Michael Yue, MA

Project Management / Curriculum Development / Facilitation / Research. Michael was involved in 2014, in the development and delivery of the Cultural Etiquette training to City of Richmond  staff.

Michael has over 20 years of combined experience in education and career services. His expertise is in project development and management, collaborative partnership, and creative educational programming. Throughout his career life, he has initiated many new projects with very successful outcomes and has been well regarded by colleagues and community partners as a leader in the field. He has worked in various organizational environments, including non-profit, corporate, and public postsecondary education.

Michael is active in the community. He serves on the Board of the BC Career Development Association and is the current President. He chairs the Board of Cinevolution Media Arts Society, a leading-edge film and arts organization that stages the Richmond International Film and Media Arts. He is also a radio program host at AM1470, a Chinese radio station.

Michael has a Master’s degree in Higher Education Studies (University of British Columbia) and a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Anthropology (University of Toronto). He works at the Vancouver Community College as a Senior Project Coordinator, leading the Department of Community Training and Development.

Isabel Matk, MSc

Program Evaluation / Research / Policy Development
Isabel was brought on board in 2013, as a part of our team, to update the Youth Service Plan for the City of Richmond.

Isabel Matk is an experienced public sector consultant with special expertise in program evaluation and policy development. She holds a Master’s in Public Services Policy and Management from King’s College London, United Kingdom where she focused on research methods for policy analysis.

As a consultant for the German public sector, Isabel liaised with local employment agencies on building impactful programs and quality services for long-term unemployed people. She engaged in the agencies’ strategic and operational planning and facilitated workshops on communication, team-building, and employee motivation.

As a program evaluation specialist, Isabel conducted numerous evaluations on behalf of German ministries and public agencies, such as the Federal Employment Agency, the Institute for Employment Research, the Saxon State Ministry for Economic Affairs and Labour, and local employment agencies. Her projects involved a wide range of qualitative and quantitative approaches, including in-depth interviews, surveys (by telephone, mail, Internet), literature reviews, case studies, and secondary data analysis.

Maureen Mendoza, MA
Research / Policy Development
Maureen was brought in 2013 on board as a part of our team to update the Youth Service Plan for the City of Richmond.
Maureen Mendoza is a Masters student at the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP) at UBC. Her final project explores the changes in the organizational changes within immigrant service providers concerning multiculturalism, diversity, and interculturalism. Maureen received previous degrees in Sociology and English Literature from UBC (BA) and Sociology (MA) from the University of Toronto.

Maureen’s research and policy development work have been interdisciplinary in nature, ranging from sustainable regional planning, online consultation and civic technology, affordable housing, access to health care services for minority groups, settlement and integration of immigrants within housing, education and labour markets and community-based research and collaboration. These experiences have enabled Maureen’s confidence, comfort, and competency in mixed-method public policy research development and administration activities across a spectrum of responsibilities from research, funding, and ethics proposals to literature reviews, data analysis, public and stakeholder engagement, survey design and outreach, reporting/publication, and monitoring.

Patrick Coady 
Facilitation/Presentations/Advocacy
Patrick was brought on board in 2007-2009 as a part of our team on the Immigrant Talent Integration projects.

Patrick Coady is the president of Success Development Group Inc and has consulted to and worked for government, regulators and immigrant serving agencies on issues related to professional immigrant labour market integration since 1997.

He holds a bachelor degree in Criminology with a minor in psychology from Simon Fraser University. He is also a graduate of numerous training programs including: Leadership Training for Managers, Achieve Success Through Exceptional Interpersonal Skills and How to Build Trust, Credibility and Respect through Dale Carnegie Training; Leadership Through People Skills and Dimensional Training through Psychological Associates, Inc; Planning Decision Making and Presentation Skills, Stress Awareness and Case Management training through the Justice Institute of BC; Executive Search through Kingston College and various seminars on cultural sensitivity and case management from MOSAIC immigrant serving agency.

Prior to entering the Foreign Credential Recognition field Patrick owned an import/export business, a security company, was VP Operations for two dotcoms and also served in the communications and electronics branch of the Department of National Defense. For the last six years he has volunteered to MOSAIC, EASI, NETWERCC, SPEATBC and AIMDBC (Association of International Medical Doctors of BC) which he co-founded.

Danielle Blond 
Researcher / Social Planner
Daneille was brought on board as a part of our team for the Social Development Strategy for the City of Richmond project.

Danielle Blond holds a MSc. in Planning (Community Development) from the University of British Columbia (UBC) where she focused on social planning and participatory planning processes.  Recently Danielle was the Assistant Programme Manager for LEAD Southern and Eastern Africa (LEAD-SEA) where she worked on sustainability and climate change issues. At LEAD one of her major responsibilities was contributing to and editing key documents such as the Malawi Climate Change Toolkit, Malawi Stocktaking Report for Rio+20, and the Thuma Forest Reserve Community Ecotourism Feasibility Study.

Danielle also worked as the coordinator of Communities of Practice at the UBC-CLI (University of British Columbia-Community Learning Initiative) helping to build networks and mobilize practitioners involved in community service learning. She also worked as a Municipal Planning Consultant in the Philippines conducting research on sustainable livelihoods and poverty reduction, and developed an extensive report and recommendations for city council. Danielle also has experience in website development, has been involved in multiple website projects and is proficient in using WordPress.