Ceta Ramkhalawansingh - Board Chair

Helena Aalto - Treasurer / Director at Large

Mark Milner - Director, Vancouver

Julie Marshall - Director, Kitchener

Judy Dunn - Director, Toronto

Trevor Adams - Director, Halifax

Carolyn Wood - Director at Large

Sandi Kiverago - Director at Large

Alexandra Moorshead - Executive Director, ex-officio board member

Board Member Bios (in alphabetical order)

Helena Aalto has worked in communications and marketing for retailers Chapters and Coles, publishers Fitzhenry & Whiteside and Kids Can Press, and not-for-profits the Canadian Children’s Book Centre, Editors’ Association of Canada, and ABC Life Literacy Canada.  Consulting clients include the Association of Canadian Publishers, Ontario Media Development Corporation, Cultural Careers Council Ontario, and Access Copyright.  Helena is the national liaison on The Word On The Street Toronto board and Treasurer of The Word On The Street Canada.

Trevor J. Adams is the editor of Halifax Magazine and managing editor with Metro Guide Publishing. He co-authored Atlantic Canada's 100 Greatest Books and Today's Joe Howe. He's currently at work on his first solo project, a book about the early days of hockey in the Maritimes.

Sandi Kiverago has worked at Frontier College, Canada’s original national literacy organization, since 1988. As Director of Communications, she developed and executed the external communication plan and provided strategic communications advice and leadership to the organization, managed issues, implemented strategies and worked closely with the leadership, staff and volunteers to achieve organizational goals. Currently, Sandi is Director of Technology and Internal Relations. As such, she provides leadership and direction to the organization’s technology functions to enable the technology objectives in the strategic plan; directs and manages the technology strategy, policies and programs for end-users, network communications and information management; and, provides advice and counsel to the President and CEO (and other senior staff) to build and enhance the work environment through policies and practices that advocate for and facilitate employee engagement.

Mark Milner has been an active board member since in 2001 and is currently Chair, The Word On The Street Vancouver. Mark was invited to read at Poets' Corner at The Word On The Street Vancouver before joining the festival’s board. He has published short fiction and poetry in a number of literary journals and anthologies and holds degrees in English Literature from the University of Calgary (BA - 1992) and University of British Columbia (MA - 1997). While studying at the University of Calgary he founded a student magazine (SansCrit) and was the president of the Dandelion Magazine Society (also in Calgary), which published Dandelion and blue buffalo. Mark further contributed to Calgary’s literary scene as co-founder of a successful literary reading series. Mark works for the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, as a Manager of Road Safety Programs.

Alexandra Moorshead is the Executive Director, The Word On The Street Canada, prior to which she was Festival Director of The Word On The Street Toronto for three years where she grew and diversified the organization’s revenue base, oversaw the development of a number of new artistic programs and attracted new audiences to the event. Alexandra's background includes producing large community events and managing the marketing of a group of Canadian-owned consumer and trade magazines. Through her consulting firm, Moorshead & Associates, Alexandra has co-ordinated a series of workshops and a writing contest which resulted in an anthology of stories by adult literacy learners that promoted literacy and gave a voice to those who are learning to express themselves through the written word.

Ceta Ramkhalawansingh is the Board Chair, The Word On The Street Canada. Until her retirement in 2010, she was the corporate diversity manager for the City of Toronto where she worked for nearly 30 years. She has worked in literacy, publishing, women’s studies, human rights, race relations, education and land use planning. She was a member of the inaugural Advisory Board, The Word On  The Street Toronto in 1990. Ceta has served and continues to serve on several community boards, including serving as Chair, Learnxs Foundation and as Honorary President, Grange Community Association. Ceta is the recipients of several awards such as the University of Toronto’s Arbor Award, the Persons Day Award from WIN and LEAF, and was a member of the Labour History Collective, co-winner of the City of Toronto Book Award. A detailed bio is available..

Carolyn Wood has spent most of her professional life in the book world, first as a librarian and, for the past thirty years, in publishing, beginning with Women’s Educational Press and moving to University of Toronto Press, where she served first as advertising manager, then marketing manager, and finally as VP Distribution, managing an operation for some 70 Canadian publishers. She is co-founder of Second Story Press, and has also worked as a mediator, facilitator, and consultant in diverse publishing contexts. Since 2006 she has served as Executive Director of the Association of Canadian Publishers.