Working together towards
a thriving Canada
Among Canada’s most contributing private philanthropic organizations, the Northpine Foundation works with a vision to propel outcome-centered innovation in Canada.
Northpine provides catalytic funding through tailored financing (donations, grants, loans, equity, or blend), along with expertise, networks and other non-financial supports to help underinvested and underserved communities thrive and flourish.
We believe in the kindness of everyone and find ways to build bridges to the society we envision. With a focus on this core value, the Northpine Foundation designs, funds, and collaborates on ventures that combine best practices with new, untried approaches to drive scalable change towards a thriving Canada.
Our Mission
To catalyze scalable outcomes for underserved and underinvested communities in Canada.
Our core value
Kindness
We support one another
We set clear expectations and boundaries
We are thoughtful in our actions
We act with honesty and integrity
We make decisions based on continuous learning
John and Cathy Phillips
Founders, Funders and Directors
of the Northpine Foundation
Cathy (centre) and John (right) at the Scarborough Health Network Foundation.
Team
Bayan Khatib
Impact Director – Refugees
Mark Lane
Impact Director – Rural Newfoundland & Labrador
Naomi Gichungu
Impact Director – Special Initiatives & Scarborough
Sara Tessier
Impact Director – Formerly Incarcerated Persons
Aatif Baskanderi
CEO
Sammia Malik
Operations Lead
Viren Fernandes
Communications Lead
John & Cathy Phillips
Founders, Funders and Directors
John and Cathy Phillips founded the Northpine Foundation over twenty years ago.
John is a retired angel investor, and Cathy is a retired psychologist who specialized in helping cancer patients manage stress and live meaningfully.
After recently acquiring unanticipated wealth due to their early investment in Shopify, the couple felt a great sense of responsibility to use this wealth strategically as a force for good and redirected Northpine for that purpose.
They hired a diverse team tasked to make riskier investments that lead to sustainable and scalable impact in the lives of selected cohorts who face significant barriers in Canada. “We chose to keep our focus within Canada because there’s a lot to do right here. Many people find themselves in circumstances where they don’t stand a chance,” John says. “We want to reach the people that are hard to reach,” Cathy adds.
Married 50 years, John and Cathy’s shared values and complementary styles guide Northpine’s culture and style of operation. Cathy emphasizes kindness and trust as root values to allow the foundation and the people it serves to thrive. John stresses the need to be innovative and strategic: to take risks and to find effective ways of measuring impact.
“Anyone who knows John well knows how hard and diligently he works behind the scenes at everything he does,” Cathy says. “He is the silent architect behind it all and in retirement can now focus on using his considerable experience and knowledge to guide Aatif and the management team.” John emphasizes, “I don’t want Northpine to do what is easy. I want to remain ambitious, dynamic, and never stop caring.”
John and Cathy continue to play an active role in the management and direction of Northpine.
“Through John and Cathy’s generosity and genuine kindness they have gifted the Northpine team the chance of a lifetime to help those most marginalized in Canadian communities from coast-to-coast-to coast. For that I am eternally grateful.”
Mark
“It is an absolute dream to work with John and Cathy on their vision to catalyze what Northpine can be to exponentially grow the value of kindness through supporting leaders on the journey to achieve a grand vision of creating a positive difference in the lives of the underserved and underinvested across Canada. Their humility and ongoing rigor to be accountable to that dream is a constant inspiration.”
Aatif
“One thing we all share with John and Cathy is big ambition for what Northpine can do and the excitement and dedication to make it happen. We’re deeply grateful for the trust they put in us and for the warm and supportive environment they’ve created for our team.”
Bayan
Aatif grew up in Clarenville, Newfoundland & Labrador, and has global education and career experiences across various sectors and focus areas.
He co-founded Salaam B’y, an anti-racism education initiative, with his wife, Dr. Nazia Sharfuddin, a health equity physician advocate. Salaam B’y is based on a documentary film about his life as a Muslim Newfoundlander, which has gained international recognition, including screenings at over 20 film festivals and The Queen’s Commonwealth Points of Light Award. Aatif has also received the Memorial University Alumni Tribute Horizon Award and the GlobalNL Community Champion Award.
