Leadership Team
Caitlin Patterson
National Program Director
About Caitlin Patterson
Caitlin Patterson is a Metis woman with roots from the High Waters Region and Kawartha Lakes in Ontario. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Women’s studies with an emphasis on Indigenous women and a certificate in Non-profit Leadership for Impact from the University of Toronto. Caitlin has years of experience working with national organizations to create culturally relevant opportunities with Indigenous youth, leading program operations, and organizational growth.
Rebecca Rolfe
Director of Programming
About Rebecca Rolfe
Rebecca is a Settler woman currently living in Kingston, ON located on the traditional territories of the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee. Rebecca has a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Global Development from Queen’s University and a certificate in Non-Profit Leadership for Impact from the University of Toronto. She brings years of experience in program design, delivery and evaluation and is passionate about supporting young people to achieve their goals.
Board of Directors
Jadelyn Psutka
Director of Development
About Jadelyn Psutka
Jadelyn Psutka is an urban Indigenous woman, her family from Oneida Nation of the Thames, Turtle clan. Jadelyn current resides in Toronto as part of the Inclusive Recruitment team at RBC. In her role as lead on Indigenous Sourcing she supports a number of Indigenous youth programming as well as recruitment and candidates in the recruitment process. As the co-chair of the Royal Eagles Ontario chapter, an employee resource group, she supports recruitment, retention, inclusion and education of Indigenous and non-Indigenous employees. She is passionate about her community and supporting others in reaching their potential.
Ty Kushnir
Director of Fundraising
About Ty Kushnir
Ty Kushnir is a Commerce graduate from the University of Manitoba, Asper School of Business. In his current role as an Analyst for the TD Bank Group, he works to ensure the delivery of various enterprise risk related exposures to the Chief Risk Officer, and Risk Committee of the Board.
A proud member of the Peguis First Nation, Ty is passionate about working with Indigenous communities. His position with Focus Forward involves the relationship management, and goal communication to our portfolio of corporate partners.
Jessica Mirasty
Secretary
About Jessica Mirasty
Jessica Mirasty is currently an undergrad student at the University of Saskatchewan doing her Bachelor of Commerce. Jessica co-founded an Indigenous business student society which led her to take part in the 2020 Co-op Program. Currently, Jessica is on an 8th-month internship with RBC.
Jessica is a proud member of Flying Dust First Nation and is passionate about working with Indigenous communities. She hopes to gain valuable knowledge throughout her academics and volunteering to bring back to Indigenous communities or organizations.
Paul Colosimo
Secretary
About Paul Colosimo
Paul Colosimo is a tutor at the Matawa Education Centre (MEC) in Thunder Bay, Ontario. He obtained his B.Ed at Queen’s University and his HBSc in biology at Lakehead University. He entered the education field with the idea that change in society starts with youth and their education. Knowing this, Paul returned to Thunder Bay hoping to bring about change through his role as an educator, both with Focus Forward and as a tutor at MEC. Paul is actively building a team of volunteers to support Focus Forward’s mission where he hopes to spread awareness about Indigenous issues to the people of Thunder Bay, while gaining support in Northern Ontario to facilitate Focus Forward’s youth-centred construction programs.
Mitchell Muscat
Treasurer
About Mitchell Muscat
Mitchell Muscat has a BComm from the Smith School of Business at Queens University. He is currently an associate within Finance at RBC, as part of the Indigenous Peoples Development Program. Here he performs regulatory reporting and provides other support to various lines of business at RBC, currently RBC Capital Markets. Mitchell is a Métis Nation of Ontario citizen and former youth representative of the Moon River Métis Council. Here he sought to solve issues faced by Métis youth and encourage the preservation of cultural heritage along with the council. He hopes to continue to support Indigenous communities with Focus Forward.
