Our People
Meet the People Behind reachAbility
Our Executive
Tova Sherman
Co-founder & CEO
Tova’s status as an inclusion and diversity trailblazer has been recognized across Canada. She brings a first-person voice to every conversation and believes in equity for all. She is a lover of all things travel, especially when it takes her to see her grandsons.
Moira Harding
President
A lawyer with the Nova Scotia Department of Justice, Moira has served as a volunteer coordinator with the Out of the Cold Emergency Winter Shelter in Halifax, a core group member and volunteer with the 7th Step Society of Nova Scotia, an advocate with the Dalhousie Student Advocacy Service, and a volunteer with Pro Bono Dalhousie. She currently also sits on the Board of Directors of the Crosbie House Society, a non-profit residential program focused on helping individuals recover from substance-use disorder.
Our Staff
Emma Atkinson
Employment Specialist
With a degree in Sociology and Secondary Education, Emma brings many years of experience helping individuals reach their full potential. Emma brings a strengths-based approach to employment support. She is committed to creating inclusive environments where participants feel valued, capable, and supported in developing job readiness, life skills, and workplace confidence. Emma is passionate about helping individuals discover their abilities, connect with opportunities, and achieve success on their own terms.
Jace Boyd
Client Navigator
As a neurodivergent cane user, Jace has a personal understanding of the barriers faced by individuals with disabilities. Because of this, he is committed to making the world a more friendly and accessible place, and believes that starts at the individual level. Having worked in a number of industries, as well as holding a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts, Jace understands the value of transferable skills, and feels that with the right support, anyone can go anywhere.
Chelsea Coffin
Health and Wellness Coordinator
Chelsea has worked in social services, specifically early intervention since 2014. With a background in education and social sciences, Chelsea has a knack for problem solving and creating equitable learning environments. Having a child with disabilities, Chelsea understands the importance of offering accessible and comprehensive services to the community. Chelsea is dedicated to ensuring each client receives the attention they deserve to talk about how they feel in a world that often feels too busy to be heard.
When Chelsea isn’t working she is spending time at the lake with her family and her two beloved Pugs.
Amanda Cress
Facilitator
Amanda brings a unique blend of people-focused leadership and a passion for supporting diverse communities. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology with a minor in Ethnocultural Diversity, providing her with a strong understanding of the importance of building meaningful connections. Amanda is excited to bring her education and experience to the employment services sector, where she is dedicated to helping individuals build confidence, overcome barriers, and achieve their employment goals.
Evan Dobbie
Special Projects & Therapy Dog Handler
With a background in journalism, caregiving, and service dogs, he is involved across various organization projects. He holds degrees in English and Journalism, which enhance his communication skills and attention to detail in all aspects of his work. Additionally, Evan is a trained therapy dog handler, offering comfort and support through our office therapy dog, Neo.
Markus Fortune
PES Navigator
Markus has spent the last 10 years supporting and encouraging individuals with disabilities in achieving their goals and helping them be outstanding members of their communities. He has a passion for helping people around him anyway he can. With a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology, Markus is incredibly aware of the world around him and how one may maneuver their way in and around it to make their goals a reality.
Blake Hunsley
Special Projects Lead
From handling admin tasks and communications to grant writing and supporting reachAbility’s social enterprise, this is a job well suited to a person with ADHD who craves variety in their work.
With a flexible role, Blake helps out wherever it’s needed most, working behind the scenes to help keep things running smoothly and support the team’s work in the community.
Herve Kazungu
Facilitator
Driven by a deep commitment to equity and inclusion, Herve is passionate about empowering individuals who face barriers—especially those living with disabilities.
With a background in Biochemistry and Neuroscience, he offers insights into how stress, trauma, and exclusion impact the brain and behaviour—enhancing the design and delivery of programs that support emotional well-being, resilience, and cognitive development.
Alex Mansfield
Facilitator
Alex has been working in education and training for over a decade. Having held roles in various different institutions and working with a wide variety of age groups, he now has found his path in working to help people overcome their barriers and realise their potential – all with a focus on the importance of developing community and promoting reciprocal growth.
Franco Martinez
Facilitator
With a passion for making a positive impact in the community and a background in mental health and recovery, Franco is dedicated to contributing to reachAbility’s efforts for inclusivity, empowerment and accessibility for all.
With experience in education, Franco brings a strong foundation in facilitation and a deep commitment to supporting clients’ journeys to developing new perspectives.
