Lara Tavares

Founder, Interim Executive Director

Lara is the Founder, former Executive Director, former Board Chair and current Interim Executive Director of Sky’s the Limit Youth Organization (www.stlonline.org), a Toronto-based nonprofit organization. Passionate about technology and its importance in education, Lara created Sky’s the Limit in 2003 to offer a solution to the Digital Divide in Canada. Sky’s the Limit has placed over 5,000 computers to date! 

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Lara is a change-maker who envisions a new world that values love, justice and truth. With over 30 years of experience in creating positive social impact, she addresses the issues that affect young people, thereby fostering and supporting change. She advocates, educates and provides leadership, strategic vision, guidance and mentoring, logistical planning and network building. Lara champions philanthropy, volunteerism and social change by embodying service to others. She creates opportunities for others and encourages them to engage in service in their community and around the World in meaningful ways.

During her tenure to date with Sky’s the Limit, Lara has received the COVID Hero Award by Chris Glover, M.P.P., Spadina-Fort York, the FLARE Volunteer Award, the AronImage Award, the Harlequin “More than Words” Award and the Pricewaterhouse Coopers Individual Leadership Grant. Lara is a “Notable Canadian” featured in “Canadian Who's Who”, and was a chosen nominee for the 2022 DMZ Women of the Year, and the 26th annual RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards in the "Social Change Award" category. Sky's the Limit was most recently recognized with an Honourable Mention by the Toronto Community Champion Awards for 2023. Lara is passionate about social justice and wellbeing for all. In addition to her commitment to Sky’s the Limit, she recently served on the boards of two Los Angeles based nonprofit organizations - Off The Mat Into the World and Single Moms Planet - where she contributed to initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion. Lara’s determination and passion for social justice has earned her a reputation as a thoughtful leader and a trusted ally. Lara’s nine year old son, Ocean, is following in her footsteps. At four years old, he founded Ocean’s Water Org (oceanswater.org), a Toronto/Los Angeles based nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness about plastic pollution, reducing the use of non-essential, single-use plastics and coordinating local beach and park cleanups to save the lakes and oceans. 

James Bonnici

Interim Board Chair

James Bonnici, an IT consultant in the greater Toronto area. Winner of the “Volunteer of the Year” award from Sky’s the Limit in 2010. Volunteer IT Manager at STL from 2009 to present. With over 20 years of experience with computers, James has seen the rise of the Personal Computer (PC) and Internet in the home to the essential services that today’s top businesses are built on. He has helped individuals and corporations to understand and utilize the many facets that today’s technology offers. James’ belief in bridging the digital divide, reducing environmental impacts, his experience volunteering with STL, and his work within the technology industry, has provided invaluable insight and expertise to our community partners and recipients.

Pamela Reeve

Director

Pamela Reeve is Sky’s the Limit Youth Organization’s longest standing Board Director and one of our earliest supporters and volunteers. Pamela’s previous board experience has included governance roles as Board Chair, Sky’s the Limit Youth Organization, February 2007 - January 2016 and Vice Chair, Board of Directors, Sky’s the Limit Youth Organization, June 2008 - February 2014. Pamela also served Sky’s the Limit as a long-term volunteer from May 2005 - April 2017.

Pamela has 20+ years software sales experience in the Healthcare, FinTech, HCM and CRM industries, specializing in digital healthcare and benefits, equity compensation, financial reporting, human resource management, talent management, payroll, employee assistance programs, workforce management, data management and salesforce automation. A results-driven sales professional, Pamela engages with Canada’s largest organizations to help accelerate their digital transformation and deliver high-engagement, employee and customer experiences.

Pamela also owns and operates two small businesses and resides in The Blue Mountains with her husband and two children.

Gwen Madiba

Advisor

Born in Gabon, Africa, and raised in Ottawa, Gwen Madiba is an award winning human right's advocate, advocate for gender equality, public speaker, TV Host and designer. Her activism is informed by her own experiences with homelessness. Gwen is the founder of Equal Chance, an Ottawa-based organization dedicated to helping vulnerable Black Canadians fight the barriers they face to equal opportunities and access to resources. She is co-founder of the Global Black Coalition, an international group of agencies with a mission to help Black students in Ukraine escape the war.

