Breaking Bread & Raising Dough: New Member Welcome

Paula has been a fundraiser for over 27 years. As President & CEO of Stephen Thomas Ltd (ST’s), Paula is passionate about helping ST’s clients raise more money to fulfill their missions. In addition to providing vision and leadership to ST’s Executive Team and staff, Paula keeps abreast of all things fundraising from an international perspective, particularly in the realm of integrated direct response annual giving, and brings relevant and innovative insights and thought leadership back to our staff and our clients with a view to making our sector even better.

To that end, Paula is a long-time volunteer for the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), the world’s largest community of social impact fundraisers. Paula sits as an ex officio member of the AFP International Board and the AFP Foundation for Philanthropy – Canada. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of AFP Toronto, the largest AFP chapter, and has chaired their 3-day Congress. Paula is also a founding member of AFP Canada and currently serves as Chair of the Board.

Aki Temiseva is a C-level senior executive with over 20 years of experience in building businesses and not-for-profits. He has run both local and global entities and delivered unprecedented growth to organizations like Procter & Gamble, Publicis Group, World Vision (WV) and Right to Play.

He currently serves as Chief Marketing and Development Officer for Children Believe where he leads domestic fundraising, marketing, communications and public relations. His key skill set is in unifying organizations behind a growth vision, simplifying the complex and focusing on what really counts while building innovative and business building marketing strategies. He achieves results through actively inspiring, engaging and empowering people, teams and networks around him.

Community engagement has always been important throughout Aki’s life. He is proud to be able to serve at the AFP GTC Board in his second year where he is actively engaged in the membership and marketing committee as well as co-chairing the sponsorship committee. While living in Europe, he was member of the Advisory Board for the IFC (International Fundraising Conference) for several years and led as the Chair the formation of the IFLF (International Fundraising Leadership Forum) – a collaboration body of the top 20 global INGOs.

As a global citizen and world traveller, Aki has previously lived in Africa, Asia, Scandinavia, the UK, and the USA. While he enjoys immersing himself in different cultures, he has found home in Canada with his family and loves Toronto where everyone feels welcome and a part of the community – not to mention being able to root for the Leafs and Blue Jays