His career has included roles at Startup Edmonton, Blackberry, researching olive farmers in Palestine, malaria prevention education in Sierra Leone, leading Engineers Without Borders chapters in Canada, developing international science policy and diplomacy with the British High Commission, and leading innovation in a multinational electric utility company.
Aatif holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering and a Master of Technology Management from Memorial University, and a Master of Social Policy & Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
What is your favourite quote?
Be kind for whenever kindness becomes part of something, it beautifies it. ― Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)
Which book or podcast
do you recommend?
Podcast: 20VC by Harry Stebbings
Book: The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley
Where do you call home?
Where people and nature empower me to be my most authentic and best self.
Bayan Khatib is a co-founder of the Syrian Canadian Foundation, dedicated to empowering newcomers and people of diverse backgrounds, and fostering cross-cultural connections in Canada. Serving as the organization’s Executive Director for three years, she helped build SCF from the ground up and pioneered innovative programs for newcomers.
Bayan co-founded the annual Syria Film Festival in Toronto, giving voice to the struggles and hopes of the Syrian people. During the 2011 Syrian uprising, Bayan led a multinational media campaign and spoke at local and international events and conferences about the struggle for freedom in Syria and the ensuing humanitarian crisis.
Bayan is a skilled writer, having translated “Just Five Minutes: Nine Years in the Prisons of Syria,” a memoir of a female political prisoner, and authored a series of short stories, and opinion pieces in The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star.
Today, at The Northpine Foundation, Bayan continues her commitment to refugee and marginalized communities, to make a lasting impact.
What is your favourite quote?
We have made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. ― Quran, 49:13
I love this verse because it speaks to the beauty of diversity and the importance of cross-cultural connection. When we get to know someone, we are less likely to fear them & more likely to care for them.
What are you grateful for?
I am grateful for my father who taught me independence and problem solving. I am grateful for my mother who taught me compassion and acceptance. She taught me to look beneath the surface and gain a deeper understanding of people’s journeys.
What drives you?
I want to pay forward the kindness friends and strangers showed my family when we arrived in Canada as refugees over 30 years ago.
Mark has lived in Holyrood, NL since 1982. He holds a B.Sc. from Memorial University, an Advanced Aquaculture Diploma from the Fisheries and Marine Institute, and an Applied Business Information Technology Graduate Diploma from the College of the North Atlantic. Mark has also completed certificates in Leadership and Sustainable Business Strategy through Harvard University.
His work experience includes a 20+ year military career as a commissioned officer in the Canadian Forces, and owner/operator of several small businesses. Previously he was the Executive Director of the Newfoundland and Labrador Aquaculture Industry Association, a member-based organization with a mandate to facilitate and promote commercial development of aquaculture.
Mark is married to Rhonda (nee Tulk) and is a proud father to two beautiful children, Sam and Anna.
What is your favourite quote?
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. ― Benjamin Franklin
What is kindness?
To understand and accept all people through an empathetic lens.
What drives you?
Collective problem solving.
Naomi (she/her), is a Kenyan and first-generation Canadian, who moved about ten years ago and lives on Treaty 1 territory – Winnipeg.
Before Northpine, she was a Community Investment Manager at United Way Winnipeg, managing a portfolio of United Way-funded agencies, a capital grant, and an organizational effectiveness grant, and building trusting relationships with agency partners and other non-profits in Winnipeg.
Previously, she worked in the settlement sector supporting refugee families.
Outside of Northpine, Naomi spends her time volunteering in the community, learning French and reading books.
Where do you call home?
It’s challenging to define what home means to a person who moved to a new country. Once, I was on a flight from Kenya to Canada. I wondered if it was appropriate to say, “I am leaving home and I am going home.”
Home is where I have family. I have a community that is like family to me in Nairobi and Winnipeg. These are the places I call home.
What is kindness?
Kindness means being selfless, sincere, caring, compassionate and graceful, even when it is challenging to do so.
Kindness is empathy for all and not just those perceived as worthy.
What is the best part about working at Northpine?
Hands down, the people! Each team member is authentic and brings their true self to work. We have a unique opportunity to serve underserved communities. It is a privilege to work with transformative leaders and the people we support.
