Our Leadership

Janice Abbott
Chief Executive Officer
Janice Abbott has been the CEO of Atira Women's Resource Society since 1992. She has lead the Society through its incredible growth from a single transition house located in South Surrey with a staff of seven to a large multi-service agency with two, for-profit subsidiaries, a development arm and more than 1400 staff.

Jacqui Evans-Atkinson
Executive Director, Finance & Administration
Jacqui is a Chartered Accountant and a Certified Professional Accountant with more than 30 years of experience. She has a broad base of expertise including financial statement preparation and review, budgeting and forecasting, financial analysis, strategic planning, and improving financial reporting and process control.

Sarah Louie
Executive Director, Operations
Born to parents from Guangdong Province, China and Edinburgh, Scotland, Sarah grew up in east Vancouver and joined Atira more than 12 years ago, after already working eight years in both front line and leadership positions in the not for profit sector, supporting women and children impacted by violence. Atira is where Sarah feels her lived experience and education are best aligned.

Arita Atwal
Director, Supportive Housing
Arita first started with Atira in 2002 as a support worker and was the first Program Manager at Sereena’s Housing for Women when it opened in 2006. Arita left Atira in 2009 to pursue education, earning a Bachelor in Child and Youth Care and a Master of Science in Social Development. In the past ten years she has worked and studied in London, Kenya, India and Seattle.

Gina Buchanan
Director, Talent Development
Gina brings to her role lived expertise and more than ten years of her career working in a variety of roles supporting vulnerable children, youth and women before transitioning to work primarily as in independent consultant providing education, training and development services to an array of agencies and organizations. She has served as a faculty at BCIT and the JIBC.

Amanda Germyn
Director, Facilities Maintenance
Amanda joined Atira Property Management in 2008 as a property management assistant and in 2010 moved to Atira Women’s Resource Society as a facilities manager with increased responsibilities. Since then, the portfolio Amanda is responsible for has grown considerably, including adding four new housing projects and nearly 375 new units within one year of her starting in the position. She completed the BCIT Management Certificate in Operations Management, Facilities Management Option, With Distinction, in 2014. In 2019, she was offered and accepted the role as Director, Facilities Management for Atira and supervises facilities staff for the organization.

Ashley Kim
Director, Finance (currently seconded to Atira Property Management)
Ashley holds a Bachelor of Commerce from UBC and a CPA designation. She joined Atira Women’s Resource Society in 2015 as Director, Finance. In 2019, she accepted the role of Controller with Atira Property Management Inc., and Atira Development Society.

Shirley Ko
Director, Payroll & Benefits
Shirley secured her CGA in 2013, followed by her CPM in 2014. She holds a Bachelor’s of Business Administration majoring in finance and accounting from Simon Fraser University, and has more than 10 years’ experience in finance, accounting and payroll. She is an experienced team player and leader who believes in team work and collaboration to accomplish objectives. She is also passionate about helping others find solutions, supporting business process improvements with reporting and analytics and creating efficiencies. She takes ownership of details and thrives on challenging situations.

Kagowa Kuruneri
Director, Transitional Housing
Kagowa has a keen interest in law and social justice. Before qualifying as a lawyer, Kagowa worked with numerous societies and organizations to provide resources and access workshops to help fight poverty. As a lawyer, Kagowa participated in pro bono legal clinics offering housing, family, commercial, and employment law advice. Kagowa left law to focus more on addressing societal wrongs by advocating for marginalized communities.

Lara Maestro
Director, Records Management and Privacy
Lara joined Atira in 2012 as a Junior Fundraiser and Grant Writer, and enjoyed a number of positions in the Donations, Communications and Fundraising department until 2016, when she accepted the position of Records Manager and later took on the responsibilities of the organization’s Privacy Officer. Lara held the position of Director, Operational Excellence from 2018 to 2019, where her responsibilities grew to her current position in records management and privacy.

Hajar Masoud
Director, Operational Excellence
Hajar grew up on the Gaza Strip (part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory) where she earned a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering at the Islamic University of Gaza. She spent three years as a project manager before moving into the world of international aid where she spent nine years doing project design, monitoring and evaluation in countries as diverse as Palestine, Jordan and Somaliland.

Anne M’Mithiaru
Director, People & Culture
Anne moved to from Kenya to Canada in 2003 to pursue a Bachelor’s in Human Ecology, majoring in Family Violence & Conflict Resolution and Child & Adolescent Development at the University of Manitoba. After graduating, she worked at a number of agencies in progressively more responsible roles. Anne joined Atira in 2014 as the Manager, Non-Residential Programs, and was soon promoted to Director, Non-Residential Programs as Atira expanded.

Doreen Mutwiri
Director, Finance
Doreen joined Atira in 2019 as a Director of Finance. She is originally from Kenya and moved to BC in 2010 from Winnipeg, where she attended the University of Manitoba. She has more than 10 years accounting experience working with organizations as varied as Maple Leaf Foods, the Metis Nation of BC and Abbotsford Community Services.

Caithlin Scarpelli
Director, Communications & Fund Development
Caithlin began volunteering at Atira Women’s Resource Society at age 13 providing after-school childcare for moms accessing services at one of Atira’s second-stage housing programs, as well as in the administration office filing and cleaning.

Bella Sun
Director, Finance
Bella Sun has worked for Atira since 2017, starting as the Senior Manager, Finance. She accepted a promotion to Director, Finance in 2018. Bella co-manages the accounting team with Doreen Mutwiri. She is a professional accountant, and has more than ten years of progressive accounting and supervision experience.