Meet our 2021-2022 Board of Directors!
Jennifer Nelson
President
Jennifer and her family have been members of West Toronto Skating Club since 2014. Her son is a Senior Star skater and program assistant, and her daughter has participated in Canskate and Rising Stars. Jennifer has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2018, serving as secretary from 2019-2020 and Vice President in 2020-2021. She has worked on program and strategic planning, the hiring committee for the Program Director, various club events and, more recently, the Covid-19 Protocol subcommittee. As of November, 2021, she has taken on the role of President and is excited to continue collaborating with this excellent team of dedicated volunteers.
Jennifer brings extensive experience in academic research, community-based initiatives, project management, program evaluation, and social justice work. She worked for several years as a Research Scientist with Sunnybrook and Women’s College hospitals in conjunction with University of Toronto Department of Public Health, where she was Assistant Professor. She also worked for many years as an independent research consultant to government and community organizations in the areas of health equity and cancer care. Jennifer holds a Ph.D. in Sociology and Equity Studies from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, an M.A from Simon Fraser University, and a B.A. from Concordia University. She is currently a psychotherapist in training at the Toronto Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis. Jennifer’s earliest university education was in music at McGill University, and she currently teaches piano.
Yi-Wen Hsu
Past President
Yi-Wen Hsu stumbled into the skating world in 2015, when her daughter (then nine) started to skate at WTSC. Recruited to join the WTSC Board, Yi-Wen served for three years in the role of Treasurer, and is now in her second year of serving as President.
Since joining the the Board, Yi-Wen has actively learned about the sport of skating and skating clubs through continuous engagement with coaches, skaters, skating programs (both at WTSC and other clubs), and Skate Ontario/Skate Canada initiatives. Having seen first-hand the immense benefits the sport can bring to young skaters, Yi-Wen is passionate about making skating accessible and building robust programming. She seeks to achieve this through her commitment to community building, public service/volunteering, and collaborative leadership.
Professionally, Yi-Wen brings extensive business and legal experience to the WTSC Board. A tax lawyer who has advised a diverse range of clients for nearly 20 years on complex domestic and international transactions, Yi-Wen is now VP Taxation at AccorHotels, where she leads a team of professionals responsible for all tax matters in North and Central America. Yi-Wen is also an Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, and holds a BBA (UNB), a JD/LLB (Osgoode Hall) and an LLM (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany).
Cora McCloy
Vice President
Cora joined WTSC in 2018 to skate on the Adult sessions, after a lengthy break from formal skating programming. She served as Director at Large of the Board in 2020, also sitting on the Covid Protocol subcommittee, and became Vice-President in late 2021. Cora was drawn to the Board based on her interest in broader WTSC programming and governance activities. She draws on her extensive background in
elite rowing (national team), competitive figure skating (Novice level at the Atlantic Divisionals), achieving double Gold tests (Dance & Figures), and coaching skaters ages 3-75.
Cora began coaching at the St. John’s Figure Skating Club, and continued instructing for the City of Toronto, and University of Toronto (UofT) programs, including the UofT Varsity Blues Figure Skating team during her graduate studies. After many years as an outdoor arena/lake enthusiast, Cora returned to skating in 2018, competing on both Trinity and Ice Unite Adult II synchronized skating teams. She continues to skate on the WTSC Adult sessions to reignite her passion for all the ice dances.
Cora holds both a Ph.D. in Sport Policy Studies and a Masters in Exercise Science from U of T, and a Bachelor in primary-elementary education (Memorial Univ of Nfld). She previously taught in the TCDSB as a primary teacher. Currently, Cora works at UofT supporting faculty in teaching and learning activities, and in developing professional development programming for instructors across their career span. This position
engages her with faculty and senior university administrators in coaching, consulting, and collaborative roles.
Andrew Allen
Treasurer
Andrew Allen has two children currently or recently enrolled in WTSC programs - one in Senior StarSkate who's on the ice 10 hours a week either skating or acting as a Program Assistant, and one intermittently in CanSkate/RisingStar, hoping to be allowed to skate without a helmet. This is our 8th year as members of the club.
Andrew joined the WTSC Board of Directors in 2021. Andrew is the director of technology development for MDA Inc. and manages and guides teams of talented experts in the development of human and robotic spaceflight systems. MDA built the Canadarm for the Space Shuttle and Canadarm2 for the International Space Station and are now creating the next autonomous robotic system (Canadarm3) for the international Lunar Gateway program beyond the orbit of the Moon.
Andrew has a M.A.Sc. degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Toronto and B.Sc. and B.Eng degrees in Physics and Mechanical Engineering from Dalhousie University.
Stephen Rotstein
Director at Large
Stephen Rotstein is the father of two daughters who are both passionate about skating, one figure skating and the other hockey, so he spends a lot of time at ice rinks. Stephen first joined the WTSC Board in 2018, when he took on the role of Vice President. For the 2019-2020 season, he is serving as Director at Large.
Stephen brings extensive volunteer leadership experience to WTSC, having served as Chair of the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association (CCCA) and Chair of the Four Village Community Health Centre. Stephen currently serves on the Board of the Canadian Bar Association and is Vice-Chair of the Credit Counselling Society. He is also the Canadian Representative for In-House Counsel Worldwide, the Global network of legal associations that focused on in-house counsel.
Professionally, Stephen is the Director, Global and Domestic Affairs at the Ontario Securities Commissions, where he is managing a team that works with the Government and other regulators across Canada and around the world to protect consumers and promote fair and efficient capital markets. Stephen previously served as Vice-President, Policy & Regulatory Affairs & General Counsel at FP Canada.
Stephen holds a law degree from Osgoode Hall and a B.A. in Political Science and History from the University of Western Ontario. He is a member of the Bar in Ontario and New York State and holds the Certified In-House Counsel - Canada certification (CIC.C) granted by the CCCA and the Rotman School of Management of the University of Toronto.
Susannah Rosenstock
Secretary
Susannah Rosenstock is the parent of a son and daughter in the STARSkate and Senior STARSkate programs, both of whom love skating and are actively involved in the Club as Program Assistants. Her daughter began skating at WTSC in 2011 in the CANSkate program. Susannah joined the Board of Directors in 2016, and served as Club Secretary through 2019. For the 2019-2020 season, she is serving as Director at Large.
Susannah has extensive volunteer experience, including serving on the Board of the Pia Bouman School of Dance. She is also a founding member and former Board member of the Toronto Biennial of Art, where she became the Deputy Director & Director of Exhibitions in early 2019, and helped to launch the inaugural Biennial in September 2019. Susannah has worked as an arts administrator in New York and Toronto for more than 20 years. She has a M.A. in Art History from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University and a B.A. from Columbia College, Columbia University in New York.