Who We Are
Sarah Neville, Director, Partner
Sarah grew up in the centre of North America, in sunny Winnipeg, Manitoba. In the third grade, she won the school French oral poetry contest – the first step to a 15-year career on the stage. The creative experience of working in theatre was the spark for Sarah’s passion for the intricacies of communication: how it helps us relate to others, elicit emotion and motivate action.
Sarah founded Open Line with a commitment to helping individuals and organizations to bridge difference, cultivate inclusion and connect across differences of all kinds. With expertise in diversity equity & inclusion, she has designed and delivered engaging educational experiences in virtually every sector, from small non-profits to Fortune 500 companies. As a certified Advisor on National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace, she seeks innovative ways to increase psychological safety in organizations by creating the conditions for inclusion and belonging.
Sarah keeps herself busy as an instructor at the Rotman School of Management, Initiative for Women in Business and Intercultural Skills Lab. She is a regular contributor to media including the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, Forbes and the Huffington Post, and an early morning runner on the streets of Toronto.
Jill Matcham, Partner
Jill is a British transplant who came to Toronto via Brussels, Paris, and Hong Kong. She kicked off her career in the travel industry, before transitioning into training and development. Jill manages all our assignments from start to finish. She prides herself on meticulous attention to detail and nurturing relationships; ask her about any client she has ever worked with and chances are she will remember who, what, when, and the names of their kids.
In her spare time, Jill enjoys renovating and decorating and spending time with her family and Pepper, a very active mutt.
Our Team
It’s the hard work, passion and creativity of our talented team of coaches that produces practical and impactful learning experiences for our clients. A diverse and engaging crew, they bring a breadth of experience in coaching, facilitation and professional performance.
All are highly trained in our methodology of communication coaching and effective business conversation simulations. This system is proven to lead to consistent behavioural change. We love what we do.
Stewart Arnott
As an actor and a director for almost 40 years, Stewart brings an eye for detail, a love of language, and a finely tuned ear to his coaching sessions. His insights into dealing with the pressures of performance and his ability to tailor his coaching to the specific needs and challenges of the individual, allow his clients to take risks and see tremendous improvement. His work has taken him across the country. He also acts in film and television, and teaches acting in various college and university programs.
Jenni Burke
Jenni’s enthusiasm, warmth, joyous empathetic nature has been the foundation of her 18 years of coaching. The epitome of team player, Jenni is highly skilled in adapting and tuning in to the needs and energy of all of her clients. Her dynamic presence and heart-felt support allow her to succinctly guide her learners to gain self-awareness, improve performance, tackle culture change and create positive inclusive interactions.
Jenni is an award-winning actor and singer and has appeared on screens and stages and across Canada. A Toronto native raised in Oakville she is no stranger to the film, theatre and the music scenes which, for Jenni, are still thriving after 25 years.
Bob Dodds
Bob is a trainer, actor, and golfer. As a golfer, he makes a great trainer. As a trainer, he has worked for the past 18 years to expand his clients’ comfort zones, in the belief that Challenge plus Enjoyment equals Learning. His communication coaching is also informed by his ongoing work as a learning designer, and by his training as a teacher of English as a Second Language.
Maryse Geoffrion
For over 30 years, Maryse has worked in the financial industry, specializing in wealth management. Among her different roles at a major Canadian bank, she was a certified financial planner in Quebec, a performance enhancement coach and business development manager. For the last 11 years, Maryse has been a trainer and facilitator with a focus on client conversations, allowing learners to deepen client relationships and become trusted advisors. Balancing her professional commitments, Maryse is an avid traveller and reader, loves to golf and kayak, and more recently has picked up photography of flowers and birds.
Neil Sainani
Neil Sainani is currently a DEI Consultant and has spent the last 15 years working with a variety of clients on topics of diversity & inclusion, unconscious bias, anti-racism, and allyship, to name a few.
Neil has had the opportunity to work with incredible initiatives and programs that tremendously impacted people and communities nationally including Indigenous Peoples, people with disabilities, racialized communities and 2SLGBTQI+ members, women, military veterans and many others.
Neil thrives in the classroom (virtual or in-person), where he has the opportunity to engage in meaningful dialogue. He also enjoys teaching a meditative breathing technique called Sky Breath Meditation.
Anita La Selva
Anita has an uncanny ability to motivate her coaching clients to be their best possible selves. As a theatre director, she brings a keen eye and an intuitive ability to tailor her coaching to what each person needs, whether in presenting and delivering material, coaching to sales and team dynamics, or managing sensitive conversations in the workplace. She loves to see people master a new skill or challenge, and then successfully apply it to their work.
Joanne O’Sullivan
Joanne has been a coach & facilitator for over 18 years, supporting executives and their teams to navigate critical conversations, deliver compelling presentations and build relationships through attentive customer service. As an accomplished content creator, Joanne has created over 20 training programs for clients, from front-line phone sales to executive-level coaching techniques. She has personally coached over 800 clients and has honed techniques that inspire self-reflection, motivation, and action. Her many years as a comic, screenwriter, and storyteller have not only given her deep respect and understanding of the importance of language, but the humour, insight, and empathy needed to coach in a way that is authentic, constructive, and fun.
Melina Nacos
Melina’s superpower is the ability to create a learning environment that is challenging, but still welcoming, dynamic, and yes, fun. An executive coach since 2004, she’s also an Adult Education certified instructor, and a CTI Co-active coach. Having worked in a wide range of sectors, she specializes in presentation coaching and helps leaders to design and deliver presentations that inspire action and drive change.