Sara A. Tessier is a social justice advocate with lived experience, and eight years dedicated to working on behalf of some of the most marginalized, victimized, criminalized, and institutionalized men, women, and youth in Canada.
She has worked with the John Howard Society, Elizabeth Fry Mainland Nova Scotia, and Coverdale Justice Society, supporting those leaving provincial jails during the Covid-19 pandemic. Sara also served as an Outreach Worker for the G.A.T.E. program and a Peer Mentor with Coverdale.
Her influence extends to advisory roles and board memberships, including the African Nova Scotian Affairs Mobilizing Partnership Program, Scientific Advisory Committee for the Nurse Practitioner Research Project with Wellness Within/IWK/ WAGE, YWCA’s Trafficking & Exploitation Services System LGBTQ+ cultural group and the CAEFS Lived Experience Committee.
Sara volunteers at Dalhousie University’s Schulich School of Law, Saint Mary’s University Criminology Department, and the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies assisting the ongoing educational and professional development of students and professors, staff and members and Correctional Service of Canada contractors and volunteers.
She testified before Senate Committees on prisoners’ human rights and legislative changes. Sara has written articles and spoken on panels about prison issues, carceral law, advocacy, human rights, sexual violence, reproductive justice, LGBTQ+ topics, and mental health.
What is your favourite quote?
There’s a new reality born every minute. Unless one is a believer in predestination (in which case I’ll call the prestidigitator), or other puppet-like restraints on our powers, one is free to imagine and effect changes on the world. And if enough people do it, there are big changes. These things happen. Anything can.
― Neil Peart
What are you grateful for?
I am grateful for my amazing family. They support and encourage me to be a better person in all I do, every day.
What is the best part about working at Northpine?
I get to live my passion and help those impacted by the criminal justice system. As a formerly incarcerated person, I know the barriers and stigma that stop successful reintegration into our communities. Northpine gave me an avenue to help break those barriers.
Sammia Malik has 20+ years of diverse experience spanning for-profit and not-for-profit sectors, excelling in operational and program management, with a focus on scalable, sustainable and impactful change models.
She has contributed to programs led by Oxfam, Care, USAID, DFATD, EU, UNHCR, Procter and Gamble, and Unilever, and has extensive experience in social and economic impact consulting with FMCG companies and humanitarian response organizations, to bring micro to macro level change.
Over the past ten years, Sammia has held pivotal roles within management teams, driving organizational alignment through strategic vision. Her experience spans diverse countries, including Liberia, Jordan, Turkey, Canada, and Pakistan, giving her a strong understanding and adaptability for varied professional environments.
What is your favourite quote?
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
― Mahatma Gandhi
What are you grateful for?
I am grateful that my career is more than a job description. My work allows me to cherish peace and feel fulfillment. Every day I contribute to building a more a resilient and prosperous society of the world. What else could one imagine being grateful for?
What is the best part about working at Northpine?
It is a community of bold leaders. We are start-up innovators of new ways to achieve lasting social impact. Our foundation remains relevant by investing in solutions that best serve the end-users.
A newly-minted first-generation Canadian, Viren lives and works in Toronto. He has spent much of his professional life in Canada working with non-profits, philanthropy, and mission-driven organizations to build brand reputation, deliver impact, and leverage the power of story.
Prior to arriving in Canada, Viren had almost a decade of experience in marketing, advertising and communications for diverse clients, from multinational corporations to grassroots social organizations. He has collaborated on campaigns for worldwide audiences, with clients and teams across Asia, North America and Europe, building a strong understanding of diverse cultural nuances and market dynamics.
Viren holds a post-graduate diploma in Advertising and Marketing from Xavier Institute of Communications in Mumbai, India, a Master’s degree in Applied Science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India and a certificate in Fundraising from George Brown College, Toronto.
What is your favourite quote?
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain, than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
― Stephen Jay Gould
What does kindness mean to you?
Kindness is love in action. It is sharing time, skills, and resources ― working to use our lives for good. Kindness is a catalyst for positive change.
What is the best part about working at Northpine?
Being able to see a connection between my efforts and a positive impact for people and planet.