Board of Directors

Select the following links if you are looking for archived pages from past Board of Directors (2021/22) or Student Council (2021/22).

Board of Directors Members

Stephanie Ye-mowe

President

Denver Della-Vedova

Vice-President

Chen Chai

Director

Rania Datoo

Director

Catherine Dong

Director

Marie Joliecoeur-Becotte

Director

Daud Khan

Director

Jay Lan

Director

Karen Nguyen

Director

Matthew Schwarze

Director

Naman Sood

Director

Angela Souza

Director

Jeff Zhu

Director

Purpose

The Board of Directors (BOD) is WUSA’s strategic governing body. It is also responsible for guiding WUSA’s financial, human resources, legal and contractual affairs.

The 13 members of the BOD are comprised of the President, Vice President, and 11 at-large directors. All 13 members are elected in the Winter for 12-month terms: Spring through following Winter.

WUSA’s Bylaws govern how the organization operates. The Board also establishes Policies which set out the beliefs, governing principles, or views of the Corporation.

WUSA Bylaws

The By-laws cement the roles, responsibilities, and powers of each part of the student government.

WUSA Governing Policies

Represent student legislative directives that set out the beliefs, governing principles, or views of the Corporation.

WUSA Advocacy Policies

Policies outline the beliefs and high-level rules governing the Association, such as advocacy objectives or corporate standards.

Board Annual Plan

The Annual Plan of the Board is a document that articulates which projects the Board plans to prioritize in their year in the role.

WUSA’s 2022-2023 Roadmap is our version of an annual plan for what is admittedly a very unusual year with lots of learning still left to do. To clearly guide us in the work we do, we have divided the plan into three categories: 1) Advocacy priorities, 2) Organizational goals and 3) Further work required to implement the new governance structure.

Roadmap 2022/2023 (PDF)

Board Meetings

The Board of Directors meets once per month to report on progress on various student advocacy issues and to collectively adopt and review the policies of the corporation.

Agendas & Minutes

Winter 2023 Meeting Dates

Meeting Date	Minutes	Agenda
Jan 12, 2023	View Minutes	View Agenda
Jan 26, 2023	View Minutes	View Agenda
Feb 9, 2023	View Minutes	View Agenda
Feb 23, 2023	View Minutes	View Agenda
Mar 9, 2023	View Minutes	View Agenda
Mar 23, 2023	View Minutes	View Agenda
Apr 6, 2023	View Minutes	View Agenda
Apr 20, 2023	View Minutes	View Agenda

Board of Directors Minutes 2022

Meeting Date	Minutes
Sept 7, 2022	View Minutes
Sept 21, 2022	View Minutes
Oct 12, 2022	View Minutes
Oct 26, 2022	View Minutes
Nov 2, 2022	View Minutes
Nov 9, 2022	View Minutes
Nov 23, 2022	View Minutes
Dec 7, 2022	View Minutes

Board Committees

The committees’ policy and terms of reference which outlines the roles, responsibilities and procedures related to the Board can be found here.

Academic Advocacy Advisory Committee (3AC)

Purpose

The Academic Affairs Committee is concerned with matters affecting the teaching, learning, research, assessment, tuition and course-related fees, faculty society advocacy (as it pertains to academics), university policies, textbooks and other learning materials, student financial aid, degree requirements, and course calendar.

Academics are the core component of the student experience and result in some of the greatest stressors during a student’s time at Waterloo. Academic stressors that could be the subject of discussion of a student advisory committee include academic appeals, academic integrity, student-facing academic policies and procedures, and academic resources such as textbooks, open educational resources (OERs), and learning platforms.

Membership

President	Stephanie Ye-Mowe	Chair
Director	Naman Sood	voting
Director	Catherine Dong	voting
Director	Marie Jolicoeur-Becotte	voting
At-Large	Aishwarya Panchakshikar	voting
At-Large	Vivian Zhong	voting
At-Large	Sijia Wang	voting
ASU Delegate	TBD	voting
AHSUM Delegate	TBD	voting
EngSoc Delegate	TBD	voting
ESS Delegate	TBD	voting
MathSoc Delegate	TBD	voting
SciSoc Delegate	TBD	voting
SoPhS Delegate	TBD	voting
WASA Delegate	TBD	voting
GBDA Delegate	TBD	voting
Undergraduate Senator	Sonia Ismail	non-voting
Undergraduate Senator	Nicholas Pfeifle	non-voting
Undergraduate Senator	Ceileigh McAllister	non-voting
Undergraduate Senator	Oudy Noweir	non-voting
Undergraduate Senator	Catherine Dong	non-voting
Undergraduate Senator	Annie Yang	non-voting
Undergraduate Senator	Matthew Schwarze	non-voting
Executive Director Designate: Advocacy Manager	Jill Knight	non-voting

Municipal Affairs Committee (MAC)

Purpose

The Committee advocates for students on a regional and municipal level regarding issues such as student housing (on and off-campus housing), transit, active transportation, unsanctioned street gatherings, By-law enforcement, regional policing, and neighbourhood community engagement.

