Leadership Team

Assistant Vice-President, Continuing Studies, Tracey Taylor-O’Reilly led the founding of the School of Continuing Studies at York University, drawing on her 23 years experience in university administration, research and teaching.

She joined York in December 2013 after nine years as Director of the Centre for Continuing Education at McMaster University. With a track-record of innovation and explosive enrolment growth, Tracey designed a unique model for continuing professional education at York that has led to unparalleled enrolment growth. Under her leadership, the English Language Institute diversified their international recruitment and focused efforts on recruiting students into York degrees through their exceptional programs.

At McMaster, she transformed the Centre from the brink of closure into an internationally respected, financially profitable, and sustainable enterprise, recognized by the Learning Resources Network (LERN) as being among the Top 5% most successful and best-managed continuing education centres in North America.

Tracey has served in a number of volunteer leadership roles in university continuing education, including as President of the Canadian Association for University Continuing Education.  Tracey has a BA and MASc in applied psychology from the University of Waterloo and is a graduate of the Ivey Executive Program.

Richard Piticco CPA, CA, CFA has more than twenty years of experience in strategic financial leadership, operations and leading large-scale organizational changes.  At York, he is responsible for strategic management & planning, financial management, human resources, technology, business & learning support services, physical resources planning, and health & safety.

For the last ten years, Richard was the Vice President of Student Services for CPA Ontario where he oversaw the operations, strategic and financial planning, business development, regulatory requirements, and policy development, relating to a 20,000-student portfolio.  He implemented a new post graduate program and a comprehensive set of online prerequisite courses, as well as leading aspects of unifying three professional accounting bodies into one.  He also led large-scale digital transformation projects and co-developed and implemented a multimillion-dollar funding model for Ontario universities that led to the creation of four specialized research centres.

Richard was also worked at CIBC World Markets where he was a Director in Equity Research, and quickly was ranked by Brendan Woods International as a “Rising Star”.  Previously, he was a Treasury Manager with Pepsi Canada and become a CA with KPMG in 1999.  Richard continues to volunteer on Boards of Not-for-Profit organizations, ranging from Treasurer to President of the Board.

Christine Brooks-Cappadocia’s more than twenty-year career has focused on the marketing, fundraising, and communications of causes which benefit society. Before joining the School of Continuing Studies in 2014, Christine spent six years building and managing the marketing department of McMaster’s Centre for Continuing Education. During that period, the Centre experienced continuous double digit year-over-year enrolment growth.

Her previous roles included marketing, fundraising, communications roles for arts companies ranging from national institutions such as the Canadian Opera Company to smaller community arts organizations before moving into leadership roles in social services and health sector charities. Her career highlights include the launch of a foundation to support at-risk youth, the development of the communications department for St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation Hamilton and the management of a high-profile event featuring former US President Bill Clinton and former Ontario Premier Bob Rae.

She has been privileged to serve in a number of governance roles in non-profit organizations including President and Founding Board Member of the International Association of Business Communicators’ (IABC) Golden Horseshoe chapter, Vice-President of Community Arts Ontario, and Founding Board Member of the Coalition of Ontario Voluntary Organizations.

Christine has earned several awards for marketing from the Association of Healthcare Philanthropists, the International Business Communicators and the Learning Resources Network (LERN). Christine holds a B.FA from York University.