Board of Directors

Tita Ang-angco is the co-founder of The Centre for Mindfulness Studies. She worked with the Ontario Public sector for many years as a senior manager in several ministries, including the Health, Housing and Management Board. She has been an active volunteer in the area of social housing having organized the funding and development of two not-for-profit housing developments in the GTA. She was Chair of the Homes First Society from 1995 to 2001 where she stabilized the operational and financial standing of the organization and created the Homes First Foundation, a fund-raising agency arm of the Society. Since then, she has been involved in several volunteer start-up ventures. She has received extensive training in mindfulness, Buddhist psychology and yoga.

Laurie Arron is currently the president of On Call Centre. He was the Managing Director of the Centre for Mindfulness Studies from 2014-2020 and, prior to that, was the Director of Advocacy for national LGBTQ equality group Egale Canada, Executive Director of the Green Party of Canada, an associate lawyer at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, and real estate Development Manager at CN Real Estate. Laurie is a long-time mindfulness meditation teacher and a member of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Order of Interbeing. He has been practicing mindfulness and meditation since 2001. In addition to numerous long-term retreats with Thich Nhat Hanh, he has also done retreats with Shinzen Young, Ken McLeod, Michael Singer, Joseph Goldstein, and many others, and is certified to teach Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Laurie is currently a board member of the Consciousness Explorers Club.

Soussan Tabari has led the modernization and digitization of over 100 lines of business in 6 Ontario government ministries covering the spectrum of lifelong learning from Child Care to K-12 (Ministry of Education), to Post-Secondary Education (Ministry of Colleges and Universities), as well as Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Sports and Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, as the Information and Information Technology (I+IT) Assistant Deputy Minister/Chief Information Officer (CIO). 

The focus of Soussan’s leadership has been to transform and modernize user-centric, public policy programs and services through digital opportunities. She initiates innovation and facilitates collaboration between policy and technology expertise to co-design new and modern business models. 

Soussan received an individual 2015 Amethyst Award in the category of Leadership and 2 Amethyst awards for innovative projects. 

Soussan completed the Executive MBA Program at Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western, London, Ontario. She holds a Master of Science in Mineral Exploration and Mining Geology from the University of Leicester, United Kingdom, and an honours Bachelor of Science in Oil and Gas Geology from the University of Tehran, Iran.

Jennifer Boucher currently manages the Integrated Palliative Care Program at Toronto Central Home and Community Care Support Services. She is passionate about home and community health care and specifically palliative care and mental health support programs that support patients to live with dignity and quality of life in their homes and communities.

Jennifer is a health sector professional with over 20 years of experience leading large-scale, strategic change in multi-stakeholder environments. Jennifer has managed integrated, interdisciplinary programs, projects, and multi-sectoral/stakeholder initiatives to improve patient and caregiver experience. As a management consultant, she has provided consulting services to numerous organizations including the Ministry of Health, Local Health Integration Networks, and other health sector organizations.

Jennifer has been a meditation practitioner since 2010 and participates in silent retreats throughout the year to further her Buddhist practice. She has the honour of being the Centre’s first volunteer back in the first year of operation. Jennifer has a Masters degree in Information Studies from the University of Toronto and is the President of the University of Toronto Faculty of Information Alumni Association.