Board Of Directors

Sheilah Currie – Founder, President, Treasurer

heilah is a teacher, children’s author and literacy consultant. She founded ReadUP in 2005 and runs the clubs on a volunteer basis. On a volunteer basis, she runs 10 ReadUP clubs in Toronto

Sheilah worked as a Reading Recovery teacher for the York Region and Toronto District School Boards, helping at-risk children learn to read. She has written and co-written more than 60 story books that are used in classroom literacy programs and has served as a developmental editor in educational publishing.

For her work with ReadUP, Sheilah has received a 2006 City of Toronto Community Service Volunteer Award, a 2015 Legacy Award from Volunteer Toronto, and a 2018 Ontario Volunteer Service Award.

Neala Barton – Secretary

Neala is VP, Strategic Communications and Stakeholder Engagement at the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

She has served as Senior VP of Communications for the Pan Am Games Organizing Committee, as director of communications for Ontario’s minister of health, and director of media relations for the Premiers of Ontario and Alberta.

Neala began volunteering for the Eastview ReadUP club in 2009 and has championed our efforts ever since.

David Booth

David is Professor Emeritus at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, and Scholar in Residence in the Curriculum, Teaching and Language Department.

David is an internationally-acclaimed speaker and author of numerous books on literacy for educators. He has spent more than 40 years teaching teachers, parents and children. He has worked extensively as a language arts consultant, professor, and is the former Chair of the Literacy Centre at Nipissing University.

David became involved with ReadUP because he knows the value of levelled books for emerging readers and shares a passion for giving children a successful start in their reading acquisition.

Louise Smith

Louise is Associate Director of Community and Government Relations for Covenant House. Covenant House has served youth aged 16 to 24 since 1982. It is Canada’s largest agency serving at-risk, homeless and trafficked youth.

Formerly, Louise was General Manager of Youth Outreach and Intervention at YMCA of Greater Toronto. She has 20 years’ experience working in not-for-profit charitable organizations. In addition to her work with ReadUP, she sits on the board of the East End Community Health Centre.

Louise’s involvement with our organization began when her two children were participants of the ReadUP club at Parent Resources Drop-in Centre.

Jennifer Ganpatsingh

Jennifer is a finance professional with extensive experience spanning the private, public and non-profit sectors, as well as in multiple industries, including financial services, multi-sport games and government. She was the Director, Finance for Invictus Games Toronto 2017, having previously served as Business Manager, Planning & Analysis for the Pan Am/Para Pan Am Games.

Jennifer began her association with ReadUP several years ago when she volunteered her services to handle our tax and financial reporting.