Lorna MacGregor
Lorna is a retired social worker with 23 years of management experience in a municipal long-term care home, and in community support services for seniors. She has been Chair of the Board of Care Watch Ontario, served on seniors’ issues committees of the Ontario Association of Social Workers, and previously volunteered for many years with the YWCA of Toronto where she was on the Board and chaired the Social Action Committee. She is currently coordinating the Reviewers’ Program, where she has volunteered for over 10 years.
Sharon Filger
Sharon has a Master’s Degree in Social Work (Community Development) and more than 40 years’ experience working in the non-profit service sector. She held various direct service and senior management positions including, most recently, as the Executive Director of The Macaulay Child Development Centre, a multi-service child and family support charity in Toronto. She has led various inter-agency and community planning groups; served on the Board of Directors of local and provincial associations; and contributed to government policy through participation on various provincial and municipal Task Forces and Advisory Groups. She has co-authored/edited several Professional Manuals.
Alice Gaudine
Alice is a nurse educator with a Master’s in Nursing and a PhD in administration, with over 40 years of experience as a Registered Nurse. She is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Nurses. She is aware of the need to develop and implement national standards for long term care. The COVID pandemic (temporarily) brought the lack of LTC national standards to the public’s attention but for a variety of reasons, advocacy is needed to improve LTC. She believes that the work of Concerned Friends fills an important gap in health care through helping individuals and families, and through advocacy to promote changes in the provision of LTC.
Kristle Calisto-Tavares
Kristle’s interest and passion in seniors’ care began as a teenager volunteering in a local hospice in her hometown. More recently, a family member’s personal experience in long term care opened her eyes to the shortcomings and giant gaps in the system. Through her social-purpose business, Kristle works with organizations and enterprises toward collaborative changemaking. She is passionate about the work Concerned Friends is engaged in and eager to lend her two decades’ worth of skills in the citizen sector toward building a movement that uplifts the standard of care and quality of life for all seniors living in long term care.
Jean Wright
Jean spent most of her working life being the administrative assistant in a variety of organizations including architecture and management consulting. For the last 30 years she has worked as a freelance bookkeeper, word processor and general assistant for a number of independent human rights lawyers. Her experience of volunteering has been on the administrative side rather than hands on experience.
Eric Mariglia
Eric Mariglia has a decade of experience working in government relations, advocacy and lobbying supporting non-profits, advocacy and coalition groups and umbrella associations to build relationships with government to achieve their policy and funding objectives. He is currently the Senior Director of Public Affairs with WoodGreen Community Services, leading the lobbying, government relations and advocacy objectives for the organization. He has also worked at a leading public affairs agency as part of a team that developed advocacy campaigns for clients and worked for a former provincial minister and Member of Provincial Parliament.
Maria Merconne
With 40 years experience serving seniors in the healthcare industry and community support services. Her work has been her passion to support seniors’ quality of life. Maria is a proud mother and grandmother, enjoys traveling, cooking and being active.
Melanie Dziengo
Melanie Dziengo is a public health communications professional. She supports communications, conference and online event planning, and member engagement. Melanie also has a background in journalism and corporate communications, and wants to continuously advocate for vulnerable populations in Ontario. This passion led her to join the board of directors at Concerned Friends, knowing she could use her skills to help every person in long-term care live with dignity, quality care, and a strong voice.
Kathy Knowlton-Krueger
