The board of directors and staff are pleased to welcome Caryl Arundel as the Interim Executive Director of Social Planning Toronto. Beginning October 5, 2020, Caryl will provide direction and support to SPT and continue our important relationships with community partners while we look for a permanent leader for the organization. As excited as we are for the future of the organization, it is nonetheless a bittersweet moment as we say goodbye to our outgoing Executive Director, Devika Shah. She has been a strong and visible voice for SPT and social justice in the city. Please join us in recognizing Devika's contributions and wishing her all the best for the future.

Caryl is an experienced policy and management consultant who works  with funders, large and small nonprofits, and public sector organizations.  Her consulting work includes governance; organizational development; engagement, facilitation and training; strategic planning; research and policy analysis; and program review. She also has more than 17 years of experience at the municipal level in leadership roles that include political support, operations, analysis, and policy development.

Caryl is quite familiar with SPT — she supported our strategic planning work a few years ago and more recently helped guide projects on trusteeship/shared platforms and planning networks. However, her relationship with SPT goes back even earlier to her work in Metro Toronto where she developed Metro Toronto’s first Social Development Strategy and provided leadership to the Social Development Division’s municipal grants program, community development, and social policy work.  

Caryl also has a strong understanding and appreciation of the role and value of our sector — she is the Academic Coordinator of the Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Management Certificate at the Chang School (Ryerson University), where she developed and teaches courses on the nonprofit sector, social policy, and municipal government and politics. In addition, she brings perspectives from her experiences in nonprofit governance as a board member, officer of the board, and board chair.

Caryl has an M.Sc. in Planning Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science and an MPA from the School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University.

We look forward to Caryl’s leadership at Social Planning Toronto!