Membership

Vice President	Denver Della-Vedova	Chair
Director	Jeff Zhu	voting
Director	Karen Nguyen	voting
Director	Rania Atif	voting
At-Large	Amy Yong	voting
At-Large	Mark Song	voting
At-Large	William Duy-Anh Pham	voting
SoPhS Delegate	TBD	non-voting
WASA Delegate	TBD	non-voting
GBDA Delegate	TBD	non-voting
Executive Director Designate: Stakeholder Relations Officer	David Kuhn	non-voting

Government Affairs Committee (GAC)

Purpose

The Government Affairs Committee will provide recommendations to the Board on matters relating to provincial and federal advocacy and policy papers from external student advocacy groups.

Membership

Vice President	Denver Della-Vedova	Chair
Director	Rania Atif	voting
Director	Catherine Dong	voting
Director	Matthew Schwarze	voting
At-Large	Arya Razmjoo	voting
At-Large	Joyce Wong	voting
At-Large	Nicholas Pfeifle	voting
Executive Director Designate: Stakeholder Relations Officer	David Kuhn	non-voting

Co-operative and Experiential Education Committee (CEEC)

Purpose

The Co-operative and Experiential Education Committee provides a forum for students to advise committee members and Co-operative Education Department staff of attitudes and opinions towards existing operations relating to co-operative education and to provide suggestions and advice for improvement.

Membership

Director	Jay Lan	Chair
Director	Naman Sood	voting
Director	Jay Lan	voting
Director	Stephanie Ye-Mowe	voting
At-Large	Tyler West	voting
At-Large	Nicholas Pfeifle	voting

The following shall be non-voting members of the Committee:

Faculty Society student representatives of the Co-operative Education Council or a designated student enrolled in a co-op program.
Representatives from respective student societies operating at a satellite campus and Affiliated and Federated Institutions of Waterloo that offer co-op programs (Cambridge, Kitchener, St. Jerome’s, Renison) enrolled in co-op.
Co-op Student Experience Manager.
Other staff from the Co-operative Education Department, at the invitation of the Chair

Student Experience Advisory Committee (SEAC)

Purpose

This Committee will provide guidance on non-academic on-campus issues, campus wellness, campus safety, on-campus housing, sexual and gender-based violence response and prevention, equity, issues with specific on-campus support units and environmental sustainability. 

Membership

President	Stephanie Ye-Mowe	Chair
Director	Rania Atif	voting
Director	Marie Jolicoeur-Becotte	voting
Director	Chen Chai	voting
At-Large	Bakhtawar Fatima	voting
At-Large	Hallelujah Tezera	voting
At-Large	Nicole Shanta	voting
ASU Delegate	TBD	voting
AHSUM Delegate	TBD	voting
EngSoc Delegate	TBD	voting
ESS Delegate	TBD	voting
MathSoc Delegate	TBD	voting
SciSoc Delegate	TBD	voting

The non-voting membership shall include:

One co-ordinator/representative of each of the Corporation’s student-run service deemed by the Board as relevant to this committee
Members of the Student Services Advisory Committee and Undergraduate Student Relations Committee, or any successor to these University committees
The Executive Director and/or their designate(s), as resource member(s)

Committee of Presidents (CoPs)

Responsibilities

To maintain and promote communication, liaison, and coordination between the Corporation and the Faculty Student organizations.
To maintain, uphold, and review the November 1968 Federation-Societies Agreement (a Corporate Policy) or any such statement to follow afterwards.
To establish new sub-committees, and abolish or merge old sub-committees, as required.
To formulate its own policies and procedures in accordance with the Federation’s policies and bylaws and the 1968 Federation-Societies Agreement or its successor. Notice of policies or procedures approved by the Committee to enter into force shall be provided to Board who shall ensure records of the same are included in the appropriate manuals.
To encourage and develop student representation in all sectors of the University of Waterloo and to advise the President on decisions made regarding University representation including the business of the University Senate and Board of Governors.
Provide advice on or approval of student appointments made by the President, in accordance with the procedure.

