Leadership


Edward Lau, M.A., President & Founder

Edward Lau is a dedicated community volunteer for people with developmental disabilities and a federal civil servant.

Edward received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in February 2013 from the Governor General of Canada for his community work and the work he performed for the federal public service. In June 2010, Edward received the Transport Canada National Awards of Excellence in recognition of his outstanding contribution as a member of the Northwest Airlines Flight 253 Response Team.

Edward is currently a Community Living Toronto board of director and was the Spirit of Life President between 2011 to 2013. During Edward’s tenure at Spirit of Life, Edward and Taylor Hui, co-authored the Ontario Trillium Foundation publication, “Moving Forward: A Needs Assessment and Feasibility Study for the Establishment of Chinese Developmental Disability Services Council in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA)“. 5 focus groups and 100 families were interviewed at various locations of the GTA.

Edward received his Master of Arts (M.A.) degree in Public Policy and Administration from Ryerson University in 2009. Edward a sibling of a child with developmental disabilities.

Taylor Hui, PhD., 1st Vice President & Founder

Taylor Hui is an experienced economist with a non-profit policy research organization in Ottawa.

Taylor believes sound government policies serving people in need are policies designed based on the best scientific evidences. His research cover a wide range of policy topics including disabilities, educational choice, access to postsecondary education, adult learning, skills development, welfare policies, social finance, as well as population health. Taylor’s specialties include evaluation of social programs, econometrics, psychometric assessment, data collection, survey design and sampling, randomized controlled trials, and social experiments. He is the author or co-author of numerous research reports for various departments of the federal government and provincial governments.

As a strong believer that his success in career has been the result of born with a brain this society wants, Taylor subscribes to the perspective of Warren Buffett that the society “doesn’t leave behind someone who accidentally got the wrong ball and is not well-wired for this particular system.”  When Edward Lau asked Taylor to use his expertise to conduct research for the Ontario Trillium Foundation funded project of needs assessment of Chinese Canadian families with developmental disabilities, he accepted the challenge without hesitation and co-authored the “Moving Forward” report with Edward.

Taylor grew up in Hong Kong, where he completed his undergraduate study in the Chinese University of Hong Kong and received his Master of Economics from the University of Hong Kong. He received his PhD in Economics from the University of Western Ontario and began his career as an academic with the University of Winnipeg.

 

Karen Leung, B.A. BST., DD Community Connector – Secretary & Founder

Karen is a Psychology graduate from University of Waterloo; and has earned her Ontario College Advanced Diploma in Behavioural Science Technology from George Brown College. She is now an active instructor therapist who delivers Intensive Behavior Intervention (IBI) to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder on day-to-day basis. She is pursuing higher education in the field of disability studies and planned to do her master degree in the near future.

She has been a passionate community volunteer since 2006 and participated in many fundraising events, outreach programs and worked closely with various non-for profit organizations including Canadian Cancer Society, Terry Fox foundation and Spirit of Life.

Aside from community work, Karen is also a classical piano teacher and the appointed pianist for the U of T Allegro Choir. She often seeks opportunity to bring music into different settings that she comes across. She is a true believer that music can bring more colour to our lives whereas individuals who have disabilities deserve just the same right. With DD Community Connector, she intends to build and to inspire a strong volunteer team to better serve our community.

Chloe Ho, BAFM, MAcc, DD Community Connector – Treasurer & Founder

Chloe has consistently devoted time volunteering for people with developmental disabilities since entering high school. Her involvement includes helping with Markham kite fests, car washing fundraisers, community retreats and dragon boat competitions with the purpose of serving our community. She is also on the Finance Committee of Spirit Life for Chinese-Canadians with development disabilities.

Chloe obtained her Masters of Accounting degree from the University of Waterloo and is currently working in audit and advisory services at PriceWaterhouseCoopers’. She received University of Waterloo Dean’s Honour throughout her Bachelor of Accounting and Financial Management degree as well as her Master of Accounting degree.

Chloe continues to pursue initiatives that include providing services for not-for-profit organizations.