Richard Derham

Richard is passionate about helping barriered populations to have more equitable access to employment.

He is the Senior Business Development Manager in the Office of Research and Innovation at George Brown College in Toronto, one of Canada’s most culturally diverse urban post-secondary institutions. Richard leads the Partnerships team and identifies prospective industry, community and government partners with innovation needs, to work with student and faculty researchers drawn from all Schools in the College.

Prior to joining GBC, Richard was the Executive Director of Opportunity For All Youth (O4AY), a not for profit national coalition of Canada’s leading companies working together with community employment agencies and governments to take action to provide jobs to youth who are not in employment, education or training (NEET youth). Prior to working at O4AY, Richard was the Founder and President of TurnAround Couriers, a social purpose business in Toronto focussed on helping NEET youth successfully enter the workforce. He was responsible for all business development activities and for nurturing strong partnerships with hundreds of private and public sector stakeholders.

Richard immigrated to Canada in 2000 to work for Monitor Deloitte, a firm of management consultants. He is a Board Director at A-Way Express, a courier company that provides meaningful work to survivors of mental health issues and a mentor in both the Community Connections Mentorship Program, WoodGreen and also at Jumpstart Refugee Talent.

 Richard holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from King’s College London, UK; a Masters in International Private Law from University of Paris 1 (Pantheon-Sorbonne), Paris, France; and an MBA from INSEAD, France. He is qualified as a Solicitor in England, UK, as an Avocat at the Paris bar, France and he is also a Member of the Law Society of Ontario.