The GOPAC Global Secretariat is located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It serves as the global point of contact for GOPAC and its Regional and National Chapters. One of the primary tasks of the Global Secretariat is to collect and disseminate information concerning GOPAC and Chapters, including keeping records of memberships and promoting new memberships and affiliations. It also co-ordinates and facilitates the activities of Global Task Forces. Finally, the Global Secretariat supports the Executive Committee and maintains relationships and co-ordinates activities between GOPAC and other organizations.
Akaash Maharaj, FRSA
Executive Director
Akaash has been involved in advancing the public good throughout his professional and voluntary life. A frequent contributor to international debate, his articles have been published in newspapers across the world, he has served as a regular broadcast essayist with TVOntario, and Maclean’s magazine named him one of Canada’s 50 “most well-known and respected personalities”. An active athlete, he captains Canada’s national Equestrian Skill-at-Arms Team, was a triple gold medallist at the international championships, and served as the 2008-2012 professional head of Canada’s Olympic and Paralympic equestrian team. He earned his MA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from Oxford University, where he was the first overseas student elected president of the university’s student government. He has been decorated twice in Canada’s national honours, for services to international peace and for services to the integrity of sport. He is fluent in English and French. His personal web site is Practical Idealism.
Roy Cullen, PC, CA
Member of the Management Committee
Roy has been involved with GOPAC since its inception in 2002. He has a B.A. in Business Administration, a Master of Public Administration and qualified as a Canadian Chartered Accountant in 1972. He was a Member of Parliament in Canada for twelve years, retiring in 2008. During this tenure, he served as chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance, parliamentary secretary to the deputy prime minister and the minister for public safety and emergency preparedness, and chair of the Ontario Liberal caucus. He also served as parliamentary secretary to the minister of finance, where he was actively involved in designing and implementing Canada’s anti-money-laundering regime. In 2006 he was sworn-in as a member of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada. In 2008, he published The Poverty of Corrupt Nations.
Vicki Baxter Amade
GTF Program Advisor, Participation of Society
Vicki joined GOPAC in August 2012 after spending almost 30 years working with the British Diplomatic Service in Europe, Australasia, Africa and North and Central America. Her last diplomatic posting was as Deputy Head of Mission to Costa Rica and Nicaragua, where much of her focus was on combatting money laundering, drugs and arms trafficking and the sexual exploitation of minors, as well as the implementation of projects aimed at improving human rights and good governance. Most recently, she was Corporate Services Manager at the British High Commission in Ottawa, while concurrently serving as a member of an elite global consular team, deployed at short notice to evacuate British and Commonwealth citizens from natural disasters and other consular emergencies. Having joined the Diplomatic Service straight from a college business diploma, Vicki has benefitted from a wide range of internal government training in areas such as economics, political negotiations, media and public relations, disaster planning and risk management, finance, procurement, human resources, health and safety and logistical management. Vicki is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese and also speaks some French and German.
Livia Belcea
Communications and Program Assistant
Livia joined GOPAC’s Global Secretariat in April 2013 with over 4 years of administrative experience. In addition to her work at GOPAC, Livia is completing her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with minors in Gerontology and Women’s Studies at the University of Ottawa. She came to GOPAC with extensive administrative, communications and event planning experience developed while working for non-profit professional associations, for the University of Ottawa, for the National Capital Commission and in municipal libraries. Livia is fluent in Romanian, French and English. She is also a passionate equestrian athlete, competing on the Ontario Provincial Hunter/Jumper circuit.
Lesley Burns
GTF Program Advisor, Parliamentary Oversight and Parliamentary Ethics and Conduct
Lesley joins GOPAC after managing a governance program at an Ottawa based think tank. She has studied at Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV) and Rajasthan State University and holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts and a Master’s degree from the University of Guelph, and a PhD in Political Science from the University of British Colombia. Her doctoral research focused on democratic institutions and the separation of powers; it analyzed how adherence to the rule of law impacts political stability. This research became the foundation for subsequent publications on Venezuela and Canadian-Latin American relations. Lesley is fluent in English and Spanish.
Emilie Lemieux
Office Manager
Emilie is a recent graduate from the University of Ottawa with a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Modern Languages. During her degree she studied for one semester in Accra, Ghana where she had the opportunity to immerse herself in the culture and gain a better understanding of international relations from a Ghanaian point of view. In the short time since leaving school, she has gained valuable project management experience in the federal government. She is also fluent in the 3 languages of GOPAC.
Rob McIntosh
Finance Officer
Rob joined GOPAC in August 2012 after spending the past 7 years as a Budget Analyst with the Commercial Crime and Criminal Intelligence sections of the RCMP’s Federal and International Operations. Rob has also worked as a Financial Officer with both the Canadian Paraplegic Association, and Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) head offices in Ottawa. He is an avid golfer and adult recreational hockey player.
Ann Marie Paquet
Communications Officer
Ann Marie has over 10 years of communications experience, first in high tech as a technical writer and then as a communications officer in politics and at a non-profit. Before starting her career, she studied at the Université de Sherbrooke in Quebec and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English Studies with a concentration in Professional Writing. Her vast experience is complimented by her volunteer work with the Ottawa chapter of a charity that raises scholarship funds for high school students from the Mathare Slum in Nairobi, Kenya. Ann Marie is also fluent in English and French.
Priya Sood
GTF Program Advisor, UNCAC and Anti-Money Laundering
Priya has over 10 years of experience working in the areas of peace building, corporate social responsibility and poverty alleviation for international NGOs and the UN in South Asia and the Middle East. She was also closely involved with the peace process in Sri Lanka and most recently worked as a fundraiser for an international conference on gender equality. She has a Master’s degree in International Development from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University. She is fluent in English and French and can converse in Hindi.
English
French 
Spanish 
