Meet the Board & Staff
The Board of Directors are the governing body of OPIRG Brock. Board members are elected at the Annual General Meeting or appointed through an internal process during the year. To apply for the Board, you must hold an OPIRG Brock membership and be in good standing.
Apply for an OPIRG Brock Membership!
We currently have 2 staff members at OPIRG Brock - 1 unionized, part-time Volunteer, Training & Planning Coordinator and 1 contract bookkeeper. Staff members are ex-officio members of the Board of Directors.
Ana Maria (she/her)
Board Member
Originally from Colombia, Ana Maria has been in Canada for over a year and is a current Business Administration-Marketing student at Niagara College.
Ana's first approach with the community here in Niagara was the Niagara Free Store, where she has been a volunteer since 2021, where she continues to volunteer and hopes to get to know different ways to help the community!
Fiona (they/them)
Finance/Treasurer
Fiona McKay (they/she) is a neurodivergent queer who grew up on the shared lands of the Three Fires Confederacy and was radicalized by completing a bachelor's degree in business administration with a concentration in operations from Brock University, living on the shared lands of the Haudenosaunee, Aanishinaabeg, Wendat and Chonnonton people for the past 8 years.
Fiona has lived experience of mental health issues and disabilities, and is passionate about anti-imperialism, police and prison abolition, and accessibility.
Kostyn (he/they)
Volunteer & Partnerships Liason
Kostyn is a white settler who lives and grew up on the traditional territories of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, Chonnonton, and Wendat Peoples in Niagara.
Kostyn writes all kinds of things from songs, to poetry, to weird eco-philosophy/literary criticism, and is particularly interested in the intersections between ecology, anarchism, queerness, and anti/post/de-colonialism. Kostyn has a B.A. and an M.A. in English from Brock, and is always looking for ways to make sure “decolonization is not a metaphor” in, out, and beyond academe.
Margret (she/her)
Communications & Media Relations
Margret is a settler born and living in Niagara on the territories of the Haudenosaunee, Aanishinaabeg, Wendat and Chonnonton people, after living and studying in Nogojiwanong (Peterborough) at Trent University, where she recieved her B.A in Environmental Science and Studies.
Margret is an avid crafter, outdoorsman and aspiring guitar player, and is interested in environmental and reproductive justice and all their intersections, community organizing, continuous learning.
Claire (they/she)
Board Facilitator
Claire has been a long-time OPIRG Brock member, and frequently partners with OPIRG through her employer to provide overdose prevention and response training.
Claire attended Brock for a Master's of Geography in 2016, and voluntarily withdrew to have a baby- who is now a full blown kid! Claire has lived experience with persistent mental health issues, and is passionate about prison abolition and harm reduction.
Kaho (she/her)
Grants & Fundraising
Kaho is an international student from Japan who has been in Niagara for 5+ years where she is pursuing a Master's Degree in Critical Sociology at Brock University! Kaho is particularly interested in environmental justice and multi-species social justice issues and movements.
She is currently focusing on community organizing and developing programs and strategies for animal movement building with Animal Alliance Asia.
Kyle (he/they)
Board Member
Kyle is a white, able-bodied, queer community member who is very passionate about social justice and making a change in his community.
Kyle has both work and community experience in homelessness, brain injury, developmental disability, and reproductive justice with Niagara Reproductive Justice. While a person of many privileges, Kyle cares deeply and is committed to learning in hopes of making the world a better place not just for themself and people like them, but for all people, according to their needs and experiences.
Vanessa (she/her)
Contract Bookkeeper (Staff)
Kerry (they/them)
Volunteer, Planning & Training Coordinator (Staff)
Kerry is a community-educated queer and disabled family caregiver, with an academic background. Kerry is a white settler who grew up on the traditional lands of the Saugeen First Nation (Thornbury, ON), and lived for many years on unceded and unsurrended Algonquin territory (Ottawa, ON). While working on their undergrad, they worked with a range of campus and community activist groups, primarily focused on disability justice, affordable post-secondary education, labour rights, and climate justice.
Residing in Niagara since 2014, Kerry is most well known for working at Mahtay Cafe and OPIRG Brock, as well as being a contributor to The Sound. Over the past two years, Kerry has also been working with OUTniagara’s region-wide project, Informed, Inclusive, Indivisible: Collectively Advancing 2SLGBTQ+ Equality in Niagara+, and has been collecting and selling used books and zines through their online bookshop Dusk+Dawn Books!