The Team

Dipal Damani

Founder and President

Dipal is the Founder and President of D&D Inclusion Consulting. She founded the firm based on her own experiences with discrimination, bias, and microaggression. After suffering in silence for years, she reached out to her some of her peers and realized she was not alone.

Dipal is a racialized equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) consultant, community researcher and evaluation professional. She has extensive knowledge and experience in equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) as well as research and evaluation, having delivered results in this area for the past 15 years. Prior to founding the company, Dipal worked with provincial and regional governments to implement inclusion policies and programs, conduct organizational and community assessments, and launch multi-stakeholder initiatives. In 2015, she founded D&D Inclusion Consulting to leverage her experience, knowledge, and expertise to work directly with organizations in creating more inclusive workplaces and communities.

Dipal blends her social science research background with her practical experience to design strategies, tools, and training that help organizations move forward on their equity, diversity and inclusion goals. She uses an evidence-based, data driven-approach to conduct assessments and develop strategic recommendations and action plans.

Dipal holds a Master’s in Public Policy and Governance with a Certificate in Ethnic, Immigration, and Pluralism Studies from the University of Toronto. She is truly passionate about her work and loves finding innovative approaches and practices that benefit her clients.

Ryan Li

Data Lead

Ryan is an established data analytics professional who has worked with non-profits, Fortune 100 clients, as well as household Canadian brands (e.g., Wealthsimple & Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment). His rigour in data analytics provides strong insights to clients. He has worked as an Economic Consultant at Cornerstone Research, and at various Toronto technology companies in multiple analytics-heavy roles. Ryan graduated from the Ivey Business School at Western University with an emphasis on data analytics.

Milena Ferrari

HR/Project Assistant

Milena has over 7 years of experience in human resources and project management. She uses strong HR skills to source key talent for projects and employs highly effective project management and communication skills to manage project deadlines. Milena holds degrees in both Human Resources and Psychology, which she obtained from the University Cruzeiro do Sul in São Paulo, Brazil.

Sandy Tat

Research Assistant

Sandy employs leading research and analytical methods to help organizations make impactful, evidence-informed strategic decisions. Through strong evaluation and inquiry, she provides powerful insights to ensure clients have the foundation upon which to achieve their objectives and make lasting change. Sandy leverages her professional experience across consulting, government, and EDI to bring a systems-lens mindset and rigorous research skills to every project she approaches.

Sandy holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Toronto and a BHSc in Biomedical Discovery and Commercialization from McMaster University.

Chanel Grenaway

Associate

Chanel is the owner of Chanel Grenaway and Associates. She has over 20 years of experience in the non-profit sector, and brings a range of expertise from working with Foundations, multi-service non-profit organizations, and within the public sector specifically through a diversity, equity and inclusion lens. Chanel's work is focused on equity, intersectionality, amplifying the voices and experiences of underrepresented groups and supporting the conditions for meaningful participatory engagement. In her current practice she offers training, and facilitates conversations aimed at increasing understanding of anti-Black racism, systemic racism and intersectionality. She coaches leaders and teams on how they can integrate equity-based approaches in their programs, policies and services.

Michael Bowe

Associate

Michael is the Founder and President of Bowe and Associates. He is a senior leader in equity and inclusion with a demonstrated history of working in the non-profit social services sector. He has over 26 years of experience as an equity and community engagement specialist. He is skilled in equity audits, strategic and operational planning, facilitating professional development sessions for boards and different staffing levels, along with executive coaching/mentoring, leadership assessment and development and policy and practice development (e.g. HR, direct-service, etc.). Michael is also skilled at service and performance evaluation along with community engagement and capacity building. He is a trusted and respected equity specialist/leader in multiple sectors across different regions and within the province.

Kris Erickson

Research and Evaluation Associate

Kris has over a decade of experience in applied social research, youth employment strategy and policy, and cross-sector partnership building in community and cultural development. Kris is a Metcalf Foundation and Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Fellow (2018–2019), a former Research Associate (lead on the Contextualized Essential Skills portfolio) for the Ontario Centre for Workforce Innovation (OCWI-COIE), and a sessional lecturer at Ryerson University, where he teaches qualitative research design, career and professional planning, academic writing, and professional communications.

Ted Richmond

Associate

Ted consults for organizations in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion, evaluation, strategic planning and project development. He has over 30 years of experience in diversity, equity and inclusion and has developed multi-stakeholder inclusion initiatives, conducted workforce surveys, evaluation, and lead research on promising practices.  Ted has published and presented extensively on inclusion issues such as: the service implications of changing ethnoracial demographics, relations between government and community service providers, and the dynamics of equity and social inclusion.  He co-edited the book ‘Social Inclusion: Canadian Perspectives’ (Fernwood Publishing).  While working with the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration (MCI), Ted chaired the Diversity Committee of staff volunteers and received a Stirling Award in recognition of his contributions.

Ted was an instructor with the Chang School at Ryerson University for 15 years,  teaching in the Certificate Program for Non-Profit Management (Understanding the Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector and NGOs in Global Context).  He continues to do research and publishing on the non-profit sector.

Ted has a Master’s degree from OISE, University of Toronto with a specialisation in statistics and evaluation.  He is a member of the Canadian Evaluation Society.