Margaret Czajkowski, RECE Head of Curriculum
Margaret is truly the heart of Childventures. Her significant experience and her genuine passion for education has made her a staple within the industry as well as CV. Margaret has promoted the concept of quality childcare experiences since 1982. She was an educator in the Early Childhood Education program lab school at Mohawk College for twenty years in addition to serving as an advisory board member for their diploma program. Margaret continues to give back to the ECE profession by sharing her knowledge as a guest lecturer at conferences and events.
Shaping the leaders of tomorrow
Passionate about early learning
Our educators work hard to establish connections with your children from day one. They are committed to accommodating the individual needs of every child.
Professional development
Through PD Days and curriculum training throughout the year, our educators continuously enhance their teaching skills through collaborative learning experiences.
Parent communication
We believe in ongoing communication with our families. Through daily updates, newsletters and regular dialogue with our educators, our goal is to work as a team with our parents.
Our pedagogical leaders
Eleni Zarafonitis, RECE
Krysten has over a decade of experience in the childcare industry and has excelled throughout her career in regional director roles. Her expertise in team leadership and understanding of childcare best practices are matched by her contagious energy and unwavering enthusiasm. Krysten collaborates closely with the Centre Directors of Ancaster, Burlington, Oakville and Meadowvale and is a key organizational leader within Childventures. Krysten lives with her fiancé and French Bulldog in Hamilton and enjoys playing baseball and getting out of the city to a cottage in her spare time.
Our corporate team
As President of CV, Ron is a seasoned executive with over two decades of experience across a number of industries, holding senior leadership roles in top tier organizations such as Bell, Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation and Recipe Unlimited Corporation. Ron also serves on the Board and is a major fundraiser for The Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada, a cause that is near and dear to his heart. With Ron at the helm, CV will continue to strengthen its position as Canada’s Premier Early Childcare provider as it grows its footprint in Ontario and beyond. In his off-time, Ron loves relaxing at his cottage with his wife and two grown children and is passionate about perfecting his golf game.
In her role, Shelley provides executive leadership for the critical functions that support our centres across all three brands, including brand and marketing, enrolment, procurement, culinary services, facilities management and project management. Charged with building a customer-first experience and operational excellence across our network, Shelley has over twenty five years of experience in marketing and sales. Shelley’s innate curiosity and love of learning reflect the company’s corporate values. Shelley and her family love to travel with a focus on outdoor adventures.
With thirty-five years in early childhood education, Fatima brings deep expertise and a proven commitment to best practice to her role as Executive Director. She provides executive leadership for program quality across all three brands, ensuring every campus delivers the highest standard of care and learning for our children. Fatima oversees curriculum, inclusivity and scaffolded learning training for our educational teams, setting the standards that shape each child’s experience. A collaborative leader, she works closely with campus teams to deliver a premium experience for every family we serve. Fatima is a proud mother of three and grandmother of four.
Candace is a seasoned leader in the Human Resources field with over 15 years of experience working for organizations in the education and childcare sectors. She is a Certified Human Resources Leader and holds a BA from the University of Guelph. Outside of the office, Candace enjoys spending time with her family and friends, travel and word games. Candace lives with her husband and son in Mississauga.
Jason joined CV as Director of Finance & Accounting. Prior to that, Jason spent 15 years at Exchange Solutions Inc., most recently serving as Vice President, Finance. Earlier in his career, he spent 10 years in public accounting, gaining extensive experience in audits, financial reporting, internal controls and compliance. At CV, Jason provides financial stewardship across the organization, overseeing accounting operations, financial reporting, budgeting and analysis. Jason is a CPA and holds a Bachelor of Mathematics and Accounting from the University of Waterloo. In his spare time, Jason is a proud dad of four who enjoys watching and playing sports, adding to his music collection (Sade being a standout favourite) and searching for the next great eatery.
Martina began her career at CV over 20 years ago as an Infant educator in Ancaster. She played an instrumental role in growing the company, fulfilling different roles in multiple campuses including the Director role in Ancaster and York region. Martina settled in Burlington where she was the Centre Director for nine years building strong relationships with community partners including ROCK Centre for Kids, Erin Oaks Kids Treatment Centre and Mohawk College to name a few. Martina has been the Director of Enrolment for the past two years charged with growing the CV community. Martina lives in Burlington along with her husband and guinea pig. She has three grown daughters, one of whom works at CV as a Centre Director.
With 15 years experience, Stacey’s career has been dedicated to nourishing babies, toddlers and children. While working as a pediatric nutrition consultant for CV, Stacey works at The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto as a pediatric dietitian, specializing in neuroscience. The CV food program is founded on the philosophy that good nutrition is the fuel that powers active minds. Stacey’s role at CV will be to work with our head chef in developing CV’s menu to ensure that each meal is nutritionally dense so that our children are optimized for learning. Stacey is also the founder of the Prenatal and Pediatric Nutrition Clinic at GSH Medical, a nutrition author for AboutKidsHealth website and a nutrition consultant and author for Cerebelly, a baby/toddler food company. As a mom of two little eaters, Stacey is passionate about helping families raise well-nourished kids right from the start.
As the Head Chef, John is responsible for the development and implementation of the food & nutrition program, managing a culinary team across all CV locations. John has an extensive background in the food and beverage industry working as the Executive Chef for Georgian College of Applied Arts & Technology and holding multiple leaderships roles at SIRCORP managing both operations and teams. While he’s not in the kitchen, John is a devoted dad who supports his children’s dance and soccer careers. He also enjoys playing golf and travelling with his family.