Our Board of Directors
Moira Harding
President
Moira Harding first got to know reachAbility in 2015 as a client, and soon after that as a member of the staff, first as an Intake and Client Navigator and later as the Program Coordinator for reachAbility’s Legal Services Program. Moira left reachAbility in 2017 to go to law school, where her studies focused on multiple intersecting interests: environmental law, human rights, and indigenous law. She is the recipient of the Clifford Rae Academic Achievement Award, a Schulich Scholarship in Law, the Lorne O. Clarke Prize in Dispute Resolution, the James Spurr Environmental Law award and a Specialist Certification through the Marine and Environmental Law Programme. Moira is currently a lawyer in legal services with the Nova Scotia Department of Justice.
Moira has served as a volunteer coordinator with the Out of the Cold Emergency Winter Shelter in Halifax, a core group member and volunteer with the 7th Step Society of Nova Scotia, an advocate with the Dalhousie Student Advocacy Service, and a volunteer with Pro Bono Dalhousie. She currently also sits on the Board of Directors of the Crosbie House Society, a non-profit residential program focussed on helping individuals recover from substance-use disorder.
Moira lives in Halifax, where she enjoys spending time with her beloved partner-in crime and two unruly step-cats. She loves reading, crossfit and interval training, meditating, riding (and periodically fixing) her old Honda motorcycle.
Jennifer MacDonnell
Vice President
With a rich and varied background in health and wellness, coaching, management, facilitation, and mentoring, Jennifer is dedicated to supporting others through their successes and challenges. Her passion for helping others and fostering a positive work community drives her involvement as a Board Member.
Jennifer brings extensive experience in Life Coaching, Wellness Coaching, and leadership development through the YMCA’s All Access program. She has facilitated workshops, mentored leaders, and served as a Stand Up for Youth leader. Additionally, she has a long-standing history of community service, both professionally and as a volunteer.
Jennifer believes in the power of collective support and is committed to offering empathetic, meaningful assistance to her colleagues, helping to create healthier and more connected workplaces for all.
Will Jones
Treasurer
William brings a background in non-profit leadership, operations, finance, data analytics, and community service. He served for two years as Vice President Finance & Operations of the Dalhousie Student Union, helping oversee budgeting, governance, programming support, and services for an organization representing over 20,000 members. He also has experience co-founding and operating data-focused ventures, most notably BitSonic.ai, with a focus on practical problem-solving, process improvement, and organizational decision-making. William serves as a reservist with the Canadian Armed Forces, reflecting his broader commitment to service, accountability, and community. As Treasurer, William hopes to contribute his experience in financial governance, budgeting, and operational oversight to support ReachAbility’s mission and long-term sustainability.
Kristen Grant
Secretary
As the Events and Building Manager at the Dalhousie Student Union in Halifax, Kristen supports elected student officials by turning their ideas into reality. She manages the logistics, planning, and operations that make large-scale events possible, helping students bring their vision to life while fostering a strong sense of connection and community on campus. Her background in hospitality gives her a practical, people-focused approach to creating experiences that are both meaningful and well-organized.
She is deeply passionate about accessibility and inclusion, values that have been shaped through personal growth in her career. Having made missteps along the way, she’s grateful for the people who took the time to point out her oversights and help her learn how to do better. Those experiences continue to guide her in creating spaces that are equitable, welcoming, and responsive to feedback.
In her spare time, you’ll find her in the ocean from May – November and the occasional off season plunge or on a trail with her Golden Retriever, Hank. She volunteers wherever and whenever possible and believes deeply that connection and community are a lifeline for everyone.
Sacred Basden
Director at Large
Sacred is a recent Bermudian graduate from Mount Saint Vincent University, where she majored in Political Studies and double minored in Women’s and Peace and Conflict
Studies. A keen and curious learner, she spent her time in university focusing on intersectional notions of justice, branches of political theory, women’s issues and challenging her own views on policy and human rights.
Sacred first came to Canada/Halifax from Bermuda in 2019 at the age of 17 to complete her tertiary education. While studying, she developed and faced her own accessibility
related challenges that enabled her with a strong passion and interest in working with people with disabilities. She aims to use her own lived experience as an immigrant facing
new accessibility challenges in NS, to contribute to the city she now calls home. Since graduating, Sacred has been a project coordinator for IMWAH, working on their Enabling
Accessibility Project and is currently the Events and Communications Lead for Sea Change Colab.
If she isn’t exploring the city or spending time with her close friends, you can probably find Sacred at home with her nose in a book or knitting!
