Marc founded Building Up because he felt it needed to exist. He believes that the role of a social enterprise is to connect people who want to make socially-minded purchasing decisions with the opportunity to do so.

Marc graduated from the Richard Ivey School of Business, canoed across Canada, and understands the untapped transformative powers of construction. He combines lessons learned from life in the woods with a people-first outlook to lead this organization toward its vision.

Tarah graduated from Princeton University with a BA in Economics and Finance. She spent the first ten years of her career working in finance, where she became a VP for Deutsche Bank’s investment bank and a venture capital partner and investor.

Tarah joined Building Up as a volunteer in 2016, purposed with leveraging the power of business to address social, economic and environmental issues. Tarah passionately believes that Social Enterprise is the most impactful tool to build a better future.

Adam’s role includes keeping the project pipeline plentiful and ensuring the organization has sufficient revenue. The more work, the more people BU can train, and the more people BU can train, the more people end up in careers.

Adam also oversees miscellaneous projects, all still with the goal of getting the most people working.

Obioma – Obi for short– joined BU in 2021 as the Alumni Program PM before stepping into the Director of Case Management role. Her team is responsible for ensuring participants are successful along their apprenticeship pathway.

Obi discovered her passion for people and community in the financial service and non-profit sectors after overcoming the barriers faced by newcomers to Canada.

Diego manages labour contracts and develops new labour opportunities.

He and his partner Melisa have two daughters, Riley and Esther, and a furry daughter, our dog Ophelia.

He loves camping, getting away into the deep woods, and as a true Argentinean, he loves his soccer and BBQs!

Mason brings a unique blend of experience in the trades, public education, and social change. He believes in the transformative power of putting the tools of change into people’s hands—and making sure they know how to use them. Since joining Building Up in 2017, he has led crews of trainees on job sites and taught as a Trades Instructor. Now, as Program Director, he supports the program team in delivering hands-on training that gets people ready to launch their careers in the trades.
When he’s not at work, Mason can be found managing a crew at home—a dog, a cat, and two teenagers. So far, none of them have been fired.