PDAC Executive Board 2022-2023
Meet the Team
President
Dr. Mehdi Mohammadi (He/Him)
Responsibilities
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Supervises and guides the affairs and actions of the PDAC Executive Council
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Conducts or oversees all negotiations done on behalf of PDAC or its members, including collective bargaining
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Chairs all meetings of the PDAC membership or Executive, unless delegated to another Executive Officer
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Acts as an ex officio member of all PDAC Standing or Working Committees
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Acts as the spokesperson for PDAC and its members
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Carries primary responsibility for ensuring the effective and efficient functioning of the Executive and the Association and for ensuring the continuity of PDAC
Presidency started on July 1st 2022
Executive Director & Labour Relations Expert
Kim Smith
With 18 years of Human Resources and Labour Relations experience, Kim’s HR credentials support repeated success, implementing best practices. While building credible relationships and influencing meaningful working partnerships, Kims years of experience working with both small and large brand name companies in various industries, in addition to Aboriginal Communities will bring valuable knowledge to PDAC.
As PDAC Executive Director / Labour Relation Expert, Kim will work closely with the University and PDAC members. Together, they form a vital tripartite agreement to facilitate amicable resolutions, to ensure employees are treated fairly, in accordance with the collective agreement.
Kim's responsibilities will be to ensure continuity by managing the PDAC office. Still, her primary focus will be to ensure fair labour practices, between the University of Calgary, the Board of Governors and the Post Doctoral Fellows.
Vice President Communications
Dr. Stephanie Bishop (She/Her)
Stephanie completed a PhD in Analytical Chemistry at UBC Okanagan in Kelowna, BC and has been a Postdoctoral researcher in the Lewis Research Group at UCalgary since 2020. She is interested in all things microbial metabolism, including using multi-disciplinary metabolomics approaches to analyze and visualize complex data.
Responsibilities
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First port of contact for the members of PDAC
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Responsible for communicating the affairs of PDAC and the Executive Council to the membership
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Manages the PDAC office email account and PDAC member mailing list
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Creates and disseminates the monthly PDAC newsletter
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Responsible for designing and updating the PDAC website
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Manages the PDAC social media accounts
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Advertises PDAC events and manages event registration
Vice President Operations
Dr. Asfaw Yohannes (He/Him)
Asfaw Yohannes is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Chemistry, University of Calgary. His research focuses on clean energy transformation: including CO2 reduction and H2 fuel production.
Responsibilites
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Organizes Executive Council meetings as well as meetings of the general membership
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Records and minutes from for all meetings of the PDAC Executive and/or membership
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Manages the storage and maintenance of all official records of PDAC and the Executive Council, as well as the sharing of those records with members as needed
Vice President Internal
Dr. Nynke van den Hoogen (She/Her)
Nynke completed a PhD in Neuroscience in Maastricht, the Netherlands. She moved to Calgary in August 2019, and has been a postdoctoral fellow at Foothills Campus of the University of Calgary since.
Responsibilities
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Acts as the primary liaison between the PDAC Executive and the faculties, departments, institutes, and offices internal to the University of Calgary
Vice President External
Dr. Sourabh Kumar (He/Him)
Responsibilities
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Acts as the primary liaison between the PDAC Executive and any individuals, organizations, or groups external to the Association and/or the University of Calgary, including other postdoctoral associations at the provincial and national levels
Vice President Finance
Dr. Ayan Chanda (He/Him)
Responsibilities
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Conducts all financial transactions on behalf of PDAC
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Manages all of PDAC’s financial accounts including the maintenance and storage of financial records and the sharing of those records with members as needed
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Responsible for developing PDAC’s annual budget in consultation with other members of the Executive
Vice President Community Engagement
Dr. Anitha Ravishankar (She/Her)
Anitha completed a PhD in Solar Physics and Space Weather in Jagiellonian University, Poland. She joined University of Calgary as a postdoctoral associate and works on the beautiful Auroras and its impact on Earth's ionosphere.
Responsibilities
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Actively organizes and engages the community through workshops, social events, and discussions
Labour Relations Consultant
Terry Sway
Terry is the PDAC Labour Relations Consultant and is a valuable resource for the PDAC Negotiating Team.
Terry has negotiated somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 collective agreements and has represented members in hundreds of grievances.
1983 - Negotiator for first collective agreement at Westerra.
1989-90 - Bargaining Team NASA
1994-95 - Chair of collective bargaining for NASA,
1995 - Vice-President & Director of Labour Relations ACIFA
In 2016, Terry was awarded the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) Donald C. Savage Award for his significant contributions to collective bargaining in post-secondary education.
