Who we are

SUDA is comprised of a voluntary Board of Directors. Our Board members have come together in recognition of the particular importance of sustainable city-building to achieving a sustainable, healthy and vibrant natural environment.

Our current Board members are:

John Banka is President of the Board of Directors of SUDA. He is an Industrial Engineer. He worked for CNR for 8 years as a GO Transit facilities planner. In the late 1980s, he developed a technology for generating electricity from low water heads and was instrumental in constructing a demonstration unit in Northern Ontario which operates to this day. More recently, he has been a consultant to the electric motor industry and a small business advocate, as well as working on the commercialization of his power generation technology.

James K. Carver is a homeowner in Newmarket who has been involved in many activities in pursuit of the vision of a vibrant and healthy community. As a Director with the York Region Environmental Alliance, James has contributed to the group’s record of working cooperatively to influence public policy, community attitudes and behavioural changes for better environmental practices. With close to 20 years of experience within the pharmaceutical industry, and currently a National Business Manager with a major company, James has proven himself to be a strategic sales and marketing professional who achieves success through a commitment to leadership, focus and collaboration.

Gloria Marsh serves as Executive Director of the York Region Environmental Alliance, a non-profit charity that raises awareness of environmental issues in the GTA. She has been an advocate for the protection of the Oak Ridges Moraine since the 1990s and was a founding director of the Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust, serving on their board from 1999 to 2003. She has served on the boards of STORM and the Richmond Hill Naturalists. Gloria comes from an art and design background, trained as a landscape designer and horticulturalist at the University of Guelph and has owned and operated Marsh-Mode Landscape Design since 1986. She works and lives in a passive solar home on Lake Wilcox in Richmond Hill which she helped construct in 1981. This has nurtured an abiding interested in sustainable development ever since.

Hanieh Aryanpour is a second-year Environmental Studies student at York University. She is an active contributor to environmental initiatives, currently including York's Regenesis Program. She and her child will inherit the city-building and environmental decisions made today.

Peter Howard brings with him 10 years of sustainability consulting in both the public and private sector, working to create policy and embed sustainability into provincial and municipal governments, major utilities, manufacturing and retail companies. Peter has recently worked as Senior Policy Advisor with the Ministry of Environment and as Manager, Sustainable Business with PricewaterhouseCoopers, consistently delivering superior results on time and on budget. Peter's work helps organizations see how sustainability is both a risk and an opportunity, and how analysis and strategic policy around sustainability can enhance the core business of any organization. Peter received his Masters of Environmental Studies from York University, where he studied sustainable business and ecological economics. Peter is also a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design accredited professional (LEED-AP), and a volunteer with the Canada Green Building Council and ResilientCity.org.

Christine DiCecco has worked for a number of years for an international accounting and business management firm, providing business services to the private sector. She is currently a third-year student of Environmental Studies at York University, with a focus on urban planning.

Executive Director

John Stillich is SUDA's Executive Director. He is a former senior financial analyst at the corporate level of the Ontario Government (Ministries of Health, and Community and Social Services). He has been an advocate for sustainable transportation and land use since 1989, focusing on the Greater Toronto Area, and was a founding Director of SUDA in 2005..