Claudia Covalciuc
Director at Large
Claudia has a Bachelor of Arts from Saint Mary’s University (2013 Cum Laude). She majored in Criminology and Sociology with an Honors Thesis on Indigenous Rights to Self-Governance. A few years later, after working directly in the community and Criminal Justice System, Claudia attended Dalhousie’s Schulich School of Law. She graduated in 2020 and proceeded to be the first ever articling clerk with the Elizabeth Fry Society of Mainland NS while simultaneously successfully completing the BAR course. She was sworn in as lawyer in Nova Scotia in June of 2021. She currently holds a non-practicing license.
During her time away from work, Claudia enjoys quality time with her family including her cat, Thunder. She also finds ocean swims refreshing at every season.
Jamus Dorey
Director at Large
Jamus Dorey is a seasoned heart-centered leader with over 20 years of experience advancing human rights, equity and inclusion. As Senior Advisor, Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion at NSCC, Jamus brings lived experience as a person with a disability and as a proud member of the 2SLGBTIQ+ community. He has strengthened cultural competence across the College through his leadership of Employee Resource Networks (ERNs), campus Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committees and the ERN Leads’ Table. Jamus also leads NSCC’s corporate portfolios for Employment Equity and Accessibility and serves as a member of the College’s Senior Leadership Team.
Jamus’s career spans senior roles in both community and government, including serving as Executive Director of the Society for Persons with Disabilities where he was a founding member of the Collaborative Partnership Network (CPN) in Nova Scotia and part of the inaugural planning committee that brought the Canadian Association for Supported Employment Conference to the province in the early 2000s. As Manager of Community Living Thunder Bay, he supported inclusive communities and employment for persons with intellectual disabilities through services spanning day programming, employment, housing, recreation and leisure to name a few.
With over a decade of government relations experience in regulated sectors, Jamus has led initiatives in accessibility, inclusion and organizational transformation and was a member of the Province’s Deputies’ Diversity Roundtable. In 2016, he and his cross-cultural planning team received the Nova Scotia Premier’s Award of Excellence for creating the inaugural Public Service Diversity Conference which continues to this today. His broader equity work includes advocacy for marriage equality, implementation of Positive Spaces initiatives and supporting 2SLGBTIQ+ refugees settling in Nova Scotia.
Jamus holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in Information Systems from St. Francis Xavier University, diplomas in Business Education Accounting and Computer Systems Management & Support from NSCC and a Certificate in Community Economic Development from Dalhousie University. Jamus currently sits as an active member of the Canadian Association for the Prevention of Discrimination and Harassment in Higher Education (CAPDHEE), reachAbility Association of Nova Scotia and the Regional Advisory Council for the Remedy, Central Region.
Milena Khazanavicius
Director at Large
Milena Khazanavicius has been completely blind for 30 years.
Throughout her journey in life she has advocated for many rights and equity for all people, but mostly for those with disabilities and strongly for those who are blind, low visioned, and partially sighted.
She currently sits on the Active Transportation Advisory Committee, Events East, and Common Roots Urban Farm advocacy teams and is involved with Hike Nova Scotia to name but a few.
Milena believes that if there is not a chair at the table for you..bring your own and make them make room!
Diana Parks
Director at Large
Diana Parks is deeply passionate about fostering inclusive communities and supporting others in creating respectful, compassionate spaces.
With over 20 years of experience in adult education and transformative learning, she has dedicated her career to helping individuals and organizations embrace innovative thinking, respect, and psychological safety at work.
Through her volunteer work, Diana channels this passion into community-building efforts, working to ensure everyone feels valued and heard. She believes that when we invest in one another, we create stronger, more connected communities that empower individuals to thrive.
Lauren Vogel
Director at Large
Lauren is a family lawyer practicing at a local Halifax firm. While completing her law degree at Dalhousie University, Lauren volunteered with the Pro Bono Society and completed a placement at the Dalhousie Legal Aid Clinic, both of which inspired a desire to facilitate access to justice in the Halifax community.
Lauren spent time working with reachAbility as a legal services coordinator before joining the Board, and is honoured to remain involved with such an important and inspiring organization.
When she isn’t at work or volunteering, you can typically find Lauren enjoying the great outdoors – most likely on a beach or at a patio.
Dr. Bruce Mills
Founding President & Co-Founder
On July 25th, 2017 this community lost a visionary. Dr. Bruce Mills, President of reachAbility, passed.
Without Dr. Bruce Mills’ hard work and dedication, thousands of Nova Scotians would lack access to services and supports designed to equalize the playing field – one ability at a time.
His warmth was only matched by his incredible ability to help no matter what the issue.
Dr. Mills had led this agency for over 15 years with a deft hand and a clear voice. He will be profoundly missed.
– Tova Sherman