In 2014, Gwen was appointed as the Ambassador of the Mandela Legacy Foundation. She was awarded the Telus Future Leader Award from the Women's Executive Network of Canada and was included in the list of Canada's Most Powerful Women (2010), the Young Alumna Award from the University of Ottawa (2018), the Order of Ottawa (2019), the Women's Executive Network of Canada's top100 Most powerful women in the Mercedes Benz Canada Emerging leader category (2019), the United Way of Eastern Ontario's Community Builder Award - Covid-19 heroesedition Award (2020), the Crime Prevention Ottawa Outstanding Achievement Award (2021) and the L'Oreal Paris Women of Worth Award (2022).

Gwen made history at the Mrs. Universe pageant, becoming the first Black woman in over 20 years of the pageant's existence to make it in the top 5 and land in the top 2 (2017).

Lance E. McIntosh

CPA, CA, Honorary Chair of the Board of Directors

Chief Financial Officer of the Previcare Group, Mr. McIntosh has more than 38 years of experience in senior management, corporate finance and accounting. Mr. McIntosh has held senior financial positions with a number of significant private and public corporations. He has, among other things, overseen the financial operations, the corporate development function, and the ‘going public’ process for two major Canadian corporations. Over the 10 years ending in 2012, he developed and managed from startup, a group of unique business entities/operations and the corporate infrastructure required to support the entire diverse group. As part of the unique group of entities, during this period he nurtured and oversaw the growth of the Paloma Foundation from concept to operating entity. As Executive Director of the Paloma Foundation, he was responsible for developing and maintaining all of the systems and procedures required for the trustees to ensure the Foundation remained true to its funding mandate and focus, while exercising sound business practices. He is currently a member in good standing of the Institute of Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario. He graduated cum laude, receiving his H.B.A. from Trinity College, University of Toronto.

Sangeeta Prakash

Director

Sangeeta is an accomplished Corporate Attorney with 20+ years' experience within corporate and legal environments in both the US and Canada. For over 17 years, she has served as Corporate Counsel for Macy’s, Inc. and is currently lead counsel for its digital media arm.  

Sangeeta began her career in private practice in Ontario, Canada advising clients in the technology sector. She earned her Masters in Laws (LL.M.) from Boston University School of Law. She notably received her Juris Doctor from the University of Ottawa and completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree at McGill University. She holds Bar Admissions from both the Law Society of Ontario and the State of Missouri, and has Corporate Counsel status with the Supreme Court of Ohio. 

Sangeeta is a steadfast advisor across several philanthropic foundations and nonprofit organizations and an ardent advocate of Canadian arts and culture. She is a Distinguished Patron of the National Gallery of Canada, an advisor and ambassador for the A.K. Prakash Foundation in Canada and a Patron to The Prince’s Trust of Canada. 

Her dedication to arts and culture and community outreach includes serving as a Board Trustee to Cleveland Arts Prize, Co-Chair of Advocacy and Member of the DEI Committee on the Cleveland Museum of Art Womens Council, and a member of The Cleveland Orchestra’s Community Engagement Committee. Sangeeta was also a member of the Shaker Heights School District Equity Advisory and Actions Team.  She is also a graduate of the Civic Leadership Program of the Cleveland Leadership Center. 

Sangeeta is a proud Canadian living in Cleveland with her husband and two daughters.

Rema Tavares

Board Advisor

Rema joined Sky’s the Limit in 2007 as our first employee. As Executive Director (2010-2014), she effected real, meaningful and lasting change in the community and embodied the ethos of service and social justice that defines Sky’s the Limit. Rema played an integral part in Sky’s the Limit’s development. Her leadership and dedication enabled us to expand our reach and become the leader in getting technology to youth in the Greater Toronto Area and beyond.

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Passionate about intersectional environmentalism and social justice, Rema is now Manager, Employee Inclusion at Seneca Polytechnic. She is also the founder of Mixed in Canada, an organization dedicated to building a community where racialized mixed-identified Canadians of all abilities, religions, genders and sexualities can connect, share & find a place of belonging. Rema also volunteers for Black Eco Bloom, a organization that strives to create a more sustainable future for all, through Black women-led climate action. She has spoken on CTV Canada AM, CBC Metro Morning, the University of Toronto, York University Centre for Human Rights, OCAD, Ontario Public Services, and more.