of the Governance and Nominating Committee and Chair of the Project Steering Committee.
Dr. Andrew Pasternak
Board Member
Robert Weese
Board Member
Bob Weese joined the STAO Board in 2017 as a Member at Large. He retired from GE Canada in 2011 where he had been VP of Government Relations for 22 years. Previous careers had included senior management positions in the Federal and Saskatchewan governments following 3 years in Ottawa as a parliamentary intern and caucus researcher.
Bob has an Hon. BA in Political Science from Western University and an MSc.Econ from the University of Wales, supplemented by additional postgraduate work at the University of London. Widowed, he has two grown sons and 8-year old twin grandsons. He brings to STAO his long experience in senior management, his knowledge of government, and his appreciation of the vital importance of quality science education in Ontario schools.
Entisar Yusuf
Board Member
Entisar Yusuf is a former IB teacher with 8yrs of experience in the elementary school system. She recently graduated with a Master’s in Educational Leadership & Policy at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto (UofT). Her thesis focused on institutional racism and Black graduate students navigating higher education in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The purpose of her qualitative study was to gain deeper insights into the experiences of Black students in predominantly White higher education institutions across the GTA. It is hoped that Entisar’s research will assist post-secondary institutions in implementing programs not only to attract Black students, but to offer supports that retain them and serve their needs for academic success.