Membership

President	Stephanie Ye-Mowe	Chair
Vice President	Denver Della-Vedova	Acting Chair
AHSUM Delegate	Sarina Nathoo	voting
EngSoc Delegate A	Duke Gand	voting
EngSoc Delegate B	Carson Bay	off-term with above
ESS Delegate	Harry Cheung	voting
MathSoc Delegate	Evan Girardin	voting
SciSoc Delegate	Zarin (Roza) Tasneem	voting
SoPhS Delegate	Kia Moazzami	voting
WASA Delegate		voting
GBDA Delegate		voting
UWOSS Delegate	Jerry Li	voting
SJUSU Delegate	Sinead Costello	voting
RASC Delegate	Sarah Malik	voting

The following shall be non-voting members of the Committee of Presidents:

President of the Graduate Students’ Association
Presidents of any other organization which may be recognized by the Board as solely representing students in a particular academic area. Ex. AFSA
Those other parties, as non-voting members, as determined by the voting membership of the Committee.

Finance Committee

Purpose

The Finance Committee will monitor, evaluate, advise and make recommendations to the Board with respect to significant financial matters and policies of the Corporation. The Committee shall also consider any other matter delegated by the Board.

Membership

Director	Daud Khan	Chair
President	Stephanie Ye-Mowe	Vice Chair
Director	Matthew Schwarze	voting
Director	Chen Chai	voting
Director	Jay Lan	voting

The non-voting membership shall include:

The Executive Director
The Financial Officer
Any individual as deemed appropriate by the voting members of the Committee who shall serve as a non-voting resource member

Internal Funding Committee (IFC)

Purpose

This Committee will provide guidance on administration of the Equity, Opportunity, and Innovation Fund, the Special Projects Fund and Student Life Endowment Fund.

Membership

Vice President	Denver Della-Vedova	Chair
Director	Angela Souza	voting
Director	Jeff Zhu	voting
Director	Karen Nguyen	voting
At-Large	Kinza Iman	voting
At-Large	Sophia Loucaides	voting

The non-voting membership shall include:

The Director of Campus Life, as a non-voting resource member;
Accounting Assistant – Account Payable/Receivable; and
Those other members as determined by the voting membership of the Committee.

Publications Committee

Purpose

The Corporation is the owner of various Student Publications and the campus newspaper. The Board of Directors has a fiduciary responsibility to supervise the management of all the affairs of the Corporation, including Student Publications. The Board of Directors’ composition includes some selected student representatives, who may be the subject of published news and editorial coverage, making it challenging for the Board of Directors to provide direct and wholly independent governance for all aspects of publication.

In order to minimize this potential conflict of interest posed by the above challenge, the Publications Committee shall be constituted to act as fiduciaries for the various Student Publications and offer objective recommendations to the Board of Directors or make decisions in accordance with the authority provided under this procedure, as the case may be, pertaining to strategy, operating procedures and guidelines, and finance.

Subject to the provisions above, the Publications Committee serves as an autonomous management committee for the Corporation’s student publications, providing general oversight in accordance with the duties and responsibilities set out below, under the ultimate authority of the Board of Directors.

Membership

Vice President	Denver Della-Vedova	Chair
Community Member	TBD	voting
Director	Chen Chai	voting
Publisher	Andres Fuentes	voting
At-Large	Karen Wu	voting
At-Large	Mehak Anand	voting
At-Large	Nishant Verma	voting

The non-voting membership shall include:

The Executive Director and/or their designate(s), as resource member(s)
Those other non-voting resource members who the Publications Committee may, from time to time, see fit to appoint

Elections and Referenda Committee (ERC)

Purpose

The Elections & Referenda Committee (ERC), through the Chief Returning Officer (CRO) of the Federation of Students, is responsible for the oversight, and the fair and impartial execution of all Elections, By-elections, and Referenda administered by the Federation of Students.

Membership

Chief Returning Officer & Governance Manager	Esther Wingate	Chair
Director	Naman Sood	voting
At-Large	Daniel Wang	voting
At-Large	Arya Razmjoo	voting
At-Large	Asrith Mannem	voting

The non-voting membership shall include:

The Executive Director and/or their designate(s), as resource member(s)

Health Plan Oversight Committee (HPOC)

Purpose

The purpose of this Committee is to oversee the administration of the University of Waterloo Student Health Plan and the Student Assistance Plan (collectively referred to as the “Plan”). As policy holders of the Plan, the Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA) and the Graduate Student Association (GSA) have need of information and guidance when making decisions regarding the management of the Plan. This Committee will allow policy holders access to resource members who have expertise and historical knowledge of the Plan.

The voting membership shall include:

Vice President (WUSA), who shall serve as co-chair,
President (GSA), who shall serve as co-chair
President (WUSA),
Vice President (GSA),
General Manager (WUSA)
Executive Manager (GSA)

The non-voting membership shall include:

UWaterloo Health Services Representative,
UWaterloo Counselling Services Representative,
Plan Administrator or Vendor Representative,
All other parties as the Committee may, from time to time, determine