ACE PIVA
Tour Manager, Addiction Recovery Coach
Founding Partner, Executive Director, Board of Directors
A certified recovery coach who’s been involved in the music industry since 1996, Ace Piva knows the ins and outs of the road and its associated pressures and struggles. As a musician, tour manager, stage manager, sound engineer, production manager, and addictions recovery coach, he’s been there. Piva is a founding partner of Over The Bridge. His goals are to help break the stigmas associated with substance misuse and mental health through community, education, awareness, as well as provide resources to musicians, crew and entertainment professionals.
Hobbies: Yoga, Audiobooks and wrestling.
Favourite Artists: Faith No More (anything Mike Patton), Devin Townsend, Ghost, Guns N’ Roses and Lo-fi Hip hop
CATHERINE HARRISON
Founder and President, Purple Voodoo Inc.
Chair, Board of Directors
Catherine is a seasoned team leader, expert facilitator, author, behaviour change specialist. and executive coach. All of her work has an underlying focus on mindfulness, accountability, human-centred leadership and doing work that actually changes something.
Catherine has also been writing, recording and performing original songs for 30 years and is deeply connected to the power of music.
Catherine believes that whole human beings show up at work – the good and the bad, the conscious and subconscious. She believes in lifelong learning, sharing, curiosity and evolution. She believes in resource efficiency – time, money, energy, process. And she believes that we can all be all the things we are – we don’t need to choose just one ‘label’ to define our fascinating, complex, multi-coloured selves.
Hobbies: Songwriting, Performing, Walking in Nature, Cooking, Painting, and reading a good book.
Favourite Artists: Jeff Buckley, The Beatles, Bruno Mars, plus thousands of others (I LOVE MUSIC)
COLE SMITH BARTEL
Business Coordinator and operations manager, Hardest Working Realty Team
Founding Partner, Secretary, Board of Directors
Founding partner of Over The Bridge and serving her second term as Director, Cole is no stranger to the music industry’s ups and downs. From playing solo and touring as a bassist to running sound, recording, coordinating festivals and handling promotion and marketing, she has a broad range and 15 years of experience. For years she supplemented her earnings with minimum wage jobs, learning the value of hard work as she worked her way up from the bottom. Her determination landed her a job as general operations manager for Indie Week Canada, which allowed her to work with hundreds of artists during a two-year span and provided her with a platform for learning and career expansion in Toronto.
Smith has seen many artists struggle with addiction and mental health issues. She’s also lost fellow musicians to suicide. As someone diagnosed with bipolar disorder, she feels it is her personal duty to make a difference in the lives of as many musicians as possible and help them successfully manage their mental health issues and the disease of addiction. She believes no one should have to suffer to do what they love.
Hobbies: Boxing, Long-boarding, Kayaking, Surfing, and hanging out with her son.
Favourite Artists: Aerosmith, Sia, The Heavy, The Who
ANTHONY BUSIJA
Founder, nuAGEcp
Treasurer, Board of Directors
Technically speaking, Anthony is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), with over 20 years of experience working with various corporations and organizations, both big and small. He started nuAGE cpa, to put a different spin on the world of accounting. Anthony’s Firm is committed to leveraging the latest technology to help organizations simplify their processes so they can truly understand their ‘numbers’.
Although not a musician, Anthony is a life-long fan. He has also spent the last two decades working alongside other non-profit and charitable organizations, helping them thrive and surpass their goals. Anthony was drawn to OTB because of the organization’s meaningful purpose in an area that needs much more focus.
Hobbies: Travelling, Golf, Beating his kids at video games
Favourite Artists: Brothers Osborne, Foo Fighters, Arctic Monkeys, Blink 182
AMY DI NINO
Founder, Connecting in Rhythm: Registered Psychotherapist, RP, MA, ARCT, MTA, NMT
Board of Directors
Amy has degrees and diplomas from the University of Windsor, University of Toronto, and Humber College, and completed her Masters of Music Therapy at Berklee College of Music in Boston. She is the leading lady of Connecting In Rhythm, a neurologic music psychotherapy practice, that has provided clinical services for individuals in recovery for over fifteen years.
Amy is the drummer for the Dundas-based blues/R&B band, Cootes Paradise who were nominated for the 2019 new artist/band of the year at the Maple Blues Awards. She is also the conductor/artistic director of the Grand River Voices, an 80+ voice community choir based out of Kitchener, ON and the music director at Mount Zion Lutheran Church in Waterloo. Additionally, Amy holds the position of Principal Percussionist with the Guelph Symphony Orchestra. Amy is endorsed by Murat Diril cymbals and Headhunter drumsticks.
Hobbies: Reading, Hiking and Scuba Diving
Favourite Artists: Soundgarden, Larkin & Poe, and Mahler
FAISAL KHAWAJA
Operations Manager, Marchese Health Care
Board of Directors
Faisal Khawaja is a community pharmacist and the Operations Manager at Marchese Health Care. He has over 25 year’s experience in many areas including diabetes, pain management, mental health, and addiction. He is a Certified Diabetes Educator and is the palliative care pharmacist for two hospices in the City of Hamilton. Over the years, he has given lectures on many subjects. Recently, he has devoted much of his time to building public awareness of the opioid overdose epidemic and providing training to many hundreds of people in several communities in Ontario.
In 2017, Faisal was inspired by OTB’s vision to reach out to those in the music community suffering from addiction and mental health. Since then, he has worked with OTB on several events, providing substance abuse education and opioid overdose training. He hopes to contribute ideas, energy, and perspective to OTB’s program development and governance activities. He is currently proudly serving his second term on the Over The Bridge Board of Directors.
Hobbies: Camping, Bushcraft, Golf, and Fishing
Favourite Artist: The Beatles, The Tragically Hip, Blue Rodeo, and Pearl Jam, Honourable mention to old school hip-hop: Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash, Curtis Blow, and (the now much-forgotten) Fat Boys!
JESSICA LEMMON
Founder, Lemmon Entertainment
Board Of Directors
Jessica is the CEO of Lemmon Entertainment and go-to consultant for entertainment, production and marketing strategies. With over 15 years of experience in the entertainment industry, Jessica has worked with global brands, top talent, promoters, and producers.
Beginning as a bridge between brands & experiential events, Lemmon Entertainment has evolved into an entertainment and media agency with a focus on cause-focused initiatives. Jessica’s wealth of industry and project design knowledge enables her to connect stakeholders, teams and resources to increase her clients’ ROI. As a fierce advocate for mental and physical health standards in the workplace, Jessica founded Collectively Fit, an agency that creates and develops health and wellness initiatives for the entertainment industry.
Hobbies: Hiking, Travelling, Concerts
Favourite Artist: Lana Del Rey, Gwen Stefani/No Doubt, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
SEAN O’CONNOR
Creative Director, ReTHINK Canada
Board Of Directors
Sean is an award-winning Creative Director at Rethink, Canada’s largest national independent creative agency. Over the course of his career, he’s worked with a wide range of brands including Uniqlo, Uber, Nike, Arc’teryx and Molson Canadian.
Before embarking on his creative career, Sean’s love and appreciation for the music industry led him to get a Masters of Arts in ‘The Beatles, Popular Music & Society’ from Liverpool Hope University. He uses this knowledge almost never. But he’s still glad he has it.
Hobbies: Hockey, Guitar, DIY home renovations
Favourite Artist: The Beatles, The Band, Wilco, Jeffrey Lewis, Grateful Dead