Dana Vranic
Dana has been helping people listen to each other since 2002. She has used her skills as a classically trained actor to provide realistic practice to thousands of professionals with sales and coaching techniques, problem solving and managing inter-personal dynamics. This background allows her to coach executives to deliver presentations that are dynamic, engaging and effective. A resident of Stratford, ON, Dana is also an entrepreneur, sharing her love of pickles with the world.
Clinton Walker
Clinton is an award-winning actor and director for both the stage and screen with over 40 years of experience. Traveling the globe as an artist and storyteller has given him greater insight into the power of great communication, effective problem solving and team building.
In the thirteen years that Clinton has dedicated himself to business and communication coaching, he has had the opportunity to work with a wide variety of industries including finance, manufacturing, and health care. Whether working one-to-one or facilitating group learning, Clinton embraces a tailored approach to his coaching that helps build skills and effect meaningful change for both the individual and the business.
Laetitia Villetorte
Born in South America, raised in French and educated in English, Laetitia is a trilingual international coach, consultant and counsellor. For the past 21 years, she has assisted thousands of individuals to deepen and strengthen their communication skills. She is a facilitator and a trainer qualified in Adult Learning. She is currently working toward her ICF Master Coaching Certification. Her passion is to motivate individuals to connect with their true essence through curiosity so that they may feel uplifted, energized and ready to take action.
Heather Cherron von Atzigen
Heather has facilitated, coached, and created teaching initiatives from law to business to medical for many years at the University of Toronto, Toronto Metropolitan University, Michener Institute of Learning, York University, and Trillium Gift of Life Network. She is one of the authors on the “IPPI” project at U of T. This interactive learning session for medical students led to an invitation to guest lecture at OISE: Simulation in the Health Professions Winter 2014. As an associate artist at Mixed Company Theatre for the past 25 years, Heather has facilitated, acted, written, and directed stories involving Theatre of the Oppressed. For the past seven years, she has co-facilitated the Injured Worker Speaker School, coaching learners to present their personal stories to policy makers. In 2021 Heather was invited to create and direct Stories of Injured Workers: A Forum, at the University of Queens at the Dan School of Drama.
Rachel Jones
Rachel is a bilingual (English/French) performance coach, facilitator, learning designer, trainer and actor with over twenty years in the field of adult learning, with an emphasis on interactive, experiential learning. She works with client-facing employees through to C-Suite executives in the areas of performance management, change management, communication, leadership, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Rachel holds a Masters degree in English language and literature and is currently ABD on a doctorate in the same field.
Richard Lam
Richard has dedicated his life to practicing excellent listening and communication in challenging, high-stakes situations. Originally from Vancouver, BC, Richard obtained a B.A. in Political Science at the University of British Columbia before transitioning into the arts. A graduate of the University of Alberta’s BFA in Acting program, he has lived in Toronto for the past 9 years where he has worked with many of Canada’s premier companies and artists. In addition to his work as an artist, Richard is an instructor in the Honours Bachelor of Musical Theatre Performance Program at Sheridan College, an Ontario councilor for the Canadian Actor’s Equity Association, and is currently completing a certificate in Conflict Management and Mediation from the University of Waterloo.
Our Affiliates
We collaborate with a group of dynamic subject matter experts who offer expertise in a wide range of fields supporting organization success, including workplace compliance, gender-based analysis, policy and practice audits, change management, diversity research, group facilitation, etc. We work together to offer our clients the very best knowledge and skills on every project.
Renee Bazile-Jones
Renee has over 30 years of experience working with Fortune 500 companies and public sector organizations in Canada and the US for her work in diversity and inclusion, management, strategic planning, and the management of change. As former Executive Director of Public Education with the Ontario Employment Equity Commission, she developed the training program for employers on employment equity and diversity.
She has extensive experience developing and delivering customized training in the areas of equity, diversity, and inclusion. She is an author and sought-after speaker and guest lecturer on D&I and change management in both Canada and the US.
Sidney Coles
With expertise in Monitoring and Evaluation, Sidney provides clients with in-depth evaluation and qualitative audit reports of HR policies and practices, and develops the strategic plan needed to expand diversity and inclusion practices within these organizations. Previously, Sidney was Senior Policy and Program Advisor at the Ontario Government at the Ministry of the Status of Women where she launched the Women’s Economic Security Program, designed to encourage a labour market for racialized, newcomer and Indigenous women in Ontario. Sidney works in Canada and internationally for both private sector, and government clients. Sidney is the founder of Emergent Equity a global network of women working across sectors for gender equity.
Rob Drynan
Rob been consulting with service-based businesses since 2012. Previously, Rob held leadership positions in advertising, consulting and non-profit businesses, with a focus on significant growth. Rob is a member of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 and a two-time finalist for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award. As a key ingredient of his consulting practice, BeachHead Strategic, Rob has conducted hundreds of qualitative interviews with employees and business leaders at dozens of companies. The information from the interviews has become critical to uncovering the implicit obstacles that organizations must overcome to advance their mission.
Cathy Gallagher-Louisy
With over 15 years’ experience focused on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) Cathy is skilled at helping organizations improve equity, employee engagement, and organizational performance. Cathy has extensive experience developing, implementing, and managing strategic DEI and CSR initiatives, as well as conducting inclusivity assessments.
Cathy is the principal of CGL Consulting, and serves as a Professor at the Centennial College Certificate in Leadership and Inclusion, and as a faculty member at the University of Toronto’s Corporate Social Responsibility & Sustainability Graduate Diploma.