Untap Talent: Addressing the Gaps in the Labour Market – Work Wellness Institute Conference Series

Olga Stachova is the CEO of MOSAIC: a registered charity serving immigrant, refugee, migrant and mainstream communities in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, as well as throughout the province of BC. Its broad range of services include settlement support, English language training, employment assistance, and family services among others. As one of the largest immigrant serving organization, MOSAIC serves over 30,000 clients annually from 51 accessible locations in Greater Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. Olga has over 20 years of experience managing fast growing, distributed, non-profit organizations, as well as operational expertise in program design, delivery, and evaluation, and a proven track record of building strategic partnerships among diverse stakeholder groups. Olga joined MOSAIC after a long career as Chief Operating Officer at Mitacs, a national non-profit organization delivering research and training programs to graduate and postgraduate students in Canada through partnerships with the private sector and the federal and provincial governments. Olga has a Master’s Degree in English and Philosophy from the University of Constantine the Philosopher in Nitra, Slovakia. Prior to immigrating to Canada, she was Senior Project Manager at Management Partners, the leading HR consulting company in the Slovak market. She was highly successful in her role of recruiting personnel for international organizations opening subsidiaries in Slovakia. Olga is the recipient of the 2009 Business in Vancouver Top Forty Under 40 Award, as well as the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. Olga currently serves on the Metro Vancouver Regional Economic Prosperity Management Board.

Susan Peters, PhD. Research Scientist and Project Lead, Harvard Center for Work, Health and Wellbeing, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Biography: Susan Peters, PhD is a Research Scientist and Project Lead for the Thriving Workers, Thriving Workplaces Study at the Harvard T.H. Chan Center for Work, Health and Well-being. She has been involved in the development, implementation and testing of participatory integrated organizational interventions in transportation, construction, and food service designed to improve the safety, health, and well-being of workers. She recently led the development of the Thriving from Work conceptual framework and questionnaires. Her current field of research is focusing on how working conditions and public and organizational policies shape thriving workers, thriving workforces, and thriving workplaces. She has research interests in how the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated changes anticipated in the future of work, workforces and workplaces, and recently led an article published in The Lancet Public Health on the implications of work and worker health in the post-pandemic world.