Management Team

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Katie is the Chief Strategy Officer of Women in Capital Markets (WCM), a national not-for-profit that promotes the acceleration of equity, diversity and inclusion (ED&I) in the Canadian finance industry.

During her career at WCM, Katie has been a driving force in creating more equitable and diverse workplaces where everyone has equal opportunity to advance and succeed. She is the co-author of the landmark ED&I report The Equity Equation, which examines the experiences of women, BIPOC, LGBTQ2S+ and other underrepresented groups in Canadian finance and offers an innovative roadmap for firms towards improved ED&I.  She began her career in film production, working on documentaries and corporate productions, before launching her own marketing business.

Katie earned a BA degree from Queen's University with a major in Film and Media Studies. She is a graduate of the Canadian Institute’s Marketing Strategy Program and a former Board Director of Studio 180,  an independent, Toronto theatre company. When she’s not working, you can find her skiing, mountain biking, walking and hiking with her dog and enjoying time with family and friends. 

Neema Amadala is an accomplished marketer with a broad range of industry-agnostic marketing and communications experience. As the Director of Marketing and Communications, her focus at WCM is to accelerate the organization's mandate by elevating the brand and reaching both new and existing audiences.

Her experience spans B2C and B2B in areas such as content strategy, campaign creation, and marketing communications. She has a strategic appreciation for diverse and international audiences and constantly seeks ways to take knowledge and transform it into exciting, useful messages. She holds a BA in Communications from the University of Calgary and built on this education with a MA in Advertising from the Newhouse School of Communications in Syracuse, New York. 

Within and outside of her work, she is a passionate advocate of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and was recognized for her work and commitment to their achievement by the Alberta Council for Global Cooperation as one of their 2016 Top 30 Under 30.

When she isn’t dreaming up marketing strategies, you can find her exploring new perspectives through volunteering, food, travel, and great conversation.

Prior to joining WCM, Odette served as the Executive Director of Sustainival, the World's First Green Carnival. She led the organization through the 2018 and 2019 event seasons, producing large-scale events across Alberta in Lethbridge, Edmonton and Fort McMurray, which engaged over 75,000 people annually and thousands more through communications and media campaigns.

Previously, Odette Hutchings served as the Senior Manager at Global Citizen’s Canada office. Odette’s work with Global Citizen contributed to a long list of victories both in advocacy and public engagement with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Securing $100M in funding from the Canadian government for polio eradication in 2017 was a major milestone during her tenure. 

Outside of her work with WCM, Odette serves on the Board of Trustees for The Linden School, a school focusing on the empowerment of girls through a girl-centered pedagogy.

Odette holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in International Development from the University of Guelph.

With a background in branding and print, Nayla has many years of diverse experience creating brand strategies and designing campaigns and digital, print and social media assets in design agencies and inhouse teams. She acquired a BFA at the American University of Beirut and developed a global network of freelance clients out of the Middle East. Through her freelance work, Nayla applied her design expertise to the non-profit space, designing websites, reports, infographics and publications for causes such as gender equality and mainstreaming, disability, social insurance, breast cancer, migrant domestic workers, child soldiers and Syrian refugees.

In her spare time, Nayla has helped out with disaster relief, fostered dogs and volunteered as a meal server. Six years into veganism, she experiments with veganizing recipes she adored in her pre-vegan days. She is also an active member of the Association of Registered Graphic Designers.

Passionate about inclusivity and diversity, Ruth comes to WCM with a background in program management, stakeholder relationship development and an in-depth understanding of how to support individuals finding employment through her work in the non-profit and private sectors.

She previously worked in the non-profit sector with a focus on supporting newcomers to Canada as they prepared to join the Canadian job market. Additionally, she led the development and growth of programs targeted at helping Canadian post-secondary students join the job market through meaningful work opportunities. Ruth has also worked within the post-secondary education system as a recruiter with Carleton University where her focus was on connecting with high school students across the province of Ontario.

Ruth attended Carleton University where she earned a Bachelor of International Business  with a specialization in International Marketing and Trade and a minor in Spanish. She also attended the Universidad Publica de Navarra in the north of Spain for a year where she specialized her Bachelor studies in Spanish and EU markets.